Standing before me was the bashful figure of Reina, who was looking right into my eyes. With her backed up against the wall and my left hand slammed next to her, I stared at her and asked, "Reina… do I look like a person who would joke about something like this?"

"No… I… that's not what I meant." She averted her eyes from me with a tint of red on her cheeks.

​​

"I don't know how to deal with these feelings… every time I'm talking with you, every time you smile at me… I just keep falling in this abyss of love." I was doing exactly what I planned today.

"What should I do?" I'm cornering her emotionally. Sooner or later she would realise her feelings for me even if there weren't any in the first place.

"I… don't know." She answered hesitantly.

"It's been really difficult for me to be with you recently… It's been difficult for me to be your friend." I removed his hand from her side with a dry chuckle and walked away from her.

"Bu… but don't stop… don't leave me." She raised her head to look at me, but I was already staring at her.

My passive aggressive approach to manipulate her was an excellent choice considering her state of mind. She needs me because of the affection I provide her, so indirectly making her believe that I'll leave will stir up her emotions even more.

Doing this will start a conflict in her mind about whether the feelings she has for me are as a friend or as someone special. Her perception will change rapidly and she will start to make new conclusions about her feelings.

"I can't suppress these feelings… They just keep growing. I never imagined that I would fall in love with you."

"But… I… uh…" She was at a loss for words.

"Listen Reina… I don't want any answer from you…"

"Wh...what!? She asked, even before I could end my sentence.

"Whether you love me or not?" Looking at her in a vulnerable state, I decided to be more offensive.

"That's… that's really unfair… I can't… I don't know." She complained, and the stress from this situation was clear in her eyes.

"The moments we spent together might've meant something to you? Or was it my mistake to assume that there was something between us?" I hated this act of being all emotional and stuff. I can't believe I'm saying something cheesy like this.

"I… please… I want some time for this…" Her voice was growing weak, as she looked at with her tense dark eyes.

"Listen Reina… I'm sorry… really sorry for falling in love with you… I never meant for this to turn out like this…" I was being so dramatic. I was looking towards the ceiling as I said that to sound more depressed.

In my peripheral vision, I noticed her slowly approaching towards me. "Saishi… listen to me…" She said in an unusually low voice.

"But… I just…" I didn't pay any attention to her. I was building up the emotional stress between us.

"Saishi… look at me… " I felt her hands touch my face, and she turned my head towards her. She was looking right into my eyes with a serious expression on her face.

"Huh…"

"I never said that I don't love you… it's just that I need some time for myself to come to terms with my feelings…" As she said those words, I knew that my plan was working accordingly.

"Reina…" I called out her name softly.

"Mhm?" She looked at me with avidity in her eyes.

"Please don't ever stop talking to me…" I said, resting my forehead on her. I was fairly taller than her.

"...like you did… I was really…" I finished my sentence. I have read somewhere that adding small pauses to a large speech can increase the effect it has on the audience and will attract their attention to those parts.

"I won't… I need you in my life too…" She said in a delightful tone while caressing my hair with her hands. Her touch was really soft, and it somehow made me closer to her at that moment.

"You make me feel things that I've no idea how to deal with…" I chuckled.

"Saishi… I didn't know you felt that way…" She said nervously. I held her hand, which was caressing my hair, and raised my head, looking back at her with a slight smile.

"I… you're weird Reina… but I love you." The corners of my lips rose slightly as I said that in an intimate tone, so only she can hear that.

"I… uhh…" She was again at a loss of words and her cheeks were red that anyone could tell that she was blushing hard.

"You look so cute right now… that I want to make you mine…" I'm going to be really offensive here and shower her with cliché lines like these. Though she was indeed being quite bashful.

"Sai...Saishi? I… uh… Saish…" It looked like she was preparing herself to say something.

"I… like you… " She said after quite the hesitation. She wasn't looking at me while she said that.

"I don't know if things will remain the same between us or not after this day…" I leaned back on the wall with her hand still in mine.

"Saishi… don't worry… everything will be fine…" Catching up on my down casted tone, she tried to cheer me up.

"Anyways… I just wanted to get this off my chest…" I sighed.

"Saishi…" I let go of her hand and started walking when I heard her call out my name.

"Yeah?" I turned around to look at her.

"Wait for my answer… don't go loving someone else." With a forced smile for her face, she said that.

"I… won't." I nodded while chuckling softly.

"You better don't." She narrowed her eyes at me and taking one last glance at me, she rushed towards our classroom.

This conversation really turned out great. I just have to wait for the conflict to kick in and the change in perception. Probably in this week only, I'll get a proper answer.