𝗯 𝘆 :: 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 [[𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗼]]
𝗳 𝗶 𝗹 𝗲  𝘁 𝘆 𝗽 𝗲 :: 𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗳𝗳
𝘄 𝗮 𝗿 𝗻 𝗶 𝗻 𝗴 :: 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗲

Inui was curious.

He was curious about who was the one who left those little light pink post-it notes ever since the start of the school year with cute compliments written in them in his locker.
He was curious about how there was a bento box on his desk when he forgot to bring his lunch last week, and about the white umbrella with hearts on it in his backpack during the unexpected storm a month ago when he left his umbrella at home.
He was curious when he saw a few colourful band-aids in his pencil case that day when he came to class badly beaten up and full of cuts, and also when his bottle in which all the water he had downed was full to the brim after P.E.

He wasn't that curious anymore though, after he saw your opened textbook on your desk with those pink post-its written on with the all-too-familiar handwriting and pasted on it.
He wasn't that curious anymore after he saw you in class during lunch last week, arms wrapped around your growling stomach, or when he came across you at the bus stop, drenched to the bone with a white umbrella case with hearts on it hanging out of your pocket.
He wasn't confused anymore after seeing you unwrap one of those colourful band-aids to cover the papercut on your finger a while ago, and when he went to the toilet during P.E. to see you at the water fountain filling up a water bottle that looked suspiciously similiar to his own.

A day ago a girl from the year below confessed to him after school.
The next day, he saw you at class with your head down as you wrote something and your normally cheerful face sullen with your lips curled downwards uncharacteristically. That sparked his curiosity again, and he mustered up the courage to go over to you and ask you what was wrong.

"Nothing..."

"Are you sure? Do you need something? I can get you anything you need. Water? Are you hungry? Uh...a hug?"

"You should do that for the person you love, Inui-san. Why don't you go find her instead?"

He didn't know you saw that junior confessing to him yesterday under the beautiful sakura trees, with her head bowed down and a soft smile on his face.
But you didn't know that after you ran away from the scene crying that he had rejected her with a pitying look, saying that he loved someone else already.

"I'm asking her, though. She's right in front of me," he said.

Inui smiled at your shocked expression, your down-turned lips forming info an 'o', your hands dropping the pen you held.
He then realised what you were writing as he looked at the pink post-it note on your desk.

Dear Inui-san,
I hope you are happy and i wish you a smooth-sailing love life. Although I wanted to be the one to tell you I like you, I am still glad that you found your match. Even though you have your eyes on someone new already......

"I love you."

He was content as his arms wrapped around your shaking form, holding you close to his chest. The smile on his face wasn't the pitying one he had on yesterday, that said "I'm sorry...", but the affectionate one that said "I love you so much."

Inui was sure, at that moment, that he wasn't curious any more.