I Was Cheated on by My Girlfriend but My Devilish Junior Now Yearns for Me

Chapter 34 Reina Aisaka – Past 3 that Day

──At that moment, I swear my heart stopped for a second.

I barely managed to keep myself from dropping the wooden box of champagne I had proudly been carrying. Even if my heart stopped, I still had enough composure not to let go of the champagne.

As I shook my head in disbelief, a cold, detached voice from the back of my mind whispered, “Of course.” Despite that, in the end, surprise took over, and all I could do was stand there, frozen.

It was the day of my one-year anniversary with Reina.

After finishing my final check of the restaurant I had reserved, I was on my way home. The reason I had gone to the trouble of scouting it out on the day itself was that, after all the effort of booking a fancy place, it would be embarrassing to get lost on the way there.

On the way back, I stopped by the department store and bought a special anniversary champagne. It was all part of my plan.

I wasn’t so clueless that I hadn’t noticed how drastically Reina’s messages had decreased lately.

That’s why today was the day to settle things.

I had somewhat forcefully made plans with Reina, who had hesitated just a little. But even though I say “forcefully,” it was for our one-year anniversary, and she didn’t seem entirely reluctant either.

When I firmly set the meeting time, she smiled and said, “Alright, I’m looking forward to it.”

──And yet, here I am now.

Even though there was still time before we were supposed to meet, my heart leapt when I spotted Reina’s figure in front of my house. But when I saw the man standing beside her, a terrible feeling swept over me.

That bad feeling was confirmed within seconds.

The man took Reina’s hand.

Reina didn’t resist, and the two of them walked down the alley together.

From any outside observer, the two of them looked unmistakably like a couple. I almost called out to them, but I stopped at the last second.

There was no need to. I was going to see her tomorrow anyway.

Dragging my feet like I was carrying three or four lead weights, I made my way home.

“…I don’t get it.”

The raspy voice didn’t sound like mine, and I let out a short, dry laugh.

Ridiculous. This is like some kind of joke.

While I’ve been running around, planning a surprise for her, Reina was out on a date with another guy. And they chose to walk right in front of her boyfriend’s house. The fact that I ended up seeing it, too—it’s all going so perfectly, it feels like someone’s orchestrated the whole thing. It’s just absurd.

I let out another dry laugh.

It’s been about two months since her messages started to decline.

I had already sensed that her feelings for me had faded since we started dating.

It just so happened that I had to prioritize club activities over our dates recently. For the first time since we began dating, we didn’t see each other for more than half a month.

In a long-distance or working-adult relationship, that might be understandable, but for students like us who lived reasonably close, it was quite a long time. Still, I thought it was a bit unusual, but nothing to worry too much about.

So when we met after half a month, I treated her the same as usual. But Reina wasn’t the same as before.

In the past, she’d laugh at my dumb jokes, or smile kindly and say, “You’re hopeless.”

But Reina didn’t laugh anymore.

“It’s boring.”

When she said that to my face, I got angry.

I knew that seeing Reina not laugh made me anxious, and I had been saying more boring things than usual. I was aware of that.

But still, hearing her say it was boring hurt my pride.

“If it’s boring, then that’s enough. Let’s call it a day. We both have an early start tomorrow anyway.”

It was true that we both had plans with our respective clubs early the next morning. However, the sun was still barely setting, and even considering our plans, it was undeniably an early end to our date. Normally, we would have stayed together for dinner.

So, I expected Reina to do something in response.

She didn’t need to apologize or say, “I went too far.”

I was ready to forgive her as long as she showed any sign of regret for what she had just said.

But Reina, without breaking her expressionless mask, simply said, “I see. Well, I’ll head home,” and walked away.

From that moment on, I could almost hear the sound of her heart drifting away from mine.

When I apologized to her later over Line, Reina also responded honestly, admitting, “I went too far too.” But that didn’t make me feel any better.

Maybe I had wanted an apology at that moment. It probably had something to do with the fact that I had apologized first, and I was ashamed of the immature pride I hadn’t fully let go of, like a teenager.

I felt ashamed, and also anxious, wondering if this pride would continue to smolder in my chest even as I grew into an adult.

Still, I remained in love with Reina. In fact, my feelings had grown just as strong as when we had first started dating.

It was probably because I was on the verge of losing the Reina I once knew that I realized how important she was to me.

As clichéd as it sounds, moments like that really hit home.

Reina often turned down my invitations for dates.

“I’ve got plans,” “I’m busy with my club,” or “I have to meet someone.”

Her neutral excuses left me with nothing to say, and I had no choice but to give up.

Even so, on the rare occasions she agreed to go on a date, I gave it my all, trying not to upset her mood like I used to.

As a result, the dates seemed to be enjoyable for Reina too, and that made me happy. I always looked forward to her posting about our dates on social media.

Feeling confident, I suggested we go to a theme park for the first time in a while. But Reina shook her head.

At that time, it seemed like Reina was actively avoiding places where we might be seen, and she only wanted to go to shops near my house.

Even when we went to those shops, there were moments when her gaze seemed distant. She reacted to my words, but I could tell she was thinking about something else. Her behavior had become increasingly difficult to understand.

Recently, however, Reina had started smiling more again.

And it was just as I was on cloud nine, thinking about how our one-year anniversary was approaching, that this all happened.

Lying there, staring at the ceiling pattern, I laughed to myself. No tears came out.

The next day, I didn’t prepare for anything. I just lay in bed.

My phone vibrated.

When I glanced at the screen, there was a message from Reina, saying she had arrived in front of my house.

The first thing I felt was boiling anger. I threw my phone onto the bed and headed toward the front door.

But the thought of being cheated on felt so pitiful that even the anger of betrayal slowly faded away.

All that remained was a sense of emptiness as I wondered how to handle the situation from here on out.

Expressionless, I opened the door, and there I saw Reina at the bottom of the stairs. When she spotted me, she walked up the stairs at her usual pace.

Suddenly, I was seized by an urge to confront her forcefully, but that feeling disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Even at a time like this, she looked cute.

Realizing I still felt that way made me feel so ridiculous that it became funny, and I couldn’t help but smirk.

“Can I come in?” she asked.

Reina asked.

It had been months since she last tried to come into my room.

I silently shook my head, but she didn’t seem to understand. She asked again, “Can I come in?”

This time, I spoke clearly.

“No, you can’t.”

Confusion flickered in Reina’s eyes.

“Why?”

It was a simple question. She wanted permission to enter, but I refused. She was just asking for the reason.

Yet, even such a simple question felt unpleasant to me in that moment.

In my head, it was raining heavily.

“Let’s break up.”

The words came out in a voice so cold and sharp that I barely recognized it as my own. Just like the raspy voice from before, it made me wonder if people lose even their own voice when something so overwhelming happens.

Reina heard my words, looked at my expression, and opened her mouth slightly. Then, without saying anything, she lowered her head.

Normally, when someone is told they’re being broken up with out of the blue, you’d expect them to say something.

The reason she could only lower her head was that she understood.

By staying silent, she was practically admitting to the cheating.

“Alright?”

When I said that, Reina nodded slowly.

I slammed the door shut with force.

The door now separating us felt like a symbol of the state of our hearts—no longer connected. There would be no coming back from this.

I stood there for a while.

I could tell from beyond the door that Reina wasn’t leaving quickly either.

I don’t know how much time passed with both of us just standing on opposite sides of the door.

It felt like ten seconds, or maybe several minutes.