I Was Cheated on by My Girlfriend but My Devilish Junior Now Yearns for Me - Chapter 81

Chapter 81   Reina Aisaka – Past 1 Confession –

A shrike wrapped in orange-brown feathers flew off from a deciduous tree.

I watched it absentmindedly for a moment before bringing my attention back to the present.

Standing before me was Yuuta Hasegawa, a boy with clear, bright eyes.

We’d become close recently, ever since the school festival.

Just now, he had confessed his feelings to me.

“Would you go out with me?”—a typical confession line.

I’d never thought about becoming his girlfriend, but I did feel like we had a good connection.

So, I asked him one simple question.

“Why do you want to go out with me?”

“…Because I want to be happy.”

His answer unexpectedly made my heart skip a beat; maybe that was just my quirky side.

But his honest words touched me more than any smooth lines could.

In truth, his answer stirred up my maternal instinct—a feeling I didn’t even know I had.

As he waited for my answer, Yuuta-kun kept his gaze steady, meeting my eyes.

When I nodded, he beamed with happiness and hugged me tightly.

I hadn’t realized he could be so forward.

His warmth felt oddly comfortable, and I wrapped my arms around his back.

*

“Reina-san, are you listening?”

—Could it be that I’m feeling the same way about the boy standing before me now?

The day before my one-year anniversary with Yuuta-kun.

On my way to his place, I unexpectedly ran into a younger student.

He was a freshman, just one year below me, and about the same height as I was. His name was Toyoda-kun.

Now, I found myself in a bit of a predicament.

“Would it be okay if I held your hand? Just once.”

“No, I can’t. I have a boyfriend.”

“But I heard a rumor that you two might break up.”

Toyoda-kun’s words took my breath away for a moment.

Once, I’d mentioned to a mutual acquaintance that I wasn’t sure how things were going with my boyfriend.

Maybe that had gotten exaggerated along the way.

“No, it’s nothing like that. Sorry for the misunderstanding, but thank you for worrying about me.”

Even when I thanked him, Toyoda-kun kept his resolute expression unchanged.

“I saw it. Reina-san, I saw your boyfriend walking through the shopping mall with another woman. She was really beautiful.”

“What?”

For a moment, my heart clenched, but I quickly calmed down. I had already guessed who the woman was.

“Did she have long black hair… and a great figure?”

“Yes, exactly.”

When Toyoda-kun nodded, I felt a sense of relief.

“That’s Ayaka-san, a friend of his from high school. So, it’s fine.”

“A friend of yours, Reina-san?”

“No, a friend of Yuuta-kun’s.”

I hadn’t met Ayaka-san directly. I’d wanted to at some point, but that chance hadn’t come yet. However, Yuuta-kun had mentioned they’d been close friends since high school. Toyoda-kun let out a sigh at my response.

“Then, isn’t that strange? They’re friends from high school, sure, but to you, she’s a total stranger.”

When I fell silent, Toyoda-kun continued, pressing his point.

“Doesn’t it bother you? To have your boyfriend hanging out with someone you don’t know?”

“It’s not a date or anything like that. They’re just hanging out together—”

“You’re numb to this, Reina-san. Most people would call that a date.”

I couldn’t find any words to respond.

And I didn’t even know if I needed to respond. What Toyoda-kun was saying now was exactly what my best friend Natsuki had been telling me.

Since Natsuki was in the same club as Ayaka-san, I sometimes talked to her about it.

—About whether or not Yuuta-kun was actually cheating on me.