She's not cheating on him. It was just one kiss. An unexpected kiss with her best friend. It's not going to ruin her relationship with her boyfriend, right? It was just one kiss. But why, did it feel so right? They kissed one short kiss. It was pure, innocent and as lovely as the first day of spring.

But she's not supposed be thinking about thoughts like this. She's not supposed to kiss him in the middle of their Naruto Shippuden marathon. She's not supposed to look at him in the eyes and smile like it was her first kiss because it wasn't.

But she did.

Because all these years, she'd been waiting for him and now they're falling at the wrong places.

She's not supposed to fall in love with him again.

But she did.

Sumire Shouda did.

Kokoroyomi shook her violently. "Why did you kiss me?" His voice was hard and rough. It reminded her of Jinno, her math teacher back in 8th grade. Although his voice was strict, his eyes were soft and moist. Sumire didn't want to look into those eyes. She didn't want to be reminded of why she fell for him. Again. And again. And again.

"B-because…" She let herself be shaken by him. Move, she told herself mentally, slap his arms away and run. But she's still sitting on the warm, carpeted floor in his room with Sasuke Uchiha melodramatically droning on and on about his vendetta for his family. Her body felt numb and any moment, she wouldn't have enough strength to sit up straight.

"Because what?" He whispered softly. "Because Sumire, I'm confused. Mochu's my best friend. You're my best friend. And you kissed me…"

She turned to him, eyes asking for a reason as well. "Why blame it on me? It was a spur-in-the-moment."

"How? We're watching goddamn Naruto. How does that lead to me and kissing?"

She bit her lip, looking at the television screen. Because you and Naruto have lots in common, she said mentally, blonde hair, that irresistible smile, that dorky laugh, that very same love and friendship he gives Sakura, even if you don't have blue eyes, yours is still the prettiest. Because they make me lost and yet looking at me with those very same eyes makes me feel at home. Makes me feel found. She turned to him, a sad smile on her face. "You kissed back." Her voice shook; she repeated the same sentence, only louder.

Koko slowly removed his hands on her and closed his eyes, letting his head rest at the footboard of his bed. He looked at Sumire and told her to go home. "Please," He said. "To do us both a favor. I'll text Mochiage to pick you up at the bus stop."

Sumire found the energy to stand up, and slap him across the face. "I'm not ashamed, I'm not scared either." She said, her words are strong as they stabbed Koko straight in the chest. His eyes are closed and as Sumire stood beside him, breathing and breaking, he silently tried to close his heart as well. He didn't open his eyes, but he knows Sumire is still there. "And you know, I'm glad I kissed you. Because Kokoroyomi, for all these years, I was waiting for you to make a move. And now I did, but it's just too late." She clenched her wrists, fought back the tears and ran out the room.

Hearing the door shut loudly, Koko banged his head on the wooden footboard, letting the pain in his head hurt more than the pang of guilt, the love and the knives stabbing him in his heart. His eyes were filled with salty, wet tears as he tried hard not to cry by looking up at the ceiling. But it hurts too much to stop the tears from falling so he let them glide down his cheeks and for the first time in a long time, Kokoroyomi let it all out, crying and letting himself be vulnerable.

She ran away, hands on her eyes. She didn't even dare to look back. She just ran. She ran so fast that she knew she had already passed by the bus stop. She didn't care. She didn't give a damn. She just liked the wind on her face, the numbness from running and the heat in her body. It makes her forget. Even for a minute, it made her forget. She stopped and looked behind her to see how far she'd run. The bus stop is just a yellow blur to her; she smiled, wiping the tears from her eyes.

Sumire Shouda took a deep breath, shivering with the wind. She held herself together, leaned on someone's fence and squatted down.

"What have I done?" She whispered to herself. Her face was getting warm and she knew she was about to cry any second now. She buried her face in her hands and bit her inner cheek.

She let them fall. But it still hurts. It's been years. She'd been hiding it from him. It's been years. She tried moving on; she did (—with Mochu, even), but found herself going back to him again.

She didn't want to fall for him. It was just too complicated and he'll never like her back. She's just like a sister he never had. Besides, he didn't deserve her.

But it was just earlier, when Sumire Shouda pulled him in, her lips lightly touching his softly when she felt her heartbeat thump loudly against her chest; it was then when she thought she's actually capable of loving him—without finally worrying about anything else but them.

Sumire wiped her eyes, stood up and checked her phone. 3 missed calls from Mochu.

She turned it off, placed it in her pocket and started walking home.

Sumire Shouda tried not to think of Kokoroyomi, but every step she took makes it harder for her to forget. To Sumire Shouda, this was probably the longest, most dreadful, heartbreaking walk she'd ever take in her whole life.

"Where have you been?" Mochu said as he walked in her bedroom, pissed off at her for making him wait for two hours at the bus stop without even answering her phone.

"Koko's," She was sitting on her bed with her knees under her chin as she looked at the soft pink carpet of fur by the bed.

"Again? Sumire, you've been spending the past two weekends with him, I hardly even see you anymore. And you didn't even answer your phone! What are planning to do? Think of me as a stupid ass who doesn't even know that his girlfriend's over at his bestfriend's house? What did you do?"

"What's with all these questions, huh?" She sat up and shouted at him, her face turning red. "My phone died and we didn't do anything wrong!"

Mochu faced Sumire, walked to her and gave her a slap. "You bitch." He muttered. It sounded like poison on his lips, but surprisingly Sumire should've been terrified at his tone by now, she wasn't. "You did something didn't you? Didn't you?"

She touched her cheek, feeling it throb with pain. "I kissed him, happy?"

"What?" He repeated quietly, somehow in disbelief. Mochu bit his lip and laughed manically. "You what?" He repeated, though louder with an angrier tone. "You kissed my bestfriend because I wasn't enough? Is that it?" His voice boomed in her bedroom. This was the first time he did this. He was always gentle and smiling and telling jokes – somewhat like Koko, that's why she liked him. But what they differed was, Mochu was violent, he was mean and aggressive. No one knew about this but her. He would hit her if there was a chance. She told herself that maybe this was better, maybe she could forget Koko and love Mochu but she couldn't and after what had happened earlier, she knew she was in love with Koko and nothing could ever change that. She couldn't love Mochu, she tried for more than a dozen times but she just couldn't.

"I kissed him because I love him. And you know it."

This was when she pushed all the wrong buttons at once.

He knew, of course he knew, he was in love with Sumire. But it was scary. He loved her in a different way a normal man would love a woman. His way was somehow possessive. He would keep her from everyone and everything that would let her drift away from him. Sumire didn't know this when she first met him, and when she's finally his, that's when she figured it all out and suddenly there was no escape.

She was trapped with this man forever.

He pulled her hair and pushed her to the wall. Inside, Sumire was terrified, if only she could stop Mochu or herself from making him even madder, she could. But she couldn't. This Sumire who was looking at Mochu straight in the eye fearlessly wasn't her. This was the Sumire who wanted to change everything back to normal. Back to when Mochu was only an acquaintance and Koko would jokingly tell her that he loved her, calling her his girlfriend at any opportunity that he could. Not like this, where Sumire was torn apart by these two men; one who she's been in love with all this time and the other who just wanted Sumire all to himself, that if he could lock her in jar and put it somewhere where no one could find it, he would.

"You've been asking for this aren't you?" His voice was threatening as he pulled her hair back with one hand and the other by the doorway, keeping her from running to the door.

"What if I am?" She gritted through her teeth as she tried not to shout from the pain. "You know about Koko, you even told me you'll substitute for him, you told me I could use you to move on. I told you I wouldn't because I love you but don't you realize? I've been using you all along."

Make him mad.

This was the only think Sumire could do, if he really does hit her she'll make a run for it and go find help. She's tired of holding back the pain; she's tired of letting him be the boss. This won't happen again, it certainly wouldn't.

And when Mochu raised his hand to punch her, this is when Sumire regained all her senses.

With Mochu's temper, she knew what exactly he could do.

Screw the law,

Mochu was capable of killing her.

And as soon as Sumire opened her mouth to let a loud, ear-splitting shriek, Koko came bursting through the door and punched Mochu, he sat on him and punched him two times on the face. Mochu was quick enough to grab his collar and turn the position; he sat on Koko, one hand grappling his neck and the other punching his face. Koko was already choking and Sumire, who had been numb from Koko's sudden rescue, was looking at him with a frightened face. "Run." Koko mouthed while Mochu kept giving him hard blows.

Sumire couldn't run from this so she turned to her desk and grabbed whatever she could and hit Mochu in the head. She realized that she threw the lampshade at him and when it did knock him unconscious, she grabbed Koko's hand and ran.

Outside the house, police cars came and Sumire took a deep breath.

They were safe.

She turned to Koko and in synchronization, they said, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I am—Koko, I'm sorry." Sumire said.

He hugged her tight, his hand moving up and down on her back. "I'm glad, and I should be the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have called him, he found it out and suddenly, I knew what he was going to do. He's been my best friend for years and he did the same with his ex-girlfriends. He would leave them barely conscious and I thought of you - I called the police and ran all the way here, Sumire, I've been so stupid. I should've known sooner."

"About Mochu, it's okay. I was planning to make him hit me so I can go make a run for it, Koko—"

"No, Sumire, I've been stupid about not realizing that I've loved you all along. I kept on denying it but after this, all this, I realized that it's just you who matters to me, not anyone else. Just you."

Sumire smiled and hugged Koko. "I can't believe you, it took Mochu to almost kill the both of us before you regained you senses. I love you, seriously Koko. I really do."

Koko leaned and kissed her and Sumire as happy to kiss him back, when they parted to breathe the police had taken Mochu in an ambulance since he was bleeding from Sumire's hit.

"You have to follow us back in the office," He told them. "For questioning and to give your statements. Other than that, you're both safe."

They looked at each other, smiling.

They were both safe.

Together, it was all that mattered.