The rhythmic scuff of our school shoes against the asphalt was the only sound passing between us. Normally, this morning walk to school was my favorite part of the day, a quiet, soft, rhythmic tether that kept my heart from drifting.
Today, however, I was fairly certain I was going to spontaneously combust.
We walked with a respectable distance between our shoulders, but our hands hung close together, our pinky fingers securely linked. It was such an innocent, childish gesture. Just a tiny sliver of skin touching.
But after last night… after everything… even this tiny point of contact sent electric shocks straight up my arm.
...Can we... do it again?
Just recalling my own shameless, desperate plea from the night before made a fresh, volcanic wave of heat explode across my cheeks. I wanted to dig a hole and bury myself in it forever.
Because we did do it again. And again.
We hadn't slept. Not a single wink. The moon had tracked its entire, agonizingly slow arc across the sky while we completely lost ourselves in each other, tangled in my sheets, learning every single sound, every gasp, and every desperate shudder we could draw from one another.
Then, the morning had arrived.
The moment the bright, unforgiving sunlight had streamed through the gaps in my blinds, the hazy, intoxicating magic of the night had evaporated, leaving behind a stark, blindingly clear reality.
The state of my room had been… catastrophic.
The crumpled, damp sheets. The clothes strewn carelessly across the floor. The little foil wrappers—plural—resting shamelessly on my nightstand. Seeing the physical evidence of what we had done—what I had begged him to do—under the harsh light of day was infinitely more embarrassing than doing it in the dark.
We had spent the entire morning in a frantic, panicked rush, stripping the bed, hiding the evidence, and desperately trying to scrub ourselves clean before my mother could notice anything amiss. We were running on absolutely zero sleep, fueled entirely by adrenaline and the terrifying fear of parental discovery.
Every time our eyes had met while we were furiously smoothing down the new bedsheets, we had both instantly turned away, our faces burning as red as apples.
Now, as we approached the old, rust-colored bridge over the river, the familiar spring breeze rolled in from the sea. Usually, this breeze was a crisp, welcome relief.
Today, it was completely useless.
The cool air whipped through my hair, but it couldn't even begin to penetrate the permanent, simmering heat radiating from my core. My body still felt strange. There was a dull, sweet ache in my thighs, a lingering sensitivity in my chest, and a profound, overwhelming sensation of being utterly claimed. Every time the fabric of my school uniform brushed against my skin, it sent a phantom echo of Jun's hands and mouth tracing over me.
I squeezed his pinky finger, a tiny, involuntary twitch of nervous energy.
The silence between us wasn't uncomfortable, but it was incredibly heavy, thick with the sugar-sweet afterglow of our passionate first time.
Then, he finally broke it.
"Yui..."
His voice was low, that gentle, slightly raspy morning rumble that made my toes curl in my school shoes.
Don't you dare say another word! I screamed internally, my eyes snapping shut as I fought a losing battle to keep my composure. If you mention last night, if you mention the shameless sounds I made, or how many times we did it, I will seriously jump off this bridge!
I braced myself for his usual teasing. I waited for the smug, triumphant remark from my very foul-mouthed prince.
But it never came.
He must have felt the sudden, rigid tension in my pinky, or maybe he just knew me too well. As if he had completely read my mind, he didn't say another word.
Instead, he tugged gently on my finger, pulling me just a fraction closer. The space between us vanished. He leaned down, his height allowing him to easily reach the top of my head, and pressed a soft, lingering kiss right into my hair.
It was such a pure, tender gesture, completely devoid of the raw, consuming lust from hours ago. It was a kiss that spoke of quiet, absolute devotion.
My heart, which had been frantic, suddenly melted into a warm puddle of sugar. The panic evaporated, leaving only a deep, spreading warmth in my chest.
He pulled back just enough to look down at me, a soft, incredibly gentle smile playing on his lips. His dark eyes were filled with a light so warm it rivaled the morning sun.
"Every day, I love you more and more," he murmured, the words simple, honest, and completely devastating.
The sheer, overwhelming sweetness of it caught me off guard. My competitive streak—the part of me that had waited two years and refused to be outdone in anything involving this boy—flared to life.
"Not as much as I love you," I shot back instinctively, looking up at him with a stubborn pout.
Jun raised an eyebrow, his smile widening into that familiar, beloved smirk. He wasn't going to back down.
"No, I love you more," he stated firmly, squeezing my pinky. "You are my world, Yui."
My cheeks were definitely on fire now, but I couldn't stop the words from tumbling out. I had to have the last word. I had to show him the absolute scale of my feelings.
"Then you are my universe."
The moment the words left my mouth, the sheer, diabetes-inducing cheesiness of our exchange hit us both. We were standing in the middle of a bridge on a Tuesday morning, exhausted and sleep-deprived, arguing over who loved who more using astronomical metaphors.
We stared at each other for a second, the silence stretching.
Then, a snort escaped Jun's lips.
I couldn't help it either. A giggle bubbled up from my chest, and within seconds, we were both laughing. It was a bright, unburdened sound, ringing out over the rushing water of the river below. The awkward, heavy tension from our sleepless night completely dissolved into this nonsensical, fluffy bickering.
I peeked up at his face as he laughed, the sunlight catching the soft strands of his dark hair, his eyes crinkling at the corners. The boy who had been lost, the boy who had come back, the boy who had made me his completely.
You always say the right words, Jun.
I smiled, finally shifting my hand to fully intertwine my fingers with his. I held on tight, letting the warmth of his palm keep my feet on the ground as we continued our walk to school.