Proposal

Seashore. White sand between her toes. Clear blue sky and a little shade darker blue sea. Sea breeze blowing strands of hair which loosely fall from her ponytail. And Ren.

This is what she has been imagining in the last 7 years. This is what she has been praying all night and keeping in mind just a moment before she falls asleep. She wants this... no, she craves for this. She always thinks this is the key to give her happines for the rest of her life.

Now that the thing happens right before her eyes: is it, though?

“Kat?”

Kat snaps back to her right mind. She shifts her eyes from the cloudless sky to the person in front of her. “Um, yes?”

“So the answer is yes?” His eyes suddenly gleam with glee.

“No...” She is confused. And when she sees the eyes of the man kneeling before her suddenly lose sparks, she knows she should say something more. “I mean, I’m not saying yes or no—not now, Ren. I can’t... I can’t get my mind together right now.”

The man is disappointed, Kat knows he is. But he smiles nevertheless, the smile which supposely causes butterflies flapping all over her stomach. Why are those feelings magically disappeared now?

“Ren... this isn’t right.”

The now standing man looks at her dubiously. “What isn’t right?” He throws his gaze to the sea for a moment. “I thought this is what you want, Kat. After you cried before... I realized this is what I want, too.”

“You only took pity on me.”

It is hard to admit, Kat realizes. But it is really nothing but pure sympathy. She has been really pathetic the other day; she came to him, cried at his front door, and begged him not to leave anywhere. And she poured her heart out, including the secret feeling she’s been hiding all the time.

“I don’t.” He glares at her. Kat can see the hurt in his eyes. “I always feel this way toward you. I only held it in just because... you know. But, after that day, all the feelings I have surpressed come up even bigger than ever. I am so close to burst, Kat.”

Kat shudders. This is so wrong. The runaway, the proposal... Ren is serious. And only now she really open her eyes about how serious the matter is. She starts feeling sick.

She has to clear this up or they would end up forever in regret. So, she moves forward and hugs him, really tight until she finds it hard to breath.

“Ren, I first met you seven years ago and I have loved you ever since.” She starts to sob, until it feels damp on her cheeks and the front of Ren’s shirt. “But...”

“But what?” His voice is husky.

“Maybe... we just mistook our feelings because we have been separated, for a really long time.” She hugs him even harder. “Let’s just stay as brother and sister...”