“I seriously can’t believe they’re dating,” minji, your best friend, whispered into your ear.

“really? I saw it coming,” you shrugged before taking a sip of your drink.

“what?! how?? they’re literally best friends,” minji asked, pouring fruit punch into a plastic cup.

“that’s exactly why I saw it coming,” you explained.

“I guess so,” minji agreed. “they’re totally gonna be the it couple of the year aren’t they?”

“for sure”

“ugh I’m so jealous” minji complained.

“me too,” you sighed. “I wish I had a-”

someone had aggressively bumped into your shoulder, launching you forward towards minji.

“excuse you!” you yelled out at the person who bumped into you.

“who? me?” a familiar voice asked.

you looked up to see the culprit standing before you, nishimura riki.

“yes you nishimura! do you seriously have no manners?” you scolded the boy just to receive an eye roll from him.

“to be honest,” he said, taking a step closer to you. “I don’t really care.”

oh how he made your blood boil.

he began to walk away from you, but after taking two steps he turned back around.

“oh and I forgot to mention,” he said, looking down at you. “you should probably stop daydreaming about things that’ll never happen…”

“because you’ll never get a boyfriend,” riki said with a smirk on his face before finally walking away from you.

oh he’s really done it now.

you started to march towards riki just for minji to put her hand on your shoulder and pull you back.

“just let him go,” minji said with a sigh.

“no way! I’m not letting him get away with saying that to me,” you replied, ripping minji’s hand off of your shoulder before beginning to walk after riki once more.

“nishimura!” you shout at the boy. “who do you think you are?!”

“better than you,” he says, turning his head around to look at you.

“well, news flash! you aren’t,” you yell at him. he scoffs as he turns his head back around and continues to walk away from you.

“don’t walk away from me!” you shouted, quickening your pace so you could catch up to him.

“why? do you want my attention or something?” he asked, smirking as he turned around to face you.

“ugh as if,” you grumbled, furrowing your eyebrows.

“as if!” riki said in a high-pitched voice, mocking you.

he lets out a laugh before walking away, but now he’s walking backwards just so he could look at you.

“you should really be nicer to people,” you reply, following him once more.

“I am nice!” he defends himself, placing his hand over his heart, pretending to be offended by your words.

“yeah right,” you say, rolling you eyes.

“just not to you,” he adds, continuing to walk backwards—which in all honesty, was a really bad idea.

since riki was facing you and not looking at where he was going, he bumped into a small table that was placed up against the wall in the hallway. the sudden movement of the table made a glass vase, which had a bouquet of white roses in it, fall over and onto the floor.

CRASH!

the vase had shattered on the floor, leaving the roses in a puddle of water on the ground, surrounded by shards of glass.

“look at what you did!” riki blamed you, pointing to the mess on the floor.

“what I did?! look at what you did!” you retorted, “this is your fault. if you were looking where you were going then maybe you wouldn’t have caused this mess!”

“well maybe if you weren’t annoying me then I wouldn’t have-”

“well maybe if you weren’t annoying me first-”

“well maybe if you hadn’t showed up to this party then none of this wouldn’t have happened!” riki spat out at you.

“what…” you mumbled in utter confusion.

“you shouldn’t even be here. these parties aren’t for people like you,” he stated, looking down at you.

“what’s that supposed to mean?” you ask, crossing your arms.

“you’re a loser y/n! you always have been and you always will be,” riki stated coldly.

your eyes widened at his words. you knew he was mean, but to say something like that? you stood there looking at him, not able to fathom the fact that you once had a crush on the boy standing before you.

you were in your second year of middle school when you developed feelings for your first crush, nishimura riki. he was friends with some boys in the higher grades and was quite popular among the students in your grade. you began to crush on him a week after school had started since he sat next to you in history class. your feelings for him grew as school went on because you saw him everyday and you even had to do a project with him once.

it was the middle of the school year—about february—when a girl you were kinda friends with told you to confess to riki, telling you that he would totally go out with you and that you would have a boyfriend for valentine’s day. you, being young and naive, trusted the girl’s words and decided to tell riki how you felt.

big mistake.

it was lunchtime and you entered the cafeteria, looking around for riki’s table. you found him in almost an instant, especially with how loud his friends were. you walked up to his table and with a sudden rush of confidence you tapped on his shoulder.

“huh?” he uttered, turning his head around to face you.

“hi,” you said quietly.

“hi?” he repeated, scrunching up his eyebrows.

“riki, I really really like you,” you blurted out, causing riki to raise his eyebrows. his friends were biting their lips and covering their mouths, trying to hold back their laughter, which you failed to notice.

“and- and I was wondering if you would go out with me,” you added, looking at him with hope in your eyes. he turned his head, looking around the cafeteria, then looking at his friends, before setting his gaze back on you.

“who are you again?” he asked, genuinely confused. his friends continued to try to hold back their laughter, which they were failing at miserably. you ignored them as you kept your eyes on riki.

“I’m y/n, we have history together,” you said, hoping he would remember you. “you sit next to me… a-and we did a project together a few weeks ago,” you added, just for him to furrow his eyebrows once more.

“I don’t recall,” riki said before turning his attention away from you as he began to eat his lunch. you stood next to the table, dumbfounded as you watched him eat his sandwich. suddenly, he stopped eating and turned to you again.

“why are you still here?” riki asked in a rude tone. you honestly couldn’t comprehend anything that was happening in that moment, but you decided to speak anyway.

“I-I thought-” you stuttered.

“listen, uh… what’s your name? y/n or something, right? whatever it doesn’t matter,” riki said, looking up at you. “I don’t like you, alright? and I’d never go out with you.”

hearing his words felt like a knife just stabbed you in the heart. he seriously couldn’t have rejected you a little nicer? out of embarrassment, you turned away and quickly ran out of the cafeteria. as you left, you heard riki’s obnoxious friends burst out in laughter.

“wow riki, look at you!” one of his friends cheered.

“who does she think she is?” another one of his friends asked in between laughs.

“I know right, what a weirdo,” riki laughed. your eyes welled up with tears as you ran to the closest bathroom.

ever since that day, riki started to tease you in any way possible: making fun of you in class, calling you names, bringing up how you had a crush on him, and when his friends were around, he would be extra irritable towards you.

that was the first and last time you were confessing to someone ever again.

you turned away from riki, careful not to step in any shards of glass, and walked away from him. you felt tears begin to well up in your eyes.

“no no no! don’t cry!” you told yourself as you fanned your face, hoping to stop the tears from falling. you had to get out of here. you had to find minji.

you pushed past people in the crowded house, trying to find your best friend. luckily for you, she was standing where you last left her, by the drink table.

“y/n!! there you are! I thought you left me for good,” minji half-joked as you ran up to her.

“I wanna go home,” you muttered, making minji’s cheerful expression change into one of worry.

“what happened?” she asked you, looking deep into your glassy eyes. you opened your mouth to say something but no words came out.

“Y/N! WAIT!” you heard a voice yell. you turn around to see riki pushing past people, making his way towards you.

you turn back around to face minji. you didn’t even need to tell her what happened because after seeing riki, she already knew.

minji was about to say something when you walked away from her, wanting to get as far away from riki as possible.

you made your way through the living room, trying to get to the front door. as you squeezed past people you heard riki’s faint voice calling after you. you walked faster, stumbling as you bumped into the upperclassmen that were crowded by the couch. you saw the front door down the hallway.

“it’s the final stretch,” you thought as you approached the doorway that connected the living room with the hallway. but before you could step out of the living room, you felt a hand grasp your wrist, tugging you backwards. you turn around, stopping in your tracks when you see that riki is the one holding onto your wrist.

“y/n-” riki said, breathing heavily.

“what?!” you snap, ripping your wrist out of his hand.

“uhm…” he uttered quietly. you rolled your eyes before turning around and trying to walk away.

he grabbed your wrist again.

“don’t go,” riki begged. you spun around to face him and he looked kinda…upset?

“why? you said that you didn’t want me here just a second ago,” you protested. he let go of your arm.

“I-” riki started before getting cut off by someone yelling.

“LOOK WHO’S UNDER THE MISTLETOE!” you heard an obnoxious voice shout.

you examined your surroundings, trying to figure out who just screamed, but instead you saw a bunch of eyes on you. by instinct, you tilted your head up, shifting your gaze to the ceiling above you. there hung the festive plant from the top of the doorway you were standing under. shit.

you averted your gaze away from the mistletoe and instead locked eyes with riki, who for some reason, looked very calm about this situation. you on the other hand—felt like you’ve completely lost your mind.

“KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!” people started to chant.

you turned towards the hallway, hoping to run away from this horrid position, but there was a crowd of people blocking your way. instead, you turn the other way. maybe you can leave through the living room? wrong. there were even more teens standing in a crowd next to you, you couldn’t even see into the living room with how many people were gathered there. you had no chance of escaping this.

“so…” you heard riki mumble. you turn your head to look at him.

“so?” you repeat, furrowing your eyebrows. he doesn’t elaborate.

you sigh before deciding to speak up.

“EVERYBODY SHUT UP!” you scream at the top of your lungs, causing the crowd to stop chanting.

“you all are out of your mind if you think I’m going to kiss him,” you say, emphasizing the word “him” in an offended voice.

“but you guys are under the mistletoe! you have to kiss!” someone yells, breaking the crowd’s silence.

“yeah!” another voice shouts, “you can’t break a tradition!”

the crowd cheers, beginning to chant, “KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!” once more.

you glance at riki, whose expression is unreadable. you stare into his eyes as you fiddle with your fingers, trying to think of something, anything, to get out of this situation.

suddenly, you felt pressure on the back of your head, pushing you forward.

the last thing you saw was a hand behind riki’s head, pushing him towards you, before your lips collided into his.

there was no way in hell you were kissing nishimura riki right now. what kinda sick dream nightmare is this?! you know your past self would be ecstatic to know you were kissing your first ever crush, your “dream man.” how disgusting.

you felt your face heat up with every second that your lips were against his. was it from anger? embarrassment? or from the feelings you still had for him since middle school? the feelings that you shoved deep down into your heart, ignoring them since he rejected you that one day.

the kiss felt like it lasted forever, when in reality, it was just a small peck that was over in seconds.

you stared at riki with wide eyes after pulling away from the forced kiss. after locking eyes with him for a split second, you immediately turn away and start to run towards the front door, squeezing past the people who were blocking your way.

you push open the door and breathlessly stumble outside into the cold. you deeply inhale through your nose, taking in the sense of freedom, before exhaling through your mouth as you slowly walk down the snow covered driveway.

“I have to call minji,” you thought to yourself. you reach down into your bag just to realize that you didn’t have your bag with you—or your coat for that matter. well now what? you needed minji to drive you home and you needed your stuff that you left inside. you shivered at the thought of entering the house again—or maybe it was because it was below freezing out and you had no jacket on? you couldn’t really tell.

just then, you heard the front door creak open. you turned around in hopes of seeing your best friend there, holding your things, and ready to drive you home. but no. it was him. seriously, out of all people it had to be him?!

you watched riki close the door behind him before jogging down the driveway.

“y/n can we talk?” he panted as he approached you.

“talk? there’s nothing to talk about,” you protested.

“well actually there is, we literally just ki-”

“can we just forget about it?”

“what?”

“forget that it happened, okay?” you demanded, wanting nothing more than to just go home and lock yourself in your bedroom.

“what if I don’t want to forget about it?”

“huh?” you mutter, making riki go silent.

“why…?” you ask, in an almost inaudible voice.

“please don’t make me say it,” he begs, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.

“say what?” you reply with genuine confusion. he takes a slow, deep breath before answering.

“I really like you y/n and I have for a while.”

what. the. actual. fuck.

“that…doesn’t make any sense,” you ramble,“why- then why did you reject me back then?”

“I wanted to impress my friends and if I rejected you… I thought that maybe they would think I was cool,” riki admitted shyly.

“that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” you snapped.

“I know I know, but please let me-”

“don’t you think you're a bit too late?” you asked coldly, causing his face to fall.

“I…” he mumbled before stopping himself.

“can you please give me a second chance?” riki pleaded, his eyes glassy.

“why should I? you never even gave me a first chance,” you retort while crossing your arms.

“I know, I messed up badly and I really regret that,” he confessed in a shaky voice, “I'm so sorry y/n. I really am.”

the logical part of you wants to scoff at his words, reject him, give him a taste of his own medicine. but the other part of you consists of the feelings you have for him; the feelings you’ve been ignoring for years, not wanting to accept the fact that you were still infatuated by your first crush. you wanted to be with him. you always have.

“I can’t forgive myself for making you hate me but-”

“hate you? I don’t hate you,” you replied as you tugged on the end of the sleeve of your sweater, making it cover your bare hand.

“wait, what?” riki said with a glint of hope in his eyes.

“I hate that I still like you,” you admitted softly, with a small smile appearing on your face.

your words made his face light up in an instant, his bright eyes looked like they held galaxies in them.

you shifted your gaze from his eyes to his lips, which felt so warm and soft against yours a few minutes ago. now they were cracked and more of a purple color due to the chilly weather, but you still wanted to kiss them nonetheless.

you look into riki’s eyes again before taking a hesitant step towards him, your feet crunching on the snow beneath you. it seemed like he was able to read your mind because he copied your actions, taking a step towards you. leaving barely an inch in between the two of you, riki cupped your face with his hands as he pulled you in for a kiss. you leaned into him, deepening the kiss. it felt so good to finally be able to embrace your feelings for him.

after you both pull away, you notice small white specs falling onto riki’s hair. you tilt your head up and look at the sky just to see snow dancing down from the flurries above you. you look back at riki, both of you wearing cheesy smiles on your faces due to the sudden snowfall. he pulls you into a tight hug, resting his chin on your shoulder. you nuzzle your face into the crook of his neck, embracing his warmth.

“promise me you won’t push me away ever again,” you say almost inaudibly, speaking into his skin as you hug him tighter.

“I promise,” riki replies, laughing lightly.

“and don’t be so stupid!” you scold him half-jokingly, making him laugh even harder.

you obviously wanted to surprise your boyfriend for his birthday, but…how?

why, bake him a cake of course!

you had gone shopping for all of the essentials two days prior so you didn’t have to hassle at the last minute for ingredients.

but there was still a problem.

you had planned on spending the whole day with your boyfriend so, when could you bake him a cake without him noticing?

luckily for you, your boyfriend had immediately crashed on the couch after being out with you all day, perfect timing for you to carry out your mission. you pulled out bowls and measuring cups from the kitchen cabinets before taking out the ingredients. you worked diligently, measuring everything out as you added it into the giant bowl in complete silence, except for the light snores you heard escape from your boyfriend’s sleeping body. not after long, you began to whisk the mixture until it turned into the perfect batter. you took out the brand new heart shaped cake pan that you had just bought and set it on the counter before holding up the bowl and slowly pouring the batter from the bowl into the pan.

“BOO!” a deep voice yelled from behind you.

you jumped up and immediately whipped your head around to face your boyfriend, who was looking down at you with a small smirk plastered on his face. you stared into his charming eyes. you could easily get lost in his eyes.

“you’re kinda missing…” he stated teasingly, breaking you out of your trance.

you furrowed your eyebrows before turning around to see the batter that you were pouring into the pan now being poured onto the counter.

“riki!” you yelped in annoyance, repositioning the bowl over the pan again.

“what did I do??” he asked innocently.

“you made me get batter on the counter!” you complained as you scraped the remaining batter out of the bowl with a spatula.

“I did nothing of the sort” he said, shaking his head and crossing his arms.

“you distracted me”

“you know you could just admit that I scared you”

“yeah yeah whatever”

“what are you doing anyways?” he asked, peering over your shoulder.

“well, I was going to surprise you by making you a birthday cake but I guess it’s not really a surprise anymore, is it?” you sighed as you put the bowl back down on the counter. you picked up the cake pan and shuffled over to the oven.

“can you open the oven for me?” you asked, looking at your boyfriend.

riki nodded and walked over to the oven, opening it up before you bent down, placing the pan in the oven and closed the door. the second you stood back up, riki wrapped his arms around your waist, engulfing you in a tight back hug.

“thank you,” he mumbled, shoving his face into the crook of your neck.

“of course,” you replied, placing your hands over his.

“so, how long will it take?” riki asked, positioning his chin on your shoulder.

“like 30 minutes,” you shrug.

“ugh that’s so long” he whined, his lips forming into a pout.

“it’ll go by faster than you expect,” you reassure him.

“we should do something to pass time,” riki suggests.

“like what?”

riki unwraps his arms from around your waist, taking a step away from you. you watch him as he looks around, like he’s trying to find something to do. his eyes land on the opened bag of flour sitting on the countertop. he quickly walks over to the counter and digs his hand into the bag of flour. you watch your boyfriend in confusion as he pulls his hand out of the bag. he looks down at the pile of flour in his right hand before raising his hand in the air and pelting the flour right at you.

“RIKI!” you scream, looking down at your shirt, now covered in flour.

you vigorously wipe the flour off your shirt with the palms of your hands before looking up at riki, who has a big smirk on his face and is laughing.

he’s laughing.

“you’re so dead,” you grumble, picking up the bag of flour off of the counter.

“no- wait!” riki shouted as you began to chase him around the kitchen.

you picked up a handful of flour before throwing it at your boyfriend’s back, covering the back of his black hoodie in flour. he suddenly turned around and started to run towards you. you stopped in your tracks as he approached you, giggling like crazy. riki grabbed onto the bag of flour and tried to rip it out of your hands. you kept a tight grip on the bag, pulling it towards your chest as he pulled in the opposite direction.

“give it to me!” riki yelled, tugging on the bag.

“never!” you retorted.

the flour was going absolutely everywhere, all over the floor, him, and you. riki finally decided to let go of the bag whilst you were tugging it away from him, causing the bag to hit you right in the chest, coating you in even more flour.

riki laughed even harder.

“ugh,” you groaned before placing the almost empty bag of flour on the counter.

riki, who was still laughing, opened the container of purple frosting that was placed on the counter next to the oven. you planned to decorate his birthday cake in a bright purple frosting but riki had other plans for the frosting. with the container in one hand, he sauntered over to you, dipped his finger in the frosting, and smeared it across the tip of your nose. you let out a sigh as you looked up at your boyfriend, who had a wide smile plastered across his face. you swear he looked like the happiest person in the world.

you then dug your finger into the container before reaching to smear it across riki’s face. but before you could, he started to run away, again.

so, what do you do? you chase after him like any normal person would.

“riki! get over here!!” you shouted, running after him.

“try and catch me!” he yelled back with a giggle.

after chasing him around the kitchen a few times, riki eventually got worn out and you finally caught him. you grabbed onto the back of his hoodie and whipped him around before smearing the frosting on his cheek. however, you forgot that he still had the container of frosting in his hands. he quickly began smudging the frosting all over your arms and your clothes before you took the container from him and did the same to him.

you both flopped down on two chairs that were at the kitchen table. you looked down at the half-empty frosting container before ranting to your boyfriend.

“you wasted most of the frosting! you know I was gonna use that to decorate the cake-”

“WAIT! THE CAKE!!” you yelled, jumping up from your chair and running towards the oven.

riki followed close behind you as you put on two red oven mitts and opened up the oven. you pulled the pan out of the oven and placed it on top of the stove before letting out a horrified gasp.

“oh no…” you muttered, looking at the cake that was supposed to be a nice golden color. instead, the cake was burnt to a crisp and was an ashy black.

“it’s okay, we can still salvage it,” riki reassured you, placing his hand on your shoulder.

“how?” you asked, your gaze fixed on the burnt cake.

“we can just cut off the burnt parts and cover the cake with the rest of the frosting,” he suggested, making you nod.

you picked up the pan and held it over the cooling rack before flipping it upside down. the cake slipped out of the pan and fell onto the cooling rack, making a loud CLANG.

“it’s ruined ki,” you mumble, sadness evident in your voice.

“maybe we can-”

“it’s as hard as a rock. I don’t think we can eat this,” you state before pulling off your oven mitts.

“why don’t we go out and buy a cake?” riki suggests, walking over towards the front door.

“riki wait!” you yelled after him, making him turn around.

“what?” he asks, tilting his head slightly to the side.

“you’re covered in flour and frosting,” you giggle, pointing at him. he looks down to inspect his clothes before looking around the kitchen.

“yeah, you’ve gotta clean all this up,” riki says, staring at the flour and frosting that’s all over the floors, counters, and somehow on the wall??

“me?!” you ask, completely baffled. “you’re not gonna help me?”

“nope! it’s my birthday, I’m not cleaning up,” riki responds before running out of the house.

“NISHIMURA RIKI!!” you yell at the boy as he slams the door shut behind him.

did he seriously just leave to go to the store (covered in flour and frosting)? yes.

did you seriously clean up the whole mess that your boyfriend mostly made? yes.