She then asked, âWhen did you start liking me? Why didnât I know?â
At that, he only smiled at her in response.
Recalling her past, Ruka had only returned to the country once every two years after she left for abroad at the age of sixteen. However, she never got to meet him every time she was back, so she disregarded the times she had been back. Hence, she was unclear just when Ren had started having feelings for her.
âWhen you were five years old, you were just a little brat that kept pestering me. You would not only tear up my homework, but you would even snatch my pen away from me. When you couldnât get what you wanted, youâd even start crying out loud. You were like a small little tyrant back in the day.â Ren reminisced about the past.
Dumbfoundedly staring at Ren, Ruka froze midway through eating the drumstick in her hand. âDonât tell me youâreâ¦â
As Renâs face grew stern, Ruka immediately suppressed herself from finishing the sentence. With her cheeks blushing, she took a bite out of the drumstick before she resentfully said, âWerenât you afraid that I would grow up to have a crooked appearance? Even if I was pretty when I was a kid, Iâm sure itâll be a different story for you if I grew up to be an ugly girl, right?â
Ren laughed soundlessly at Rukaâs question. âAre you that confident that youâre pretty now?â
Feeling her cheeks growing warmer, Ruka retorted, âIf I wasnât, Iâm sure you wouldnât have liked me.â
Ren locked his gaze at Ruka upon her words and shook his head. âI fell for you not only because of your looks.â In brief, the feelings he had for her were out of his control. Back when she was nineteen, she had returned to visit her relatives. He was in the garden when she had just gotten out of the car.
Even though he was already planning to leave at the time, he couldnât do so, as he was engrossed in looking at how innocent she was. It was then he realized the feelings he had for her werenât the same kind he had when she was still a child, but it was the same kind one would have for another adult. She had held a small place in his heart until it was gradually fully filled by her.