My Unrequited Love Is an Absolute Secret - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 1

All characters, names, and organizations in this work are fictional and bear no relation to reality.
Prologue

Today is an incredibly important day.
Jessie’s eighteenth birthday—my childhood friend and the object of my unrequited affection.
I’d been working part-time for three solid months in preparation for this occasion.
With the money I’d earned through diligent labor, I’d secured a birthday gift as well. Now all I needed was for Jessie, the star of this celebration, to arrive—but….
“You’re sure JJ is coming?”
Aemerus glanced down at his watch and posed the question.
This was already the third time he’d asked the same thing.
And no wonder—we’d already been waiting an hour past our scheduled time.
“He’ll come, I’m sure. He’s probably just running late with work.”
When he’d first asked, I’d answered with absolute confidence.
But after hearing the same question three times over, my certainty had begun to crumble.
As I fidgeted with my fingers on the tabletop, Aemerus shrugged and beckoned for a waiter.
Perhaps it was because we’d been occupying a table with only drinks ordered.
Or perhaps it was because Aemerus was the kind of strikingly handsome young man who drew lingering glances from those around us—either way, the waiter approached as if he’d been waiting for the signal.
“I’d like to place a food order.”
My eyes widened as Aemerus naturally unfolded the menu.
“But Jessie hasn’t arrived yet….”
“We’ve waited an hour—that’s plenty. JJ won’t mind if we start eating. He’s not the type to complain.”
That was true enough; Jessie was genuinely kind and considerate.
Though he disliked eating cold food, it would be equally discourteous to let our guest go hungry while we waited.

Jessie arrived at the Restaurant only after all the food Aemerus had ordered was served.
“Jessie!”
Harry, who had been craning her neck to peer toward the door each time it swung open, sprang from her seat to greet him.
“Sorry I’m late. Have you been waiting long?”
Jessie, who had become a fashion model after graduating high school, embraced her with a weary expression, having just finished a photo shoot.
In that moment, the fact that she had waited for over an hour ceased to matter at all.
Harry beamed at him.
“It’s fine. I haven’t been waiting that long.”
A scoff echoed from across the table.
The sound was loud enough that Jessie couldn’t ignore it and turned his head.
“Aemerus, you’re here too.”
“You could at least send a text if you’re going to be late. And you didn’t wait that long? You were an hour and a half late.”
Aemerus launched into complaints the moment he saw Jessie.
Harry, flustered, hastily inserted herself between them.
“Are you hungry? Come on, sit down. Let’s eat first.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
The ever-gentle Jessie smiled warmly and sat beside Harry.
“You ordered food already? Perfect, I’m starving.”
“Yeah. Since the shoot’s done, you can eat as much as you want today, right? Have plenty of this too.”
As Harry pulled dishes toward Jessie, Aemerus glared.
“When I suggested ordering food first, you looked at me like you wanted to devour me.”
“When did I?”
Harry pretended not to hear Aemerus’s grumbling and watched Jessie eat.
Jessie Jackson, commonly known as JJ.
Because of his name Jessie, he was occasionally mistaken for a woman.
Similarly, Harry was often mistaken for a man because of her name.
So since childhood, they’d heard the recurring joke that they should swap names.
Yet Harry had never once disliked her name or wished to change it. Because,
“Riri, you eat too.”
Lee Harry. Harry Lee. Riri.
It was thanks to the nickname Jessie had given her.
“Yeah, I’m eating.”
They were exchanging laughter when another scoff sounded from across the table.
Without question, it was Aemerus.
‘What’s been bothering him this whole time?’
It was impossible to tell whether he’d come to celebrate Jessie’s birthday or to pick a fight.
Just as I was subtly signaling with a kick under the table,
Restaurant staff in uniforms approached, carrying a birthday cake.
“Happy birthday!”
“What? You prepared this too?”
“A birthday wouldn’t be complete without cake, would it?”
Jessie set down his fork and burst into laughter.
He’d spotted his photograph adorning the top of the cake.
“Happy birthday to our beloved Jessie!”
After the birthday song ended, sung in unison by the restaurant staff.
Jessie squeezed his eyes shut, made a silent wish, and blew out the candles.
“Thanks for the gift, Harry. And you too, Aemerus.”
Even as he expressed his gratitude, his gaze remained fixed on the photographs decorating the cake.
There were recent professional shots of him, of course, but also older photographs taken alone with Harry.
Though “older” only meant last year, it felt as distant as something from decades past.
Was it because the circumstances had changed so drastically between then and now?
Jessie was wearing a bittersweet smile when it happened.
“Actually, I have a real gift prepared separately.”
Harry, whose expression shone with far more excitement than the birthday boy himself, retrieved a box from her bag.
Just from the sight of the elegantly wrapped package tied with a black ribbon, one could estimate its value.
Jessie’s expression darkened.
“Harry, you really didn’t need to go this far. The cake alone makes me happy enough.”
He’d thought this was simply a casual meal to celebrate his birthday.
Had he known she’d prepared something like this, he wouldn’t have come in the first place.
Sensing Jessie’s reluctance to accept the gift, Harry hastily waved both hands in protest.
“It’s really nothing special! It’s not even that expensive.”
“….”
“Would you at least look at what the gift is?”
Jessie reluctantly accepted the present.
It might look expensive on the surface, but once opened, it could very well be nothing special, just as she’d claimed.
While Jessie unwrapped the gift with some tension, Aemerus sat across from them with an utterly carefree expression, contentedly eating someone else’s birthday cake.
Click. The black ribbon came undone, and the box lid opened.
Harry swallowed nervously and glanced sideways at Jessie’s profile.
Inside the box lay a wristwatch with a blue dial face and a luxurious leather strap.
“What do you think?”
“Harry.”
“Don’t you like it? If you don’t, there’s a receipt inside too, so you can exchange it for something you prefer….”
He let out a sigh and snapped the box shut with an audible sound.
The noise was so sharp that Harry flinched.
“Did you work that part-time job all last summer just for this?”
Faced with Jessie’s interrogation disguised as a question, Harry felt tears welling up.
“I just thought that since you’re a model and you’ll be meeting a lot of people for work, it’d be nice if you wore a quality watch.”
“Ha….”
“And besides, that watch isn’t even that expensive. It’s not a burden on my finances at all.”
Certainly, it wouldn’t be a financial burden for Harry.
But Jessie’s situation was different.
With his parents ailing and mountains of debt still unpaid, even this watch felt like a burden weighing upon his shoulders.
“I can’t accept this.”
“Jessie!”
“I’d rather you didn’t give me gifts like this anymore.”
Harry stared at Jessie with an expression brimming with unspoken words.
It was just a watch.
It wasn’t as though she were giving it without reason—it was a birthday gift, bestowed only once a year, was it not?
She wanted to plead with him: why must he be so particular about a gift from me, of all people?
If only his phone hadn’t rung.
Jessie’s expression hardened as he pulled out his vibrating phone to check it.
Alarmed, Harry grabbed at his sleeve as he rose from his seat.
“Where are you going? We haven’t even finished eating.”
“My manager’s calling.”
“Didn’t you finish filming?”
“Apparently there’s a party thrown by some famous editor. They want me to stop by and make an appearance.”
With such an obligation, there was no way to keep him.
The strength drained from Harry’s hand as she released him.
“I understand. Go ahead.”
Just as Jessie seemed about to leave, he hesitated and turned back, reaching for a photograph on the table.
Among the photos that had decorated the birthday cake, he took the one of just the two of them.
“Don’t forget to return the watch.”
With those final words, Jessie left the Restaurant.
Left alone with Aemerus, Harry collapsed onto the table.
If Aemerus hadn’t been there, she would have wept openly.
“I’ve ruined everything….”
The watch sitting there alone was unbearable to look at.
It seemed to mirror her own rejection by Jessie.
Above her dejected form, Aemerus’s voice rang out with what sounded like mockery.
“The one who ruined the birthday party is someone else entirely, so why are you the one feeling miserable?”
“Be quiet.”
“Let’s at least see what such a magnificent gift is.”
He snatched the gift box away.
His movements were so swift she had no chance to stop him.
Opening the box without permission, he let out a low whistle.
“That’s a fine watch.”
“Give it back!”
Deaf to Harry’s protests, he brazenly fastened it around his own wrist.
“I think it suits me better than JJ.”
“It does not.”
My expression crumpled in frustration.
And for good reason—that luminous blue watch face had been chosen to match Jessie’s eye color.
It had no business looking good on Aemerus.
Yet he couldn’t tear his gaze away from it.
“Give it to me.”
“Stop joking and take it off. I need to return it.”
“Why?”
Aemerus finally looked away from the watch, his eyes meeting mine directly as he asked.
“Because it’s the watch you were planning to give to Jessie, the one you’re secretly in love with?”
“How did you… how could you possibly…”
“Only an idiot wouldn’t notice.”
The watch now adorning his wrist no longer mattered to me.
I grabbed his arm as he casually resumed eating, my voice urgent. “What about Jessie? Does he know too?”
“Does Jessie know?”
“Unfortunately, he’s one of those idiots who has no idea.”
Jessie didn’t know I harbored feelings for him.
It was a small mercy amid my misery.
I bit my lip anxiously, my voice trembling with desperation. “Please keep it a secret from Jessie. I’m begging you.”
“A secret, you say…”
Aemerus toyed with the watch on his wrist, a smile spreading across his face as he looked at me.
“That depends entirely on what you do from now on.”
My world went dark.
Could this secret truly be kept?
Will the secret really be kept?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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