My Unrequited Love Is an Absolute Secret - Chapter 4

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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 4

Contrary to what people assumed, Jessie Jackson and I had never dated.
We held hands every morning on the way to school and walked in harmony, and whenever a ball was held, his partner was always me—but that was all it was.
He had never called me his girlfriend.
Everyone simply assumed it implicitly.
Still, there was one moment when the atmosphere between us felt strange.
A moment when I thought perhaps he might kiss me.

‘Jessie, there’s something important I need to tell you right now.’

Caroline burst through Jessie’s door with reddened eyes and delivered news like a bolt from the blue.

‘Your father is very ill.’

The chance to share a first kiss with my first love slipped away like that, never to return, but I couldn’t simply lament it.
I couldn’t sulk over something so trivial when Jessie’s father was ill.
Moreover, as Jessie’s circumstances grew increasingly dire, I didn’t dare take the initiative myself.
‘Maybe I was just imagining things all along.’
Looking back now, it was unclear whether he truly intended to kiss me.
Wasn’t it merely a delusion born from my own desperation?
Watching Jessie’s back as he spoke on the phone with a woman named Julia, I swallowed my bitterness.
Once Jessie began modeling in earnest, he must have met many women.
Among them were certainly women more economically comfortable and attractive than a high school girl like me, merely receiving pocket money from her parents.
Now someone as ordinary as I was surely no longer worthy of Jessie’s attention.
A soft voice stirred me from my quiet self-pity.
“Lili, sorry for the wait?”
A smile identical to Jessie’s. It was Caroline.
A bright smile bloomed naturally toward her without any forced effort.
“I didn’t wait long.”
“Didn’t wait long? I feel terrible about this every time.”
On days when Caroline had rehabilitation therapy, I took over the pickups in place of Jessie, whose shooting schedule was irregular.
In fact, today was one of the rare days when Jessie had no schedule, so she didn’t need to come herself.
But if I didn’t do this, it was difficult to see Jessie’s face, busy as he was.
“I’m just happy to have a date with you, ma’am.”
Caroline handed me the crutches and laughed at my shameless flattery as if she couldn’t help it.
“You should date a handsome man instead. Where’s Jessie?”
“He’s on a call right now.”
“Really?”
Jessie had just spotted Caroline and hung up the phone, approaching us.
“How was your therapy today?”
“By tomorrow, I might even be able to run around.”
Caroline joked with a smile.
We both knew it was impossible, but these little jokes were what kept us going.
“That’s great! Should we race to see who gets home first?”
Jessie took it a step further, and this time even I burst out laughing.
“I’m riding with your mom. You run home by yourself.”
“That’s so mean, Riri.”
Jessie pretended to cry, then snatched the crutches from Caroline and supported her instead.
A son was certainly more reliable than crutches.
When the car came into view in the Hospital Parking Lot, Jessie helped his mother into the back seat and headed toward the driver’s seat.
I was already seated and fastening my seatbelt when the car door suddenly opened, startling me.
I’d naturally assumed he would sit in the passenger seat.
“Riri, let me drive.”
“No. I will.”
“Come on, get out.”
As Jessie and I bickered, I glanced at Caroline in the back seat.
Even without saying anything, she had to be exhausted from rehabilitation therapy.
‘She must be tired. I should get her home quickly.’
I let out a small sigh, unbuckled my seatbelt, and got up.
Jessie took the driver’s seat in my place and drove the car with familiar ease, as if it were his own.
Seeing this, it seemed like he hadn’t changed much from before.
I was stealing glances at Jessie’s profile as he drove.
“It’s already autumn.”
Caroline gazed out the window and sighed upon spotting the crimson-stained maple leaves.
“Homecoming will be here soon. Who are you going with this year, Riri?”
At the question, I wrinkled my nose with an awkward expression.
My partner had always been Jessie.
But he’d already graduated, and he was busy with work.
He wouldn’t have time to spare for a mere school event.
“I’m not planning to go this year.”
“What? Why?”
Caroline looked as shocked as if I’d thrown away a winning lottery ticket on the street.
“Just… I’m tired of it…”
I couldn’t bring myself to say I didn’t want to go because Jessie wouldn’t be there, so I gave a vague excuse.
Caroline’s expression grew even more bewildered.
“Riri, this is your last homecoming in High School. You can’t let such a precious opportunity slip away like this. Absolutely not!”
Soon her gaze turned toward Jessie.
“Jessie.”
“Yes?”
“Go to homecoming with Riri, will you?”
“I suppose I could.”
Jessie, who had been quietly listening to their exchange, broke into a grin.
“So, what do you say, Riri?”
“….”
“Will you go to homecoming with me?”
He asked the question so casually, as though he hadn’t just sent my heart soaring, then immediately grew flustered and rubbed the back of his neck with an awkward laugh.
“Here I am, saying such things without even flowers. How shameless of me.”
“Okay.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s go together. To homecoming.”
I answered while fidgeting with the car door handle, unable to meet his gaze.
I was afraid to see what expression Caroline wore, or to know what thoughts were running through Jessie’s mind.
‘It was too easy.’
Even I found it absurd—Jessie must have felt the same way.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Fortunately, Jessie said nothing more than that.
Or was it truly fortunate?
I couldn’t tell.
Every question involving Jessie left me uncertain.
Despite my efforts to suppress the mounting anticipation and flutter in my chest, I found myself staring silently out the window.

***

The next day at lunch, Aemerus claimed the seat in front of me without fail.
It was astounding how he always managed to find me, even when I changed locations.
“….”
I glanced at him—shameless as ever, acting as though we’d agreed to lunch together from the start—then returned to my meal.
“Why aren’t you telling me to get lost today?”
“What?”
My confused gaze shifted back to him.
“When did I ever say that?”
“You said ‘please stop following me.’ That’s the same thing.”
“It’s completely different! Though, I suppose the meaning is similar….”
“See?”
Aemerus let out a scoff.
I shrugged at him.
Since Jessie had told me to leave him alone, I figured I’d comply for now.
Suspicious of my sudden change in attitude, he tilted his head and stared at me intently.
“What exactly made you change?”
“That’s none of your business.”
I drew a firm line and ate my sandwich in silence.
For some reason, Aemerus was unusually quiet today as well.
As our meal was nearly finished in that silence, voices stirred nearby.
“Ellie. I know it’s a bit early to say this, but would you go to homecoming with me?”
Something familiar about the conversation drew my gaze without thinking.
Two freshmen who still looked green were smiling shyly at each other.
“Already picking a partner. How eager.”
Aemerus clicked his tongue.
He’d been looking at the same scene as me.
“So what? If you’ve made up your mind, why hesitate?”
I found myself defending the freshmen whose names I didn’t even know.
After all, I was someone who had “eagerly” chosen my homecoming partner.
“Is that so?”
Aemerus seemed to ponder something for a moment, then asked with a slight nod.
“Have you?”
“Have I what?”
“Decided who you want to go to homecoming with?”
Since when were we the type to be curious about such things?
I tilted my head in confusion.
I certainly wasn’t curious about who Aemerus had in mind as his partner.
Still, I exercised a modicum of social grace and answered his question.
“I’ve already decided. Jessie is my partner.”
Perhaps I simply wanted to boast about this fact.
Embarrassed belatedly, Harry fanned her face with her hand.
“Jessie? You mean JJ?”
“Yeah.”
“But JJ already graduated.”
Aemerus’s expression went blank.
I had never seen him look like that before.
“Just because he graduated doesn’t mean he can’t come here.”
“…I suppose that’s true.”
Soon after, he burst into laughter. But it didn’t seem like he was laughing out of joy.
He laughed somewhat irritably and muttered to himself.
“JJ is still the same even after graduating.”
Harry didn’t know what to say in response, so she just moved her lips silently.
“How is JJ doing?”
“Well. I mean….”
Jessie’s father’s condition hadn’t improved, but it hadn’t worsened either.
His mother was continuing rehabilitation therapy consistently.
Moreover, Jessie seemed to have steady work coming in, so things were going well enough.
Well enough that he had the leisure to see women.
My chest stung as I recalled the name “Julia” I’d seen on Jessie’s phone.
But I didn’t show it and simply nodded.
“Jessie is doing well.”
“That’s good.”
Aemerus’s expression was indifferent, as if he’d never asked about Jessie’s wellbeing in the first place.
Looking at him, I suddenly became curious.
‘Does someone like this guy too?’
Now that Jessie had graduated and was gone, the most handsome boy in school was undoubtedly Aemerus Huntington.
Yet instead of enjoying his popularity, he was wasting time with some trivial girl just to do Jessie a favor.
‘I really can’t understand it.’
Harry felt sorry for him squandering his time on something pointless, so she offered some unusually kind advice.
“Aemerus, if there’s someone you care about, don’t put it off—hurry up.”
“Yeah. I should.”
Aemerus looked into her eyes and nodded.
Harry was satisfied, thinking he was taking her advice seriously.

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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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