My Unrequited Love Is an Absolute Secret - Chapter 70

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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 70

“What?”
Aemerus turned his body at an angle as if he’d sensed my gaze upon him.
“Your hand doesn’t hurt anymore? Just let me do it.”
“It’s fine. It’s not strenuous work anyway.”
Besides, tearing apart ricotta cheese seemed manageable enough.
I rested my chin in my hand, watching Aemerus’s silhouette as he stood in the Kitchen.
He looked effortlessly natural standing there, as if he belonged.
Yet I couldn’t help but think the place where he truly belonged was on that cold, crystalline ice.
“The semifinal is next Friday, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Your hand needs to be better by then.”
“Ice packs will have me good as new in no time. It’s not even a fracture, I’m telling you.”
He shrugged his shoulders and drizzled balsamic vinegar in a circle over the salad, then asked almost casually.
“Can you watch the match? Even if you can’t make it to the Ice Hockey Arena in person to cheer.”
Riverside School’s Hockey Team was scheduled to travel to Chicago for the away game.
The School had also taken separate applications from students who wanted to go cheer on the Hockey Team.
But after much deliberation, I hadn’t applied.
I’d given the excuse that I didn’t know when my date with Jessie would be scheduled, but that was merely a pretext.
If I traveled all the way to Chicago to cheer for Aemerus, it would feel like I was finally admitting that I liked him that much.
I’d been trying to deceive myself, insisting that I didn’t like him with such seriousness.
Yet here I was, having postponed my date with Jessie and come to the Hospital with Aemerus—a futile struggle rendered meaningless.
‘If I’d known it would come to this, I should have just gone to cheer.’
I laughed bitterly.
“I’ll definitely come cheer at the finals.”
“Then I’ll have to make it to the finals no matter what, just to receive your support.”
Aemerus chuckled softly.
Looking at him now, who could possibly imagine he was the same person as his childhood self?
In the end, I never said a word about his past all the way until we finished the pizza and I left.

***

Thursday afternoon, one day before the semifinal match.
The Hockey Team players from Riverside School prepared for their away trip.
While the players arrived a day early to warm up in Chicago, the Cheerleading Team and regular students were scheduled to depart as reinforcements on Friday.
“Captain, how’s your hand?”
Randy, who had packed even backup equipment, tapped Aemerus on the shoulder and asked.
“It’s fine.”
Since I had never actually been injured in the first place, it was only natural.
I had only pretended to be hurt because I disliked Harry dating Jessie.
The Doctor who treated me must have figured it out long ago, but I was grateful he played along with the situation.
“Tyler, you should consider yourself lucky. Thank goodness Aemerus wasn’t seriously hurt.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m sorry.”
Tyler, who had been following behind, grumbled.
Having committed the sin of striking Aemerus’s wrist, he had been thoroughly chewed out by the players for a week and was thoroughly demoralized.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be good for team chemistry either.
Aemerus patted Tyler on the back to encourage him.
“It’s okay, Tyler. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Strictly speaking, it was Aemerus’s own fault for not deliberately avoiding the stick Tyler was swinging.
“No matter what anyone says, you’re our team’s best enforcer.”
An enforcer is a fighter on the ice.
They drive the match atmosphere roughly and don’t hesitate to fight the opposing team.
It was a position that suited Tyler, who was good at provocation, perfectly.
“Just do to the other team what you did to me.”
When Captain Aemerus took his side, Tyler quickly regained his spirits.
“What I did to you was just a taste. I’ll show those Chicago guys what I’m really made of.”
“If only that guy would swing his hockey stick even half as much as he runs his mouth, I’d have no complaints.”
I loaded luggage into the bus storage along with the sarcastic Randy.
Since there was still time before departure, I didn’t board the bus immediately and instead enjoyed the sunshine outside.
“Speaking of which, did you all see this?”
Randy, the most talkative among the players, held out his phone and showed a short video.
“What is this?”
“The Eye Contact Challenge. When multiple people turn to look at you simultaneously, you’re supposed to instinctively look at the person you like the most among them.”
“When was this video made? Is your hobby excavating online fossils?”
“But is this actually real? Somehow it sounds on the same level as saying our school principal is actually a Reptilian.”
“The principal really is a Reptilian. I saw it myself.”
“You’re insane. Here we go again.”
While the boys, now having found a topic of conversation, chattered away as they pleased, Aemerus quietly watched the video.
“I figured you’d definitely be interested in this.”
Randy grinned mischievously and linked arms with Aemerus.
“Want me to help?”
“Help with what?”
Aemerus furrowed his brow, but pretending indifference now was pointless.
Randy had already seen right through him.
‘A man in love is really easy to read.’
When it came to romance, I was one step ahead of Aemerus.
Randy made his proposal with a distinctly smug tone.
“Don’t you want to find out if Lili likes you?”
Aemerus’s body tensed at the mention of Harry’s name.
It was a reflexive reaction he couldn’t help.
‘The fact that he’s not telling me to stop saying pointless things means he secretly hopes it’s true, doesn’t it?’
Randy suppressed a laugh and gestured toward something.
“There she is now.”
Following his gaze, Harry stood in view.
In the early winter when the sun set sooner each day.
A girl shining beautifully like the world’s last remaining hope.
“Leave it to me.”
Randy patted Aemerus’s shoulder and pushed him forward.
While he quietly gathered other boys, Aemerus found himself face to face with Harry.
“You haven’t left yet? Thank goodness.”
“I have a moment. Did you come to see me off?”
“Not exactly… Here, take this.”
Seeing the wrist guard Harry held out, Aemerus nearly laughed aloud.
She had been so wary of him at first, but now she didn’t doubt him at all—it was endearing.
“I kept noticing you going around without wearing one.”
She had wavered about giving it to him until the very last moment before his departure.
“Thank you. I’ll use it well.”
The moment Aemerus put the guard on his right hand immediately, Harry looked flustered.
“I didn’t mean for you to put it on right now. You know wearing it for too long isn’t good for you, right?”
“Yeah, I know. Don’t worry.”
Only then did Harry relax and glance around.
“What was his name—Ricky? I don’t see him.”
“Oh, he’s sitting out this match.”
He must be embarrassed.
Harry let out a scoff.
In fact, the day after Ricky’s lies were exposed to Faye, he showed up at school with a large bruise on his face.
When the teacher was alarmed and asked what happened, he mumbled that he’d gotten injured during hockey practice.
When the teacher cross-checked with the hockey players, they gave vague answers of “probably.”
Because the hockey players had learned of Ricky’s actions and held it against him, none of them stepped forward to help him.
Thanks to that, Faye managed to avoid any punishment.
“Well, I should get going then. I came to give you this.”
Harry said goodbye with the relieved expression of someone who had finished a difficult assignment.
I wanted to hold her back, but I had no valid reason to do so.
All I could do was find solace in the familiar bracelet glimpsed between the sleeves of her coat.
The commemorative bracelet the three of us had gotten together in Canada—she still wore it faithfully.
Perhaps she simply liked the bracelet, but it didn’t matter to me.
It felt like a connection binding her and me together.
“Take care. Have a good date.”
The date that Aemerus had interrupted was ultimately rescheduled for tomorrow.
He waved his hand while speaking words he didn’t mean.
When it came to acting indifferent and composed, he was a master.
“You too. Good luck.”
Aemerus quietly watched Harry’s retreating figure.
Her hair had grown noticeably shorter, and the pale nape of her neck was visible between the lapels of her coat.
‘She should wear a scarf.’
If I could, I would have taken off my own scarf and given it to her.
I never thought I’d regret not wearing a scarf despite having naturally high body heat.
‘Maybe I should steal Randy’s.’
What reason would a guy have to wear both a scarf and gloves when it wasn’t even the depths of winter?
I was just about to act on that thought.
“Lili.”
Aemerus turned at the sound of Randy’s voice and his eyes met Harry’s.
Harry, who had naturally looked for Aemerus first, only belatedly realized that all the other boys were staring at her too, and she took a step back.
“What, what is it?”
“Nothing. I just called out to you. See you.”
“Did you do something weird?”
“I only called your name—why are you being so suspicious?”
Unable to find anything unusual except for Randy’s flaring nostrils and suspicious grin, Harry glared at him sharply before leaving.
As she departed, Randy waved toward her back and tapped Aemerus on the shoulder.
“Did you see that? Lili was only looking at you.”
It was true.
Even though Aemerus didn’t call her by the nickname Lili.
“Lili definitely likes you.”
I didn’t believe everything Randy showed me in that video.
But, but…
Aemerus, who had been lost in thought with his hand covering his mouth, spoke.
“Keep wearing the scarf.”
“Huh? The scarf? This is mine originally.”
Only Randy, unaware that he’d almost had his scarf stolen, looked puzzled.

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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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