Chapter 134
Side Story Chapter 5
‘I like Ruth.’
I like Ruth. I tried my best to ignore it until now, but it was actually a feeling I had been harboring in my heart for quite some time.
Of course, it was really a friendship at first. It was nice to have a friend for the first time.
However, as time passed, I began to see Ruth as the opposite sex, and he seemed different from before.
I wasn’t sure if this was love, but at least I knew it was a more intense and overwhelming feeling than friendship.
But I didn’t want to reveal it to Ruth. It was because I felt like if I expressed my feelings to him without hesitation and got a negative response from him, I would be so sad that I wouldn’t be able to bear it.
Because I’d rather be Ruth’s first friend than not being able to be friends at all.
So, let’s just act like nothing happened. So that we can continue to interact with each other like Denoa and Adelhard.
If only I could get my mind right, everything would be perfect.
That’s what I convinced myself.
So, if I just endure it now…
It was when Aria was barely able to pull herself.
“Aria.”
Ruth called her name in a low voice. His expression looking at Aria was quite different from usual.
He always looked at her with affectionate eyes, but now he had even more passionate feelings in those red eyes.
Aria, unconsciously captivated by those eyes, swallowed her dry saliva. Her mouth was dry and her heart was beating fast.
At the same time, a certain hope settled in her heart.
A hope that maybe Ruth felt the same way she did.
“Actually, I…”
“No, I don’t want to hear it .”
However, Aria quickly covered Ruth’s mouth with both hands as he tried to say something.
I wasn’t mentally prepared. I didn’t think I could bear it if I got a negative answer just by chance.
Ruth blinked his eyes slowly as if asking what’s wrong .
“I don’t want to hear it.”
Suddenly, the corners of Aria’s eyes were moist.
“Let’s just stay like this. Like we’ve always been.”
“……”
“I just like it the way it is, Ruth.”
Then, Ruth gently removed her hand. His touch was certainly gentle, but Aria could not withstand his strength.
“I don’t want to, Aria.”
Aria’s heart dropped to her stomach at the firm words.
“I don’t want to be friends with you anymore.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Yes.”
Ruth gently kissed Aria’s trembling palm.
“I like you, Aria.”
“……!”
Aria couldn’t quite understand what Ruth was saying now.
“I’ve liked you for a long time. You have no idea how anxious I was every time I saw you get a confession from another man .”
“You lie…”
“Why do you think it’s a lie?”
“You’ve never shown anything like that until now, and you’re kind to other kids too…”
“Ever since I was young, my mother emphasized that I should be a kind person to everyone. To look up to my dad, but not to take on his personality.”
It was something Aria had heard before. Evelia loved and respected Cassis, but had often complained about his personality.
“I just treated them kindly as people, but I never treated them more than that.”
In fact, girls who were rejected by Ruth said that his firm refusal attitude was not like his usual attitude.
“Then why didn’t you show anything until now?”
“I tried to show off in my own way, but maybe it wasn’t enough…”
Ruth scratched his cheek in embarrassment.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner!”
“I wanted to formally confess to you when I graduate. Since I’m still a student right now, I didn’t want to confuse you, and Sir Denoa…”
“My brother?”
“He even said absolutely not until you become an adult….”
“What does my brother have to do with our affairs!”
“No, but Sir Denoa is your older brother…”
At that time, tears welled up in Aria’s eyes. Ruth, who discovered it, quickly apologized.
“I’m sorry. Because I didn’t say it sooner. As you said, no matter what Sir Denoa said, I had to express my feelings honestly….”
“You were bad.”
“Yes, I was bad. It was all my fault. So don’t cry, Aria.”
“I, you don’t know… … .”
Aria eventually cried out loud and hugged Ruth’s neck tightly.
“If you like me, just say you like me, why are you saying you don’t want to be friends again? Do you know how surprised I am?”
“I’m sorry about that too. I made a mistake.”
“Why are you apologizing again? It seems like I’m the only one who is bad.”
“I’m sorry, no, I didn’t apologize just now…”
Ruth didn’t know what to do, so he stretched out his arms in the air and froze, then hugged Aria tightly. He patted her head and back and waited for her to calm down.
When the sobs had died down completely, Ruth spoke again.
“I like you a lot, Aria, and I’ve liked you for a long time.”
“…….”
“You? How about you?”
“Why are you asking again?”
Aria pulled out of his arms and rubbed her wet cheeks hard. Ruth told her not to do that and patted her cheek with a handkerchief to wipe away her tears.
Aria mumbled as he bent his knees and looked into his, who was at eye level with her.
“… Yes.”
“What?”
“I like you too.”
Then she kissed Ruth on the lips.
It was the moment they went from longtime friends to lovers.
*****
“Brother!”
As soon as Ruth got off the carriage, Sylvia came running. Edwin, the youngest member of the Adelhard family, quickly followed behind her.
“Brother!”
Ruth opened his arms wide and hugged his two younger siblings at once.
My younger siblings, whom I saw for the first time in a few months, have grown taller.
The way it grew was just like the green sprouts in spring. Ruth was sad that he could only occasionally see his younger siblings growing up.
“You, little! how have you been doing?”
When Ruth kissed his younger siblings’ cheeks, the two children burst into laughter.
“I’ve been fine! How about brother?”
“I’m doing fine, too.”
As the three siblings briefly exchanged greetings, a warm voice resembling spring sunlight intervened.
“Ruth. How was your semester?”
Evelia’s face was visible beyond his two younger siblings .
She had such a young and beautiful face that it was hard to believe she was the mother of two children. It wasn’t much different from when Ruth first encountered her at the Adelhard Mansion 10 years ago.
Those sweet and warm eyes looking at him were the same as back then.
Ruth was very grateful for that. Because he could see now what he hadn’t seen when he was younger.
Whatever the circumstances, Ruth was not Evelia’s biological child.
Regardless of Cassis’s love for Julia and her determination to raise her son as her own, it was never easy for Evelia to raise Ruth as her own.
Nevertheless, Evelia did not show her displeasure even once. Even after the birth of his two younger siblings, she didn’t neglect him.
However, that doesn’t mean she was a very affectionate mother.
When it came to disciplining Ruth, she was stern.
Ironically, Ruth felt her love even more in that attitude. She seemed to be really doing it for him, when she could have just said something nice.
“Sylvia, Edwin. Wait for a sec.”
Ruth pulled his siblings apart for a moment and ran straight to Evelia.
“Mommy!”
Some people chuckled at Ruth’s attitude of calling Evelia “Mommy” no matter how old he was. They wondered if it was appropriate for an adopted child and the heir to the Duke of Adelhard’s to use that title.
But Evelia didn’t care at all.
There’s a time when Ruth, who was intimidated, called her ‘Mother’ , but instead she looked very heartbroken.
Although she didn’t say anything in particular, she seemed to think that Ruth was keeping his distance.
After trying hard to explain that he didn’t mean to do that, Ruth decided to use the title ‘Mommy’ for the rest of his life.
He didn’t care what anyone said, the most important thing was his and Evelia’s feelings.
“I missed you!”
Ruth was hugged by Evelia.
Rather than being hugged, she was buried because of his significantly taller height. It would have been more appropriate to say that he was hugging Evelia, but at this moment, Ruth felt like he had returned to being a seven-year-old child when he first met her.
Que lindo cara😭❤️❤️❤️