I stared at Kento, unable to understand the pain behind his words. "What do you mean?" I asked softly. He looked away, his jaw tightening as if he was fighting with himself. For once, there was no stupid smile on his face, no joke ready to escape from his mouth. There was only a tired man standing in front of me, trying desperately to hide how much he was hurting.
"Don't be soft with me," he said, his voice shaking slightly.
"Don't be that kind with me." I frowned and stepped closer.
"Why?" I asked.
Kento didn't answer.
I moved closer until I was standing directly in front of him. "Kento, look at me." He slowly raised his eyes. "But you are pure-hearted," I whispered. A painful smirk appeared on his face. "Pure?" he repeated. "I'm not pure at all."
I didn't understand what he meant. I lifted my hand and placed it gently against his chest. His heartbeat was fast beneath my palm. "You have always protected people," I said. "You make everyone laugh when they're scared.
You carry everyone's pain and pretend you're fine. How can you say you're not good?" Kento stared at my hand against his chest. His expression changed completely. "That's exactly why," he whispered. "Why?" His hand slowly rose and slipped into my hair. His fingers moved gently through it, almost as if he was afraid that even touching me was something he shouldn't be doing.
I looked into his eyes, and for a moment neither of us moved. Then Kento leaned closer. His lips touched mine. It was sudden, soft, and filled with everything he had been trying to hide. My eyes widened in shock, and for a heartbeat I couldn't move. I could feel the sadness behind the kiss, the hesitation, the years of grief he had carried behind his careless smile.
Kento pulled back only slightly, his forehead almost touching mine. His eyes were filled with regret and longing. "I'm obsessed with you, Amane," he whispered. "Despite the fact that you were my brother's wife." My heart stopped. "Kento…"
"I know," he whispered.
"I know how wrong this feels. I know who Akira was to you. I know what he meant to me. That's why I've been fighting myself every day." His fingers remained gently tangled in my hair. "I tried to see you only as Akira's love. I tried to treat you like family. I tried to convince myself that every feeling would disappear if I ignored it." He gave a broken little laugh.
"But it didn't." I stared at him, unable to find an answer. "I don't want to replace Akira," he continued. "I never could. And I don't want you to forget him. But every time I see you hurting, I want to protect you. Every time you smile, I want to be the reason you keep smiling. And every time you walk away from me, I feel like I want to follow you." His voice became quieter.
"That's why I called myself pathetic."
I slowly lowered my hand from his chest. Kento looked at me, waiting for anger, rejection, anything. But I couldn't give him an answer. Because I was confused. Akira was still in my heart. He always would be. Nothing could erase the love I had for him, and nothing Kento said could change that. Yet the man standing in front of me wasn't Akira. He was Kento.
The loud, ridiculous, kind-hearted man who had slowly become part of my life when I thought my heart had nothing left to give. And for the first time, I was afraid of what that realization might mean.