Chapter 3.7

When Brienne had asked Herace to be her partner for the engagement ceremony, she thought her feelings were nothing more than a whim.

She just wanted to try it once. To attend a party with someone other than Kaiden or Shylo.

But it seemed it wasn’t such a simple reason after all. The moment she faced Kaiden and Melosi while escorted by Herace, Brienne realized what she truly wanted.

She wanted to stand tall in front of Kaiden. To show that she could be with another man, not just him. And to Melosi Bailey, to show that Kaiden wasn’t her whole world, as Melosi believed.

Sitting on a bench in the garden, Brienne fiddled with the coat draped over her shoulders. It was the coat Herace had wrapped around her before asking her to wait a moment.

‘…He gave me clothes again.’

Brienne smiled faintly and let out a sigh as she looked up at the sky. The sky, now growing dark, looked as lonely as her heart.

She really did end up meeting Kaiden. Perhaps it would be their last meeting. Once she thought of it that way, it was almost ridiculous how, even in such a situation, she still chased after Kaiden’s gaze.

In some ways, it was irresistible. Since childhood, ever since she realized she loved him, those ten years were not something that could easily crumble.

‘Still, I thought I’d be a little better off.’

Brienne gave a bitter smile and lowered her gaze. She had once thought she might love Kaiden forever, and it seemed that would indeed be the case.

That fact was so miserable, so miserable it made her feel unfair and angry, and no matter how much she tried to understand her own heart, she could not.

Just then, her eyes grew wet with tears. Footsteps came from the bushes behind the bench.

“…You’re already here.”

Brienne quickly wiped her tears and turned around. But in that moment, her breath caught. Following the familiar tips of his shoes upward, she saw a man who was entirely different from Herace.

“…Brienne.”

Kaiden took a step closer. The shadows from the bushes half-covered his face, which looked somehow tired.

“Looks like you were waiting for someone.”

He glanced at the man’s coat draped over Brienne’s shoulders. Brienne gripped the coat tightly, trying to hide her trembling hands.

Was I waiting for someone?

That question brought back her first meeting with Herace.

For some reason, a hollow laugh slipped between her lips. Why is it that, instead of the person she always waited for, someone else always came?

“Is it Herace?”

“……”

Brienne couldn’t answer, her lips pressed tightly together. Facing Kaiden, the feelings she had barely managed to suppress swelled up again, like cotton soaked in water.

“…Rien.”

Then Kaiden, in the gentle voice he used to use, called her by her nickname. That sweet name, used only between the two of them, brought tears to her eyes again.

“…Don’t call me that.”

Brienne bit her lip hard, forcing herself to speak dryly as she pressed down her emotions.

“Just go. Like you said, I’m waiting for someone.”

But when she said that, Kaiden gave a sad smile.

With those lips that had once spoken such sweet words,

“……Didn’t I say one man is enough for you—and that man is me?”

He whispered words that were painful and stinging.

He must be out of his mind. How could he say something like that so shamelessly unless he was crazy?

She’d thought he didn’t know how she felt. She’d thought maybe he just didn’t realize, and if so, maybe it was understandable.

But now it was clear.

Kaiden must have noticed her feelings long ago.

“…What?”

“‘Forever, always.’ I told you that, didn’t I?”

As soon as she realized that, resentment surged within her. As if bewitched, Brienne looked up and met Kaiden’s eyes. She didn’t feel embarrassed that her feelings had been found out, nor did she want to run away. It was closer to despair.

“You… how could you…”

Brienne’s voice trembled. In the meantime, Kaiden stepped out of the bushes and came right up to her. With a bitter smile, he asked in a low, tense voice,

“So, did you fall for Herace already?”

“Kaiden…! How could you say that?”

Brienne jumped to her feet. But what was this? Under the moonlight, Kaiden’s eyes were looking at her with desperate longing. The emotions in those dark blue eyes, wavering in the darkness, were puzzling.

“Well, it’s not like I asked just out of curiosity. Why do you think that is? You know me best, Brienne.”

“……”

It was a look she had never seen before. For a moment, it was enough to make her think she was mistaken. How much more pathetic could she become? Brienne gave a hollow laugh and looked up at him.

Just as tears welled up again at the gentle gaze she had always longed for—

“I don’t think this is the place for the main character of the engagement ceremony.”

Herace entered the garden, blocking Kaiden’s way. Kaiden let out a short laugh and glanced at Herace’s hand. It was a small plate filled with all sorts of desserts from the pre-ceremony party.

“…Right, Herace. You said you were curious about what Brienne likes.”

Kaiden reached smoothly for the plate. What he picked up was a sugar cookie that Brienne had disliked since she was a child.

“Looks like you still haven’t figured it out. Seeing as you just piled up everything without any sense of taste.”

Kaiden lifted the cookie for all to see and looked at Brienne. His blue-black hair, tinged with blue, fluttered lightly in the cool evening breeze.

With the same smile Brienne had always loved, he asked again,

“I’ll ask you one more time, Brienne. Have you decided to love Herace Belif?”

…Did she love Herace?

What did it matter now?

No matter what she answered, he would…

“How much could you know, when you’ve barely met?”

A sound, almost like a hollow laugh, escaped Kaiden’s lips. Thanks to that, Brienne managed to calm the emotions that had briefly surged inside her. Taking a shallow breath, she spoke calmly.

“…Yes, you’re right.”

At that moment, Herace’s gaze, which had wavered slightly, followed Brienne’s lips. Brienne looked into Herace’s deep eyes and gave a sad smile.

“Herace still doesn’t know me well. He doesn’t know what I like or dislike.”

Then she turned her gaze back to Kaiden. Looking straight at the face of her first love, who had been in all her memories, she said,

“But this much I know for sure. At least, he would never play with my feelings the way you do.”

With a more resolute voice than ever, and an expression she had never shown Kaiden before.

“…Kaiden, do you know what you really did wrong?”

Brienne recalled the lessons her father had always repeated.

Love is not something to be forced, but something to be waited for. If you wait and try, someday your sincerity will reach the other person.

He had said that was how he finally won the love of her mother, who had long been his friend.

But that day would never come.

Because Kaiden Bannon was never really her friend to begin with.

“You didn’t even respect me as a friend.”

Brienne’s light green eyes filled with tears. Kaiden, looking carefully into those eyes, let out a sigh. His face was as expressionless as ever. That look from before must have been her imagination after all.

“Rien, about that…”

“Don’t call me that…! You don’t even have the right. Aren’t you even sorry? Saying one man, you, should be enough for me, asking if I’ve already fallen for Herace. Instead of saying things like that, you should have apologized. No, before that, you should have at least told me you were getting engaged!”

“……”

“How much of a fool did you take me for….”

Brienne bit her lip hard, swallowing her sobs. It was the first time she’d ever poured out her emotions like this in front of Kaiden. How did it come to this? She really never wanted to show this side of herself.

Letting out a trembling breath, Brienne finally turned her back on Kaiden. If this was love, she could not hold on to this painful feeling any longer. No, she did not even want to.

That was the least she owed to herself.

“…Earlier, you asked if I liked Herace, didn’t you?”

Brienne gave a bitter smile and approached Herace. Then she looked up into his dark gray eyes, which were carefully watching her face.

Someday, maybe someday—

She might come to feel love for a man who looked at her with eyes like that.

So she had to make it clear, even now.

Whether it was blinded by jealousy or revenge.

“Thanks to you, I know now. I think I might like him. And one day… I might even love him more than you.”

So.

“We’re not even friends anymore, from now on.”

With determination, Brienne stood on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around Herace’s neck. Her soft lips brushed his, and even as they touched again and parted, she did not glance at Kaiden.

Brienne reached out her hand to the stunned Herace, just as he had always reached out to her.

“There’s an uninvited guest here. Shall we go?”

Her light green eyes were still full of tears, but at least Kaiden did not see them.

Her long and painful first love had ended.

From this moment on, the uninvited guest in their long relationship was not Herace, but Kaiden Bannon.