“I love you!”

Showing affection and giving compliments were things that came to Shun easily. After all, he loved his friends and family, so why shouldn’t he tell them?

“Your hair looks really nice today!”

“You were so cool at the soccer game yesterday!”

“Thanks for lending me those notes, love you!”

At first, Shun’s behaviour surprised everyone in the class. Was he being genuine? What did he want? When he confessed his love, did he mean it in that way? But, as the compliments and confessions continued, the class naturally adapted, accepting Shun’s compliments and love declarations with smiles and compliments of their own. However, despite the many compliments and love declarations that everyone in the class received, you were the only one who was left out.

It’s not that Shun was leaving you out on purpose.

Before class, he would try to greet you with a “Good morning, love!”, but his throat would close up as soon as he met your eyes. The greeting would fizzle out on the tip of his tongue before he could get his voice working again, and Shun would quickly turn back around in his seat, face burning.

If Shun noticed how nice your clothes looked on you—which he often did, instead of blurting out a compliment as he would’ve with anyone else, he would simply stare blankly at you. Eventually, his friends would snap him out of his daze, and he’d focus back onto them, unable to compliment you.

Shun didn’t understand why he couldn’t act the same around you as he did with everyone else. He loved you too, so why was he struggling to tell you?

When Valentine’s Day rolled around, Shun vowed to finally declare his love to you. He made chocolates for everyone else in the class, decorating your share with a special red bow. Heading to class the next day with a big bag of chocolate roses, Shun gifted everyone else their roses first. “I love you!” He exclaimed as he walked around the room, handing out chocolate roses with a wide grin on his face.

Soon, everyone had received their chocolate roses. Everyone except you. Looping back around to your desk, Shun’s momentum slowed. You looked back at him, surprised that he had chocolates for you. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Shun could already feel his face heating up. Fidgeting in place for a long moment, he suddenly thrust the chocolate rose towards you.

“H-here!” Shun stuttered out, gaze landing anywhere but on your face. Jaw working to force the words “I love you” out, he remained frozen in front of you, hands shaking. Silent and blushing furiously, Shun opted to press the rose into your hand instead. Then, he spun around on his heel, jerkily taking his seat.

Shun buried his face into his hand, despairing.

Why couldn't he do it? Why couldn't he say three simple words to you?