The question seemed to surprise her, with her eyebrows shooting upward.
“Oh I mean, isn’t it every girl’s dream to be seen the way Harry saw Sally? To be loved in details, to be loved in all thosesmall moments added up? I’d say his love confession ranks pretty high in my cards.”
Nina kept her eyes focused on his face, and he wondered if she could read his thoughts.
Thoughts that involved figuring out whether Nina wanted to be asked out spontaneously or romantically. Someone like her, who always carried a romance book in high school, would want something grand, wouldn’t she?
Seth didn’t know if he could do grand. Or romantic. Maybe she’d prefer something simple, but meaningful.
She nudged him, breaking him from his thoughts.
“Why do you ask? Are you planning to grandly confess your love to someone?” she laughed a little, but Seth’s cheeks deepened, breath quickening, stricken by the sudden fear that his cover had been blown.
“I couldn’t ever be capable of it,” he retorted, and it was only half-true. For Nina, he could be willing, but would he really be able to pull it off?
“Don’t sell yourself short, Seth. I think you’re more capable than you think.”
At lunch break, Seth caught Jae at the food court of the university campus. Upon spotting him, Jae clasped his hands around Seth’s shoulders.
“Are you nervous?”
He was terrified, but Jae didn’t need to know that. Seth shrugged, as if to say,nothing I haven’t done before.
“The sooner I tell her my feelings, the better I’ll feel,” Seth said.
“And if she doesn’t return them?”
That possibility is one Seth didn’t want to focus on. Or prepare for.
“Then I move on with my life,” Seth responded, plainly.
Even if Nina didn’t return his feelings, it wouldn’t need to be the end of the world. Seth would move on. He and Nina could talk normally as friends. Maybe they’d drift, and this was just a momentary phase.
But, as much as he could, Seth didn’t want to dwell on that.
Diverting the conversation, Seth asked Jae about Anya. It’s going well for them, Jae said. There’s clear interest on both parties, but Jae was a little more conservative. He wanted to court Anya, win her over with traditional means of dates and presents, before they both committed.
Seth never thought that as an option in his head. Courting, as Jae called it, never crossed his mind.
He’s unsure whether his parents ever courted each other.
They met in high school, and married in their first year of university. Then came the separation. Still, the concept fascinated Seth. Would Nina like that?
Afterward, they quickly got distracted over the news that a really popular gaming company was exposed in a controversial mass-layoff, due to unethical practices in the workplace.
One of the most important things that Seth gained from his course was his shift in where he wanted to work. No longer did he want to work for the big-big names, at least not right now. From all the indie teams that’d come in to present, to his time at the internship, he’s grown an appreciation for the smaller, independent companies that poured everything into their projects.
It was the same passion that reminded him of Nina, too. A passion that he wanted to feel.
The minutes ticked by slowly, until it was 3 pm, signalling the end of his day. As he stepped out of his last classroom, every nerve on his body rose prolifically. Conversations around himmerged into a blur, and Seth’s mind could only focus on one thing.
Nina.
What would he say?
Should he just say it outright?I have feelings for you.
Should he offer her some sort of explanation?I know it’s been four years and we only reconnected like almost a month ago and I’m sorry it took long, but I like you now and want to take you out on a real date.
