Chapter XXVIII

A few days passed.

Their school bank holidays began and them, beginning school again was not too far away.

It was the 2nd of April. A very well known, annual, traditional day in Briella's and Ryan's city.

That evening was when the Cherry Blossom Fest was to have taken place.

Due to this festive celebration, Ryan invited Briella to go with him. The festival took place in the park, where Briella and Ryan went only a few days prior.

Both Briella and Ryan walked down the pathway, which was lit up by the streetlights.

Compared to a few days ago, the streets were thriving with people. They walked on and off the main path, in order to visit everything the festival had to offer.

With there being more people, there were many stalls present. Some of them were settled by the main sidewalk, beneath the cherry trees. But most were in the park centre.

The smell of sugary confectionery filled the cheerful air.

Kids ran around with cotton candy, caramel-coated or chocolate-coated apples, chasing each other.

Quite often, both Briella and Ryan found themselves apologising, asking for space to pass through. Only when they walked into a less crowded area did Briella allow herself to comment, "This really feels like you asked me out of a date or something...".

She looked around, only to eye a couple swallowing themselves, beneath a cherry blossom. Blushing with embarrassment, she looked away.

"Dare I remind you that we are not in THAT sort of a relationship...".

She was about to reply when she stumbled upon his words. Hearing such a thing from him... though she said that she didn't want anything to do with Ryan... for some reason, his words brought her pain. The fact that he said that brought her pain. 'N-not in that sort of a relationship?...'.

But what she didn't know was that Ryan's words left a negative effect on him too. They left a foul aftertaste in his mouth.

"Is that hesitation I sense?" Ryan's voice ejected her out of her thoughts.

"Hm? W-what?...". She crossed her brows at him. "Since when do you know what hesitation feels like???".

He turned his head and looked at her, a small smirk present on his lips. "Experience...".

'Right... let me guess... because he's an author?'.

From there, quiet ruled between Briella and Ryan. Their conversation was to be replaced with joyous screams of children and jolly laughter that came from everyone.

The closer they got to the park centre, the stronger the smell of the street food became.

Posters were hung up, they were notices for the firework display, and how they were to take place later on that night. The notice also included places from where the fireworks could be seen the best.

Near enough to the city centre was when Briella found herself alone.

"Ryan? R-Ryan?..." she called out her name.

'I swear he was right behind me not even a second ago. Where did he go!?' Briella thought to herself, whilst looking around. It didn't help for the fact that there were so many people present. She couldn't see him anywhere.

Then...

"Briella?" she felt a wave of relief when she heard a familiar voice call out her name. It was Ryan.

She turned around to where she heard his voice boom from. There, she found him.

He was standing a few meters away from her, with a brown bag in his left hand. He approached her.

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd get this far ahead. I wanted to pick up a quick sweet or two. I bought these for both you and me. Want one?". He offered her the contents in the back.

Glancing inside, she saw balls of candy. They were all decorated in different stripes, which themselves were different colours.

But she looked up at him and furrowed her brows sympathetically. "F-for me? You really didn't have to, Ryan. You know that?...".

"You know, your words come with an extreme sense of futility right now. Mainly because of the fact that I just purchased these...".

At first, her face becomes emotionless, then she raised an eyebrow. "..... Fine...". From there, she dug her hand into the brown bag before taking a handful of the stripped, colourful sweets.

---------

They walked further, amid the crowd, visiting a few stalls here and there before reaching the park centre.

It was filled with people, but - to their surprise - it wasn't as busy as they thought it would be.

From them entering the park, they turned right and walked from the plaza, into another pathway.

They continued walking for a few more minutes before they both found themselves by a barrier. A fence.

On the other side was the big river. Ships upon ships and cruisers upon cruisers that sailed the river made the body of moving water look very lively.

The sun was setting, it was noticeably darker than when they first left for the festival. But still, the sunlight present left a beautiful effect on the clouds.

It caused them to glow with a beautiful, pinky-orange glow. And just like the boats adjacent from them, the clouds too sailed from one side of the sky to the other.

The atmosphere itself was a mixture of its own colours. Which ranged from yellow, located closest to the sun, before transforming into a few shades of green before trailing off to a dark, deep blue where the moon was seen rising.

Then, a rush of a weakened gust of wind gently blew through the April festival. In turn, the wind carried a few cherry blossom petals from their trees within it.

Some landed on the ground around both Ryan and Briella. While most of them were carried on beyond, beyond where they ended up taking their place on the surface of the water that moved in gentle waves.

"What did you mean when you told me that I was worth your time?" Briella broke the deafening silence between them both.

At first, Ryan replied looking away from the river and into her eyes. "It just means that you are worth my time... that's all.".

"Huh?..." Briella replied. Her brows furrowed in confusion.

It was this reaction of hers that caused Ryan to chuckle. Then, he straightened his face. From there, they both looked into each other's eyes.

Again, Briella noticed that flood of emotions in his eyes. It caused her to feel something too.

"You know..." he began but stopped. He took a deep breath. "Follow me...". With that, he took her hand. This action of his reminded her of the exact same thing he did on New Year. He told her to follow him, and then took her hand.

"W-where are we going?" she asked him.

"You'll see!" he replied.

"But... wait... we might miss the fireworks!".

It was these words that caused Ryan to stop. He turned around and faced Briella. A small smile appeared on his lips. "Don't worry. We won't. If anything, the place where I want us to go has one of the best views for the firework display.".

'I managed to squeeze in a second to read through the poster about the firework display that's meant to happen very soon. The Cherry Blossom Park. It was listed amongst one of the best places to watch the fireworks from.'.

Briella widened her eyes when they reached Ryan's desired destination. Right by a beautiful cherry blossom.

"The Cherry Blossom Park..." Briella muttered under her breath. She looked around herself only to see what more and more people are gathering beside them.

Taking out her phone, she checked the time. 8:56 PM.

"It's meant to start very soon..." Ryan voiced.

"Yah...".

For the minutes that followed, murmurs from everyone around them filled the air.

Then, around them, all the lights dimmed. With that, a wave of cheer travelled through the park.

"It's about to begin..." Ryan whispered to Briella, stepping that but closer to Briella without her notice. "Are you excited?".

"Yeah, yeah I am. I love fireworks.".

With that, the very first dot of fire launched into the sky, a loud scream following it. And then...

BOOM!!!

A vibrant explosion of colour painted the sky.

Straight after, more and more fireworks were launched into the darkening atmosphere, each exploding in its own, vibrant colour.

The show lasted for a few minutes as the last of the fireworks were launched into the sky.

But while all this was happening, and while Briella was mesmerised by the beauty of the fireworks, Ryan took his time to - once more - admire the girl who stood beside him.

'Nothing changed since the last time we watch the fireworks together, eh?... Well, maybe one thing did...' he thought to himself. 'Compared to then, now you are that bit dearer to me...'.

A pause.

'And I want you to know that, Briella... I want you to know what you mean to me.'. He kept his eyes on her as he swallowed whatever was in his mouth. "Tonight... tonight..." he murmured very quietly. He was grateful for the fireworks because not even he could have heard his voice.

Then a few moments later, he too proceeded on looking back at the fireworks until everything quietened down.

The brightening of the lights around them signalled that the fireworks were over.

From there, the people that were around them began to walk away. They headed back to doing what they did before the fireworks started.

"Wow... that truly was beautiful..." Briella spoke. 'Last year... last year I missed them...'.

From there, she turned around and looked up at Ryan. A smile stretched on her lips. "Thank you, Ryan. Thank you so much.".

He nodded at her words.

"W-wait, Briella!" he said as he saw that she was about to walk away.

His voice caused her to lock back at him. "Yes? Is everything okay.".

He nodded before closing his eyes. "P-please, wait...".

"Okay?...".

He then swallowed down whatever was in his mouth before clearing his throat. "There is something that I want to tell you. Something that you should know, Briella.".

"Yes?" she replied, listening to him. Fear began to swirl in the pit of her stomach when she noticed a strange emotion on his face.

"I have come to a realisation, Briella...".

"A-a realisation???... Okay, go ahead.".

He took another deep breath. "Though our fight pissed me off. It did make me realise something. It made me realise that if I was to choose to fight with someone again, without a doubt, I'd choose you, Briella.".

Briella bits her lip and crosses her eyebrows in confusion. "I... I don't think I understand, Ryan. What is that supposed to mean?".

"It means that I...". He stopped himself before looking into her eyes. "B-Briella... I... I...". He can't get himself to speak.

She saw him try to make another attempt to say something, but he ended up sealing his mouth shut.

"R-Ryan?... Is everything okay?...".

He closed his eyes for a brief moment. Then took in a deep breath before trying again...

"Briella... I'm sorry...".

"For what?... what are you apologising for?".

"I-I'm sorry, because... because I think I love you...".

A pause.

"I-I love you, Briella.".