Aiko's room was quiet except for the soft scratch of pencils on paper and the occasional shuffle of notebooks. Her desk was a cluttered mess of math problems, notes, and a half-eaten cupcake—leftovers from the festival.
Ren sat beside her, helping her tackle a particularly tricky algebra problem. His calm presence always made her nervous and excited at the same time.
"Okay, so if we move this term over here…" Ren explained patiently, pointing to her notebook.
Aiko nodded, trying to follow along, her mind partly on the problem and partly on how close he was. Their elbows brushed briefly, and she froze.
"Oh! Sorry!" she exclaimed, flustered, pulling back slightly.
Ren chuckled softly. "No need to apologize."
She looked up, cheeks pink, and noticed the small smile on his face—the kind that made her heart skip. She tried to focus on the math problem, but every so often her eyes wandered to his hand, which moved gracefully across the page as he wrote out the solution.
At one point, Aiko reached for her eraser at the same time as Ren. Their hands touched again, lingering just a moment longer than necessary. A tiny spark of electricity ran through her, and she quickly pulled back, embarrassed.
Ren looked at her, eyes soft. "You don't have to be so nervous, Aiko."
"I-I'm not nervous!" she blurted out, even though her heart was pounding.
He smirked faintly. "Sure you're not."
They laughed, a quiet, shared moment that felt almost like a secret between them. It was simple, innocent, yet it left a warmth in both their chests—a small but significant step in their slowly blossoming romance.
By the time the homework was finished, Aiko felt a sense of calm happiness. It wasn't just about completing the problems—it was about being with him, sharing moments that were ordinary to the world but extraordinary to her heart.
As Ren packed up to leave, he looked at her with that same soft, gentle expression. "See you tomorrow?"
Aiko nodded, smiling widely. "Yeah… see you tomorrow."
And as she watched him walk down the hallway, she realized that these little, accidental touches—these quiet moments—were starting to feel like the most important parts of her day.