Aru’s desire to make Claudia happy turned out to be completely out of step with reality. As their relationship entered its second month, tiny cracks began to appear across what had once seemed like a perfect surface.
Claire was the first to notice the change.
As the Student Council secretary and the childhood friend who lived across the street, Claire was far too observant not to notice how the cheerful expression on Aru’s face was slowly fading. The boy who usually never seemed to run out of energy now spent more and more of his breaks staring into space.
“Claire, have you seen Aru?” Nana asked that afternoon in the Student Council office as she stacked evaluation folders on the desk.
Claire, who was busy typing up a financial report, looked up. “He said he was going to wait for you near the gate. What’s up, Na?”
“It’s… out on the basketball court.” Nana hesitated, then nodded toward the window. “Claudia canceled on him again. I accidentally overheard her talking to the cheerleaders on the phone. She said she was going to hang out with some kids from Garuda High School.”
Claire’s fingers froze over the keyboard. She let out a long breath and turned her gaze toward the window. Beneath the shade of the angsana tree near the school gate, Aru stood alone. He clutched the jacket he’d brought with him, staring at his phone with his back slightly hunched—a posture that made his disappointment painfully obvious.
“That’s the third time this week, right?” Nana murmured, unable to hide the sympathy in her voice. “Aru even rushed through his Student Council duty yesterday just so he could go out with her.”
“It’s none of our business, Na,” Claire replied softly, trying to shield her heart from being swept away by misplaced concern again. “That’s just the dynamic of their relationship.”
But Claire’s words lasted less than ten minutes. When she went down the stairs toward the motorcycle parking lot to head home, Aru was still standing in the same place—now sitting on a concrete bench beneath the angsana tree.
Claire walked slowly, intending to pass him without making a fuss. But the crunch of her sneakers over the gravel made Aru look up.
“Claire?” Aru called, his voice hoarse and slightly rough.
Claire stopped. Her gaze fell on Aru’s exhausted-looking face. Faint dark circles were beginning to frame his eyes, which were usually bright with playful mischief.
“You haven’t gone home yet, Aru?” Claire asked gently, unable to maintain the cold tone she usually practiced.
Aru gave her a faint smile—a tired smile he’d forced onto his face. He patted the empty space on the concrete bench beside him. “Sit with me for a minute, Claire. Just a minute.”
Claire hesitated, but eventually walked over and sat beside Aru, leaving a safe hand’s width between them. The cooling afternoon air drifted softly through the leaves of the angsana tree overhead.
“Claudia didn’t end up going with you?” Claire guessed bluntly.
Aru let out a short laugh, dry and bitter. “Is it that obvious? Yeah… she suddenly had plans with some old friends. She said it was something she’d promised last week and forgot to tell me about.”
“Oh,” Claire replied shortly. She didn’t want to judge Claudia in front of Aru, even though her blood boiled at the way the girl treated him as if his time and effort meant nothing.
“I’d already reserved the place she wanted yesterday afternoon,” Aru whispered, staring blankly at the deserted basketball court. “I even bought the cake she asked me to pick up last week. But… whatever. Maybe her friends really are more important.”
“Aru,” Claire called.
Aru turned to look at her.
“Have you tried talking things through with Claudia?” Claire asked, choosing to offer sensible advice instead of letting her emotions spill out. “I mean, communication is important in a relationship. If the way she keeps canceling on you without warning makes you uncomfortable, you need to tell her.”
Aru let out a heavy sigh and leaned his back against the tree trunk behind them. “I have, Claire. But every time I try to bring it up, she says I’m being childish and too protective. She says she needs some space to hang out with her own circle of friends.”
Aru squeezed his eyes shut and roughly rubbed his face with both hands. “I just want to be a priority sometimes, Claire. Is it wrong to want my girlfriend to make time for me, the way I always try to make time for her?”
Aru’s sincere question struck Claire right in the solar plexus. There was a painfully bitter irony to the situation. Aru was begging to be a priority to Claudia, a popular girl too busy with her own world to notice him—never realizing that right beside him was Claire, who had put him above everything else in her life for years.
You’re not wrong, Aru. You just chose the wrong person, Claire’s mind screamed. But the words remained tightly trapped behind her lips.
“You’re not wrong,” Claire said quietly but firmly, looking at Aru with complete honesty. “Your feelings are valid, Aru. It’s natural to feel disappointed when your efforts aren’t appreciated.”
Aru opened his eyes and gazed deeply at Claire. In the clear eyes behind her thin glasses, Aru found something he hadn’t received from Claudia lately: unconditional acceptance and a sense of safety.
“You’re the only one who always understands me, Claire,” Aru said, his voice trembling with warmth. Without realizing it, his hand reached for Claire’s fingers resting in her lap and clasped them tightly. “It’s always only you.”
The sudden warmth of Aru’s hand made Claire’s entire body go rigid. Her heart pounded so hard that her chest hurt. Jealousy toward Claudia, pity for Aru, and the pain of her own feelings churned together into a wave of emotion that tormented her.
Claire slowly pulled her hand from Aru’s grasp, then stood up from the concrete bench.
“Don’t compare us like that, Aru,” Claire said firmly, her voice trembling despite her best efforts to hide it. “Claudia is your girlfriend, and I’m only your friend. The two of you need to work out your problems yourselves—I mean, between you and Claudia. Don’t drag me into the middle of this.”
Aru stared up at her in stunned surprise, shocked by Claire’s sudden tension. “Claire, I didn’t mean—”
“I’m going home first, Aru. It’s getting late,” Claire cut in quickly, turning away before Aru could see the lenses of her glasses beginning to fog with tears ready to spill.
“Claire! Wait, I’ll walk you home!” Aru called, getting to his feet.
“Don’t!” Claire rejected him without looking back. She quickened her pace along the deserted school grounds, leaving Aru alone beneath the shade of the angsana tree.
With every step she took away from him, Claire realized her worst position in this relationship: she was beginning to be dragged into becoming the third wheel between Aru and Claudia. Not as a homewrecker, but as Aru’s emotional escape whenever he was hurt—a torturous role that was slowly crushing the remnants of her heart until nothing was left.
To be continued…