Before lying down in bed, Henry, who had been showering, abruptly turned off the water mid-rinse while washing the shampoo from his hair.
“What the hell does ‘you have plenty of leeway’ even mean?”
That one phrase wouldn’t leave his mind. Even when he tried not to think about it, his muttering kept echoing in his ears.
It was like turning off the lights to sleep, only for a mosquito to appear and buzz around near his ear—that kind of irritation.
He kept trying to figure out the intent behind those words. Even though he knew that if he couldn’t understand what was said, it was better not to dwell on it.
His chest felt stuffy. Henry roughly turned on the shower to rinse off the remaining foam from his hair.
Just as he finished showering and was putting on a t-shirt—
Click—
“Henry! You showering?”
Joseph’s energetic voice rang out. It seemed his club activities had just ended.
Henry recalled how Joseph had ignored his request for help earlier when Declan had ended up supporting him.
Henry quickly pulled down his t-shirt and flung the door open. Platts’ dormitory had a structure where the bathroom and entrance were right next to each other.
As a result, Joseph, who had been organizing his bag by the entrance, was startled by the door opening without warning and screamed.
“Ah! Ah, shit! You scared me! Say something before you come out. You know I just got in, why are you flinging the door open like that?”
“You.”
He glared sharply at Joseph. Water dripped from Henry’s not-quite-dry hair, wetting the floor with a drip, drip.
Joseph immediately caught on to why Henry was in a bad mood. He laughed while making exaggerated sounds.
“Ha, haha, ha… Hey, hey. But you got treated properly, right? He got you back to your room safely… Russell said so. Wasn’t it comfortable? He’s tall, at least.”
“When you know full well I hate that bastard?”
Henry’s eyes widened as he asked. Joseph was certain cold sweat must be running down his back.
“No. Hey! If I had supported you, we wouldn’t have made it ten steps before falling together. Then you would’ve gotten hurt more. I would’ve gotten hurt too. Rather than getting hurt more because of my support, it was the right choice to just leave it to Russell, wasn’t it? Huh?”
Henry pressed his lips tightly together. It always turned out like this whenever they talked about Joseph and Declan.
Henry thought that everything coming out of Joseph’s mouth right now was proof that I’m being unreasonably stubborn.
Henry Lowell becomes a fool when involved with Declan Russell. He makes choices he wouldn’t normally make and ends up spouting idiotic nonsense.
He wanted to ignore this fact, but he couldn’t when talking with Joseph. Because he knew better than anyone that Joseph was right.
“And. Isn’t it about time you two became friends? The day before yesterday, you even let him sleep at your house!”
“…Who told you that?”
“It’s already spread as a rumor.”
“Not in that much detail, though.”
Belatedly realizing this was also a topic Henry wouldn’t like, Joseph attempted to escape using the rumor as an excuse.
“David? Or Russell?”
However, Henry’s determination to interrogate him until he answered made Joseph eventually give in.
“Obviously David. You think that Russell guy would talk to me?”
“David did.”
“He… said it seemed like you two were getting along, so he was relieved. Said he could feel at ease, and he was happy about it.”
At Henry’s eyes demanding an explanation, Joseph obediently laid out the answer, while carefully gauging Henry’s reaction.
Henry knew he was worried about him. He also knew that Joseph supported his dreams and wished for things to go well for him.
They had known each other and watched over each other for a very long time, after all.
He also knew that the talk about becoming friends with Declan Russell came from a place of concern for him.
The quarterback and center, the core of the offense. If the two could achieve perfect coordination—
They might definitely be able to go further next year. Maybe they could even win the state championship.
So when there wasn’t even enough time to be friendly, yet they kept growling at each other and trying to fight—
For David, it must have been something said out of concern for him. Because he was a good person who always wished for Henry Lowell’s happiness.
Even so.
“……”
“Um, Henry? What? What’s wrong?”
Henry hung his head low. Flustered by the unexpected reaction, Joseph kept calling Henry’s name, asking if something had happened.
He couldn’t say it. It was a grievance he couldn’t tell anyone about.
At first, it was true that not liking Declan Russell was a matter of pride. However, back then, he at least had thoughts of trying to get along.
That thought completely disappeared because Declan Russell had stolen David’s role—not from anyone else, but from David.
He knew that the coach’s judgment—that he didn’t suit the center position well from the start—was right. He knew that the coach’s assessment that returning to his original position would be better for the team was also entirely correct.
However, just because he knew didn’t mean the regret disappeared instantly. That’s why he obsessed over it.
Since it was affection he couldn’t express anyway, he wanted to enjoy it just a little longer. Because he didn’t know how foolish it was and how it was eating away at him.
But now the time had come to put an end to that as well. Henry realized this more intensely than ever before.
Only now could Henry admit it—that what he had put forward was pointless stubbornness stemming from his feelings for David, and that it was excessively personal.
All the effort he had made felt useless. Thinking of himself until just recently—what he had done because of feelings he couldn’t even reveal—he felt utterly pathetic.
It was time to let go. Everything about David.
The current Henry Lowell had confidence he could do that.
Once he made the resolution, he felt strangely okay. Even though these were feelings he had clung to even after receiving the wedding invitation, unable to let go.
If I had known it would be this okay, I should have done this much sooner, he thought.
Because feelings aren’t something that can be cut off just because you decide to cut them off. He hadn’t tried because he thought it would be much more difficult.
Probably because the feelings were too old. Even the sprout that had formed was trampled and crushed, to the point where it no longer hurt even when cut away.
He was truly relieved that he hadn’t cried pathetically in front of Joseph.
Henry could feel at ease. He even burst into laughter while talking about David comfortably.
How long had it been since he could talk about him without being affected? He couldn’t even gauge it.
Henry praised himself—it seemed that after the day he received the wedding invitation, he had been organizing his feelings about David quite well.
“…That’s a relief. As long as I get along with that guy, I won’t have to get nagged by David after he graduates.”
“Huh? Huuh? R-right?”
Henry laughed refreshingly, hung the towel around his neck on a chair, and sat on the bed.
Joseph seemed somewhat flustered, yet he examined Henry’s expression. Henry was about to scold him, asking why he kept reading the room, but stopped.
Because he remembered Declan’s words that had troubled him until he heard David’s name from Joseph.
“Joseph. Let me ask you just one more thing.”
To Joseph, who had quieted down trying to assess the situation, Henry brought up the question that had filled his head until just moments ago.
“Uh, yeah. Sure. What is it?”
“What does ‘you have plenty of leeway’ mean?”
Joseph’s face crumpled at Henry’s words, which were difficult to understand easily.
“…You’re probably not asking because you really don’t know what it means.”
At Joseph’s words, Henry roughly nodded.
“Who said it and in what conversation?”
“Russell did. Earlier, when I only asked that George kid who tripped me if he was hurt and left it at that. He asked why I did that, so when I answered, he said that.”
At Henry’s words, Joseph’s expression became even stranger.
“He said that? To you? Why?”
“I don’t know either, that’s why I’m asking you.”
A stupid answer came back.
There are other people to ask. Realizing he had chosen the wrong person to ask, Henry shook his head and lay down on the bed.
He could hear Joseph, still standing near the entrance, muttering.
Strange. He didn’t seem like someone with that kind of personality problem. Does he really hate Henry? Things like that.
It wasn’t the kind of talk Henry wanted to hear, so unable to bear it, he opened his mouth again.
“Don’t stand annoyingly by the entrance saying useless things. Come sit down.”
At his words, Joseph grumbled continuously while walking to the bed and talking.
“I don’t think there’s any particular meaning…”
“Who knows. That bastard might be gloomier than you expect.”
“From what I saw, he wasn’t that kind of guy.”
Henry let out an empty laugh and turned to face the wall. It was a silent expression that it wasn’t worth listening to, but Joseph stubbornly said:
“Wasn’t he just being sarcastic? Because he hates you.”
