Lily had been going after Cherry like crazy. Talking to her, and even flirting without crossing any lines but Cherry had been ignoring her for some reason, she didn't seem to be flustered by anything, more like she was trying to stop herself from falling for the younger. 

But nonetheless, it was making Lily anxious. Cherry was her best friend, even though years ago, things had changed. But she didn't think her actions that day would cause Cherry to grow so distant. Lily was still trying her best although it'd been a few days since Cherry had been trying to avoid her.

Lily noticed Cherry with Del on a bench outside the university building, talking. The sunlight shone directly onto their figures, making them shine even more than they usually did. She decided to go up to them, raising her hand. 

"Phi Del!" She yelled and waved to Cherry and Del.

"Hey, Lily. Come sit with us." Del waved back to her and raised her hand to invite her over.

Cherry's eyes widened as she watched her friend invite Lily. She'd rather be anywhere at that moment than with Lily and it was not because she hated her. Quite literally the opposite. "No!" Cherry whispered to Del, trying to block her hand down.

"What?'' Del didn't get why Cherry was acting like that.

Lily walked over with a smile and sat beside Cherry on the bench. 

Cherry looked around nervously for a few seconds before getting up and attempting to run away. "I need to go!" 

But Lily immediately grabbed her hand. "Where are you going, phi Cherry?" She asked, looking up at Cherry with big, pleading innocent eyes like a puppy. 

A look of helplessness shot its way through Cherry's face. "I..." She stopped midway and sat back down.

"So... What's up? For a long time, you didn't come to us," Del asked in a wondering tone.

"Well... Someone around here was avoiding me," Lily explained, giving a look at Cherry with the side of her eyes.

Del's eyes furrowed slightly as she glanced her her friend. "Who..." She got stopped by Cherry midway as she held Del's hand and dragged her away from the bench. 

Cherry have a fake smile to Lily and mumured. "We need to go, sorry na, Lily."
She dragged Del to a corner behind a tree.

"What happened? Why did you..." Before she could finish her sentence, Cherry closed her down by putting a finger on her mouth.

"Shhh... she can still hear us," Cherry whispered.

They both started to whisper.

"So... Is there anything you wanna tell me?" Dell asked, completely confused. She had barely ever known anything about Lily at all, just as much Cherry told her. But the rest was completely unknown to her. 

Cherry took a look beside the tree to see if Lily could hear them. Once she was confirmed, she began to speak. "A loot..." She paused. "Firstly, I know her..." Cherry confessed, her face showing a mix on desperation and vulnerability. 

Del's eyes widened slightly. "What? Who is she?" She asked curiously.

"She was my best friend in middle school..." Cherry murmured softly. 

Del raised an eyebrow in response.

"Lastly and most importantly... she likes me... like as more than a friend or a senior."

"Huh?" Del shouted out loud.

Cherry immediately covered Del's mouth with her hand. "Sshh... yes, but..."

"Do you like her?" They went back to whispering.

"I don't know. I can't trust her yet. What if she breaks my heart? What if..." Cherry's mature mind started overlapping.

"That depends on the future, Cher. You're overthinking it," Del pointed it out. "Is that why you're avoiding her?" Del asked, making sure.

"Umm... Kind of."

"Give her a chance, na. See if it works out or not."

"But... I'm not ready... You know I've never dated a girl!"

"So? It doesn't matter! As long as you like her, gender shouldn't be the problem. What's wrong with trying?"

"I... don't know. I just... have a really bad feeling about this."

"If you're not ready yet, that's fine. Just tell her that you're not ready. But if there's other reasons then... I can't help you with that."

"Yeah, there's those reasons as well."

"It's up to you, then. I won't stop you. Just be careful."

"So... I hate to say this. But I think I am gonna have to continue to avoid her. Help me with that na."

"Whatever you say now. It's your love life..." Del rolled her eyes. 

"Thank you.''

Del nodded in response.

(Time skip)

It'd been a month already. And Cherry had been avoiding Lily. But that wasn't helping at all. Things were getting even worse. Lily had been trying to win her over. But she didn't give a chance for her to do that. Lily didn't know that this was hurting her as well. The more they didn't talk, the more she ignored Lily..., the more she's hurt, the more their feelings grew, their desires grew. The distance between them made the connection stronger for some reason.

At that point, Lily had almost given up. But because of her friend's encouragement, she was getting back up and fighting.

(Time skip)

It'd been 4 months since Lily confessed. Lily was tired of that hide and seek game. She wanted to have a serious conversation about how they felt but Cherry hadn't been coming to uni for a week already. That time, even Jenny was telling her to move on.

On the other hand, Cherry had been feeling so under pressure about avoiding Lily that she got sick, really sick for 4 days, that's why she didn't come to uni. Even after she's fine, she wasn't coming to uni because she didn't want to meet Lily and go through the pain again. Del had been telling her to move on as well.

But you know, it's not an easy task. When you're truly in love, it takes even years of not seeing the person to finally move on. Now how could they move on when they saw each other every single day?

Another 2 days passed, Both of them crying, their lives falling apart.

Cherry finally decided to come to uni. She got scolded but she looked like she didn't care, she looked tired, her eyes had dark circles. Her exams were far ahead, so she definitely didn't spend her nights studying but crying. She was pale all day and gave Lily a look every time they crossed paths yet didn't dare to stop her path.

Once their classes finished, when Cherry went to the parking space in the back to pick her car and go back, she saw Lily standing there with a serious face, right in front of her car. 

Cherry told her to move and went to her car, opening the door but Lily grabbed her hand.

"Phi Cherry!" Her voice was broken. She sounded tired and done with all that.

Cherry brushed the younger's hand off and stayed silent, opening the door again.

"Phi CHER!" This time she yelled. No one else was in the parking lot. Her voice echoed through the lot and Cherry's ears.

"Please talk to me!" A tear fell from her eyes. Cherry's cold looked gradually softened as she looked at her with confused eyes although she knew exactly what was going on.

"Can you just tell me why you're ignoring me? What did I do wrong? I'll fix it. I'll fix everything for you! Please come back into my life." Lily broke down in tears in front of Cherry.

"Lily..." Cherry murmured in a soft voice, slowly touching the other's face and wiping the tears away.

"Phi... Plea- please don't touch me! Do you have any idea how much this is hurting me? If I knew you would be like this, I'd have preferred you to reject me directly!" Lily complained while sobbing.

''Lily, this is the best solution for us," Cherry said with her hands brushing Lily's hair, bending down at Lily's chin.

"No, it's not, Phi. You... You're just running away from the problem!" Lily's crying got louder. "You didn't tell me anything! You didn't give me any answer! You didn't let me win you over! All you did was run away!" Lily was crying and sobbing while looking down.

Cherry lifted her face to lock her eyes into Lily's. She brushed off her tears. She patted and brushed her hand on Lily's hair, rubbed her cheek and waited until Lily calmed down to finally speak up.

"Lily, dear, I know you're hurt. And I am very sorry! You're not the only one hurt. It hurt me as well to ignore you like that as if I didn't care. But..."

"But what phi? Can you just tell me you don't like me and get it over with? So I'll be able to get out of this hell I've been going through!" Lily said, still crying as if a waterfall had just burst inside her mind.

"I like you, Lily! I really do! And eventually... I love you, my love for you has grown way more than just like! But... I can't do this!"

"Why, phi? Why can't you?"

Cherry came closer to Lily, brushed her wet hair that had been wet from the tears and sweat of her face, ran her hand over Lily's cheek, touched all over her soft face and then dragged her into a hug "I am sorry, Lily! I'm sorry that I wasn't brave enough to go up to you." Lily hugged her back, The waterfall still flowing.

Once their bodies detached. Cherry leaned in and landed a soft and tender kiss on Lily's lips. The kiss lasted a few seconds, both of their eyes were closed. Lily was too shocked to kiss back at the moment. She felt butterflies in her stomach but was still mad at Cherry for getting her through that.

"Lily, I love you! But..." She got cut again.

"Phi, I know you've been hurt by love many times, but I promise I'd never let go of your hands. I'll never hurt you! Please keep my request. Please be..." Lily stopped talking when Cherry put her index finger on her mouth.

Cherry took a deep breath, held her head and started thinking, closing her eyes.

Lily tried to speak up but the other's finger was still on her mouth.

Cherry walked around a bit in tension while Lily just stood there.

After a few seconds, she stopped walking around, stood still in front of Lily, took another deep breath and kissed Lily again. This time, Lily was still shook but the kiss was longer so Lily kissed back dragging their hands on each other's necks, they shared a passionate yet tender kiss. Cherry slowly pulled back and finally spoke up, "Fuck it! I'll be your girlfriend."

The happiness and shock in Lily's face was just priceless. Her eyes got wide followed by her smile.

"I know this is going to be hard, and we'll face a lot of problems. Many problems you don't even know about but it's fine.''

Lily's smile got even wider. But now her smile turned into a cheeky smile. She again leaned in for a kiss. Cherry was shocked by the sudden dominance but she went along. Now this time, their kiss was so hot and passionate that they lost their breath. They pulled out of the kiss and tried catching their breath, panting.

Cherry was still shocked... "What was that?" She asked while still panting.

"That was the trailer. The movie is gonna develop little by little." Lily smirked.

"Where did that come from? I didn't know this side of you existed." Cherry squinted her eyebrows.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, phi!" Lily smiled.

Cherry raised her eyebrow and laughed.

"Let me give you a ride home." Cherry smiled and said.

"Are you sure, phi? You won't change your mind na?'' Lily said, smiling.

"I am! I know I hurt you very much but that was necessary," Cherry said, intertwined her fingers in Lily's and went inside the car finally smiling.

To Be Continued.....

A/n: They're finally together but what do you think was the main reason of Cherry avoiding Lily at first? What was she scared of?