Love Is Hard For An Introvert

Hayashi Sakura would always remember that dreadful day where she first experienced her very first heartbreak in front of other people.

It happened two weeks before their scheduled graduation. The class of 4-A is having a class party of their own in a small resort a few minutes' drive from their school to somehow cherish the remaining days of being together.

As usual, Sakura was found standing next to her three-month boyfriend and St. Therese High's most popular heartthrob Yamamoto Ryuuji, along with his set of cool friends that other girls are so dying to have.

For Sakura, she felt as if she was some kind of a heroine in a romance book that she has read in the past. A nerd girl dating the most popular guy in school… just like in any romance book lover's dream.

And at that moment where Ryuuji first showed interest to an introverted girl such as herself, she momentarily believed that dreams, no matter how long you could accomplish it, do come true.

But little did this naive girl know that in that exact moment where she thought she could create one last set of beautiful memories together with the person she truly loved and cared about before they graduate in high school, Sakura's dreams would instantly be crushed into tiny, little pieces once she knows the truth behind Ryuuji's intentions in dating her.

It happened so fast. The heartbreak, that is. One moment, she was having fun as if she was having the time of her life, then the next thing she knew was that she was running away from that awful scene with tears continuously running through her cheeks.

When all was drunk after almost finishing all the drinks that some of the rich kids of their section purchased, some of Sakura's classmates went for the karaoke machine that they have rented for the day. A blonde guy was about to choose a song to sing when someone snatched the mic away from him at an incredible speed.

Someone who happens to be Jill Ascart, the meanest of the girls that Sakura encountered in St. Therese Academy.

"Listen, all of you!" she started bellowing on the mic, her voice being tipsy a bit.

Jill immediately caught everyone's attention, even the ones who are staying on the next cottage that they are not acquainted with.

But that did not stop Jill from doing what she hoped to do for the past three months. She had already withheld this for so long, and now… she wouldn't let this once-in-a-lifetime chance slip away through her fingers!

"Before this day ends, I want to tell you a secret… Something that I have been keeping for so long, three months to be exact," she smirked and suddenly snapped her head to look directly at the girl she considered as her enemy. Sakura almost flinched with this sudden action.

"Hey, stop that…"

One guy appeared out of the blue and tried to snatch the mic away from her, as if he knows what this girl is up to. However, Jill was fast enough to dodge his hand and proceeded with what she's planning to do all this time.

"You know what Sakura and Ryuuji's relationship is about?" she continued, smirking in the girl's direction.

That made Sakura's lips parted in astonishment, and confusion as well. She doesn't have a clue what she's about to say, but she already has a bad feeling about this.

"It's nothing but a ruse… A fake… All but a product of a bet that we've planned three months ago." Jill ended her statement with a sharp, throaty chuckle, one that felt good for her, but not for Sakura.

The latter stood there in shock, not knowing what to do at this moment. Jill could sometimes be a pain in her neck, she thought, but is she also the type where she has to lie just to get what she wants?

Sakura was already aware that Jill is busy batting her eyes at her boyfriend, as if she could snatch him away from her anytime soon. But she didn't think Jill could do something as horrible as this!

This is all a lie… was it? That's what Sakura wants to believe.

But the moment she turned around to face her boyfriend, it was then when she instantly felt her world torn apart.

"Jill, stop it already!" That same guy tried again for the second time to snatch the microphone away from the girl but failed once again.

"And you know what's even funny?" she continued, making sure everyone hears what she is about to say.

"The fact that Ryuuji is mine but I need to wait for goddamn hours just to be with him...because I know he was busy fulfilling the bet that we have planned." She said this with her face showing hurt and remorse at the same time.

"But now, since the three-month bet is up, I think it's the perfect time to call it quits, right… honey?" Now Jill is grinning in Ryuuji's direction, making sure that Sakura was able to see it.

"I said stop it!" That guy was finally successful snatching the mic away from the tipsy girl, looking irritated as ever.

"What, Ken? Don't act as if you're not a part of this gamble!" Jill lashed out at the guy who stole the mic away from her phone.

Ken? Mori Ken? Ryuuji's best friend?

Sakura's eyes, though it started to sting by now, kept on shifting from Jill's place, then to Ryuuji's, then back at the girl.

Sakura is fully-aware of Jill's feelings for her boyfriend… but…all the things she said just now… can't be true…

Right?

Having mustered some courage, Sakura swiftly turned to look at Ryuuji's face, and said this with all her might.

"Is it true? All the things that we have right now are nothing but a product of your childish games?"

Ryuuji kept silent, not knowing how to answer the girl. It then occurred to Sakura the painful truth. That Jill is not lying indeed.

"Answer me!" But she still demanded to hear the truth from this guy whom she let inside her heart willingly.

The people around them started throwing a sympathetic look in her direction. And she hated i.t.

Ryuuji, though a jerk in nature, deemed that Sakura deserves to know the whole truth. So he finally had the guts to look at the hurting girl and answered her question.

"Yes. It's all true--"

But he was then interrupted with a quick slap on his right cheek.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you!"

Sakura couldn't hold it any longer. Feeling that her tears would spill any time soon, she pushed her thick-framed glasses upwards and decided to run away from here and go home as soon as possible, than let this jerk and the audience see her crying like an idiot.

She had already shown this guy her weakness. Ryuuji didn't deserve to see her crying over him!

"What a loser." she heard Jill's minions snicker at her, but she only ignored it and left the place.

However, that night though, she almost spent the night crying for that bastard who literally crushed her heart. Ryuuji was Sakura's first love and the first guy whom she granted rare access to enter her introverted life.

And for what? Hurting her feelings? Letting her know that the world is indeed a cruel place for introverts like her?

Sakura blew her nose using a tissue for the last time before she threw it in the nearest trash bin and grabbed for her phone.

She then started on her mission in blocking her ex, changing her relationship status on Facebook, and deleting their photos in all of her social media accounts. It's a good thing though that they rarely take pictures every time they go on a date.

But it also dawned upon her why Ryuuji doesn't want to take a photo with her or tag him in any of their photos that she'll upload in her account.

Slowly, all the things that confused her made sense to her now.

"Ryuuji, you idiot!" she cursed as she took one last look at her ex's candid photo while eating ice cream.

"Die!" she sneered, finally deleting the last photo of him in her social media accounts.

Now she learns her lesson of not posting too many photos. If you happen to break apart, you would have trouble deleting all of those things.

Sakura heaved a sigh of relief when she was done deleting their photos and looked at her surroundings. Now, what would she do?

Since she couldn't sleep any time soon, Sakura then decided to do the thing that she hasn't been doing since she started dating that bastard.

She kept her introverted self to him and did everything that she can to change herself for her obviously extroverted boyfriend whom everyone adores that she forgot to be herself far longer than she thought.

And now that they are over, she would have the freedom to go back to her old ways.

A relieved smile slightly emerged from her lips when she was able to find the online community built for introverts like her known as Introvert Nation. Without having second thoughts now, she immediately logged in to her old account. Good thing she still remembers her password after three months of being on hiatus in this group.

After her old online friends gathered and flooded her with greetings on the public shoutbox after she made her first appearance, she felt like posting a forum thread on the site. And so she did.

…

-NekoNii-

Is love really hard for introverts like us?

…

Soon enough, her thread was then flooded with different replies from different kinds of strangers, stating their opinions on the matter. After all, she was used to being known as one of the famous bloggers on this site before she went into hiatus.

Sakura was nonchalantly scrolling down some replies when someone caught her attention. Because unlike other people replying directly to the thread, his or hers (she can never be sure of the gender when someone was only using aliases or nicknames for their usernames) was in the form of a direct message.

And unlike others, his or hers was not about imparting his or her knowledge about the subject. But a concerned message… for her.

"I hope you are doing alright by now. You seemed to be feeling down on your post." → was what the message says.

And when Sakura scanned for the sender's name, it says and she read it out loud.

"Sushi Roll…"