The captain's unrequited love

Genre: Romance

…

Dan was popular with the girls at his school. And of course he was more than aware of that.

He was tall, handsome and the captain of the volleyball team.

Who could blame him for thinking he was something very special?

Despite this, many did not know that he was still unhappy at heart. Because the girl he liked the most hardly noticed him.

The fact that this girl was the manager of his own team didn't really make it any better.

He'd tried everything possible to get her attention.

But his advances always came to nothing. As if she were immune to his charms.

He couldn't even make her jealous by dating or flirting with other pretty girls from school.

The other girls all fell at his feet. Just not her.

And that affected him tremendously.

He had known her since middle school.

They had never really been friends as they had always had different circles of friends.

But even then she had aroused his interest.

Just looking at her almost got him addicted:

Her long, dark hair that shimmered beautifully in the sunlight. Her alert eyes, scrutinizing and analyzing everything, like a cat's eyes. Her small, sweet hands, so delicate while holding even something as mundane as a pen. Her beautifully curved, full lips that invited you to kiss. Her long legs, reminiscent of a model...

Damn, he wanted to touch those legs. Buried his face between her thighs. He wanted to touch her soft skin. Cover her with kisses.

He wanted to see her cool, calculating expression give way to a nervous, flushed expression. He wanted to see her melt away beneath him. He wanted to make her knees tremble. Getting her to say his name. Over and over again.

Just for him.

She was so perfect it was amazing. As if she was made for him.

And her scent too...

She smelled pleasantly subtle, like fresh laundry. Not after those disgustingly sweet feminine deodorants or perfumes. It was a smell he always wanted around.

He had to pull himself together not to breathe deeply and happily whenever she passed him in the hallway or was near him.

She was like a drug he couldn't get rid of.

...

At the moment he was with his team in the sports hall.

They were just warming up for the first practice rounds when Mariko entered the hall as well.

For Dan, the whole world stopped for a short time at that moment.

In his mind he repeated her name:

Mariko... that name suited her.

The meaning of her name was smart girl. And she couldn't have been more accurate: she was top of the class, after all.

She was also intelligent. You could tell by looking at her.

Dan watched her jot down something on a clipboard with her nimble hand. Even when she was focused, she looked beautiful. She was-

"... Dan? Are you even listening to me?" Kite suddenly asked him, snapping him out of his trance.

"What?"

"My God, it's really getting hard to watch anymore. Just talk to her if you like her that much. She won't bite you." Kite said slightly annoyed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"It's not that simple... it has to be at the right time..." Dan tried to explain to him, but he even felt stupid doing it.

Actually, he was just afraid of getting rejected. He has never been rejected by a woman.

Quite the opposite in fact: mostly women were more likely to approach him.

"And when is the right time? It's your last year here at school. After that, you probably won't see her again. Do you want to wait until it's too late and she's already married to confess your love to her?" Kite said coldly.

"You can be really cruel, Kite." Dan said, slightly distressed.

"It is what it is. She certainly doesn't look like she's going to make the first move." Kite related his observation to him.

Dan just grunted sullenly at that.

He knew that himself!

The only thing that unsettled him was the amount of boys she had already turned down.

She didn't seem interested in romantic relationships, which is why she was sometimes referred to as the Ice Princess here at school.

She also didn't have many friends here that Dan could somehow get closer to her through. And with the team, she always used to have distanced conversations that related solely to volleyball.

She seemed unreachable to him.

Dan was really desperate.

He didn't know what to do. And normally he always knew what to do.