Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 2 - Chapter 3.5

Chapter 3.5: A Long Phone Call between Runa and Nicole

“Nicole, congrats on getting off work!”

“Oh, Runa. How was the beach? Shame about that typhoon.”

“Yeah, tell me about it! It was fun, though. And I got to sleep holding Ryuto’s hand.”

“Yeah, you told me over LINE. He’s really something, that guy.”

“He’s earnest, so.”

“Yeah, I’ll give him that, if nothing else. But there’s no guarantee even an earnest guy won’t cheat, y’know?”

“Mm... Maybe, but Ryuto’s still ‘the last man.’”

“Huh? What’s that, a movie? Something from The Revengers?”

“Heh heh. Anyway, what I mean is I’m not worried about Ryuto.”

“You’re just saying that. Aren’t you worried until you get past the two-month mark?”

“...Yeah. I wonder why.”

“Isn’t that because of your dad?”

“...Mm-hmm. Ever since I was little, my mom told me that there weren’t any guys who didn’t cheat and that girls had to put up with it. Those words stuck with me ever since then.”

“But your mom finally couldn’t put up with it and left, right?”

“Mm-hmm... I think my dad really loved my mom more than anyone, though.”

“Whaaat? Then why’d he cheat? My dad’s like that too, though. Is sex with other women so good you’d be okay with hurting the one you love just to do it?”

“...I dunno.”

“I don’t even wanna know. And there’s no need to.”

“...When I dated my previous boyfriends, I always had that thought in the back of my head from the start. That they might cheat on me.”

“That’s why I always told you that when you started seeing somebody. But you wanted to believe them.”

“Yeah. I wanted to believe, and then I got betrayed... But because it was just as I’d expected, I guess that in some way, I was satisfied with that outcome... It was a level of shock I could deal with, even if only a little.”

“You still cried a lot, Runa...”

“Yeah... But some part of me trusts Ryuto from the bottom of my heart. I think that’s why it’s scary...”

“You mean if, somehow, he does cheat on you?”

“Mm-hmm... I wonder if I’ll be able to bear it when it happens... Though I’m sure that of all people, Ryuto would never.”

“Yeah. Well, time’ll take care of that. You’ll be smiling when you look back on it a month from now, thinking how there really was no need to worry.”

“Yeah. I’m sure it’ll be like that.”

Runa’s phone, currently on speaker mode, sat on her bed. She looked at it with a smile on her face. Its case matched the one on her loved one’s phone, and she happily narrowed her eyes as she gazed at it.