<div class="floatleft">(https://i.imgur.com/fgm5IMb.png)</div><strong>NAME:</strong>Mallory Minato<br/><strong>DAY:</strong>June 15th, 2021, 11:30AM<br/><strong>LOCATION:</strong>Yuki Katsura Bridal Store (Outlet)<br/><strong>TAGGING:</strong>Leasick<br/><strong>EXTRA:</strong>NO<br/><strong>WEARING:</strong>Club Dress (https://i.imgur.com/ERzFVhw.jpg)<br/><hr/><br/>“Hm?”  Mallory at first had given a confused hum, having been looking at her reflection for the moment, she hadn’t fully heard what Leasick had first said. Though as he moved closer towards her, the attention on the reflective surface suddenly shifted to the man standing next to her, feeling an arm wrap around her waist once more.<br/><br/>Wait... what was happening?<br/><br/>What had he just said?<br/><br/>A short gasp escaped her lips the moment she felt the young hybrid man hod, her close, before dipping her within his grasp. So surprised by the action, and the feeling of nearly being off her feet, her hands grasped the front of his coat, most likely wrinkling the article of clothing in question. “W-Wait a second...”  She was saying it more to herself than to Leasick, as her mind was running a mile a minute. Was this really happening? Was Leasick... confessing to her?<br/><br/>What was going on?!<br/><br/>Even as his words hit her ears, and a flush settled along her cheeks, she felt like time needed to stop in that very moment. He... wait, he wanted to be with her? As in more than coworkers, more than friends?<br/><br/>“L-Leasick...”  He pulled her back to her feet before making his final statement, and she couldn’t help but feel her heart beating fast; this was happening too fast for what she was expecting. It was out of nowhere, but even as Leasick looked at her with that sincere gaze, she couldn’t help but feel like her heart was breaking. Why... why was she feeling that way?<br/><br/>As she stared at the man that held her in his grasp, her mind began to turn, the gears in her head turning. Leasick was a man she had known for all but two years as of now. He was brave, headstrong, willing to fight, and had a good heart, even if he got into trouble or was a bit of a flirt. Laid back in his antics, he also held a side that not many got to see when she helped with his checkups; inquisitive, and at times, vulnerable to things around him.<br/><br/>His situation regarding his life and what he could do with it always weighed heavily in her mind, and she knew that he was a honest in his words.<br/><br/>Yet even as she looked at him, however, a solemn look began to fall along her features.<br/><br/>He was a man that had gotten on her nerves at times. Teasing about her work or never getting out, yet equally curious with what she did and how she was, he was a friend that she’d never thought she’d get to have in her life. Truly unique, and yet as she contemplated in those moments, she found herself only thinking that. Leasick was someone she could count on, someone she could trust when she was down.<br/><br/>He was one of the most dependable friends she could ever count on SOPHE, that she could trust... but that was all she had ever thought of him as; a dear friend.<br/><br/>“You’re really something, you know that?”  Even as her look was solemn, a smile was along her lips, hoping that she could take doing something like this to someone so honest with her. Her brown eyes looked back at the man, knowing that it wasn’t right to look away from him, not when he had poured his heart to her, confessed to her wholeheartedly.<br/><br/>It only made it that much harder.<br/><br/>“Thank you, Leasick. I mean it, really.”  As she gave a look of apology, regret began to come over her as she slowly but surely moved from his grasp, before her hands took his own, holding them gently. She wanted them to still be friends, to still be close to one another. “But... I...”  She didn’t need to explain the reasoning for why she was telling him no, because the answer had been teased at and joked about for some time by every one of their friends at SOPHE. The other who despite constantly saying they weren’t together, that they didn’t have feelings for one another, Mallory knew that for her, it was the exact opposite.<br/><br/>“I’m sorry.”  The apology was genuine, and as she looked at him, she hoped that he would still wish to be friends with her. As the two say for a few moments, together in their silence for what felt like an eternity, the door to the room opened, and there stood the one that Mallory had been thinking about just a few moments ago. The surprise on her face was all but apparent, mostly as she wasn’t sure how Kevin had found the two. Hearing him go along with the lie that Leasick and her and spun, however, was something she wasn’t expecting.<br/><br/>“Uh...yeah, we are.”  Her demeanor changed to hopefully reflect what she hadn’t shown to Leasick, to not give away any of what had happened between them to Kevin. Even if he accepted the rejection or not, she didn’t want Leasick’s vulnerability to be aired out in the open for anyone to see; to her, that wasn’t fair to him, after all that he had said and done.<br/><br/><div align="center"><strong>(Scene transitioning to Past Memories as of this Post)</strong></div>