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In hindsight, Kohane should have realized how bad for her heart this entire photo shoot would be way before it even started.
“I get to see An-chan as a bride, so I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
If the Kohane from now could, she would turn back in time to tell her past self to prepare herself emotionally more because wow…
An looked…
Wow.
Beautiful? Gorgeous? Stunning? No, neither of those could fit, because they would all be understatements.
She would be lying if she said she didn’t picture in her mind how An would be looking since she heard of the photo shoot, but her imagination couldn’t even come close to comparing with the sight from in front of her right now.
The dress in itself was beautifully made, of course. The embroidery was complex, but not too over the top, it was perfect for a young bride. But Kohane knew for a fact that it couldn’t have looked better on any other person than An. Was she biased? Maybe, but as the room quite literally started lighting up and gaining more color once An entered, Kohane would have been ready to fight anyone who said otherwise.
Right now, she was stuck between trying her best to remember how to breathe properly once she saw An’s eyes scanning the room for her and shooting her the brightest smile once she found her, and feeling incredibly frustrated for not bringing her own camera to forever capture this moment in time for herself.
As much as Kohane wanted to approach An and talk with her, tell her how amazing she looked especially after An felt so self-conscious at first about wearing a dress, she knew she couldn’t as she had to focus on the photo shoot. So she set on giving her a smile in return, hoping that she could convey everything with just her eyes and the blush she knew she had on her face as she felt her cheeks burning.
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To no one’s surprise, the photo shoot turned out to be a great success, Shizuku and An together painting the perfect image of a prince and a princess from a fairy tale. Maybe that was why, for the last part of the photo shoot, it was decided they would have pictures taken of them while the pair was slow dancing together.
Everything looked terribly clumsy at first as An kept tripping on her dress, unused to dancing in this kind of attire, but once she caught her footing and her and Shizuku synchronized, Kohane could tell even without looking at the pictures that some of the most beautiful shots were taken during the dance.
They…looked good together. It was just a photo shoot, it meant nothing, Kohane knew that, but she couldn’t help but feel a slight pang in her heart at the sight. She couldn’t say she was a jealous person, her and An weren’t even dating despite what most people believed, but...it would have been nice if she was the one dancing with her.
As the last few shots were taken, and the person in charge of the photo shoot congratulated An and Shizuku for a job well done, Kohane noticed how An’s eyes kept drifting towards her. Once everything was wrapped up and the photographer wanted to pack things up, An stopped them. Kohane couldn’t hear what she told them, but she saw them throw a glance in her direction as well before smiling and nodding, making An’s face light up.
After saying something to Shizuku as well, making her smile before she approached Airi, An turned in her direction, walking towards her with the same bright smile she gave her once they saw each other in the room for the first time.
“I know this is kind of sudden, but...would you like to dance?” as An extended her hand in front of her, a slight blush coloring her cheeks, Kohane realized that what An did was ask the photographer if they could keep the music on for a while. She couldn’t help but take in a deep breath as she felt her heart rate pick up, before giggling nervously.
“What would people say if the bride danced with her bridesmaid instead of her groom?” Kohane was really shooting for a joke to make herself forget how nervous she suddenly started feeling, but she immediately started regretting it once she saw An’s smile slightly drop.
“Is that a no?”
“No!...I mean that’s not-...” she sighed, shaking her head before grabbing An’s hand and smiling softly at her. “I would love to dance with you, An-chan.”
As An squeezed her hand before leading her more towards the center of the room, Kohane couldn’t help but feel how her palms were slightly sweaty. So An was nervous too, huh? Was it the setting, their outfits, or everything building up to this moment which made the tension between them start feeling so suffocating? Kohane started feeling even more anxious, what if she tripped, what if she stepped on An’s foot, what if-
Oh.
As An stopped to face her, eyes meeting her own, Kohane could feel all of her nervousness go away. Right, this is An. Whatever was happening between them right now, it could never lead to anything bad as long as it was them.
Kohane let herself smile again as she placed a hand on An’s shoulder, while An wrapped her own hand around Kohane’s waist. An’s movements were unusually stiff, and at that moment Kohane realized that she was still feeling self-conscious about the whole event. She couldn’t let that keep going, so she made sure An’s eyes were looking into her own as she gathered all her courage to say what she wanted to say since she first saw her in that dress.
“You look beautiful.” yeah, it really felt like an understatement, but she needed to put it into words for An’s sake. She could see her eyes widen in surprise as her blush grew.
“Wh- I-” Kohane couldn’t help but giggle at the sight. It was unusual for her to be able to make An flustered for a change, but she couldn’t say she didn’t enjoy it. An chuckled shakily after she couldn’t find her words, before resting her forehead against Kohane’s own. “You’re unfair, Kohane.”
“But it’s the truth. You said you couldn’t help but feel like you weren’t suited to wear a dress, but you look amazing in it.”
“Ah I get it, I get it, please stop.” An whined as she let her head fall on Kohane’s shoulder, hiding her growing blush and making her giggle even more.
After a few more moments where they did nothing but move back and forth in what could barely qualify as a dance at that point, An raised her head again, looking Kohane in the eyes.
“You look beautiful in that dress too, it suits you.” now it was Kohane’s turn to blush when she noticed how close An was, her eyes whirling with emotions.
In this position, as An was sitting straight, Kohane could really feel the height difference between them. Whenever An hugged her, she always bent down, making their faces be at the same level, but right now as they held each other dancing, Kohane had to look up at her.
Despite everything, it strangely felt natural for Kohane to slightly raise on her toes, getting their faces on the same level and connecting their lips. She didn’t know what overcame her, and as soon as she felt An’s soft lips against her own she immediately snapped back to reality, wanting to part from her and apologize, but An didn’t let her move more than a centimeter as her own lips followed hers, closing the distance again while the hand on her waist hugged her tighter.
Once they parted, Kohane could see An’s eyes shining with unshed tears, and as An raised her hand towards her cheek, swiping a tear that left her own eye, Kohane knew she wasn’t any better.
“I wanted to ask you out for so long.”
Kohane didn’t have to ask her why she didn’t do it. She understood it perfectly, being afraid of things between them changing, but as she chuckled softly, leaning in to kiss An again, she knew she was right thinking that things between them could never change for the worse.
“I like you, An-chan.” once they parted, Kohane didn’t hesitate this time to immediately put into words what they were both feeling for so long.
An couldn’t help but laugh, squeezing her hand. “You really are unfair, I wanted to say it first.” leaning in to press a kiss against her cheek, then against her forehead and lastly the tip of her nose, before pressing another kiss against her lips, An didn’t hesitate either. “I like you too. So much.”
They kept on dancing, holding each other close and basking in each other’s warmth and newfound closeness, until they realized that they weren’t alone in the room in the first place.
As Kohane raised her head, looking around her, she could notice the photographer was nowhere to be seen. She made sure to internally thank them for giving them the private moment they needed, before turning her head in the opposite direction where Airi and Shizuku were.
She couldn’t help but chuckle once she noticed they were both lost in each other’s presence as well as they were dancing, most likely not having seen anything that happened.
There were still a lot of things they needed to talk about, maybe think about telling everyone else about the new development in their relationship as well, but until then, as Kohane turned back towards An, losing herself in those warm eyes that she could now see held so much affection, they would just enjoy this moment.