I'm Not Daria
Primary reason

I pinched her cheek and she brushed my hand away. "Well, is he a prince?"

"Prince?"

"Yes, my prince."

He shook his head. "wait. The last time I checked, you were dating Raka! Now I'm suddenly your prince?"

"I'm not dating her, I'm just pretending to date her in front of you." I clarified

"Pretending? The pig will kiss you at the party, but I'm interrupting your romantic moment".

I shook my head. "He was just pretending as if he was going to do it. He just wanted to see if you would be jealous".

"Yes, I'm jealous. You succeeded!. Then especially?"

I let out a breath. "And she just wanted to make you believe we were dating"

"But why did you do that? What reason?"

I don't answer because answering it means my secret will be exposed and I won't be doing it until next month.

"What?" He urges.

"I'll tell you next time. Please, trust me."

"Daria, if you want to play, you can ask for toys. Can you not play with my feelings like that?"

My heart is broken to hear his plea.

"Devan I know it sounds like playing with your feelings, but it's not really. I had no choice. I was forced to do it."

"Then tell me why and for what!? Tell me the truth!, how can I trust you? How can you expect me to trust you if you don't trust me?"

"I'm sorry"

"Let's talk only if you're ready to explain yourself to me

"No, Devan. I-wait-"

"Have you had lunch?" He interrupted me

"No, I don't."

"You must be hungry. Go and have lunch. I have to get back to the office".

With that he took his files and left.

I let out a breath. Obviously it didn't go as I expected. I took the phone out of my pocket and called Luna to explain the situation.

....

"He asked for an explanation? Don't worry, I'll make everything okay". Luna convinced me

"But I don't want to lie" I said, remembering the bigger lie is life. "Not anymore."

"Then tell me the truth." He suggested.

It makes me quiet. "I'll tell you the truth after a month. What are you gonna tell him that's gonna make him forgive me?"

"I said I'd take care of it." There was a long pause as he took a deep breath.

"Luna, are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm doing fine. Look Darla, I've been really depressed about something, so don't worry about you and Devan. I said I'd make everything okay, so trust me. I'm hanging up the phone now".

He hung up the phone after that, I thought something was wrong. Some problems are happening. I don't know if it involves me or not.

But I decided to keep calling her and wait for a miracle.

....

Sure enough, after dinner, I was very surprised to find Devan knocking on my open door.

I excitedly asked him to come inside.

"Why didn't you tell me?" That was the first thing he asked

"Tell me what?"

"About Luna. That he told you to stay away from me."

"Yes, he called me and said, he told you to do it because he was afraid that if we were together then I would ask him to stop our fake date and then the media would go crazy and he wasn't ready for it."

Luna said things that weren't entirely true. He accepted all the wrongs and honestly it was his right. Nevertheless, I was happy and grateful that he was able to control the situation,

"Oh," I said foolishly: "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. You just did what Luna told you to do. You didn't do anything wrong"

"You didn't say anything to him, did you?"

"Not much.just nagging for an hour about how many things I went through because of him. I told him to stay away from my business. I didn't want to pretend to date her again and then she said that she planned to announce our separation soon"

"Does he sound okay?" I asked, considering how he sounded on the phone.

"She was so angry over all these problems she seemed uninterested in what she said, I didn't really blame luna. She had experienced a lot in childhood and her foster mother wasn't nice, so I empathized with her and understood why she did that"

"Yes." Yeah."

There was a long silence

"So, do you forgive me?"

"it's not your fault that you behave like that, but are you just doing what your friends tell you without thinking? Like it doesn't matter at all that it's gonna hurt me?"

I opened my mouth to deny it, but he raised his hand to stop me.

"Is that not important to you? You said you liked me but you didn't hesitate to hurt me. Tell me how can I trust you again? It may not seem like a big deal but I am very careful in giving my heart to someone and you have almost broken it. You know what's worse than love clapping one hand? That's when your feelings are played with by the person you like. I feel worthless as long as you decide to ignore me. You might think I'm overdoing it, but I want you to know, this is the first time I've really liked a girl and I'm so sensitive. Of course, I used to like other girls in my school and university, but I was so focused on learning that I just forgot about that feeling. But you are someone who I think can have something beautiful. I can feel it. So I'm sorry but I'm still on guard

I'm nodding. "I understand. I'll prove my sincerity to you."

He smiled gently at me.

"But what happened doesn't change how you feel about me, does it?" I asked with fear.

"No. I think time away from you just reinforces it. Don't think I won't like you for a long time now."

I smiled with relief. "Have you had dinner?"

He's nodding. "And you?"

I took the risk by holding her hand in my hand. "of course. Let's eat with my family from tomorrow, so I know you're eating well."

"certain."

"I'm glad you're not drunk today. You shouldn't drink too much because of me."

"Pulse. I'll tell you a secret. After a few days of drinking because of you. I started drinking to see you. You always let me into your room to sleep next to you. I think that's my main reason for drinking. Sorry I sound like an asshole. I swear I didn't do anything to you while sleeping except cover you with a blanket every time you throw it away."

I chuckle. "Thank you for keeping me warm. Not only with the blanket, but also your presence beside me."

He once again gave me a small smile. "You've tried to win my heart with those words"

"This time, I'll go after you." I promise

"I feel special."

"You are special. Very special to me." I admit. It was great to finally be able to tell him that.

His cheeks were flushed and he cleared his throat. "I have to sleep and so do you, Good night."

"Do you want to spend the night in my room?" after a while I felt embarrassed.

Her cheeks are getting red. "I-I think it's better to sleep in my room tonight"

"Okay, good night" I said as I waved to her despite being a little disappointed and it must have been visible from my voice and face.

"Trust me, I want to sleep next to you but after what you told me today, I don't think I'll be able to sleep with you".

If I was disappointed before, now I'm surprised by his candor. "OK" That's all I can say.

He waved at me and almost ran out of the room.

I chuckled at her actions and how happy she was now, in stark contrast to her mood these past few days.

Devan has flaunted his heart to me and I treated him so cruelly that he built a wall around him and is determined to destroy it one by one without letting anything hurt him again because of me.

The thought vanished with my smile as I remembered that I was hiding a secret from her that could completely break her heart at this moment.