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h e k n e w | 5
It wasn't long before Gray realized what was going on. It started a random morning when she wasn't there to wake him up pampering him and with a plate stacked with her famous chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon, followed along with dark coffee. Immediately, he felt something different. She was never not around in the mornings.
He realized it when, for the first time ever, she didn't sit by his side during a meeting at the guild and instead decided to sit by Gajeel and Levy. Her eyes only flickering to him every once in a while, not even on purpose, but accidentally. They were a beautiful azure blue that glowed so warmly whenever she smiled, that no longer met him every time he looked up.
He saw it happening when she turned him down for a mission and decided to spend her weekend with some of her friends out of town. He really loved the way she would fight along his side. She would be battered and bloody at the end of them, with sweat pouring down her face, but she had never looked more beautiful to him. For the first time in a long time, he felt disappointed. She was always by his side.
He had felt it when the S class competitions came around again and she no longer wanted him as her partner. Instead, she had congratulated him and wished him the best. He had loved her affection and sparkling eyes whenever he accomplished something. He was happy that she was proud of him. It made him believe that he wasn't a failure.
He noticed that her eyes never met his anymore, and that they would stray away from him a lot. He no longer had her full attention. He loved sharing stories with her about his old missions, Natsu's stupidest moments and his time with Ur. He had never admitted that to her.
He realized when he saw her grinning from ear to ear in the guild a Saturday morning. She was all in love and happy. He loved that expression on her. Her cheeks were a rosy red and her lips were a reflection of the color. Her smile was wide and contagious as she ran to him. He wondered if he could ever make her smile like that again.
He knew when she ran to him and said his name.
"Gray! You won't believe it!" But it wasn't his name. Not the way he wanted to hear it. Not the way he wanted to hear it coming out of her mouth. "I'm getting married!"
The smile she had on her face, and the thought of her never being with him again, and losing that one person he ever cared about, that's when he knew. That he loved Juvia and that he was too late, because she no longer loved him.
❅
