This was very sweet and, of course, also sad. I love your characterization of Pipit here, and how you demonstrated his feelings through his actions and concerned distraction. It's a very believable scenario- and it really does explain why a guy who otherwise appears very confident took so long to ask his crush out. I had to smile at that really cheesy line he'd originally intended to use. I think Pipit could have pulled it off without coming across as... well... Groose-y.
It really does beg the question though- where *was* Karane?