Another Way to Say 'I Love You'

Chapter I: The Code (Takumi)

" 4, 5, 6, 8, 3, 9, 6, 8…"

She stared at him blankly. "…what?"

" 4, 5, 6, 8, 3, 9, 6, 8," he repeated, smiling to himself.

She began scratching her head. "I…don't understand…"

He smiled wider and thought, Man, Koji was a genius…

Flashback

"How in the world could I tell her that?" he asked his friends for advice. He called a 'private meeting' with the guys of the group to talk about something very important. Of course, almost all of them are guys. Zoe was the only girl in their group.

"Just walk up to her, take a deep breath, and say the words," his friend, Koichi told him, "that's the best way of telling her. It's short, easy and straight to the point."

"I can't, I freeze up whenever I try." He grumbled.

"Then write her a letter," his friend, JP advised him next, "You can write a poem to her, that way you don't even have to be there when she finds out."

"You know I suck at writing letters and poems!" he retorted.

"You can serenade her," his youngest friend, Tommy told him next. "It's sweet, sincere and you know how much she loves music."

He looked at Tommy in disbelief. "No." he said firmly, "I will not perform in an audience and humiliate myself when I forget the lyrics."

Every one of his friends was getting irritated with him. He's rejected every suggestion they have made and he still has no idea of what to do.

"Look, if you can't tell her straight, then make up a code!" Koji grumbled in irritation. "That way, you won't get tongue tied when you tell her because you know she won't understand it immediately and once she finds out, you won't have to be with her!"

The four of them stared at Koji in astonishment. That was genius, they thought at the same time.

Koji was a genius, he thought again when Zoe asked him what he meant by those numbers again. "You'll have to decode it if you want to know what it meant." He grinned at her before running off.

"I…still…don't get it." Zoe mumbled to herself, "4, 5, 6, 8, 3, 9, 6, 8? What does Takuya mean by that?"

She walked home silently, still deep in thought what the boy wants to say with those numbers.

In Zoe's room…

She was still thinking of the numbers Takuya told her. She tried substituting a letter to it, typed it in a calculator to see if it says something upside down but she found nothing. She was starting to have a headache trying to figure out the code.

This is worse than homework…, she thought dryly, finally giving up solving it on her own. She decided to ask for a friend's help so she took her cell phone and started pushing buttons. She text-messaged every one of her friends that might know what Takuya was talking about. She pushed send button and waited for someone to reply.

Finally, her phone rang. She took it and saw that only one out of five people replied to her text…Mica.

'Hmm…don't know. Have any clue?' was Mica's reply.

She sighed and answered Mica's text, 'No, that's why I'm asking you.'

'What was the number again? I forgot.' –Mica

She held the # button to switch it to number mode and typed the numbers again. '4, 5, 6, 8, 3, 9, 6, 8'

Her phone rang again after a few minutes. 'Maybe you're thinking too hard. Try repeating it over and over. The numbers may be used to confuse you.'

She frowned at her friend's reply. She's been repeating over and over in her head but she still hasn't got it. But she still tried her friend's suggestion.

She entered 'Create Message' in her phone and switched number mode on again. She typed the numbers over and over. 45683968, 45683968, 45683968, 45683968, 45683968. When she typed it for about twenty times, she decided to give up and cleared the message. She started typing another message to Mica but she forgot one thing… she forgot to turn off the number mode.

"What the…" she muttered when instead of typing 'It's useless', what came out were numbers that corresponds each letter. Then she had a brilliant idea. That might just work.

She looked at her keypad and wrote the letters in each number that Takuya was saying. It took her less than five minutes to decode the message and her expression was… shocked. Her eyes were wide as she read the phrase that came out of the numbers. She had no idea that he felt that way.

Then she smiled.

Her shocked state became a happier one. She decided that she should respond to what Takuya told her. She looked at her clock and saw that Takuya would still be in school for soccer practice at the time.

She hurried out of her room, hoping that Takuya would still be at school when she arrives.

Takuya was the last person in school. All of his teammates already went home, even his coach. He was left there arranging his things in his bag neatly, for the first time.

He was actually just looking for an excuse to be left alone to think. He knows if he comes home, his brother would bother him frequently so home wasn't really a favorable place to think. He stayed in school because he knows nobody else would stay at school this late.

He was thinking of what he said to Zoe. Koji was a genius, he still thinks that, but what if Zoe doesn't crack the code? What if it was too hard for her? What would happen if she understands it too late?

He sighed. He's thinking too negatively lately. He has to think of the positive side. Well, at least I told her how I feel, even if she doesn't understand it.

"Takuya," a voice called him. He turned around and saw Zoe walking towards him. Was he dreaming?

"Zoe?" he asked, "Why are you still here?"

She stopped walking in front of him. "I came back," she answered, "Actually, I want to tell you something." She paused, "The code, I know what it means."

Takuya was frozen. He didn't expect her to solve the code so quickly. Heck, he didn't even expect her to solve it at all. "You do?" he mumbled in a low voice while looking down, afraid of her answer.

"Yup," she answered in a happy voice, then she smiled, "and I just want to tell you that…" she took a deep breath, "4, 5, 6, 8, 3, 9, 6, 8, 8, 6, 6."

His head shot up. He stared at her in unbelieving expression. She just said she loves him too. "You do?" he asked again, this time in a happier tone.

"Yes," she answered before taking a step closer to him and giving him a passionate kiss.

All's well, it ends well. Thanks to the code, Takuya was able to tell his feelings to Zoe and they finally have a happy ending. For those who wants to know, '4, 5, 6, 8, 3, 9, 6, 8' means 'I love you' and '4, 5, 6, 8, 3, 9, 6, 8, 8, 6, 6' means 'I love you too.'

Author's Notes:

Yes, I did edit this coz something really weird happen with FFnet and the numbers didn't appear when you view it or try to read it. Plus, I thought it would be a good thing to explain the code.

Using a cellphone (the one with a number keypad not qwerty), you would see that every number represents certain letters (i.e. 1 = a, b, c; 2 = d, e, f). The code represents the letters from I love you as you would notice. The difficult part is decoding it, in other words, selecting the right letter that would make a coherent sentence :))

Capiche?