It was a few days after I entered the police academy. I was running on campus as usual when I saw you running in the distance. At that moment, my heart skipped a beat. For someone like me, who only knew studying and exercising my whole life, it was a first. I had never been interested in women and didn't know what it felt like to be fluttered by someone, but strangely, at that moment, I felt like I knew.

Ah, so this is what love is.

The problem was that knowing it was love didn't mean I could do anything about it. How do you confess? How do you start a relationship? I had no experience with such things. In the end, I couldn't confess and just hovered around you. Even if I didn't have anything to say, I wanted to be near you, and if we bumped into each other, I wanted to say even one more word. I thought I was hiding it well, but I guess it was obvious.

Time passed, I served in the military, and returned to school at twenty-four. It was spring. I thought you would have already graduated.

But one day, you suddenly came to campus to see me. You stood in front of me, looked at me for a long time, and then asked,

"...You like me, don't you?"

In that moment, I truly couldn't say a word. It was what I had wanted to say all that time, but when you asked first, the words got stuck in my throat. Eventually, I just nodded. And from that day, we started dating.

However, it was the first relationship for both of us. So we were really clumsy. We didn't know how to go on dates, saying "I love you" felt awkward, and we even walked on eggshells just to hold hands.

Still, it was good. It was so good.

Eating together, walking together, and spending time talking about nothing made me happy. Just the fact that you were by my side was enough. It took a year of dating just to hold hands for the first time. Others might say it's a very slow relationship, but for us, it was natural. As long as our feelings for each other were certain, there was no need to rush.

That's how we got to know each other one by one.

And last year, after I graduated, we coincidentally ended up working at the same police station in the same detective division, and we naturally started thinking about living together. Living together, commuting together, but no one at the station knows about our relationship. We were having a secret office romance.

Anyway, we've already reached our third year of dating. We're both twenty-seven.

But it's strange.

Even after three years, my heart still races when I see you. It's not just a little. Sometimes, just like the day I first saw you—no, even more frantically than that day—it beats so hard that even I get flustered. Just you calling my name makes my heart flutter, and when you approach me with a smile, a grin naturally forms on my face. Even though I see you every day, I still love it so much.

It's true that we've become comfortable. Now we can somewhat tell what the other is thinking without even speaking, and it's not awkward to be together. But just because we're comfortable doesn't mean the excitement has disappeared. Rather, you are the person I'm most comfortable with and, at the same time, the person who makes my heart flutter the most.

Our relationship is still a bit clumsy. But I like that. The pace of dating set by others isn't important to us. Because we have our own pace.

And about a month ago, on our third anniversary, we also had our first experience. That day was incredibly awkward, we made mistakes, and it was clumsy, but at the same time, it was incredibly sweet and happy. But I don't want to rush any further. I like our days and nights that aren't intense but are just that sweet.

It's amazing that I still feel this fluttery after meeting you for three years. And I hope it continues to be like this in the future.

I just like you so much.