Chapter 123: Soft Spot
I smiled. "I’m fine, just a little bruise." I looked at my elbow and saw a wound, must be because I used it when I landed on the ground. "I’ll go to the restroom and wash the blood off." El looked concerned but he let me go.
I’m handling blood well now. Before, I used to freeze whenever I see blood, but now I’m getting used to it.
"This isn’t good."
Night will surely scold me if he sees a wound on my body. ’Wait, if he did follow me, he would have seen what happened. I don’t need to explain anything.’ After washing my arm, I went out of the restroom.
"Are you sure you’re okay?" El asked. "Your elbow’s still bleeding." He said as he pulled a handkerchief from his bag and immediately wrapped it around my wound.
"Wait, is it okay for me to use this?"
El nodded. "Of course." He said with a smile and he gave me a penguin stuffed animal. "Here, I thought you would like this."
I giggled because of that. "What was that? Did you buy this in the souvenir store?"
He nodded while scratching the back of his head. "I thought it’ll be good to commemorate this moment, so I bought this for you." I looked at the cute penguin and smiled again. There’s no way this person is someone bad, right?
We watched the last event in the aquarium and it was majestic. It made me unable to understand why my teammates keeps calling me a mermaid when mermaids are majestic beings. Those who perform in this aquarium made me realize how different we are.
"It’s amazing," I said aloud.
"It sure was," El said as we walked towards the exit.
"Oh, right. What about this handkerchief?" I asked as I pointed to the handkerchief on my arm.
The night breeze greeted us the moment we got out of the aquarium place. It’s already dark outside and the street lights illuminate our way.
"You can give it to me next time we meet."
"When will that be?" I asked and he turned to me.
El grabbed my hand as he looked me in the eye. "What about after your finals? I want to tell you something too." He said.
"What is it?"
He only smiled and didn’t answer. "I won’t be able to contact you for a while." His eyes looked down at the floor as if deliberately avoiding my gaze. "That’s why I wanted to spend some time with you because I’ll be busy for a while."
I nodded. "Then, see you next time."
El didn’t let my hand go so I looked back at him. "Please take care of that handkerchief." He smiled. "It belongs to my late mother so I take well care of it." That made me feel somewhat guilty that I’m using it to cover my wound.
"Looks like your ride back is here."
I looked behind and saw Night with an annoyed expression on his face. "Let’s go home." He grabbed my hand and pulled me away.
"See you next time." I heard El so I looked back at him and waved him goodbye.
"Do you really need to pull me like that?"
Night stopped all of a sudden making me bump into his back. "I’m sorry." He said.
’Huh? Why is he suddenly apologizing?’
"For pulling me?"
Night shook his head. "For being mean. I’m sorry I can’t control my emotions, I am still mean to you despite saying that I love you." He said.
"I... I don’t want you to fall for that guy. He was far more kind than me, and he’s friendly." Is he talking about El? "Whenever you mention other men, I hate it. I can’t control myself. I don’t like making excuses, but Kenji said to explain myself to you so that—"
I couldn’t help but laugh because of how adorable Night looked while explaining his side. "Why are you laughing? Am I being funny?" He asked with no clue at all about the situation.
"Did I say something funny to you?" The fact that he’s innocently asking makes him look more adorable.
’Even though he was moody the other week and I hated him for that, I can’t explain why I’m laughing right now and finding him cute.’
"No, you did not say anything funny," I said as I smiled. "Then, were you jealous of El and Kaoru?"
Night nodded and I could see his face being beet red even up to his ears.
"I hate it. I don’t like it when you’re with other people. I know you’re not an object that I could claim as mine, but I can’t help it." He said.
The fact that I’m not hating him for what he’s saying makes me weird. ’I should hate him, but why do I feel like this? Do I have a soft spot for Night Yamaguchi?’
"Let’s just go home." I held his hand. "I’ll let you hold my hand so stop sulking and stop being mean to me."
A smile quickly formed on his face. It was a child-like smile, and it was the first time I saw him smiling like that. "I’m sorry." He said again. It made me smile as we go towards the car while holding hands.
"So, did the two of you reconcile?" Kenji asked as soon as we entered the car. "It was really hard for the young master. He watched the lady with her date today while controlling himself. It was amazing, it’s the first time the young master didn’t ruin something."
"Stop it." Night said while still holding my hand.
I just went on a date with El, but why is my heart only pounding so loud right now?
Night’s hand was bigger than mine, much bigger. It was also rougher and there are callouses all over, but still, the warmth coming from his hand made me feel comfortable. ’I should stop. This isn’t right.’ That is what I keep telling myself, but even I couldn’t control these feelings of joy.
No matter how much I try to deny it, I might really have a soft spot for Night. There might really be feelings left for him that I can’t remove no matter how much I try.
’It’s too hard if he’s being like this. It would have been easier if Night continued ignoring me like before.’ If he keeps telling me that he likes me, how am I going to tell myself not to start liking him again?
"It’s too hard."
Night and Kenji’s attention went to me. "What is?" I heard them ask.
I shook my head. "Nothing."
There’s no time for me to be thinking about romance. The finals coming and I still haven’t studied well these past few days because of the swimming competition.
"Right, would you be able to teach me some lessons?" I asked Night and he immediately looked at me.
"I will try my best to teach you without calling you stupid." He said with determination.
I’m glad that he’ll do that for me, but why is he already thinking of calling me stupid? That’s really mean, doesn’t he think so?
"But did the miss enjoy her date with that man?" Kenji asked as if deliberately trying to make Night remember about El. "Did you have fun?"
"I did. It was fun."
"But going to the amusement park with me was more fun right?" Night said. Why does he want to compete with El? "Except for the abduction, it was fun right?" I laughed after Night reminded me of what happened that day. Even though it should be traumatizing me, the way Night said that made me want to laugh so I did.
"Both are fun, why are you competing?"
Night pouted as his grip on my hand tightened. "It’s because I want to be the only one for Noelle." He called my name casually as if he normally calls me like that, but it made my heart skip a beat. I can’t get used to being called by my name.
"I want to call you Ellie too." I felt shivers down my spine after Night whispered that to my ear. I was too flustered that I pushed him away while covering my ear. My face’s heating up and I looked at him with a surprised expression on my face.
"W-Why did you?" It wasn’t only because of his warm breath and soft voice. The way he called my nickname like that, made me feel weird. Something in my stomach is tingling and I feel like my face’s about to burst due to the heat.
"Stop whispering into my ear like that."
Night tilted his head as if he doesn’t get what he did wrong. "It makes me uncomfortable," I said as I looked at the window just to avoid Night’s gaze.
I wonder what my face looks like right now? Do I look like a cherry ready to be popped? Or do I look like I’m going to explode?
What’s with this feeling... I don’t want this.
