Chapter 89: HCA- On The Way To The Hotel
"Princess, take a look at this..."
I pointed toward the rubber, my heart starting to race in my chest. She knelt down beside me, her eyes tracking the jagged lines and the deep gouges I’d found. She studied the marks carefully, her brow furrowed as she tried to understand why they were there. We moved around the entire bus together, checking every single tire, and it was the same story for every one of them. It wasn’t just a bad road or some sharp rocks.
Princess stood up, her expression turning hard and professional. She concluded right then that someone might be targeting us. She told the coach and the driver that we needed to stay alert for any kind of ambush. The dark sky and the heavy woods surrounding the road didn’t help the creepy feeling crawling up my spine.
A few minutes later, Malo announced, he’d found a hotel nearby, tucked just off the main path. He said it was only a ten-minute walk from where the bus was parked. Since the bus wasn’t going anywhere and the mechanic was nowhere to be found, everyone decided to walk. Malo ended up carrying Princess’s heavy bag again, looking like a pack mule, while I just slung my own backpack over my shoulders as everyone started moving toward the direction.
Even with the weird tire situation, I was still mad at Princess. My blood was still simmering from that bus ride. Even if we were in some kind of life-or-death danger, I made a silent vow to myself: once we got to the hotel and were finally safe, I wasn’t going to talk to her for the rest of the day.
"Let me help you with that..." Princess said. She reached out her hand, trying to grab the strap of my bag to lighten my load.
I pulled it away instantly, my shoulder hitching up.
"Thank you, but I can carry my own bag," I said. I didn’t look at her. I just quickened my pace, weaving through the teammates to avoid her.
"Now I know for a fact you’re avoiding me," she said. I could hear her footsteps right behind me, matching my speed.
"Avoiding you? I’m just trying my best not to bug you, Princess..." I muttered. I kept my eyes on the back of Malo’s head.
She was the one who told me to find someone else to bug back on the bus, and now she was the one following me around and bugging me. The irony was making my head hurt.
"Bug you..." she repeated the words, her voice trailing off like she was thinking back. "Oh... is this about what happened earlier? When I told you to find someone else to bug?"
I didn’t answer her. I didn’t say a single word. I just turned my head and gave her a long, flat look that said everything she needed to know. Then I kept walking. She had to jog a little bit just to catch back up with me.
"Come on, Omega. You were going on and on about Malo and that.... idol you like. It was distracting me from what I was actually doing. I was having my daily compulsory session. I’ve skipped it for days because of everything happening, and I really needed to catch up before I lost it..." she explained.
"I was going on and on? You really think I was just complaining?" I stopped walking for a second to look at her.
"Yes..." she said, her voice softer now.
"I just wanted to know why you didn’t react at all when someone was holding me that close! And then you told me you hate Yuki just because she hates Alphas. You didn’t even react when I was laughing and talking to the others. You were just focused on that tablet like I didn’t even exist..."
Even after she explained about the session, I was still mad. I was mad that she could be that close to me and still not care who I was with or what I was doing.
She stepped out in front of me, blocking my path entirely so I had to stop.
"Omega... sometimes I act strange. I know I’m difficult to be around.... Sometimes, I don’t always know why I’m being like that. I noticed you. I saw exactly what you were trying to do over there with Sasha. You laughed so loudly trying to get my attention that I actually had to increase the volume on my earbuds just so I could focus on the screen. Even when everything finally got quiet, I could still hear your laugh echoing in my ears. It stayed with me." She said, I noticed the small earbuds, they looked small to notice..
I looked at her, my anger starting to flicker and fade.
"I wanted to react," she continued. "I wanted to reach out and pull you back to your seat the second you left to sit with Sasha. I hated that you were over there. But I needed that session. I needed it so I could be... bearable for you. So I wouldn’t snap at you for real."
I went quiet. The words stuck in my throat. That session she was talking about, it must have been one of her therapy sessions. The ones that Sasha talked about. And she was having those signs yesterday...
So, I really was disturbing her. I was poking at her while she was trying to keep her head straight. But the truth was, I only wanted her attention. I wanted her to hug me the way Malo did earlier. I wanted her to show me that I mattered to her more than some digital session. That’s why I kept pushing her buttons.
I don’t know. It’s clearly going to take a long time to fully understand someone as complicated as Princess. I’ll try my best, though. But a small, dark part of me wishes I could be her therapist instead. I wish I was the one who could fix her mind, just so she would give me all the attention I want.
What the fuck is wrong with me? Why am I even thinking like this? My mind used to be full of my own problems and my own thoughts, but now it’s just completely filled with her.
I took a deep breath, trying to push the heavy thoughts away. I forced a small smile onto my face, then slowly removed my heavy backpack and handed it over to her.
"Next time, if you really need silence, just tap my shoulder or something. I’ll understand, I promise. But sometimes the way you say things... it really stings. It hurts my feelings..." I muttered, looking at my shoes.
She took my bag from me and gave me a soft smile. It wasn’t the annoying Alpha smile I was used to. It was something else.
Then, without any warning at all, she leaned in and kissed me.
It was quick, but it was enough. I tasted her lipstick immediately.... watermelon flavor. It was sweet and cool. My heart did a literal backflip in my chest.
Then she pulled away just as fast as she’d leaned in.
Fuck. Is it bad that I immediately wanted more? Is it bad that I wanted her to keep going right there in the middle of the road?
After that moment passed, we both looked ahead at the rest of the group... and we both froze.
The entire team, the coach, everyone were all standing there staring at us. We were a whole show for them. The moment they realized we’d noticed them watching, they all scrambled to look away. Some of the guys started coughing loudly, some shook their heads, and others just started walking again as fast as they could like nothing had happened.
I could hear Malo muttering under his breath just a few feet ahead of us.
"If she really wanted to carry someone’s bag for once, she probably should’ve started with her own suitcase..."
"I heard that, MG," Princess said, her voice regaining that sharp, bossy edge.
Malo didn’t say another word. He just immediately sped up his walking until he was practically running toward the hotel.
