Chapter 47: Chapter 47: Ava and the Blooming of a Forbidden Romance.
When Noah got home after escaping through the window of the Hoshino house, he saw Ava standing in the entryway with her arms crossed and an unfriendly expression on her face.
Noah closed the door behind him carefully.
"I’m home."
Ava didn’t answer right away. She just looked at him.
Noah felt like something was wrong.
"Is everything okay?"
Ava narrowed her eyes.
"Where were you?"
Noah stayed still. The answer to that question was complicated.
He had come from Yume’s house, but he couldn’t say that.
"I was with some classmates."
Ava stared at him without blinking.
"Which ones?"
Noah tried to stay calm.
"From school."
"I didn’t ask where they were from. I asked which ones."
Noah felt he was entering dangerous territory.
"Yume and... some others."
Ava lifted her chin slightly.
"Yume."
Noah noticed she had repeated the name with too much precision.
"Yeah."
"Just Yume?"
"No."
The answer came out too quickly, and Ava studied him.
"Then who else?"
Noah thought about everything he didn’t want to explain.
"It was just some school thing, but it wasn’t important."
Ava tightened her fingers over her arms.
"You’re lying to me."
Noah felt a pang of guilt.
"I’m not lying to you."
"Yes, you are."
A tense silence fell.
From the kitchen came the sound of Emma moving plates, while Sarah was probably in the living room checking something for work. Neither of them seemed to have noticed the tension in the entryway.
Noah lowered his voice a little.
"Ava, I’m tired. Can we talk later?"
Ava looked at him for a few more seconds.
She didn’t yell or press him, which, from Noah’s point of view, felt even worse.
"Fine."
She walked past him and went up the stairs while Noah followed her with his gaze.
"Ava..."
She didn’t stop.
"Good night."
Her voice was cold, which left Noah standing in the entryway with an uncomfortable feeling.
’Did I hurt her?’
He hadn’t wanted to lie to her, but he also didn’t know how to explain what was happening without creating even more problems.
He went up to his room a while later, but he couldn’t fall asleep quickly.
In Ava’s room, the situation was different.
Ava dropped onto the bed and hugged her pillow tightly while staring at the wall in silence.
"Noah lied to me."
She said it quietly.
Noah had lied to her, and it wasn’t a clumsy little-kid lie. It was the kind of lie from someone trying to hide something or someone.
Ava closed her eyes.
’Yume.’
The name appeared immediately.
The pink-haired girl who had come to the house bringing gifts, smiling too much while looking at Noah as if he belonged to her.
Ava squeezed the pillow.
"No."
She wasn’t stupid.
She knew something was going on between Noah and Yume. Maybe she didn’t have full proof yet, but she didn’t need it to feel awful.
Noah was changing. He was going out more, hiding things, answering messages more carefully, and now he was lying.
’My Noah shouldn’t lie to me. Not to me!’
She went still because the thought made her eyes snap open.
’My Noah.’
She shouldn’t think like that. He was her brother... well, her stepbrother.
They didn’t share blood, but they had grown up in the same house, and that had to matter.
She needed to set boundaries, be mature, and stop feeling this way.
Ava turned in bed and buried her face in the pillow.
’But Yume doesn’t know him like I do.’
She knew what Noah looked like when he was tired, what food he preferred in the mornings, when he was pretending not to be worried, and how sometimes he got more distracted than usual and needed someone to pull him back.
Yume had no right to take him away so quickly.
Ava clenched her teeth.
’Noah is too nice, so if Yume pressures him, he won’t know how to escape.’
That was a comfortable conclusion because it let her feel protective instead of jealous.
’Exactly. I have to protect him.’
She sat up in bed.
"I have to save Noah from the clutches of that bitch."
She said it with a seriousness that, in any other situation, would have seemed exaggerated, but right then she felt no shame.
The next day, Ava went downstairs to breakfast before Noah.
Emma was preparing the food and Sarah was checking her phone while drinking coffee.
"Good morning, Ava."
Said Emma.
"Good morning."
Ava sat down but didn’t start eating. She waited.
When Noah came down the stairs, still looking sleepy, Ava stood up immediately.
"Good morning, Noah."
Noah stopped.
"Good morning."
Ava approached and straightened the collar of his shirt.
Noah blinked.
"W-What are you doing?"
"It was crooked."
"Oh... thanks?"
Ava smiled.
"You’re welcome."
Noah sat at the table and Ava sat right next to him, closer than usual.
Emma set the plates in front of them.
"It’s unusual to see you being this attentive so early."
Ava answered without hesitation.
"I’m just taking care of my dear... brother."
Sarah smiled from her seat.
"That’s sweet."
Noah looked at Sarah.
"I’m not sure ’sweet’ is the right word."
Ava took a piece of toast, spread some jam on it, and held it out toward Noah.
"Eat."
Noah looked at the toast and then at Ava.
"I can eat by myself."
"I know."
"Then give me the toast."
Ava held it in front of his mouth.
"Open."
Noah stayed frozen.
"No."
Emma let out a small laugh.
"Ava, don’t embarrass him."
"I’m not embarrassing him. I’m just helping."
Noah took the toast with his hand.
"Thanks for the help. I can take it from here."
Ava looked at him with a calm smile.
"Okay."
On the outside, she looked like a caring sister, but on the inside Ava was measuring every reaction.
’He didn’t pull away at first... he got embarrassed, but he wasn’t annoyed... so I can get a little closer, but not too fast.’
Sarah drank her coffee.
"I’m glad you two are getting along so well."
Noah murmured uncertainly.
"Yeah..."
Ava smiled wider.
After breakfast, they both headed to the station, and as always, Ava took Noah’s hand.
That was normal for them, it was considered a safety measure, and Noah had gotten used to it, though he still felt a bit awkward when he noticed other people’s stares.
That day, Ava squeezed his hand tighter than usual, and Noah looked at her.
"Ava?"
"Yeah?"
"You’re holding on really tight."
"There are a lot of people."
"You think? I don’t see that many."
"There could still be danger."
Noah didn’t want to argue.
As they walked, a girl passing on the opposite sidewalk looked at Noah for two seconds. Ava turned her head and shot her a threatening glare that made the girl look away immediately.
Noah noticed.
"Do you know her?"
"No."
"Then why did you look at her like that?"
"She was staring too much."
"Just because she looked at me!?"
"Because she looked at you too much."
Noah sighed.
"Ava, sometimes people look at other people without any hidden intentions."
"And I do too."
"That doesn’t make me feel any better."
"It wasn’t meant to make you feel better."
Noah didn’t know how to respond.
The same thing happened at the station.
A student in another school’s uniform looked at Noah while they waited for the train, and Ava positioned herself half a step in front of him.
Another girl tried to get too close in line, but Ava shifted position and blocked the space.
A young woman smiled at Noah from a distance, and Ava held her gaze until the woman pretended to check her phone.
At that point, Noah started to feel watched by his own sister.
"Ava."
"What?"
"You’re being really intense today."
"I’m being responsible."
"I’m not sure about that."
"I am."
The train arrived and they separated, but before he got on, Ava adjusted his shirt again.
"Don’t get involved with weird girls."
Noah looked at her.
"I’m going to a school full of girls."
"Then don’t talk to the weird ones."
"How do I identify them?"
"If they get too close, they’re weird."
"By that standard, you..."
Ava looked at him and Noah stopped.
"Never mind."
Ava smiled.
"Be careful."
"Yeah."
Noah stepped into the train and Ava watched him until the doors closed.
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