Chapter 21: The Other Side
Nagia hangs her head, following Andrew, expecting the worst.
"Nagia," Andrew starts.
"Hmm?" she asks, barely opening her mouth.
He stops and faces her. She looks up into his beautiful sapphire eyes and lets herself feel embraced by his gaze.
He blushes. "I want to talk about us..." he looks away. Nagia waits for him to continue. "I want to talk about...college."
Nagia lets out a small snicker, to which he stares at her, startled. She covers her mouth.
"Why are you laughing?" he asks.
"I thought you wanted to break up with me, Andrew. I mean... I haven't really had time to spend with you lately..."
He wraps his arms around her. "I know, and I miss you, but I know you must be working on something very important, and I want you to know that I will never stand in the way of your ventures."
Nagia hugs him back. "Thank you." In her heart, she wishes she could tell him about her being a mew, but she decides not to. Maybe if I never mention it, it will never affect our relationship. I love being free of this whole mess when I'm with you, Andrew.
She shuts her eyes and feels him pull away from her. Her eyes jerk open in surprise just as she sees his face move toward hers. She feels his lips lightly brush hers, then press in harder. She shuts her eyes and kisses him back.
Suddenly Nagia stops. Andrew pulls back and looks at her.
"Something wrong?"
I just imagined the Blue Knight... I haven't purged my feelings for him! I'm awful! Kissing Andrew like this when I still have the Blue Knight in my heart. She stares at him, longing for him, but hating how disgusting she felt.
"I want to be completely yours when I kiss you, Andrew, but there is... someone I met who confessed to me..." she struggles to get the words out. "He saved my life a couple times and... I just want a little time because..." she stares in his eyes, embarrassed, "I want to only have feelings for you." She watches Andrew's expression, relieved not to see the disgust she felt for herself. He embraces her.
"I-It's ok, Nagia. T-Thank you."
Nagia feels his heart beat wildly inside his chest. Why does he seem in pain?
Andrew lets go and offers to walk her home. They hold hands all the way.
Minto sits in Antons car, head in her hands. She sighs deeply. "Take me home." she finally says.
Anton puts the car into drive without a word.
I've gotta tell her... I've gotta tell her... She looks at Anton. "You know, you really did cause a mess."
"Huh?"
"Nothing..."
They ride back to the mansion in silence as it begins to rain.
COUGH COUGH
Lindsay wipes her brow and looks around the dojo, dizzy. Finally, the last photo had been placed in a frame and hung up again. She takes a seat on the floor and stares blankly at the destroyed north wall.
"Purin Henshin". She transforms, hoping that form would give her more strength to lift the concrete. She staggers to pull herself up and makes her way to the wall.
CRASH
Thunder echoes though the dojo, and rain begins to fall on her as she takes hold of it. The rain will mess up the wood! Come on! She tells herself as she struggles harder.
The ground around her begins to turn into mud. She slips in it and falls on her side with a splash. She tries to roll over on her stomach to get up, but fails.
She gasps for air. Someone! Help! She cries in her mind as she shivers in the rain and mud. A face appears before her just as the world turns black.
When Purin opens her eyes, she sees a giant ant pushing the wall into place. Then, something cold touches her forehead. She jerks away.
"Oh you're awake now, Stupid Monkey?" Purin looks up to see Taruto just as he drops the wet cloth on her face. She pushes it away slowly to peek at him. "Making me play babysitter..." he grumbles, but his face is red.
"Taruto," she tries to pull herself up, but he whirls around and pushes her down forcefully, startling her.
He then jumps back, "Don't get up, Dummy!" He faces a corner, redder. "You're temperature is still high... so..."
"Thank you, Taruto."
He faces her, and his face turns redder than a beat all the way to his ears. "Ah... don't thank me! I'm the one who got you into this mess anyway..."
"You're also the one who saved me." she smiles at him.
Taruto collapses on the ground, defeated.
For the rest of the night, he silently nursed her as various chimera anima repaired the wall.