Chapter 31
…
It started off as a somewhat regular day.
She woke up, felt she had a decent sleep, and then noted he was the first one to be up and about somewhere. Then she made her way downstairs to the kitchen, desiring to make herself some coffee.
He greeted her with a welcoming gaze, and two, steaming mugs of coffee.
"This one's for you," He said, and she gladly accepted. And felt so stupidly charmed by this utterly simple gesture, she didn't think before kissing him on his cheek.
He froze for a moment.
She didn't, but felt somewhat sheepish, even shy in her own way.
Meanwhile, he had regained his composure, albeit his heartbeats were still a little bit faster than usual, and his cheeks were tinted a mellow red. Be it as it may though, he gave her a look she'd never forget, never would want to, and then softly kissed her forehead.
"So, how's the morning?"
"Great."
And moments later, they sat down, and enjoyed talking about very mundane things.
…
A couple of hours later. Her room.
"You've gotta be kidding me," She said, as the day which up until this point was mostly ordinary, now, most certainly wasn't.
"Nope. No kidding at all," Tai said.
She continued to peer at the steel, prosthetic arm with bits of wonder. Her eyes going from left to right, right to left, up and down, and down and up.
"That is the finest piece of hi-tech right from the Atlas military. They promised it functions almost the same as a real arm, only it packs a much harder punch."
She heard him say, and some moments later, her lilac was fixed into his blue. She was merely unsure now.
"Why?"
"You're infamous enough that you got under their radar. They said it'd be a real shame if a talented, promising student like you would go out of the duty like that."
"…"
She didn't know what to say. She didn't know if there even was something she wanted to say. Hence, her gaze going back to the prosthetic arm, and she tried to salvage at least a couple of words, if possible.
Tai continued in the meantime. "I've actually had it for a few months at this point. But I didn't show it to you because I knew that you wouldn't even care to try it back then. Maybe now you will."
"I definitely won't make any promise on that."
He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it.
"Give it a solid thought, at least. I sincerely believe it could be a step forward for you."
"I'll…I'll think about it, yea," She said, and even though she didn't sound reassuring at all, he still nodded in acknowledgment.
After all, he knew he couldn't really ask of her anything more than just that.
"Good," He said, ready to leave now. "If there's anything you need, or if you have any questions, I'll be in my room, okay?"
"Okay," She said just that, and a couple of moments later, he left her room.
She sighed, scratched her head, and then moved herself closer to Jaune, who was sitting on the edge of her bed this whole time. And then offered him to have a closer look at the steel, prosthetic arm.
He accepted it, and she then sat right next to him.
"…"
She waited a little longer still, and then asked, "So, what do you think?"
He shrugged. "Honestly, it's not like there's much to say unless you'll give it a try. I mean, it looks kinda cool and fancy, but other than that, I have no idea." He answered, and then handed it back to her. "What about you?"
She shrugged as well. "It definitely looks cool, yea, but just like you said, there's not much to say other than that," She said, and they then sat in a complete silence for a while. Before he parted his lips, and then asked her the most important, and also difficult question at this particular moment.
"Do you want to give it a try?"
No.
She voicelessly answered, gave him a look, and could see in his blue that he knew. She then mustered an empty smile, moved even closer to him, and let herself rest against his side. As she did, he wrapped his arm around her waist, and her empty smile was now a genuine one.
"Jaune?"
"Yea?"
"I think I'll give it a try. I mean, I will."
"Okay. But what made you change your mind all of the sudden?"
"Well, first of all, if I don't, this spectacular piece of hi-tech made by Atlas military itself will end up being just a piece of junk."
"True, but you don't really care much about that, do you?"
"I don't, and that's why, the main reason's that I want to be stronger. Simple as that."
"Okay." He didn't say anything more than just that, and she didn't expect him to.
After all, she was absolutely certain he knew most of the reasons, why.