Hey! Just wanted to say that I´m kinda back. Yeah, many of you guys will just joke about it and will ask: Oh yeah? For how long? See you after your next hiatus.
I get it. And I´m sorry that I didn´t update for so long. But I have a private life as well and enough on my plate, promise.
What I really wanted to say though is that I try my best to update this story whenever I can. There is not much left, in fact 2 big events await you until this story will finally find it´s end. I can´t say how many chapters are left though. But I guess there will be around 5-10 Chapters.
That´s all for now, hopefully you will enjoy this chapter and have a nice day ~
Chapter 24 – Speak up!
In silence Shiro and me walked next to each other on the sidewalk, neither of us daring to break the quietness. It seemed like we both had quiet some thoughts on our minds, everyone lost in their own little world. I mean, I constantly avoided the squidboy and even told him to let me alone. And still here we are.. Walking side by side after a fun turf war match, like nothing had happened at all. In this moment I really didn´t know what to say either. How could I after I had behaved like.. Like exactly what? I just had done what my mother had told me to and of course I didn´t want to disappoint her. But the whole time my behavior towards Shiro had felt so terribly wrong. So wrong that I was hurting in fact. Beside that it was unfair towards the blue Inkling boy as well, since he had been nothing but kind to me. Even after I had been so cold to him.. He had come to my rescue today.
But what now? My mom must have her reasons for commanding me to not stay in contact with him. I would die for the details on what had happened in the past.
,,You are still mad at me, aren´t you.", Shiro stated.
"Oh boy, now it´s my turn to talk, I guess."
,,I.. I am not mad.. In fact I never was..", I simply said.
Shiro raised an eyebrow at that:,, Sure.. Then why did you avoid me all this time? For fun?"
I didn´t know how to respond. There I was between my conflicting feelings. On the one hand I didn´t want my mother to get mad at me for betraying her. On the other hand in my opinion it was just childish to ignore the squid boy. And not only that.. We had become friends by now .. Not even just that.. I couldn´t deny my feelings towards the Inkling boy anymore..
I took a deep breath and decided to listen to my heart:,, My mother told me to stay away from you."
,,What?! Why would she do that?", Shiro immediately stopped in his tracks.
I sighed, making a halt as well:,, I´m so sorry.. I really don´t know the details about that as well.. I just.."
I again took a deep breath since I was so nervous about this conversation:,,Look, remember when you brought me home the other day?"
Shiro nodded.
,,Well, my mother saw you and immediately asked who you were. So I told her what your name was and that she must know you since we are childhood friends."
,,And?", the Inkling boy asked, obviously curious about what I would say next.
,,She totally freaked out, told me that I should stay away from you and stuff."
,,Wait but why? She must have a reason for saying something like.."
I cut him off:,, The only thing she told me was that it´s your father´s fault that my father is dead!"
Silence.
I could visibly see how Shiro´s face lost his color and instead turned to almost white. Either he must be a good actor or he was truly shocked about what I just had told him.
I carefully asked:,, Do you.. Do you know something about this? I mean my mother wouldn´t just make something like that up.. I.. I really didn´t want to avoid you.. I just wanted to be a good daughter but didn´t want to hurt you either.."
Tears started to form in my eyes.
,,Or did you know this all along and just played some filthy tricks on me so you could..", my voice cracked at this very moment and I couldn´t hold it together any longer.
Tears started to flow down my cheeks. I wanted to say more.. I wanted to speak out everything what went through my mind the whole past week but I just couldn´t find my voice again. All the sadness, negativity, anger, frustration and loneliness I had build up, found it´s way out in this very instant. When my body finally collapsed on the ground, Shiro quickly kneeled on my side and took me in his arms.
,,I.. I´m so sorry, Suzu. I just don´t know what to say..", he calmly whispered, still being in shock though.
As I heard him saying this, I tried to fight against his embrace, squealing:,, So you knew..?!"
,,NO!", he cut me off. ,,Of course I didn´t know! I would never lie to you. No one in our family ever told us anything about this."
,,So are you saying that my mother´s lying?!"
He forced me to look directly in his eyes:,, No! Look, you can trust me Suzu. I don´t know nothing about anything. I didn´t even know that your father was dead until you told us the other day! Maybe Shota knows something. Squid hell, I don´t know! Didn´t you ask your mother.."
,,No, she wouldn´t tell me anything beside that..", I sniffed.
Shiro sighed and took me back in his arms:,, It´s okay. We will make it work, I promise. Maybe we have to talk to your mother or even my brother for more details. Squid hell, I don´t know. But you have to promise me that you will stop freaking avoiding me okay? I felt so.. I missed you so much.. I thought I did something very wrong and.."
Now it was Shiro´s voice time to crack. I could tell that he was nearly tearing up as well. But he hold it together.
We just sat there for a long time, sitting on the sidewalk and just being in each others arms. His body warmed mine, making me slowly calm down. And holy squid, his scent he always wears.. Just now I could truly admit to myself how very much I had missed him.
