Chapter 19: Difficulties With A Dragonewt (Part 6)
"Hey, Draco," I say, knocking on her door.
After a few seconds, she cracks the door open only enough to see a sliver of her face.
"Y-Yeah?" She replies sheepishly while avoiding eye contact.
"You didn't come down for breakfast so I figured I would bring you your plate," I explain.
"O-Oh… t-thanks," She says, taking the plate.
"H-Hey so I was hoping we could talk abou-," I begin to say.
"I-I'm super busy right now! S-Sorry!" She interjects quickly, shutting the door.
That's fine.
I don't plan on forcing it out of her.
Lunchtime rolls around in no time flat.
Draco still hasn't emerged from her room.
"This is ridiculous. She's procrastinating," Lilith says, having finished her sandwich.
"She's probably building her courage up. Not everyone can apologize so easily," I say.
"Are you nervous about it?" She asks.
"I would be lying if I said I wasn't. I didn't exactly keep my cool during that moment so I owe her an apology too," I answer.
"I have to ask. Do you like Draco?" She questions.
"Of course I do," I reply.
"You know what I meant," she says.
"It's not like that. I just want her to stick around," I elaborate.
"If you really mean that, then look me in the eye and say that, Sweetheart," she giggles.
Okay then.
Getting out of my chair, I walk over to her side of the table and lock eyes with her.
"It's not like that," I repeat.
"You're a really good liar when you want to be," she comments.
S-Seriously?
"L-Lying?! What would I gain from lying about this?" I question.
"Having me and Polt not interfere with it," she answers.
"I think both of you have the wrong idea of what's happeni-," she puts a finger to my lips, interrupting me.
"You don't have to play it off. We're not gonna force anything… unless you and Draco are clearly stalling," she whispers, smirking while petting my head.
"Lilith, can't you back me up for once?" I sigh.
"I am backing you up. Just not in the way you want me to. Kihihi!" She laughs.
"So cruel to me," I say, laying my head down on her lap.
"It comes from a place of love," She says, rubbing my cheek.
"Love you," I say.
"Love you too," she says.
I yawn.
I didn't think I was all that tired today but I guess it just snuck up on me.
"If you're gonna take a nap, then at least let's be somewhere more comfortable," she says.
"Alright," I mutter tiredly.
Moving to the living room couch, I continue to use Lilith's lap as a pillow while laying down, slowly but surely dozing off.
Waking up, the first thing I see is Polt, who's on her knees while poking my nose.
"I was wondering how long it would take," Polt smiles.
"Have a good little nap?" Lilith questions.
"I would say so," I answer.
"Good to hear because it's time for dinner," she says.
Say what?!
I spring to my feet.
"I-It's dinner time already?! How long was I out?!" I ask frantically.
"It's about seven right now so you've been asleep for about four hours," she replies.
I wasn't supposed to sleep that long!
"I need to get on it right away then!" I exclaim.
"Don't worry about all that. I took care of it already," Polt says, stopping me by grabbing my left arm.
"O-Oh," I say, calming down.
"I figured I would let you rest a little longer and when Polt showed up, she decided to take it upon herself to go ahead and cook for you," Lilith explains.
"Truth be told, I was already kinda dead set on cooking tonight. I thought we were honestly gonna get into a small kerfuffle about it since you've been the one cooking everyday so I was a bit relieved that you were already out cold," Polt chuckles sheepishly while rubbing the back of her head.
"Polt, I'm not gonna argue with you if you want to help me out with stuff like that. It's a load off my shoulders and I would greatly appreciate all the help I can get so thanks for that," I say, walking up to her.
"S-Sweethear-," I kiss Polt, interrupting her.
The moment I pull away, Polt quickly pulls me back in for more.
"Geez, Polt. Let me get in on that," Lilith says.
"Oh, alright," Polt says, letting me go.
Lilith grabs me by the shirt and pulls me down to her height, colliding her mouth against mine.
Only after a few seconds, she disengages.
"Gotta save some of that for Draco," Lilith giggles.
"I'm not gonna bite that bait," I say.
"Speaking of which, has Draco been out of her room at all today? You told me she didn't show up for breakfast, Lilith," Polt says.
"While Ryuta was sleeping, she came down and quickly went into the kitchen to make a bowl of instant noodles then hurried back up to her room with said bowl in hand," Lilith says.
Well, at least she ate something for lunch rather than nothing.
"As I expected this to go. Things should be fine by tonight hopefully. Anyway, let's go eat," Polt says.
As Lilith sits at the table, Polt halts me from doing so.
"Something up?" I ask.
"Could you take this up to Draco please?" Polt hands me a plate of food.
"Sure thing," I nod.
Returning to Draco's door for the second time today, I almost knock but I stop myself because I can hear Draco talking.
"Yeah… I'm sure about this. It has to happen," Draco says.
Sounds like she's on the phone with someone.
Maybe she's talking about the apology.
I won't eavesdrop more than that though.
"Draco," I call out.
"I-I gotta go now," She mutters.
Hearing her hang up, she cracks the door open slightly.
"Y-Yeah," she says.
"I brought you dinner," I say.
"Thanks," she says, taking the plate.
"Actually, you should tell Polt that since she's the one who cooked dinner tonight," I say.
"I will," she says.
Things immediately fall silent and get awkward as we both avoid eye contact yet still anticipating something to break the dead air.
I wanna say something but I don't know if I should or not!
"Hey… um… R-Ryuta?" she says hesitantly, looking at the floor.
"That's… me," I say.
"… Nevermind… it's nothing. I-I won't hold you up any longer," she says.
"Oh… alright. See ya," I say.
"See ya," she says, shutting the door.
That felt way worse than this morning.
The hell's going on with me?
Going back to the dining room, I join Polt and Lilith for dinner.
"This is really good, Polt! What did you do?!" I compliment.
"Is it really?! I just sorta copied the way I see you do things except I crammed a few more healthier options in," Polt explains, blushing.
"Ah, so that explains a lot of what I'm tasting though nowhere as bad as it should be based on that info," Lilith says.
"You're saying it's good, right?" I question.
"Exactly that," she answers.
"Sounds like I should cook more often if that's the case," Polt chuckles lightly.
Finishing up, Lilith and I lay back in our chairs.
"Thanks for the meal," Lilith and I say, patting our satisfied bellies.
"Don't thank me yet. I got a surprise as well!" Polt says excitedly.
"There's more?!" Lilith and I shout in disbelief.
"Mhmm! Just wait here!" Polt jumps out of her chair and runs into the kitchen.
The smell of baked apples begins to waft into the dining room.
"And here it is!" She announces, walking in with a rather notable dessert.
"Apple pie?!" I exclaim.
"That's right! Served à la mode too if you want," she says.
"How did you even make that without me smelling it?" Lilith asks, astonished.
"Now that's a secret," Polt answers, smirking.
As delicious as this will be, I would be lying if I said it's as satisfactory as it could be.
Breakfast and lunch were not as good today either.
Polt not being here is one thing because she has responsibilities to take care of but Draco not being part of the meals today when she lives here feels particularly jarring.
Like she's left out or something and it doesn't sit well with me at all.
"Is everything okay over there, Ryuta? You're frowning now," Lilith questions, concerned.
Really got to get better at not letting my thoughts take form externally.
"You two wouldn't mind if I got Draco to join us for dessert, would you?" I inquire, suddenly standing up out of my chair.
"Certainly not. In fact, I would be overjoyed to have her down here," Polt says.
"Go for it. I know it's been eating at you," Lilith says.
I nod and take off, going back to Draco's door for a third time.
As they say, third time's a charm.
"Draco, could you please come out of your room to have dessert? This day hasn't really been the same as the others without you," I say, a more softer tone accidentally present in my voice.
Almost immediately, she opens the door all the way this time.
"R-Ryuta… I need you… to come in here," Draco says, grabbing onto my left arm with both hands and pulling on it.
The look on her face tells me this is imperative.
"S-Sure thing," I say, coming in.
Locking the door, we sit down on the side of her bed.
"Something on your mind?" I ask as she awkwardly looks down and twiddles her fingers.
Gulping, she turns her head to me.
"I'm so sorry about yesterday. It was extremely disrespectful of me and I didn't even me-," I abruptly hug her, making her gasp.
"You are already forgiven. Despite what you said and how it hurt to hear, it felt way worse knowing that I shouldn't have shouted at you and I'm sorry for doing that," I hug tighter.
Her heart is beating like crazy… as is mine too.
"That day after yesterday was amazing and that's the truth! I pushed it away because I was scared and unsure about fully opening up to you! I wanted to run away from my problems but thanks to you I see now that I have to confront them head on!" She exclaims.
So something was off as I thought.
After she cools down, she pulls away and wipes away a few tears.
"Draco… do you wanna talk about it?" I question.
"Yeah… I'm ready," she sighs.
"I'm all ears," I say.
"Promise to not to look at me differently because of this?" She asks.
"I could never do that. I promise," I answer, delicately laying a hand on top of hers.
"R-Ryuta," she blushes.
"M-My bad. I didn't mean to do that. Please go ahead," I apologize, blushing back as I move my hand away.
Why did I do that?
"Right," she says.
She takes a deep breath first.
"My previous host was a complete piece of shit. Living there was hell. Never saw eye to eye on anything. Always arguing. Constantly taking chances to put me down with varying degrees of verbal abuse. Never have I ever wanted to punch someone so bad but couldn't because of the law!" She clenches her fists angrily.
I feared this was the case of her previous host.
Grrrr! That really pisses me off!
"How come you didn't contact the police or a Cultural Exchange agent?" I question.
"Trust me, I wanted to but he was always monitoring me. He even threatened that he would make me regret doing so and would go as far as to hurt himself to play the victim if it were to come down to it happening. It wouldn't surprise me if he had some twisted connections to authorities to protect him as well. I was essentially living in a prison. The times I snuck out were ill received by him too but it kept me from going insane," she says.
"He… didn't hit you, did he?" I say uncomfortably.
I hate that I have to ask that.
"Thankfully, no but he would come dangerously close to doing so," she replies.
Fucking asshole.
"To my benefit, It was when I was doing community service for being out without a host that I luckily got ahold of Smith and she helped me eventually escape without the hassle. He should be under investigation currently if Smith's word is to be believed," she says.
So that explains why Smith acted how she did.
Standing up, Draco goes to her closet and pulls out a dress with a skirt.
"To add, he was also a borderline creep and forced me into wearing shit like this for him from time to time or else I wouldn't be getting a meal. I took it just to spite him," she says.
The more I hear, the more I want to throw this guy into traffic.
Makes me sick.
How hard is it to be a decent person?
Throwing the dress back into the closet, she sits back down beside me.
"So yeah, that's why I hate men and why I acted how I did when I first got here. I thought I would go through that again by being here," she concludes.
It took one bad apple to spoil the bunch for her.
"I'm… I'm truly sorry that you had to endure all of that. That's not a situation anyone should be in," I say, internalizing the venomous hatred I now have towards her prior host.
"It's fine now. You showed me that not all guys are assholes like him and for that I'm more than thankful," she says.
What?!
"It's fine now?! Don't rationalize what that motherfu-," she kisses my lips before I can finish, taking me aback.
"What I'm saying is that if he weren't a jackass, then I wouldn't get to be here with you right now," she says softly.
"D-Draco," I stutter.
"Now enough with all that gloomy shit. Let's go get some dessert," she grins cheerfully.
"Right. L-Let's do that," I agree.
A/N: This chapter was originally bigger than I wanted it to be so I split it in two. The next chapter shouldn't take that long.