Moonchild | Neteyam

28

CHAPTER 28

Despite what Neteyam had told her, Erìhe had managed to avoid talking to Ao'nung for days - and he definitely was catching on.

Whenever Ao'nung looked over at her or even took one step in her direction she practically bolted from the scene. It made him feel horrible - had he taken advantage of her? They were both drunk, but he thought she wanted to kiss him too. Now he wasn't so sure.

"You have to talk to my brother some day," Tsireya sighed. Her, Erìhe, Aluva and Neteyam were sitting in her pod, helping the Tsahik out by drying herbs. "He's actually going to go crazy."

Aluva had learned of the kiss that had happened by mistake. She had overheard Erìhe and Tsireya talk about it and had walked over to offer some comfort and advice. "We're going to go crazy," Aluva corrected, "I have never known something like this that I am not allowed to tell anyone."

Erìhe nodded, "The next time I see him, I'll talk to him," she swore.

"It'll go well," Neteyam said. He was sure of this - even though he would have lied through his teeth if he had to.

"Yeah-"

The very boy they had been talking about had appeared in the opening of the pod. "Hey, Tsireya-" his sentence was cut short when he saw the three others sitting on the floor looking up at him. Then his eyes fell on Erìhe and he seemed to go pale.

Erìhe looked just as horror struck.

Despite not finding anything funny, Aluva chuckled quietly and nudged Erìhe toward Ao'nung. The girl stumbled to her feet and toward the boy. She looked back at Neteyam - her eyes wide and panicked.

Neteyam offered her a small smile and waved his hand, beckoning for her to just go.

Erìhe looked defeated when she turned back to Ao'nung, who had not moved an inch since entering the home. "Let's go," she said quietly and walked past him, her head hung in shame.

"Yeah - okay," Ao'nung agreed. He shot Tsireya a terrified glance before following behind Erìhe who was leading the way out of the pod.

The two walked in silence until they reached the edge of the forest. This was a preferable spot for conversations - as people rarely stumbled across the place.

"So.." Ao'nung said awkwardly as Erìhe turned to look up at him. He made sure to keep a good amount of distance between them - he was not sure where they stood, after all.

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you," Erìhe said.

They were both silent. Ao'nung was expecting Erìhe to go on to tell him why it was that she'd been ignoring him.

Erìhe was waiting for him to say something - anything. To forgive her or to demand to know the reason. Even the latter was better than the look he was giving her.

Finally Ao'nung spoke, "Why did you avoid me? I thought we had a moment at the party-"

"Exactly because of that," Eríhe said bashfully. She was now avoiding eye contact.

Ao'nung sighed and nodded once, "Can I ask what was wrong with it? Did you not want to kiss me or is it something else?"

"I did want to kiss you," Erìhe told him and Ao'nung breathed out in relief. So he had not taken advantage of her or anything of the sort. That was good to know. Then Erìhe went on, "But I do not like you." She admitted.

Ao'nung sucked in a deep breath but nodded.

"You're not mad?" Erìhe asked. She was still waiting for some big reaction.