𖣘 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙮𝙖𝙡𝙖 𝘼𝙥𝙞 𖣘 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙮𝙖𝙢 𝙎𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮 𖣘

17.

  "What is this?" Lahar picked at a rotten fruit cautiously, he flung it onto his sister while her back was turnt.

"Agh — " Lei hissed frustratedly, she flicked the compost off of her body. She grinned maliciously while she grabbed her bow.

She always snapped her bow at Lahar's ankles when he played with her nerves.

"No!" Lahar braced for impact while he laughed, he scurried away from her.

"Baby." Lei remarked while she set her bow down slowly, returning to harvesting crops.

"Stop arguing." Percikan scolded the 2 siblings like they were his children. "We have too many things to do."

Lo'ak audibly lost hope when he heard Percikan, he was sick of harvesting the same vegetation over and over again. The group of teens were tasked with simple jobs such as these to stay out of trouble.

"My hand aches." Hantu caviled for what seemed like the 100th time that hour.

"Tìfnu skxawng." Lei chucked a small rock at Hantu's back.

"Only when I speak?" Hantu dropped his dagger and stood upwards.

"Thick skull." Lahar laughed, Lei smirked of satisfaction.

Lo'ak tapped Neteyam on his back. "Why aren't you talking?"

"Shut up." Neteyam rudely swatted his brother's hand away.

Lei diverted her low gaze towards Neteyam, he hadn't spoken to her all morning. She'd reckoned he was embarrassed — she was right.

Neteyam wasn't just embarrassed, he was restless. He stayed awake all night thinking about how he should've canned it.

He hadn't even informed Lo'ak of it, neither his dad. And he definitely wasn't planning on it.

Even though Lei wanted something with Neteyam she felt the boy was a stranger, an outsider even.

After the clique completed the task given Lei was racked with guilt.

"Neteyam." She softly called while grasping his forearm, she adopted his fast paced stride.

He looked down to her, his tail curled slightly in response to her touch.

"Lei." He mustered a bitter smile.

Lei tugged him backwards so he was forced to walk alongside her, falling behind the group.

"What is wrong?" She let her hand fall back down to her side.

"Nothing." Neteyam shook his head. If Lei truly didn't know what was wrong she would've considered Neteyam a good liar.

Lei smiled to herself smugly, in a way this gave her a boost of confidence.

She hesitated before grabbing Neteyam's arm a 2nd time and stopping completely.

"What Lei?" Neteyam questioned thwartly.

Lei wasted no time, she cupped Neteyam's face and pulled him closer. She closed her eyes and kissed Neteyam on the cheek hastily.

Her face flushed when Neteyam stood idle in shock, Lei let out an airy laugh while she took a step away from him. She resumed the walk back to the village — assuming Neteyam would follow her.

Neteyam placed his bow in his left hand and pulled Lei back to him. "What?" She furrowed her eyebrows before Neteyam placed his large hand in the crook of her neck. His eyes grazed across her face.

He pulled her closer and connected his lips to hers. Lei's stomach felt like it was literally going to explode.

She pulled away from him and glanced to see if any of the group had noticed they had fallen behind.

"You are stupid." She pressed 2 fingers to Neteyam's forehead and pranced towards the teens.

Neteyam cheered to himself as he followed her lead, his hands were uncontrollably shaking for the entirety of the trek back.

———————————————————————

Lei and Awani had ran off to a hu'a wela, they negotiated for Lahar to carry their crop.

"I haven't been with you in ages!" Awani observed in a giddy-ish tone while she pulled Lei into a side hug.

"I know." Lei smiled.

Awani let go of Lei and surveyed her body language, her ears perked curiously.

"What is going on?" She poked at Lei.

Lei's heart dropped. "What do you mean?"

Awani plastered a sneer onto her face, she veered her gaze away from Lei. A lightbulb might as well have appeared above Awani's head.

"What?" Lei laughed while she lightly pushed Awani's shoulder.

"You and Neteyam." Awani said while swishing her tail vertically.

"Awani," Lei grabbed her hand. "You are crazy." She disregarded Awani's remark, her heart was racing.

Awani shrugged. "You don't have to tell me." She said smugly.

Lei pretended to brush it off, but inside she felt like she was going to burst at the seams. She had never kept anything from Awani but this? She could not tell a soul — or a living one at least.

If any of the Nyala Api heard of Lei and Neteyam the 2 would be skinned.

Awani looked to her friend. "I won't speak of it —"

"Awani." Lei threw her head backwards.

"Please." Awani begged in a desperate tone. "Everything has been boring."

"There is nothing." Lei said while she flung her hair back behind her shoulder.

Awani groaned in annoyance. "Are you sure—"

"Fnu." She grabbed Awani's arm quickly, cupping her hand over her mouth. She perked her ears outwards as if she were listening for something.

Awani's face blanched. "I got you." Lei whispered while she retracted her hand away from Awani, a leer plastered across her face.

"Skxawng." Awani slapped Lei's hand. "Not funny." She shook her head.

"You are easy." Lei laughed while she caught up to her friend.

AN

This is literally the shortest chapter i've ever written and i'm sorryyyy, i'm lowk having authors block

PUHLEASE if u have any suggestions leave them hereee:)