Project: Socialize (Chapters 1-197)

76. She and I will Never Change

That night when I went home, I discovered that with an injured hand, it was unsafe for me to make dinner. When I entered through the front door, I explained the situation to Loriana and apologized while we sat next to each other on the living room couch. The response I received was a sigh and a look of concern. However, in her voice there was not a single trace of anger. Rather, she seemed quite proud.

"You did the right thing," she said as she cupped my injured left hand gently with her hands. They were smaller than mine, extremely soft, and somewhat cool in temperature."You shouldn't apologize for anything."

Her words were quite caring in nature and was extremely soothing to hear. However, what she stated was more or less the obvious facts. Even then, I still enjoyed the feeling of love and kindness that she provided me.

"To think that Alevian would protect girls from harm," she said while staring nostalgically at my hands. "It's hard to remember that you're a man now with your seventeenth birthday coming up soon."

"Yeah," I nodded, thinking about how I will spend that day alone.

Loriana then smiled and hugged me. The motive behind the hug was a mystery to me, but the warmth of her body was quite comforting. However, it was still somewhat different from that of Luna's emotionally.

Her chin was rested on my right shoulder and I could smell the aroma of her hair. In addition, I could feel two soft lumps pressing against my chest, which made a part of my body extremely sensitive.

Be humble, I told myself since if it were to stand up, then it'll poke against her stomach and make things awkward for us. Sit down.

When Loriana finally released me from her embrace, I was still humble. However, if it were for any longer, than it would've been a different story. Although she had released me from her embrace, both her arms were still around my neck as her topaz yellow eyes gazed deeply into mine. This made me quite nervous and made my heart race as her face was close enough for mine to feel the air that she breathed out. 

"Loriana?" I said as I turned my face and looked away in order to control myself. 

I was certain that my face was red from that interaction I had with her, and when I would peek back at her, I discovered that she was still staring at me like before. That continued for a few more seconds until I heard a soft chuckle from her as she allowed her arms to slowly slide off my shoulders.

"Looks like you're still just a child," she said with a faint smile as she got up from the couch. "Let's go," she said to me. "We'll eat out tonight."

With a sigh of relief and some frustration for being called a child, I got up from my seat in order to head back to my room to get changed while Loriana stood by the door with her phone in her hands as she waited.

***

The next morning, I woke up at 8:20 in the morning. The reasoning behind why I chose this time was because 9 AM is the time that we had decided on to meet up. After quickly finishing my morning routines in the washroom and eating breakfast, I left the house, leaving Loriana alone as she watched television in the living room. She had asked me if she could come to the School Festival on Friday, but I denied it, knowing that there's really not much for her to do there. Besides, she's been working overtime for every weekday. Therefore, I wanted her to be able to rest up on the weekends.