STARLIGHT | krmy ✓

06

CHAPTER SIX —
IT JUST TAKES A MOMENT.

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MAYA WAS BAFFLED at how easily she let her walls down around Saijō Claudine — just a couple of hours ago, she had been dreading her arrival at the house, and now, embarrassingly enough, she was getting squeezed to death by the very woman she didn't wish to see.

"You infuriating woman," Claudine breathes heavily into her neck, and tightens her grip on Maya's black bomber jacket. Maya simply lets her cry, lets her sob uncontrollably into her chest.

"Where's your pride?"

Maya clenches her jaw. Damn Kaoruko. She absolutely hated the situation she was in — but did she really, now? Being here, holding Claudine in her arms was perhaps the deepest desire she ever hid in her heart.

"Why did you have to say what you did?"

Maya is weakly shoved back by the shoulders, though Claudine keeps her hands firmly on the brunette's arms.

"I don't understand what you're referring to."

Claudine scowls, staring up and deep into Maya's purple irises.

Adorable. Maya thinks, unable to help herself. Claudine keeps her gaze fixed on her, then seemed to falter, like she had arrived at a conclusion.

"When you said I meant too much to you," the blonde explains, looking away, her voice getting quieter. "...what did you mean by that?"

Maya does not respond instantly. She keeps her gaze on Claudine, at the way she refuses to look up at her, at the gentle blush dusting her cheeks and ears. The late afternoon light that flowed in gently through the windows lit up the angelic slopes of her face, washing over the bridge of her nose, over her crimson eyes, bathing them in a harsh pool of fire.

"I don't know either," Maya admits.

Claudine tilts her head slightly, finally choosing to meet Maya's stony, set gaze. She opens her mouth for a second, at a loss for words.

"Then–" Claudine pauses, searching Maya's eyes, an emotion Maya does not understand splaying on her face unabashedly. "–did you mean it?"

Maya's breath catches in her throat. Did she mean it? She wants to say yes, wants to say that yes she meant too much to her for her to be able to move on from the mess she was laying in.

Claudine waits patiently, crimson irises attentive, and Maya knows she'd be trapped forever once she admitted what she truly felt. And when she did, what then?

"Oh, did I walk in on something?"

Yachiyo stands at the kitchen entrance, plastic bags in her hands, an elegant eyebrow raised when her gaze runs over the scene in front of her.

Maya is shoved roughly back before she could attempt to explain what had happened, and she's left blinking confusedly when she finds herself on the tiled floor of the kitchen, with Claudine standing over her in a blushing mess.

"No–Nothing happened!" Claudine stammers, barely sparing a glance at Maya when she stomps out of the kitchen, shoving past an amused Yachiyo and stalking down the hallway, muttering in French.

Yachiyo giggles, putting the bags aside and offering a hand to Maya, who shakes her head and gets herself off the floor, brushing her jeans down.

"That was quick," Yachiyo comments slyly, moving to load the groceries into the fridge. Maya shoots her a dangerous look, but the makeup artist merely shrugs nonchalantly as she sticks vegetables into the crisper.