I still can’t believe I fell asleep on him… (How could I have done that?!)
A few weeks has passed since then, and we both haven’t acknowledged it. I have healed from being sick though… and he took care of me everyday… Making me tea and meals. (I’ve been really spoiled by him…)
I’m walking over to his tent when we meet halfway.
Unsure of how to act…
Laura: “G-Good morning…!” I peeped out.
Lon’qu: “Morning… your colors are back.”
Laura: “Thanks to you… Really… thanks for taking care of me Lon’qu.”
Lon’qu: “…Anytime.”
My heart skips a beat.
(There he goes again with his anytime…)
Laura: “K-keep saying that and I’ll take it to heart you know?”
Lon’qu: “Then do so.”
He says it with so much conviction while looking at me…
Lon’qu: “I already told you once before haven’t I…? Or have you forgotten already?”
My cheeks flush. (It’s not like I forgot!!)
Laura: “I… haven’t forgotten…! A-anyways! A quick patrol this morning then if u feel like it the plan is Miriel next.” I take out the list and point at her name.
Lon’qu: “If I didn’t know better, it looks like a hit list, with all those names crossed out.”
(It really did though… especially how I scribbled over their names after…)
Laura: “Just a list nothing less nothing more!” I tucked it away.
Lon’qu: “Let’s go then.”
(Three simple words… just three and it tells me that he is willing to go with me.) My heart soars. (Am I getting easy…?)
(What’s wrong with me…)
He looks back and calls out.
Lon’qu: “Take any longer and I’ll leave you.”
(Leave me…?) The words trouble my heart and I feel a small pain in my chest (but why…?)
Laura: “I’m coming..!” My feet automatically running after him…
We decided to patrol on a mountain path when he suddenly walks on my right side so I’m away from the cliff.
Lon’qu: “Don’t fall.”
Laura: “I’m not that clumsy to fall! Besides… if I did fall… would you catch me…?” I asked so quietly… (I don’t even know if he heard me…?)
Lon'qu: “Hey.”
Laura: “Y-yes…?”
But when I looked at him, he wasn’t looking at me… He was looking at… I heard her speak before I saw her…
Miriel: “The sun's light dims and is extinguished as it falls below the horizon. How, then, can—“
Laura: (Miriel?! I knew she was next on the list but really?!)
I see him practically fly to her side…
Lon'qu: “Hey! Watch OUT.”
Lon'qu: “Do you have a death wish, woman? You nearly walked off a cliff!”
Lon'qu: “...Gods. I grabbed a woman's arm.”
(The way he’s grabbing her arm too…) I cross my arms watching the both of them.
Miriel: “Apologies. I was lost in my reading.”
Lon'qu: “Maybe sit down next time if you aim to stay alive.”
(How… very logical. It’s also very him to say that…)
Miriel: “My heart is racing. An automatic response to danger, I assume? Very interesting.”
(Oh no. Just stay away from him…) I bite on my bottom lip.
Lon'qu: “Just close the book.”
(He’s still on that book. It’s cute… so very him...)
Miriel: “I am conducting a thought experiment and would prefer not to interrupt it.”
Lon'qu: “You'd be interrupted permanently if I hadn't stopped you. Don't let it happen again.”
(The way he talks to women though… even then I find this endearing…)
(But to tell her not to let it happen again…)
(I have a really bad feeling of this…)
He walks back to me but then Miriel is already walking and we see dangers up ahead on our patrol.
We end up following her…
Laura: “Lon’qu those rocks…!”
With a sigh and curse under his breath, he reaches and moves her out of the way.
Not too long after, she walks in the river…
Laura: “Uh…. Y-You saw that right?”
He sighs again and goes after her to save her.
A branch was going to snap on top of her, he clips the branch with his sword.
It calmed down a bit until we reached the marketplace.
After saving her so many times… I could see the weariness taking a toll on him.
(He’s completely exhausted…)
(He’s at his limit…. Isn’t he?)
I start to wonder if when he saves me, (is he this bothered by it too…?)
Lon'qu: “I told you not to let this happen again!”
Miriel: “You did.”
Lon'qu: “The falling rocks and being swept off by the river I can perhaps understand... But you just stepped in front of a cart! A cart full of...of very loud minstrels!”
Miriel: “Yes. But I saw you coming as well.”
(A bold statement.)
Lon'qu: “And you just assumed I'd save you?”
(I mean don’t we all to some extent…)
Miriel: “The first few instances were accidents, but they raised a curious question. Was my attendant increase in heart rate purely the result of proximal danger?”
Lon'qu: “Say that in words a human can understand.”
I laughed internally.
Miriel: “A second situational cause could be postulated: proximity to you.”
(Yeah well take a number.) Again, I crossed my arms.
Lon'qu: “So you had to keep trying to die so I could keep saving you? What if I'd been too slow?”
(But, you’re never slow…)
Miriel: “An incisive criticism. My methodology failed to prepare for that contingency.”
(Wow.)
Lon'qu: “For a smart woman, you sure are dumb.”
(The way he said this straightforwardly… straight to her face.)
Lon'qu: “So understand this—that was the last time I'm pulling you out of the fire! I'm uncomfortable enough around women as it is. I don't need you making it worse.”
(And where does that put me…?)
Miriel: “A categorical aversion to women? Curious. Does this extend to, say, a female cat?”
(Female cats… really.)
Lon'qu: “What? No. Cats all look the same to me.”
(He does have a point…)
Miriel: “What about primates? Statues of women? Perhaps a female cadaver?”
(These questions…)
Lon'qu: “I'm pretending you stopped at statues.”
(Did she really just asked about a dead body…?!?!)
Miriel: “Is your reflex physical, or psychological? This merits a most rigorous investigation!”
(STAY AWAY.) I huffed.
Lon'qu: “I'm starting to wish I'd let those minstrels run you down...”
(Well yes but that’s not nice Lon’qu…)
She walks off.
Lon’qu: “Let’s leave her. It’s too much already.”
I probably have a scowl on my face and I tried to make it neutral.
I look at him and see how tired and stressed out he is about all of this.
(I want to give him a pick me up…)
I take both my hands around his face and squish his cheeks. With a huge grin on my face… I laugh and smile because he looks ridiculous but yet… just (so cute.)
Laura: “Hehe.”
Lon’qu: “…!”
I squish his cheeks like 2 times.
His face reddens under my hands.
Laura: “Cheer up Lon’qu! You’re everyone’s hero…”
His blush is quickly replaced with a frown as he grabs my arms in his hands…
Lon’qu: “I don’t want to be a hero. Not alone everyone’s.”
We stand there locked eyes stuck in this trance… his thumbs brushing both of my wrists.
My cheeks heat from his gesture… his eyes perusing from my eyes to my lips…
I’m not entirely sure what kind of face I was making… because… he leans in slightly but then his eyes widen largely and he lets go abruptly.
Lon’qu: “!”
Lon’qu: “S-sorry!”
Laura: “…Sorry for what…?!”
Lon’qu: “N-nothing! I don’t know what came over me…”
He turns away from me and starts walking back to our camp.
(Sorry for nothing?!) I am left perplexed but can still feel his touch on my arms…
We walk back in silence… with me following behind him slightly… he’s like two paces in front of me.
I sigh to myself.
(Cause we are both very quiet people in general…)
When we make it back to his tent first, he goes in and yells.
Lon’qu: “WHAT THE?!”
Laura: “Lon’qu?!” I’m about to step in when… I hear stuff breaking…?! When he comes back out, he’s furious.
Lon’qu: “I thought she was done for the day but nnnngh. This has to be her doing…”
(Miriel huh…) I see her on the corner of my eye and I point in the direction that I see her…
He advances…
Lon'qu: “All right! Why did you do it?!”
Miriel: “Your question is far too vague for—“
Lon'qu: “You filled my tent with statues of women! And most of them had no arms!”
(Oh. Boy. That explains the yelling and shattering noises…)
Miriel: “Regardless, the statues were an experiment to learn the extent of your aversion reflex. And now I may collect the results! So then, how did you react to the statues?”
Lon'qu: “By smashing them.”
(He- he really did…)
Miriel: “I see. So an inanimate likeness DOES trigger your reflex.”
Lon'qu: “No, that's not the—“
Miriel: “We can proceed to the next test once I've procured sufficient female monkeys to—“
(UM NO.)
Lon'qu: “For the love of all the gods, no! You don't get it.”
(The way he said this though. He must be very angry.)
Lon'qu: “I didn't get rid of the statues because they looked like women. There was barely enough room in my tent to stand! Plus I didn't want people to think I had...issues.”
(Issues… he says.)
Miriel: “A man who claims to be constitutionally averse to women with a tent full of statues? You might indeed be the subject of scrutiny, to say nothing of scurrilous rumor.”
(Well if it’ll scare all the other girls away, sure.)
Lon'qu: “Assuming those words mean what I think they mean, yes. That's it exactly.”
Miriel: “This was an oversight in my methodology. I apologize. We'll repeat the experiment in a secluded location.”
(SECLUDED?! NO!!!)
Lon'qu: “No, we won't.”
(I’m so glad we are on the same page…)
Miriel: “My heart is racing at the prospect of clean, reliable data!”
Lon'qu: “I said forget it!”
(Leave him alone!!!) I breathe out.
He walks back to me.
Lon’qu: “Ugh, finally she’s gone. Could you come…”
(He’s calling for me…?) A smile spreads across my face despite everything.
We make our way back to his tent and I step inside. Piles of broken statues everywhere…
Laura: “W-wow…” (No kidding when he said he smashed them.) I laughed involuntarily.
Lon’qu: “I do not have issues…”
Laura: “I never said you did…! It’s just that this sight…” I stifle a laugh. (If I didn’t know better I would probably also say he hates women…) “I’ll help you clean up this mess!”
As I was helping him pile up all the broken bits, I see one statue hidden in the corner of his tent that he missed.
It’s a busty statue. (It can run laps around me.)
Laura: “Oh my… Lon’qu. This is the type of woman you like?” I teased as I point at it.
Lon’qu: “W-what?!” His eyes following my fingers until he sees the statue. His eyes widen. “N-No!!” He stammers.
I walk behind the statue so my head is above while the statue makes the rest of my body.
Laura: “Like what you see?” I tease him again. I put my hands posing on top of the statue for kicks.
His face turns crimson red in an instant.
Lon’qu: “W-w-what?!!?”
I do another pose. “Look Lon’qu!” I call out to him.
Lon’qu: “S-stop t-that…!”
I laugh. (He’s so precious…)
Laura: “Keep that up and all the girls are going to fall for you…” I say before realizing what I have said.
Lon’qu: “That’s a-absurd!”
(You don’t understand the effect you have…)
(He deserves to be teased more.)
I move out from behind the statue and stand side by side with it.
Laura: “So which woman do you prefer? Me? Or…” (Miss Busty, but I couldn’t say this.) I point to the statue.
The tips of his ears go red. “There’s only one… woman here…”
(Huh…? So m-me?!?) My face flushes like his.
Lon’qu: “J-just get rid of that statue already…”
Laura: “H-how did you even smash these… I don’t even know where to s-start!”
Lon’qu: “If you were surrounded by them like I was… you probably would have too…”
Laura: “Maybe… I’ll just cart it away and someone else will find use for it or something...”
I start to push it out.
Laura: “Good thing this material isn’t so heavy huh?”
I drag it outside his tent and call Anna over to take it away and ask her for a sturdy broom.
I head back into his tent to help to clean up.
Laura: “I wonder how she even managed to get all of these in here…”
Lon’qu: “Just… forget it…”
“Insanity.” he mutters.
I laugh and smile to myself. (He’s so cute.)
He frowns.
Laura: “I’m not laughing at you okay?!” (I just think you’re very cute…) “I-I got to see another side of you…!”
He shakes his head and continues cleaning up the mess.
We finish cleaning up.
Laura: “Out of sight out of mind!” I give him another smile.
Lon’qu: “At least this is all over with. How much more do I need to endure…?”
Laura: “A-are you unhappy…?”
He clenches his mouth.
Lon’qu: “Not at this moment… no…”
Laura: “But… at some point… you were…?”
My question hangs in the air, I was curious, but it came out a bit accusing…
He clenches his mouth again, opening to say something then closing it. To opening it again…
Lon’qu: “Are you telling me to give up? To break your promise…?”
Laura: “My promise…?”
I recall about 11 months ago… how time has flown since then… we were on a patrol together…
(I vaguely remember…)
Flashback
Laura: "I will make a list of all the people that you should get to know."
Laura: "This is a promise! You promise?"
Lon'qu: "You're not going to take no for an answer..."
End of Flashback
Laura: “…Was that even a promise…?” I ask myself more than asking him.
(It was so one sided… just like everything huh…)
Lon’qu: “I refuse.”
Laura: “Huh…?”
(He doesn’t want to…)
Lon’qu: “I refuse to give in. I’ll see this through… if you continue to stay… by my side, Laura…”
(M-my name…?!) My heart leaps and erratically beats… like a hammer thumping in my chest.
(By his side… like forever…?)
(That can’t be right…) A pang.
Laura: “O-of course! I’ll be here a-always…”
(This feels a bit like a confession even though it’s not…?!)
Lon’qu: “…Do you promise?”
(P-promise of what..?! Staying forever?! Possibly, it can’t be that…!!)
(Be still my heart…!!)
But, it won’t stop.
Laura: “A-about the list…?”
His eyes furrowed and creased in. (His eyes looked sad for a second…?) I blinked, his face neutral, stoic, like how it always is.
Lon’qu: “Yeah. Your list.” His voiced clipped more than usual.
Laura: “Y-yeah…”
(D-did I say something wrong…?)
My heart speeding up not because of what I was feeling moment ago… but because I feel so guilty…
I realize that I’m still in his tent.
Laura: “I-I’ll get going then… Have a great night!”
Before he can say anything, I turn and I flee. Running away as fast as I can…
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