Chapter 44: What Am I To You?
It took about 10 minutes for Aria to calm down completely again after he had coughed up blood right in front of her, and now that the whole incident at the buffet place was completely done with thankfully, Eric was currently sat on a bench somewhere at a park that was within walking distance from where the buffet restaurant was located.
It was the same park that Eric had gone to after he had first met Aria at ’The Grey Cup,’ and coincidentally enough, he was also sitting on the same exact bench too.
But while he had came here to the park in order to continue relaxing and enjoy the view of the white winter scenery in front of him, he couldn’t seem to be able to do that at all.
After all...
’What is going on with me right now?’
Both physically and mentally.
Well, it was fair to say that his mind has already not been mentally sound to begin with, even outside of all the strange and abnormal behaviors he had displayed ever since suddenly remembering his past twenty lives since he was the Eric Porter after all, so there was not much to say there.
But physically however, he felt...
Okay?
Perhaps even normal again?
As though the toxins weren’t even in his body anymore and completely ceased to exist all of a sudden?
But how come?
He didn’t even do anything to his body at all.
Besides, even if he wanted to do something to his body to get rid of the toxins within it, this damned body of his still couldn’t absorb magical energy whatsoever in the first place.
So it makes absolutely no sense to him that the toxins that had been in his body for 3 days now and didn’t seem like it would be going away anytime soon would just disappear for seemingly no reason whatsoever.
’I guess this is a good thing, but...’
Truthfully, Eric was extremely skeptical about it.
Because this was now the second time that his body recovered fully back to normal all of a sudden, and he was even conscious this time around when it happened.
More importantly, it felt like it just randomly happened a few minutes after he had coughed up blood right in front of Aria and she had been absolutely worried about his condition still.
It just didn’t follow the same pattern as when it happened the first time while he was unconscious and he was brought back to the penthouse.
’There’s definitely something else at play here... maybe even someone behind this. Or maybe I’m just missing something. But...’
Eric honestly didn’t know what, nor could he be bothered to investigate it.
For now at least.
Besides, he knew just how crazy this world truly was.
But as long as there was no ill intent behind it, and none directed towards him in any way whatsoever, he saw no reason to question it and would rather simply take advantage of it and move on.
Speaking of crazy though...
"Aria." Eric calmly said as he glanced over at her to the side.
"Mhm?" Aria, who was been sitting beside him on the bench and had been also looking at the snowy scene in front of her while she had her arms rested ontop of her legs, looked over at Eric and softly smiled.
It was as though the whole meltdown she had gone through a few minutes ago back at the buffet restaurant had never happened, aside from her obviously still reddened eyes, and the look on her face made it seem as if nothing in the entire world was wrong.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Eric wasn’t sure if it was okay to talk to her again considering that he hasn’t spoken to her at all ever since they had left the buffet restaurant, and so he had to ask.
"Sure, what is it?" Aria nodded her head in response with no hesitation whatsoever.
"What am I to you, Aria?" Eric asked after a few seconds of thinking later.
Honestly, Eric had so many other important questions going through his head right now that he really wanted to ask her instead, such as why she had suddenly behaved that way towards him at the buffet restaurant in the first place when she first met him again, why she went into a huge mental breakdown after he mentioned something about leaving the buffet, and all of that other stuff, but ultimately he decided to just ask this one instead.
After all, he truly needed to know.
For his own sake.
"Um... can you say that again?" Aria wasn’t prepared for that line of questioning and couldn’t help but become flustered.
"I asked what am I to you, Aria." Eric repeated once more with a completely straight face, "Acquaintance? Friend? Or something else entirely?"
"W-Why are you asking me this so suddenly?" Aria couldn’t help but slightly shift in place as her heartbeat started rising rapidly.
Even though Aria had a good idea of what Eric was to her, and had understood it for quite some time now, she didn’t want to answer right away because she felt that there was a deeper meaning behind his question.
After all, he had seemingly asked this after everything that has transpired inside of the buffet.
And besides, her feelings for him definitely grew significantly ever since she had cried her heart out for him for three entire days straight, so she couldn’t bring herself to immediately answer his question.
"Because I want to know, that’s all." Eric noticed Aria’s fidgety behavior on full display, but chose to ignore it and patiently waited for an answer instead.
"B-but I-I already answered that q-question back at the restaurant, didn’t I? P-plus, c-couldn’t you have gotten a v-vague idea of my feelings towards you b-based off what I said and my e-emotional outbursts back there anyways? D-do you really want to make me answer this q-question again right here and now?" Aria was completely flustered at this point and couldn’t help but put her head down and stare at her legs in order to avoid making eye contact with Eric.
"Yes. I want you to be clear about with me, and without all the heated emotions involved this time just so that I know how you really feel." Eric stated bluntly.
"..."
"So?"
"I- um, well... c-can you give me a m-moment?" Aria stammered as her face turned even more red.
"Sure. Take all the time you need and tell me when you’re ready." Eric simply nodded in response and turned his head back over towards the snowy scene in front of him.
There was a long moment of silence between the two after that, and the only thing that could be heard were the soft blowing of the wind and the sounds of the trees swaying from side to side.
After what felt like hours of agonizing silence to Aria though...
"Eric." Aria, finally having managed to calm her nerves down somewhat, looked straight at Eric again and spoke up.
"Yes?" Eric replied casually but also carefully as he turned his head back towards her in order to give her his undivided attention.
Truthfully, he had half expected Aria to say something along the lines of someone she couldn’t live without again just like she had first done in the buffet restaurant, so he was mentally prepared for that.
But what she ended up saying next was something that he wasn’t expecting whatsoever.
Because she said...
"You’re someone who’s more important to me than Aurora now."