Chapter 422: First love will always be messy, no matter how it ends
"Why is a bride so busy going here and there?" Zia puffed her cheek, still fuming as we strolled into the forest to visit Vrida.
Be it last night when I broke the news, at breakfast, and even as we had our morning stroll, Zia did not stop protesting. I let her be, though; it was nice hearing someone other than Natha show how much they wanted me to be around.
She also kept holding onto my sleeve, as if worried I might suddenly teleport somewhere without telling her. How cute. At this point, she felt more like a younger sister--even though she was technically older than me.
"Isn’t a bride originally supposed to be busy, anyway?" I responded with a laugh, taking her hand as we went through a bit of a hike. "Preparing this and that, going around purchasing stuff--compared to them, I was just lounging around waiting for fitting and listening to all kinds of progress."
"Rich brides are usually doing just that; nothing," Zia shrugged. "It’s the wedding committee who should be busy."
"Is that so? Anyway, I’m going to be confined at home before the wedding anyway, so..."
Zia still pursed her lips, but she was no longer holding onto me so tightly. I glanced at her and smirked. "Aren’t you supposed to be used to this? I usually stayed in the Lair anyway--I mean, before the culture contract..."
"It’s different knowing I can just pop by anytime and having you thousands of miles away," she muttered dejectedly while fiddling with my fingers. "What should I do if I want to...talk to you?"
O-ho...with the tone she used, I had a feeling that by ’talk’ she didn’t mean just a chatter. "Well, you can ’talk’ to me now," I shook our hands to nudge her. "Go on, what do you want to talk about?"
Faced with the opportunity, Zia was stiffening instead; looking at me blankly as if she didn’t know what to say. "Umm..." she opened her mouth, but immediately closed them again. Slowly, I could see the tip of her ear turned from pink to deep red.
I might be dense if it came to my own situation, but observing other people was easier to do.