Chapter 55: Fumbling words
Elias stood there for a moment, shifting awkwardly in place. He glanced at Elara, then at the suit, then back at her again. "Aren’t you gonna turn around or wait for me outside?"
Elara blinked, caught off guard, as a faint tint of pink crossed her cheeks. "Oh—uh..." She coughed lightly, rubbing the back of her neck before giving a forced casual shrug. "Yeah, of course! I’ll just... yeah, I’ll wait outside."
But she didn’t move right away. For a split second, she hesitated, as if realizing something. Was she flustered? It was rare—almost unheard of—to see Elara in anything other than her usual composed state.
Elias smirked slightly as she quickly turned on her heel, striding toward the door, maybe a little too fast. Dot’s, of course, had to comment.
"Was she blushing at the comment? Why?" Dot’s asked, her voice genuinely curious.
Elias let out a small chuckle but didn’t answer. Instead, he focused on getting into the suit.
Or at least, he tried.
The upper portions weren’t too bad—just a few awkward moments of fumbling to get the chest plate aligned properly. But the lower half? That was another story.
He crashed onto the floor, his legs twisting slightly as the reverse-movement issue from earlier completely threw him off. He tried to hook the ankle portions into place, but each time he reached for one buckle, his other leg moved instead.
After nearly faceplanting twice, he sighed in frustration.
"Elara!" he called, already bracing himself for whatever snarky remark she had loaded up for him.