The Unwanted Encounter (Ash Lynx x Reader)

40) Note

It was silent, extremely silent between Ash and me after we realised what we had told each other not too long ago. I still kept staring off at the wall, but tried keeping an eye on the blonde out of my peripheral vision. From what I could make out, he was also dosing off to some place else, thinking about what he would be saying.

The tension was thick, that thick you could cut it with a scissor. I sighed and finally shot my head towards the blonde, but immediatly averted my gaze back to the wall when I was met by his emerald green eyes. Both of us were pretty much sweating excessively, waiting for someone to break the silence. I sighed, and looked back at him. I could see the point of his ears burning red, a blush visible on his face and a little stress on his body language.

"It's said that two strangers tied by an invisible thread of fate. A thread that brings two lovers together who are meant to be together, also known as the red thread." I said, not breaking eyecontact because the message I wanted to get across was an important one.

"I thought you were never the type to think about stuff like that." Ash said, his lips slightly curving upwards.

"Blame Shorter for that." I said, rolling my eyes as I was thinking about our conversation in the park again. I made a mental note to thank Shorter about telling me about the whole red thread ordeal since it helped breaking the tension between the blonde and me.. "Do what you want with that information, just felt like telling you." I said.

"Is that all?" Ask asked.

"Actually, no." I said, chuckling as I scratched my forehead. "I feel like we're both somehow tied to that red thread." I said, finally completing what I wanted to say as I moved my gaze from the blonde to the wall.

"I see." Ash said, looking at his hands as we both drifted in to silence again.

"There were so many times where I felt like death was better. Dying would seem so sweet and tempting them. There's a mountain in Kilimanjaro 19.710 feet deep in the snow. The Maasai call the western summit the "House of God." Near its peak lies the shrivelled and frozen carcass of a leopard." Ash said, breaking the silence. I nodded to indicate for him to continue.

"What was the leopard doing so high up there? Nobody's been able to explain it. It's in the novel, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro.". When I think of my death, I think of that leopard. Why had he climbed so high up the mountain? Did he get lost while hunting down prey till he reached the point of no return? Or had he climbed higher and higher as if possessed by some urge and collapsed trying? What's his carcass like? Was he trying to go back? Or to keep going higher?" Ash said.

"Ash, what are you trying to say with this?" I asked, confusedly as I tried making sense from what he had just told me.

"What I'm trying to say is that either way, he must've known that he wouldn't be able to make it back."

"And you feel like you're the leopard. You knew that by becoming a gang leader, you'd have to face a lot of enemies— but you still kept climbing higher and higher up the ranks because you had no other choice left but to protect yourself." I said, letting a sigh out as I stared at Ash for a reaction. From what I could tell, he had his serious expression on, with a tinge of relief that I understood what he was trying to say. "And by being together, we won't be able to go back, no matter how fucked up everything gets, right?" I continued, giving him an apologetic and a sad smile.

"Don't look at me like that. I've never feared death, but i've never wished for it either."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that. Humans can change their destiny. They have wisdom leopard's don't. Besides, you're not a leopard, right?"