A Novel's Beast World

106. Failed Success

1/1 updates for October 28, 2022. Good day everybody.  The story is getting closer to completion.  I dare say the draft for the last chapters may be finished in the next few days.  It may be bittersweet, but I hope you continue to enjoy.  ^_^

 We chose the cliff overlooking the sea for our picnic spot. It was stunning and definitely an A+ spot for a date. I didn't want to have sand up my ass, so the beach had been struck from the list of potential spots.

We were seemingly alone, but I knew better. Alec wasn't far away and Winston wasn't either. They may be far enough not to hear our conversations though and that's about as close to alone as I'll ever get anymore. I'll take it. Not that I have much choice. Got to stay safe and not kidnapped by fucking scorpions. Or anything else for that matter.

Hiro spread a pelt of fur and two cushions for us to sit on. I laid out the food. We got comfortable and sat awkwardly for a minute. I decided to try my hand at ice breaking. "You remember the rules right?"

Hiro blinked and looked confused. "About talking and k-kissing? You said you were joking." Hiro got a little excited, but tried to hide it.

"I was joking sort of. We can talk, you know." As fun as it was to tease the poor guy, I was trying to do this right. Whatever right was.

"What do you want to talk about?" He asked with interest.

"What do you want to talk about?" I countered. Hiro barely talks about himself. This was a good opportunity.

We stared at each other and he finally spoke. "You?" He phrased that like a question.

Me? Not the best topic to start with. He hastily tried to change the topic and insisted that I start the interrogation. Since we weren't getting anywhere fast, I went with a question that I was curious about. "So, you remember how we met?"

"Yes," Hiro nodded sheepishly.

"I'm curious about it. Want to share?" I tried to give him room to get out of it if it wasn't something he wanted to talk about it. A part of me once wondered if he did that shit on purpose. He was smart enough for that, but I don't think Hiro would have ever put someone else, let alone a female child, in danger just to catch a random chick's attention.

Hiro thought about it. Although he felt ashamed of his weakness, he saw no reason to hold back if Drew wanted to know. After all, she wanted to know more about him and that made him happy.

"That day at the river..." he trailed off for a moment finding where to start. "One of my mother's mates wanted me to bring my sister out to bathe her. But I... I've had trouble with water since I was a small cub." I didn't interrupt him and let him continue at his pace.

Hiro checked to see if Drew was listening which she was. He wasn't sure how to say the next bit without depressing her, but she was waiting for him to continue.

"He, my mother's mate, knew that I would have trouble and asked me purposefully," he paused again while I thought some pretty nasty things about a certain male whom I've never really met.

"Why?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I think... It's probably because he didn't like me," he winced at how that sounded. "I mean, I look like my father. My mother loved his silver fur and liked mine too."

I tried to summon up the image of his family, but couldn't remember any other silver haired guys. My confusion must've been obvious since Hiro cleared it up for me.