Black & White-English Version

9-Confessions

It was late, well past dinner time.

After we freshened up and changed, tiredness and hunger started to set in. My stomach rumbled and Chishiya offered me a packet of biscuits. We began to eat in silence.

Kuina came by to say hello, then said she was going to sleep because she was exhausted.

"I have to admit that this Game has drained my energy too." I said, rubbing my ankle, that had started to turn purplish.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"Just a little. I've been through worse."

"And the head?" Chishiya looked worried.

"And your hand?" I looked at the bandage on his left hand.

"This is nothing." He said, looking at my wound, now stitched up perfectly by him. "Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"

"Chishiya, I'm fine, really." I reassured him. "Besides, I couldn't find a better doctor than you!"

We started staring at each other in the eyes and silence filled the air again, only unlike the other times, it wasn't an awkward silence, but one full of meaning.

It took me a while to get out of that trance.

*Alexa play Late Night Talking by Harry Styles* (min 0.57-end)

"I'm not used to these things." I said looking at him.

"Me neither." Chishiya, for once, seemed speechless.

"What's happening to us?" I joked, knowing all too well the answer.

"I think I know, but it seems almost impossible."

That conversation was coming. It was now or never.

My palms were sweaty and I was very hot, even though the temperature in the room had remained the same.

"So here we go..." Chishiya was also slightly red in the face.

"Look, I can't take it anymore." I said suddenly. "You're driving me crazy with all these mid-sentences."

Chishiya laughed. "I can't help it, that's how I am."

"Well, I really like your being like that." The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them.

I really like your being like that? What the hell was that?! Couldn't I just say I've liked you since I first met you? Or I can't stop thinking about you? How normal people do? I got angry at myself.

"It's mutual." He smiled at me and I reciprocated. "And I don't think I've ever heard anyone say it like that." We both laughed. "We're really bad at this kind of things." He said, shaking his head.

"Yep, quite I'd say."

He sat closest to me. "Now what do we do?"

"I don't know. As I told you, it's the first time I've been in this situation." I said, looking into his eyes.

"Me too. In our world, I've never been in a relationship." He said, putting his right elbow on his knee and resting his face on his hand. "How the heck do the others do?"

We burst out laughing again.

I couldn't believe it had happened. The walls I had put up, collapsed, all of them, and Chishiya's mask was also gone, revealing a sweet and caring boy.

Nothing was official yet and I thought we both would have taken it slow, not being pros when it came to relationships, but something had definitely changed between us.