Forged - [Donald Na x female oc]

Chapter 20

'You push me up to the inglorious shadows of a craving'

This time, when she woke up, she wasn't by herself, nor did she hurry to leave.

She felt the warm embrace around her and therefore refused to move. She just fell deeper into it, wishing to be engulfed by it and to never have to return to reality.

She laid there awake and aware for a long time, troubling thoughts, unfortunately, taking over her mind.

Her own words echoed through her mind. 'Enjoy it while it lasts'

How fucking ironic.

"Well? Gonna thank me anytime soon?" he looked at her from above, sly smile and raised eyebrows.

Ray puffed, somewhat embarrassed yet somewhat amused he brought it up.

"You're too fucking proud, man"

"Hah, you're welcome" he grinned, satisfied.

He had been right about her changing her mind in the morning. Even though his pride should have been hurt, Donald wasn't bothered at all.
She always backed down last minute.

Ray threw a pillow at his smug face. The target was hit with accuracy, as she was close to him.

"Losers gon' lose" he shrugged, unaffected.

"Ah shut up already!"

"Shut me up, then."

A brief yet intense silence followed, Ray pondering his words, wide-eyed.

"Move your fucking ass to school already!" she broke out of it.

Still proud, Donald obliged.

~~~

Entering the lab after long class hours, having been eager to ask all day, Ray finally said:

"What was all that today?"

"What?"

"Don't play innocent. I know you deal with scandals all day but you'd have to remember today's incident" she teased.

"Oh, uh, some girl made a big fuss. Nothing important really..." Donald replied, scratching the back of his neck

"Nothing really eh? You're a bit insensitive don't you think?" she replied with that everlasting sly grin.

"Oh right, you just wanna hear me say it, don't you? She confessed and that was that."

"Oh really? And how is that nothing important?" she teased.

"Well it doesn't really matter to me all that much"

"So what did you tell her then?"

"Nothing."

"..."

Ray stared. Donald didn't elaborate.

"... what do you mean nothing? Did you just... stare at her?"

"Uh-huh"

"Wtf man that's plenty rude! No wonder she made a big fuss at how rude you were!"

"Well it's not my fault I don't like her. To be fair, I think it was the first time we even made dialogue "

"That's what you call dialogue?" Ray said under her breath.

"So how could she even decide she likes me? She doesn't even know anything about me."

"Woah I didn't know big scary little mafia leader is such a man of character..."

"Stop messing around as if you don't agree with me. And anyway, even if I did not care for the fact that she likes me in such a weird manner, her confession still wouldn't have mattered once I explained to her what is going on here"

"Right, right" Ray said between laughs.

Having Donald explain his thought processes to her was one pleasurable activity.

"Though... what would I have told her is going on here?"

Ray suddenly tensed up, as the conversation shifted to a totally different direction.
She stuttered a bit before replying, as she was equally confused and shocked.

"Well um... here?"

Even though she knew what Donald was referring to, she asked for clarification. That should buy her a few more seconds.

She had been wondering what was going on between them, because at this point, it's clear they're over their enemies era, though just calling it a close friendship would also not seem quite fitting. And weird as it was, they had already spent nights together, and that's not a very friendship-like activity.

"Here. Between you and me." Donald replied firm, being proud at how he managed to turn the situation around so smoothly.

He was eager to hear Ray's reply, as he had been wondering about it for quite some time now. To him it seemed simple, though he didn't want to be the one to decide officially what their relations actually meant.

As surprising as it may be, even Donald Na had a fear of rejection. So while he knew what he felt and wanted, letting Ray spell it out was the safer option. And if she didn't want him like that, they both could be spared the embarrassment.

"We're .. obviously.. uh.. what? What's with this question all of a sudden?"

"Don't you always blab about communication and whatnot?"

'This fucker' she thought as she clenched up her teeth, though unable to contain a smile at having her words used against her.

"Communicate with me, Ray" replied a firm, yet gentle voice.

He leaned closer to her. She looked at him, eyes widened a little with surprise. The way he was looking at her.. the intensity of the eye contact deemed her speechless.

"You're terrible ya know?" she said, taking the situation lightly.

Donald chuckled, having expected such a response from her.

"Huh? Me? You're the one keeping me in the dark. If anything, you're terrible"

He didn't seem upset at all, though. Just full of mischief, as always. He kept looking at her, with those eyes, appearing curious yet smug.

"Well to your understanding, where all relationships are transactions and whatnot" she was mocking him, "What is this, huh?"

'Let s see how you like it.' she seemed to have been saying, by the look on her face.

"Oh, well" he took a quick pause, cooking up something evil to say, "We're a couple, right?"

Ray felt a mix of emotions. She seemed amused, offended, shocked, worried.

"Easy there, don't go through all five stages of grief so fast" he laughed.

"Has anyone ever had the decency to let you know you're annoying?"

"Wow. Are you okay? That was a pretty weak comeback" he continued, radiating pride.

Ray was aware she didn't exactly rise up to his level. But she was actually flustered, which was still new to her.

"Why am I the only one being teased?" she said, giving up.

"Hm, that's cause you let me."

"I wasn't asking for real!" she said, annoyed.

"Speaking of which, why do you let me?" he looked at her curiously, still continuing his game.

[ A/N

game after game after game
when you gon be real? :)) ]