Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Seventeen

We stood in front of Harvey's hut but Winston didn't let me down.

"Winston?"

He looked down at me. "Bailey" He exhaled heavily. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. They weren't my words to say."

He was talking about having told Harvey my intentions. I was irritated with him, but I understood why he had been that angry. Until now, I thought it was because Harvey had let me go home without an escort. But instead, it had been because he too saw that Harvey had feelings for Bai. In this world, females must be stern in their refusals as males will take even a word of thanks as a sign of courtship. It was something Bai didn't figure out until later in the novel. Having spent two weeks alone with Harvey, Winston thought the leopard should have known at least some of my feelings. Especially since I was known in the village to be very clear about where each male stood with me.

"I'm sorry too. I should have told you that I was aware of his feelings for Qingqing. Thank you for defending me." I held his face with one had and kissed him just over his scar. "Now let me down so I can pull our healer out of whatever emotional spiral he's in. If he's even here that is."

"He's here. I can hear him inside." Winston set me on my feet.

Yay for kitty ears.

I walked up to the door and knocked twice. "Harvey? Are you in there?"

The sound of someone of something crashing and then banging sounds as though he was fumbling about inside reached me through the door. After a minute, the door opened about an inch.

"Bailey?" Said a hoarse voice. "Is that you?'

"Yes, it's me Harvey. Now open up. You and I have something we need to talk about."

The door opened a little wider and I was aghast at what I saw. Harvey was pale, his eyes were hazy and unfocused, his hair looked like a bird's nest, his cheeks were sunken in and he had circles around his eyes darker than a racoon's. A musky yet rotting smell assaulted my nose from the open door. Frankly he looked like roadkill and smelled like it too. What the hell? I didn't think it was going to be this bad.

"You're really here?" He asked even though I was standing right in front of him.

"Yes. I'm here." I said again. "Are you going to let me in?" I couldn't keep standing here all day, not with my swollen ankles. What I had to say, I wanted said behind closed doors at the very least.

My words shocked him out of his stupor. "Ah! Yes! Of course! Give me just a moment." He shut the door and more crashing sounds could be heard. It reminded me of teenage boys in high school that panic cleaned their rooms before their crushes come over.

After more than just a few moments, he finally opened the door wide. "Come in. I apologize for the mess."

Winston stayed where he was and I walked through the open door. I could see the evidence of him not having left this hut for the past week. Shards of broken pots and a mess of herbs were pushed into a corner. A bowl of fruit was rotting by the windowsill. He had opened the windows but the sickly-sweet smell was still prevalent. The fireplace looked like it had been cold for days. And the furs on his bed had dark splotches of who knows what.

I tried to ignore it all and sat on the worktable which looked to be the cleanest surface. Harvey watched me as though he couldn't believe I wasn't a hallucination.

"Harvey. What's going on. Eve said no one has seen you leave your hut in days." I prodded. Without assuming anything, I wanted him to tell me in his own words why he was such a mess.

He leaned against his herb shelf and avoided my eyes. "I just...had some things to think about."

He wasn't going to make this easy. "Is this about what Winston told you the day Qingqing visited?"

He flinched a little at her name. Maybe this wasn't about me at all. Had she said something to him? Maybe crushed his heart for the umpteenth time?

After a few seconds, he nodded in response to my question.

I rubbed my temple where I could feel a headache coming on. From the smell or the stress, I couldn't tell. "Harvey, it wasn't my intention to make you feel bad. I know you have feelings for Qingqing so I didn't say anything then. I don't want you to feel burdened by my affection for you. It isn't like you have any obligation to return my feelings. You are free to like whomever you want." I was rambling a bit.

He finally looked up at me. "Me? Like Qingqing?"

Why did he phrase that like a question? Of course he liked her. Everyone could see it. It was why Parker got so irritated with the healer during exams. Did he not even know his own feelings?

"Yes. You like Qingqing. I could see it in the way you looked at her. Are you telling me I misinterpreted your expressions?"

He straightened up and walked closer to me with a disparate look on his face and his arms spread wide. "Bailey, you and Qingqing are like stars in the sky to me. You're beautiful and perfect and so far out of my reach that all I can ever hope to do is watch you from afar. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that such an existence would acknowledge someone as insignificant as me!" tears had started to fall down his face.

I felt like I had just been hit by lightning. I had been so very wrong. This leopard, this man had so little self-worth that when, Qingqing had shown him kindness, he hadn't fallen in love with her, he worshiped her. Worshiped us. How could I have been so stupid? Just because he had shown warmth to Bai, I had given up on him. And he had been crushed. My assumptions and my own fear of rejection had reduced this talented man to tears. Damnit! When will I learn?!

I stood up, took his face in my hands and wiped the tears from his cheeks with my thumbs. "Does this mean you would have accepted my offer to be my mate?" I looked at him a little helplessly.

"You are someone who could make something I thought impossible, possible. How could I ever refuse you?" His voice choked as he leaned into my hands, the tears never stopping.

"Then Harvey, even though it's late, I will formally ask you. Will you be my mate?"

His arms wrapped around me and buried his face on my shoulder as loud sobs racked his body. "YES! YES! YES!"