Thanatophobia | Ao'nung

⋆˚✿˖°ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟚𝟞⋆˚✿˖°

ᴏᴋᴀʏ, ɪ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴜꜱᴜᴀʟʟʏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ ᴜɴʟᴇꜱꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ'ꜱ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴛʀɪɢɢᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀꜱ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ɢᴇᴛ ʜᴏᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴇᴀᴠʏ (ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴇxᴛʀᴇᴍᴇʟʏ) ɪʏꜰᴋᴡɪᴍ😋😩

"What if I told you how I felt?"

Ni'la looked into Ao'nung's eyes and felt her cheeks grow warm at the way he was staring at her. He was looking at her like she was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen. Ao'nung looked completely and totally mesmerized by Ni'la, but that wasn't possible, right?

There was no way that Ao'nung felt the same way she did.

"How do you feel?" She whispered.

Ao'nung cleared his throat before speaking, "Well, I'm sure you know how I felt about you at first," He paused when he saw Ni'la nodding, "But the more time I spent with you, the more I grew to admire you. You're so strong, Ni'la. You're the strongest person I know," The boy murmured.

"And I know I was a dick to you at first, and I'm sorry for the way I treated you. I regret the way I acted towards you because if I felt the way I do now at the beginning, we could have spent so much more time together," Ao'nung continued while Ni'la silently listened to him speak.

"I like you, Ni'la," He confessed, causing Ni'la's eyes to widen.

"Why?" She breathed out.

The boy reached out to grab her hand and interlaced their fingers, "I like the way you stick up for yourself. I like the way your eyes light up when talking to your siblings. I like the way you scrunch your nose up when you're pissed off. You did that a lot when you first met me," He laughed before continuing to list off the things that he liked about the girl beside him.

With each word, and each confession of what Ao'nung liked about her, her heartbeat started to pick up. "I like that you care about your friends and your family. But do you want to know what I like about you the most?" Ao'nung asked.

"What?"

He lifted one of Ni'la's hands, displaying her fingers, causing Ni'la to look down in shame. "I like this extra finger, and I like those strips of hair above your eyes," He whispered before planting a kiss on her pinky finger.

"Why do you like them?" She whispered as the tears started to well up in her eyes.

"Because they make you you, Ni'la. These extra fingers and toes and these eyebrows make you who you are," He said, and Ni'la shook her head.

"No, they make me a freak," Ni'la said, pulling her hand out of Ao'nung's.

"No, they make you different," Ao'nung insisted, grabbing her hand once more, "And different isn't always a bad thing. You taught me that," He smiled, but Ni'la refused to meet his gaze.

"Hey," Ao'nung placed his finger under her chin to lift her head, "Look at me," He murmured, and when she looked up at him, he saw the tears streaming down her face. It made his heart ache to know that this was the way she felt about herself, and when she first arrived at his home, this must have been how she felt when he made all of those comments.

Every single harmful word that he said to her emitted this reaction out of her, she'd just never shown it to him. He understood why she hated the extra digits on her hands and feet, and why she hated those strips of hair above her eyes, but she shouldn't. They added to her extraordinary beauty.

Ao'nung wished that Ni'la could see herself through his eyes. How could he help her to heal the image she held of herself?

He released her hand as he brought up both of his to cup her face, and his lips lifted into a smile when she closed her eyes at his touch. However, they slowly opened when Ao'nung started to move her face closer to his, and her confusion only deepened when he stretched his neck before placing a kiss on her right eyebrow, then her left.