Check-Mate

38. Confession.

Chain Pov

"Stop! Are you out of your damn mind?" I couldn't stop myself from asking so. 

This stubborn enigma! I wasn't serious when I asked him to eat the plate full of Prik nee noo aka bird eye chilies. Those chilies are the spiciest. They have eighty thousand to a hundred thousand Scoville heat units of spiciness and this dumb enigma ate a plate full.

His whole body must be burning with the spiciness. 

I rush to the kitchen to get milk. I could only find strawberry-flavored milk inside the refrigerator. I rush back up to him.

"Here, drink this. You would feel better," I open the bottle and give it to him.

"I won't drink!" He refuses. His face is all red and he is panting. I can see him sweating from the heat of the chilies. "I won't drink until you accept my apology." He stubbornly wipes the tears running down his eyes. "I accepted the punishment you gave me."

I can't take this. I knew that he couldn't have spicy food. Still, I gave him the punishment of eating these chilies. I didn't expect that he would actually do it. I was just trying to get back at him for accusing me of cheating on him with P' Terk.

"Okay, I accept your apology. Now, drink," This time he took the bottle and started drinking it.

I run back to the kitchen to get butter. By the time I got back, he had emptied the whole bottle. My poor enigma. I apply butter around his lips with my finger.

"What are you doing?" He catches my hand.

"Applying butter. It will help lower the spiciness." The spiciness inside his mouth could be cooled by the flavored milk, but the spiciness outside his mouth, like the one in the lips, couldn't be cooled by the milk.

"Why would you apply butter?" He frowns. His complexion looks much better now. The redness has subsided a lot.

"Butter also has casein like the milk. It can break down the capsaicin and help reduce spiciness," I close the butter container once I am done. "Don't wipe it off yet. Keep it for a few minutes."

I head back to the kitchen to put the butter back. 

He follows me closely to the kitchen.

"What?" I ask, feeling stunned by the closeness between us. He is so close. There's literally no space between us.

I shudder feeling his cold long fingers on my neck. I feel his soft breath on my face. His grip on the back of my neck gets firmer as he stares right at my eyes. "May I?"

My brain isn't functioning right now. How am I supposed to answer that? I am still processing the whole thing.

Taking my silence as permission, he leans in gently pressing his lips against mine. He captures my lips for a soft, tender kiss. 

I feel myself melting in the kiss. I slide my hand around his neck, deepening the kiss.

The kiss was nothing like the one we ever had before. All our previous kisses were wild and filled with lust but this... this is so different... so warm.

I snap back to my senses and push him away.

"What happened?" He looks at me in confusion.

"I don't Mom and Dad to walk in on us," I can't believe that I got carried away like that. I totally forgot that we were in the kitchen.

Mom and Dad are just outside. They could come at any moment. If they catch us in the act, it would be so embarrassing.

"How about we head to your room?" He suggests, looking at me expectedly.

"No." I deny. "I mean, we are indeed going to my room. But not for that."

"Then?"

"We have things to discuss before that," I grab his hand and head upstairs to my room.

He follows me without any protest. We enter my room and I lock the door behind us.

"Don't get any ideas now. I really have to have a serious discussion with you." I warn him seeing the look in his eyes.

He sighs loudly and lays flat on my bed. He treats my bed as his own.

"Stop sniffing my bedsheets," It's so embarrassing to see him sniff my bed like that.

He giggles. "It smells like you," He grabs my duvet and takes a big sniff.

I feel my face heat up. This enigma has no shame. I grab the corner duvet and pull it, "Let go."

"No," He looks at me sly and the next moment, he pulls the duvet harder, making me lose balance and fall on top of him.

He rolls me over and gets on top of me. He starts raining sniff kisses all over my face.

"Stop, no," It tickles! "Stop."

He stops and lowers himself, settling his head on my chest as he hugs me. "I am just so happy." He pressed his cheeks on my chest. "I am happy that you chose to spend the day with me. This is the first time you are spending the day with me alone after I got here." He says with a content smile.

Have I been neglecting him so much? Why didn't I realize it earlier? I feel so guilty.  

"Get up," I say.

"No." He whines. "I want to cuddle."

"No, get up."

"Five minutes? Just five more minutes?" He begs, lying on top of my torso.

I let him be. "I want to talk about the blood oath." I feel his body stiffen. "Don't do it."

"But I want to do it," He cuddles me tighter.

"Do you even know what it means? It means that you will be forever bound to me!" I try to explain.

"That's exactly what I want," He sits up abruptly. "I want us to be bound to each other forever. You can't mark me but if I take the blood oath, then I would belong to you just the way you belong to me."

I sit up as well and look at him in the eyes, "Don't be so naive, phi. Being bound to me would mean that you will never be able to have another mate. You won't be able to mate with anyone else."  

"I don't want to! I don't want to mate with anyone else! Why would I want to mate with someone else when I have you? You are my mate. Isn't that enough?" 

Is this enigma being innocent or is he just acting as if he is stupid?

He grabs my hand "I marked you because I like you, Chain. I liked you the moment I saw you. You know, I have never been this way before with anyone. I had indeed been confused in the beginning. But the moment I saw a trace of rejection in your eyes when you found out that I am an enigma, I felt scared. Scared of losing you. Scared of not being able to be with you." He pauses.

I can hear my heart beating so wildly. I- is he confessing to me?

"I know marking you had been a hasty step, but I don't regret it, Chain. I have given it a very deep thought. Wanting you to be my mate was not something I wanted as an impulse. I want you to be my mate. I know, my actions were similar to forcing you to accept our relationship but that had never been my intention."

He licks his lips, wetting them. "I love you Chain. I love you so much that I am willing to do anything to win your heart. I am willing to wait. I am willing to do anything you want me to do as long as you accept our relationship."