Guarding Her Silence

Chapter 13 - Echoes of Confession

The room was heavy with silence, tension thickening the air as Colet's sharp gaze bore into Jhoanna's. They stood mere feet apart, but the chasm between them seemed immeasurable. Colet signed, her movements quick, deliberate, and controlled, as if trying to keep her emotions in check.

"What do you want, Jhoanna?" Colet signed again, her hands moving with an almost impatient intensity.

Jhoanna met her gaze, her expression quiet but resolute. She didn't answer right away, studying Colet's face, as if searching for something beyond the words, beyond the cool distance Colet was desperately trying to maintain.

"We're not kids, Jhoanna. Tell me what you want," Colet pressed, the weight of her frustration creeping into her motions.

And then, in one clear, unwavering sentence, Jhoanna spoke. "You." Her voice, although soft, echoed in the space between them.

Colet immediately exhaled, massaging her temples as if trying to rub away the headache building behind her eyes. She averted her gaze, not wanting to meet the intensity in Jhoanna's stare. This was not the conversation she wanted, not the direction she expected things to go, and certainly not a complication she could afford.

Jhoanna, still standing firm, waited for Colet to say something, anything. Her heart was pounding in her chest, louder than it had been in weeks of silence. She wasn't going to let Colet slip away again without understanding what was happening between them.

"What do you mean by that?" Colet signed slowly, looking up and locking eyes with Jhoanna once more, her brow furrowed, trying to keep her emotions from spilling over.

Jhoanna took a step forward, her words more deliberate this time. "You. I want you." Her voice was calm, but there was a fierce honesty beneath it that couldn't be ignored.

Colet stiffened, her posture growing more rigid as her hands started to move again, signing with sharp, precise motions, as though each gesture were a shield against what Jhoanna was saying. "We've only known each other for a few months, Jho. And now you're telling me that? Are you kidding me?"

"So what?" Jhoanna retorted, her voice growing bolder, more frustrated. "Is time really important for you to like a person? Are you saying I'm imagining all of this?"

Colet paused, her lips pressed into a thin line, her hands lowering for a moment before she shook her head and signed back. "Yes, Jho. It is. It's just your imagination. You feel like this because I'm always with you, protecting you, because you see me when you're vulnerable. That's all there is. There's nothing more to it."

Jhoanna stayed silent, but her eyes spoke volumes—betrayal, frustration, and something deeper, something even Colet couldn't deny. She wasn't backing down.

Colet's heart raced. She knew Jhoanna well enough to recognize the look in her eyes, a stubbornness that matched her own. The kind that would not let this conversation end without answers. But she couldn't give Jhoanna what she wanted. Not when the lines between protection and personal feelings had blurred so dangerously.

Jhoanna took another step closer, closing the physical distance between them. "You keep saying there's nothing more, Colet, but every time you're near, I feel something. And I think you feel it too, but you're too afraid to admit it."

Colet's jaw clenched. Jhoanna was wrong. She had to be. Colet had spent years building walls around herself, ensuring that she never let anyone in. She couldn't afford weaknesses. Not with Jhoanna, not with anyone.

"This isn't about fear, Jhoanna," Colet signed, her movements slower, more deliberate. "This is about keeping you safe. That's my job. That's why I'm here. You've mistaken that for something else."