A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Thirteen: Part Four

“I . . . um . . . I . . .”

My stuttering voice continued to murmur as assorted sets of dishes were quickly scattered across the exaggeratedly lengthy table.

“I . . .” I nervously peered at the dishes of tonight’s meal. “I . . .”

“You what?” Keita mused, calmly closing his eyes in what I knew was frustration. I understood his mood. If a peculiar girl kept repeatedly and peculiarly stuttering the same thing over and over like a broken radio, I’d go insane as well.

If I didn’t know Keita, I’d say that he was being exquisitely calm about my strange behavior. But the knitted brow over his eyes and the mild curl of his lips was much more complex than his usual mask of a face. I had to infer that he was going insane with my constant stuttering, and I didn’t blame him a single bit.

“I . . .”

“I’m sorry that the handkerchiefs you helped me tie this morning got taken down! I know you fainted during school today, so I’m prepared for any attacks launched from your exaggerated swarm of servants!”

I figured that the detail of being attacked by a swarm of servants was what made me nervous. And besides, even if there weren’t any consequences, I’d still stutter while apologizing because I was fully aware that I was completely and utterly hopeless around someone like Keita.

I fully blamed his wealth.

“I—“ I repeatedly began, although this time, I was interrupted.

“Would you like to write this down?” Keita calmly suggested, reaching inches over the table for a silver fork.

I rapidly shook my head, and the ends of my hair whipped the edges of my face. “No, this is something that must be said in person.”

Without glimpsing towards me, Keita stiffly nodded his head.

I shrugged my shoulders and felt my throat clear itself in a mild cough.

The faster I apologize, the faster this awkward moment will disappear, I silently recited, gritting my teeth in determination. Believe me, this was the one thing that I desperately prayed for at the moment.

Besides, even if I agreed to write it down, what would I write? I was clueless either way.

I inhaled an anxious breath and my voice began to wobble.

“Keita . . .”

Keita stabbed a portion of torn chicken from his plate with his fork in silence.

“Um . . . what would you do if . . .” I felt my voice inconsistently fade and wobble back into audibility. “If you did a favor for someone and that favor was undone?”

Keita pried the fragment of chicken off the rim of his fork with the edges of his knife.

After a short span of silence, Keita placed his fork gently back onto the table and out of his hands. Without looking up and meeting my gaze, he simply and calmly mused, “I wouldn’t be happy about it.”

My teeth anxiously gritted against one another. Happy was the opposite of angry, so if he wasn’t happy, he was sure to be angry.

“So, would you sue them?” My voice unstably wobbled and I tried my best to conceal it. If I was too obvious, Keita was sure to notice that I was asking these peculiar questions because I wanted to know what punishment he would give me for asking him for a favor that risked his health.

Keita took the next few seconds to turn his masked expression towards my gaze. “Why would I sue them?”

“Uh . . .”