Affection Blooming From A Desert (Gaara x OC)

Chapter 8: Watched and Judged

It has been nearly 3 months since the two became official and they were both the happiest they have been in a while. Their relationship was still very much a private matter, only a hand-full of important figures were privy to their relationship. All was good...until today.

Akina's day began just as usual as any other day. She went to work early in the morning with an air of excitement. Today was the day that they were supposed to make a break through on the new balm, after tireless weeks of research and adjustments, they had produced a new batch of balm that was supposed to be "the one." That's why today she walked through the doors of the hospital with an especially bright smile.

"Hey, Aunty." She greeted cheerfully when she entered the research room.

"Good morning, dear. You seem pretty happy today." Her aunt teased, already knowing the cause of excitement in her neice.

"Of course I'm happy! I just know that this batch will be it, I have a good feeling about it." Hana smiled at her enthusiasm.

"Well then, let's not keep you waiting, the patients are ready." Akina helped her aunt gather the jar of balm and went to the rooms where the recovering jonins were located. The rest of her day consisted of taking down notes of the patient's status and tending to the other plants in the greenhouse.

By 3 pm they were already done with their work and were ready to head home. Hana offered to walk Akina home but the young lady told her aunt that she was going to stop by the market to pick up some more groceries. The two parted ways at the front of the greenhouse, wishing each other an early good night.

On her way to the market, Akina began to muse about the past several months. After that night that still made Akina blush, they spent more time together. Although, it was very difficult because of how busy both their schedules were, especially Gaara's. They try to find little moments throughout the day to visit one another. It mostly became Akina visited Gaara every lunch for an hour and another hour in the evening. Everytime she went to his office for lunch, he was always excited to see him. The same couldn't be sad for the dreaded secretary, however. Akina would always scurry past the woman to avoid the looks sent her way. Thankfully, when she left Gaara had a habit of teleporting her back to work so they could spend a few more minutes together without making her late for work. Their relationship was still fairly new and they were somewhat shy around each other, Akina more so than Gaara. However, that didn't stop them from stealing kisses every now and then in private. Akina was, simply put, happy.

As she got closer to the village, she had a sense of being watched. Her eyes darted to the sides and noticed many of the villagers were looking at her similarly to the way on that day when Gaara invited her for lunch. They tried to be discreet by turning their heads when she looked in their direction, but it was too late, she had seen their judgemental and confused looks. It confused her why she was receiving these looks...but she had an uneasy feeling that it was because of a certain red-head that she was involved with.

Akina continued to the market seeing that she was unable to do anything about the villagers. She kept her head down and sped up, visiting each vendor as quickly as she could and avoiding the looks that they too gave her. It wasn't until she went to cash out did her breath hitch and her heartbeat quickened. On a newspaper rack set beside the counter was a large headline that made her want to hide from the world.

Printed in bold font across the newspaper was "Mystery woman sleeping her way to the top?" with a picture of her and Gaara holding hands. She remembered that day, it was the day of one of their lunch dates to his garden a week and a half ago. But she didn't remember someone following them with a camera no less! No wonder the villagers were looking at her with such disdain! They probably had read the tasteless and false newsprint. She hastily grabbed one of the newspapers and threw down some cash, more than needed for her shopping, and ran home.