Chapter 14

I'm expecting to hear something from Irene, but she gets up, picks up her staff, and heads to the spaceship without dropping a word.

I hurry to her. "Hey, this isn't fair!"

She keeps walking. "It's not about fair anymore when you were a bandit."

"That's just your excuse. I could've lied about my past."

"I hope you didn't, and I'm glad you'd choose to be honest."

"That's not my point, I..."

She presses the button of the spaceship and gets inside. I follow before she locks me outside and I'd be miserable and freezing to death when the evening comes. My coat is on the spaceship.

She gets into the driving seat and buckles up. "You'll join the farming team since Hoge doesn't need help today."

"Come on... I just want to know what's happening on this planet."

"Everything's fine."

The spaceship shudders a tiny bit as it takes off. She pulls the lever and aims us at the destination.

I hiss. "No, something is wrong. But you have an ego that's too big to be honest with me."

She says nothing, which means I have to poke harder for an answer.

I say, "Why are you lying to them? You know they care about you and the village."

She remains quiet, which I hate.

I try again. "Look, when they find out, they are going to be even more pissed at you."

She flinches and the spaceship goes a bit too high into the clouds.

I wave my hand in front of her face. "Hey! Hey! Fine, just focus on driving for now." If I knew where the auto-drive button was, I'd push that and make her talk to me.

I tap her shoulder. "I hope you aren't faking it. It'd be disappointing."

She shakes her head and gets us back on track. "No, I didn't fake it."

So, it means I'm right about something, which she doesn't want to admit to. I don't understand. How bad can that be?

I look out of the window since there's nothing else to do when we're here in the tiny space of this small spaceship.

It's just she and I, stuck here with silence wrapping around us.

It doesn't take long before all I take in is her scent. That's a bit too tempting.

My cock twitches and I want to hug her. But I better control myself if I want to survive this flight. Hopefully, she isn't too distracted to keep us alive.

We are getting close to the farm with beings working there. They are all the way down there, looking like tiny dots.

She lets out a breath, which shakes me. I hate to see her upset, but she won't let me help.

We land safely, which is better than nothing. She says, "Get out of here and get working."

Except I squeeze her shoulders from behind her chair; the driving seat. "You're so tense. It's okay to need help."

"I said..." Her voice shakes and she doesn't finish her sentence. Her sob fills the spaceship almost at once. My heart skips a beat and I almost jump. I wasn't trying to make her cry but at the same time...

I let go of her. "Hey... Is it really that bad?"

"Shut up..." She turns off the system and leans onto the driving dashboard, burying her face into her folded arms. She can lean into my chest and I can hold her with my arms, which is going to be better than the cold dashboard. But maybe this isn't the time to think about that.

"Irene, just let me know when you're ready." I head to the door of the spaceship when she takes my elbow.

She is still staring at the floor, but she keeps her hand on me. "Look... You seem to really want an answer."

"Yes, but the more I ask, it seems like the worse it gets. I don't want to piss you off and I don't mean to insult you or anything."

"I know. It's just... Everyone will be so mad at me."

"Why? What's that about?"

She closes her eyes and tears fall from them. Maybe I shouldn't, but I wipe off her tear with my finger. She falls onto me and I hold her in my arms. "Whoa! Are you fine?"

She cries and I gasp at her soft body snuggling to me. Maybe something's wrong with her. I've been the dangerous one. But...

"Melzul... I hate you."

Do I let go of her? But she's the one finding her way to me, not that I'd complain about it.

A surge of heat explodes in me. I want more with her, but... "Are you going to hate me later? Because this isn't supposed to happen?"

"I... I'm just trying to act normal, so everyone can be happy and remain hopeful, yet... It's all your fault!"

But I've only been here for a short while, and I've done nothing other than annoy her. What's happening can't be my fault.

She cries even harder, so much so she hurts me. I want to do something more than hold her, but it feels like she is going to push me away and hate me later.

She says, "I..."

She gasps and lifts her head from me. "I'm sorry. I should be better at controlling myself." She pats my chest as if she is trying to get rid of her tears on me. If I were wearing a T-shirt, it would be soaked. She sighs. "I mean it. I won't let this happen again."

"What do you mean? You won't talk to me again? You won't hug me again?"

Her cheeks grow red. "Like... Everything."

"But I enjoy that."

Her eyes snap wide open. "Enjoy what?"

I wink. "Everything. You can lean on me and want my hug. I just don't know whether you want me."

My horns hum and the pull tries to get me closer to her spikes. I want to be closer to her, even though she annoys me almost all the time. This is strange. I've never felt that before.

She is watching me. Seemingly something has her trapped into staring at me too. Can she feel that?

The air is almost magnetic. Is this... I want to hold her in my arms and tell her that everything's fine. But at the same time...

Do I just do it without giving that any more thought?

But what if she doesn't want that?

I'm a lot bigger than her in size, will she be intimidated?

But... With how she smacks my head with the staff all the time, maybe she isn't that scared of me. The conclusion feels wrong, but...

She pats my chest again. "The way you stare at me... I doubt uzians read minds."

"If I did, I wouldn't have to ask you about that."

She takes a breath and snorts a laugh. "I suppose. Get to work. I'll think about it."

"About what?" I don't understand. All she did was sob and hug me, then brush it off as if nothing happened. She can't keep doing that to me. That's almost torture on its own.

"I said I'll think about it. Just go and get working." She taps a button for the door of the spaceship to open. "Be a good male and get working."

I sneer. "But I haven't gotten my answer."

She pats my chest. "Go work before I change my mind."

If her mind is to hide things from me, then it will make more sense for me to keep annoying her until she changes her mind. So...

Unless her mind is elsewhere.

I doubt she doesn't know the very logical correlation. She isn't that dumb. Is she messing with me? Or is her mind somewhere else already and therefore...

She pats me as if I'm a toy or something. "Just get going and don't stand here like a block."

I huff. "Fine, I can wait."

She nods and muses. I wonder...

Is that a human thing or a female thing? Or a human female thing?

I want to nibble on her shoulder and make her tell me her thoughts, but apparently, if I don't wait, she won't tell me anything, and she's going to smack me with the staff again...

I shrug. "I hope the wait will be worthwhile."

She gets into the driving seat again. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

I hate her...