"I'm sorry," she said, lying next to me but with her eyes looking at the sky still.
Turning my head to look at her, I stared for just a moment. "I forgive you," I finally said.
"You shouldn't." She shook her head.
"Still, I do." I chuckled. "I think I'll always will."
She exhaled a shaky breath. "I guess I'm lucky then."
"You realize that now?" I replied instantly.
Giggling softly, she turned her body around to face me. "Do not let me forget it." She whispered, inches away from the hand she had brought closer to her lips, kissing it while looking at me in the eye all the same still.
I hummed pleased. On cue, as I had written that action for this part. I thought I was being quite convincingly if I dare to say.
"Idiot…" I said, gently bumping my forehead with hers.
"Your idiot," she said inches away from my lips.
Alright, last scene. Short kiss and this should wrap tonight's show. A thought that had I avoided it, maybe I would've been able to see the smirk coming from my partner. Improvisation on stage isn't something uncommon, but to think that Eli would pick this one it was something I was not expecting at all. But now that I think about it, I probably should've.
At this moment I wasn't in the role I had created for my own play and neither was Eli in hers, I could tell by the way she was kissing me, holding me. It wasn't the most passionate we've had but it was definitely not like the ones we did when we were rehearsing this scene. If I were to compare, the kiss we practiced were short and just fine. This one, well…. It turned out tender with a little bit of teasing from Eli's side.
It was only when she broke the kiss that I finally registered the cheers and applauses from the now standing audience. Smiling at each other, we stood to greet the moon's hall, bowing our heads and waving here and there. The rest of the crew joined us on stage and did the same, making sure to show our gratitude to tonight's guests.
…
"Splendid performance you have brought to this night!" Our director said in her usual flamboyant air.
"Of course we did, after the hell of rehearsals you put us trou-hmp!" Nico tried to complain, failing at it since Kotori stopped her from saying more by muffling Nico's voice with her hand.
Standing in the middle of the room was Nozomi. And like always, as if nothing had happened, she cleared her throat and resumed her speech. "Well, I have really nothing else to say other than good job everyone. You can go home to celebrate, or rest if you feel like doing so. Just have in mind that I expect you to come back fully recharged for our new season's program."
Voices replied in agreement, some groaning not in complain but rather to tease the director a little bit. Some members invited us to Café but Eli and I decided to head home and get some rest.
"So, how did it feel to be in one of your roles for the first time?" Eli asked me after setting down 2 mugs of hot chocolate in her coffee table.
"Hmm, not bad I guess… But I suppose I prefer watching my plays from the audience," I shrugged my shoulders. "Does that makes sense?"
Eli chuckled. "I see nothing wrong with that." She smiled and wasted no time in removing the pillow I was holding so she could threw herself on top of me on the couch.
"Hmm, keep doing that." Eli sighed in contempt when I massaged the scalp of her golden hair.
"Tired?"
"No…" Eli tried to deny it but didn't get to finish when her own yawn interrupted her.
I couldn't contain a light chuckle at the cute sight I had in front of me at the moment.
"Fine, maybe I'm a little bit tired."
"Should we go to bed then?" Removing my hands form her hair, I gently lifted her head form my chest so I could see Eli's face.
"Not yet, I'm fine here." And Eli went back to rest her head down on my body again.
Geez, as much as I love moment's like these. We might get a cold if we don't go to bed before Eli falls asleep here. And knowing her it might be really soon if I don't do something now.
"You know…" I decided to act fast. "The chocolate will get cold if we don't drink it soon."
"Ugh." Eli's long muffled voice came before we got up for our mugs and then sat on couch. "Umiii…" Eli groaned.
"Yes?"
"Hmph." She pouted behind her mug.
"Don't get mad," I said, chuckling a little before continuing. "We can go to bed after I wash the dishes." I proposed.
"Hmm…" Eli paused. "Alright," she said putting her mug down. "Don't take too long though." She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and with that disappeared from sight into her room.
There weren't many dishes to do but I'd rather clean them now than forget to clean them later so after lifting both her mug and mine, I walked into to the kitchen.
Knowing Eli, she must've fallen asleep by now. I thought as I left the kitchen and after turning down the lights, I made my way to Eli's room.
Eli was wide awake when I arrived surprisingly enough. "That was fast." She smiled warmly at me.
"There weren't many," I replied while I removed my shoes and approached the bed to lay down next to her.
"You're cold, come closer," Eli said to me when our feet touched from below the sheets.
Doing as I was told, I brought my face closer to her while she put her arms around me in a hug.
Every time we are like this, cuddling or just spending more time with each other. I can't avoid to think about it, about how far we've both come into knowing more about the other. Big to little details in which are our expressions and how we react to certain things. Likes, dislikes. Stories, dreams and silly jokes.
While both, her appearance in the theatre and my interest in Eli might have been sudden. I can confidently say that my feelings were not. Starting from having a simple crush and going all the way to genuinely want to know more about her.
Change, is part of living. We are always changing whether we are aware of it or not. Every day's experiences challenge us, making us either modify, reaffirm or completely change our way of thinking. So going by that I would like to modify my answer to the 2 questions I once planted to myself.
Do you decide to have a relationship because you love someone?
Or do you decide to love someone because you have a relationship?
'To be in a relationship because I found the one I love, the one I choose and chose me,' is what I once so confidently declared.
As for what the person I am now, I have no choice but rephrase this a little bit.
To be in a relationship with the one I was able to make them fall in love with me.
The one that accomplished the same thing with me.
And to not only cherish but also take full commitment of what it means to truly be in a relationship.
Making always sure that this is something the both of us want.
"You are staring~" Eli teased.
And just like that my blush came with full force. "Erm, was I?"
"You were daydreaming again…" Eli pouted.
"Ah… S-sorry, I guess I should work on that." I scratched my cheek awkwardly.
"No way." Eli suddenly squeezed my cheeks. "Umi, I'm not complaining if that's what you think."
"You are not?" I blinked in confusion.
"Nope. There's no way I could after all, you look too cute while you do that for me to complain about it." Eli's grin was back now. "I guess that's one of the parts I love about you."
"W-well t-that's good to know… thanks." I stammered in embarrassment by the way she was smiling at me. The way Eli always grinned like she was happy her tactic of catching me off guard was successful.
"Umi~" Eli fully committed to her teasing, made it clear she wasn't over yet and planted a kiss on my forehead, trailing a path of pecks stopping barely when she was about to reach my lips.
"Y-yes?"
"I'm not sleepy anymore," Eli said as she traced circles on my arm.
Sighing a little bit -because I was sort of expecting something like this since the teasing started- I wanted to make clear I had gotten the message so instead of speaking I decided to close the distance between our lips. She inhaled sharply. Taken by surprise perhaps, I'd like to imagine at least. It wasn't long till Eli eventually relaxed and brought her hand to my hair.
Our lips moved slowly, savoring the moment.
I earned a groan from her when I nibbled her lower lip with my teeth. She tried to roll us so she could lay on top but I moved faster this time.
It is one of my favorite's views no matter what, the sight of Eli blushing when I only smile and stare quietly at her. Desire in her eyes, never leaving mine. Closing the distance once more I removed a strand hair on her face and with our lips almost touching I whispered:
"I love you."
"I love you too." Eli whispered back with a smile.
Her lips parted and I took the chance to deepen the kiss. She pulled my hair and clutched my shirt with her hands, making it impossible for me to contain a noise from coming out this time. Lowering my body, I made sure to be as closer as possible with Eli's own.
Breaking the kiss only be able to travel down her face, placing long kisses on her skin until I reached the joint between her shoulder and neck. Having reached that point, I started to remove her blouse while I sucked at her skin.
Expressing with actions what words couldn't say.
Because words aren't enough for expressing what I feel for her.
Phantom Notes:
Boom!
That's a wrap ghosts.
Thank you for your patience and sticking with this story so far.
And as Nozomi in this chapter, I have not much to say lol. ( ಠ◡ಠ )
Just thank you from the bottom of my hat. I'm have the half of another extra chapter but that will be out on another time ;D.
See you next time~.