From the Forest | ATWOW

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sometimes, Sai'eyla wonders if she ever wronged anybody in her past life. Or if she might have pissed Ewya off by doing something stupid in this life. Whatever it was, she needed to find out how to repent for her sins immediately because this situation is bizarre.

Aru'lu walked in a slow pace behind her, following as she made the depressingly slow treck back to her marui. She was walking slow on purpose, only because of Neteyam.

He would normally be heading back to his families pod at this time, how would she know? Because she always catches him during this time, like he's trying to run into her, to talk to her, she knows he wants too, but she can't really handle what their next conversation will be about.

And she knows exactly what it'll be about. Relationships, where to go from there and no matter how much she might want Neteyam, it's wrong to string him along knowing she will be leaving soon.

It's been a while since the Sullies came to Awa'atlu and they've grown more accustomed to the ways of the Metkayina. It's nice to see the villagers warm up to them and finally start to treat them as if they were natives— like they treat her.

But right now, that's not her worry. Her worry is the huge man behind her, glaring holes in the back of her head as if she had just wronged him and his future family for the rest of eternity.

Honestly, she wanted to leave him wondering, leave it to his imagination and interpretation of what she did with Neteyam, but Sai'eyla knows better than to do that.

The silence is killing her as she drags her feet across the sand, the normally soft mineral and clumps of other things felt rough against her feet. A clear representation of how she was dreading this.

The girl would rather talk to Aonung than him, and that has to say something.

"I did not fuck Neteyam," the words leave her mouth but the ache in her heart stays. What did she think would happpen?

"You did not fuck Neteyam." Aru'lu isn't asking, he says it as a statement, voice laced with a bit of confusion.

"I did not sleep with Neteyam," she rephrases for him and his feet stop in the sand. Sai'eyla was now a distance away from him.

"What did you do then?" He asks and Sai'eyla turns around to glare at him. "You don't get to ask me that!"

"Did you want to have sex with him?" She feels faint— why is he so vulgar with it??? Sai'eyla stomps her way infront of him and clumps her hand over his mouth, a bit flustered at his wording.

"What is wrong with you?!"

Sai'eyla reminds herself to gather stones and throw them at Kiri and Ly'rena for leaving there to handle this on her own.

Aru'lu's hand finds its way into her waist and she realizes how close they are to each other. It's weird now, the gesture would normally make her blush like a mad man, but now she practically feels nothing as he touches her. His touch feels foreign against her, different to Neteyam's—

Why was she thinking about him now?

"Aru'lu what do you want?" She ask, removing her hand from his mouth and stepping away. His hand never leaves  her waist despite how she tries to move. "I want to talk."

"There's no need to talk."

"Then I want to apologize."

Her eyes narrow at his, scanning his features, one of the many great things of having been friends with Aru'lu is that she knows actually what he's feeling based on his facial expressions. Sometimes he's hard to read, but right now? It's clear.