novelzi Chapter 386: More Than Friends?
Chapter 386: More Than Friends?
Chapter 386: More Than Friends? "What are you doing?"
Roka couldn’t even look Cero in the eyes as she asked the question.
Her gaze remained stuck on the hand she had placed on his chest, with which she had lightly and timidly applied just enough pressure for him to notice.
"..." Cero stared at her flushed cheeks and shy expression for a moment. "I’m making a move." He admitted. "I’m kissing you."
Roka’s eyes momentarily widened, but her gaze didn’t shift.
"W-Why?" The virgin stuttered.
"Because I want to." Cero answered bluntly and honestly.
Roka lowered her gaze further. Cero could feel her hand trembling slightly as it rested against his chest.
"But..." Just as she had gotten comfortable with the idea, it happened. "But we’re friends though..."
Roka’s whisper was so low it was almost inaudible. Even she had trouble believing that, but it felt like the only way for her to be comfortable around Cero, for her to be herself around him.
Sadly, her being herself around Cero only made her more attractive and desirable to him.
Cero pulled back slowly, remaining silent for a moment. He took a seat cross-legged while Roka raised her back off the mattress, side-sitting with her back awkwardly remaining an inch off the wall.
Only now that the distance had widened slightly did Roka’s gaze move to meet his. Still, they were sitting on the same bed, and its meager width was barely enough to hold the two of them and the couple of inches separating them.
"Is that what you think?" Cero ended up asking. "That we’re friends?"
"Yes..." Roka answered a second too late with a nod. "Don’t you?"
With the way that the two had laughed, played, and joked together, and seeing her now, there was only one answer Cero could give.
"No." It hit Roka like a brick. "We’re not. Or, at the very least, I don’t want us to be friends."
"W-Why not? We get along well, don’t we? Why shouldn’t we be friends?"
"I want us to be more than friends," Cero said honestly. "We’ve beaten around the bush long enough."
She hadn’t expected him to be so direct. Roka had hoped that they would simply joke about it and move on, but Cero didn’t seem keen on doing so.
"What does more than friends even mean?" Roka muttered as she looked away. "It’s a strange expression, don’t you think?" She added while scratching her elbow.
Cero’s lips parted, but he kept himself from saying the words.
His instinctive response around Roka was to joke around and, just now, he was about to say that, by more than friends, he meant best friends instead of regular friends.
Still, it wasn’t the time to joke. The two had just kissed, regardless of how flimsy a kiss it had been, they had exchanged a kiss for the first time.
The time is now, to decide once and for all.
"It’s almost like saying that friendship is a step towards romance, like romance is the natural continuation beyond friendship," Roka whispered while staring at the elbow she was slowly scratching. "Can women and men not be friends?"
"They can," Cero answered instantly. "Just not us. In the first place, haven’t we been friends for a while now?"
The question was much heavier than it seemed.
Roka had only just started coming to terms with her relationship with Cero, with the fact that it was better to ignore and reject her feelings and desires.
"Are we... Were we friends?" Roka whispered, still running away from his gaze. "Were we really friends?"
"..." Cero raised an eyebrow, slightly confused by the question.
"If we were, then I don’t think I was a good friend." She added.
"What are you talking about?"
"Friends..." Roka started as she fiddled with her fingers. "Aren’t supposed to be like this. Like... I have been. Friendship is supposed to be pure and platonic."
"Are we?" Cero chuckled. "Were we ever? Pure and platonic?"
The two were in agreement, though each thought the other to be purer than themselves or, at the very least, less depraved than themselves.
"I can’t do it," Roka admitted with a shrug, gaze stuck to her hands. "Even if I want to, I... I just can’t."
"You kissed me just fine a moment ago," Cero smirked.
"I’m being serious. There’s just... For one reason or another, I just... Can’t." Roka pursed her lips, and her gaze finally met Cero’s. "I’m the problem here, really. I don’t know why, it’s just..."
"It’s not me, it’s you, huh?" Cero sighed. "That old thing."
"Don’t start joking around now." Roka chuckled and lightly tapped his knee. "You wanted a serious talk, so here we are."
"What I really wanted was a serious something else, but a talk will do." He sighed again. "So what do you want us to be? Best friends? We’re on this mission for close to a month, so the boundaries need to be set early."
"Boundaries?" Roka chuckled while massaging her forehead. "How about get off my bed first?"
"Hm..." Cero groaned and let his body fall to the side, lying on the bed with his elbow digging into the mattress and his cheek resting against his fist. "So you mean to tell me that you can see my body like this and not want it?"
"Huh?"
"You’re talking about being friends, but you want me. I know you do. I would even say that you want me nearly as much as I want you."
"Oh, really? Someone has grown arrogant." Roka scratched her head. "Actually, you’ve always been pretty arrogant."
"Just admit that you want me, that you don’t want us to be friends, and that you’re too much of a coward to let it happen."
Roka took a deep breath as another sentence hit her like a brick.
"Come on," Cero muttered as he let his head fall onto the mattress. "Even your mother knows it."
She froze at once.
"Huh... HUH? What do you mean, my mother? Cero? Don’t act asleep now!!"