Chapter 82 What's The Catch For Participating?

But he didn't know what to say. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about what had just happened.

Closing his eyes, he looked down, internally cursing at the fact that he had made a fool out of himself in front of her.

How could he explain what had just happened? It wasn't like he actually felt there was any need for him to explain anyways.

Getting up, he noticed she took a step back at his movements.

Her eyes were still glued to the concrete floor. She wondered to what extent his strength was to have caused such a dent in there.

Raising his head, he wiped down his face, hoping to smooth out what had just happened.

"Pretty face, it's just that—"

Raising her hand to stop him from explaining, she had gotten something from all he had said, instead she went with the unconventional approach.

Closing the gap between them, she took him in an embrace, placing her ears on his chest. "It's okay if you struggle with guilt, just don't hurt yourself while doing that." Her voice was muffled by her cheek pressing on his chest, but just enough for him to get the message.

This hug had felt strangely different from all the others, it was warm and comforting, nothing arousing in any way. He had his hands awkwardly raised to his sides, unsure if he should return the favor after his outburst.

"You don't need to explain anything to me if it's not comfortable for you to do so." She replied, her voice holding a hint of sadness. "I understand."

Slowly he let down his hands, his face drooping lower as he stared at her hair. The faint smell of lavender engulfing his senses. He leaned forward and further into her embrace, his chin resting on her shoulder.

A single tear rolled down his cheek, dropping onto her shoulder.

He stared at it, he had never let himself show weakness to anyone, but right now, he felt like he wanted to be vulnerable. He felt like he wanted to feel loved.

He needed to be certain that he could protect whoever he would be close with.

Feeling a slight trembling run through his whole body, she hugged him even tighter. "I'm so sorry, Nix.." she said, letting go of him, her face showing a faint smile as she watched the single tear run down his cheek.

She had recalled when he had been introduced to the class officially, he had made mention of him being an orphan. Although she couldn't believe most of the story, she had come to a rightful conclusion that whatever had happened a while ago was because of a traumatic event he might have witnessed in relation with his family.

In contrast, her brother had been killed, she never knew her father, but she still had her mother, alive to take care of once she could be chosen to work in the organization like every other exceptional student of the academy, so the pain could only be half felt.

"I would definitely get stronger, and I won't let whatever had happened to you repeat itself." She replied confidently.

"Who would have thought you had this emotional side to you? You always seemed so cold, like whatever you did, didn't really matter. Yet here you are, being so vulnerable." She said, wiping the tears off his cheek and pulling on them so he unintentionally made a face.

She let out a smile at witnessing how unappealing he could be in that weird cheek pull.

Shaking his head, he pulled his cheek away from her grasp. Seeing her smile, he started to feel better. The coldness he had felt was starting to wash away and was replaced with the warmth she shared with him.

'I'm not cold, I'm just hiding all this from the world because I can't have anyone get hurt. So I try to keep things I don't want people to know a secret.' He had wanted to say as he simply stared at her.

Lumina couldn't hold his gaze as a blush made its way to her cheeks, immediately she pushed him away from her in a bid to hide her embarrassment.

Her hand on her chest, she tried to steady her breathing. "I'm sorry, it's just that I couldn't control my heartbeat for a second there." She laughed, trying to play it off.

Turning around, she was stunned by how fast and silently he had walked up from behind her.

"Is there anything you might ne–"

He pulled her by the wrist, she was met in a lip lock for a few seconds before he broke away almost immediately, leaving her wanting more than just that.

'Control yourself Lumina.' She internally cautioned her thoughts.

"I did mention before that I liked the way you get all flustered around me." He replied, his voice sounding more like himself as he smiled.

"I wasn't blushing!" She denied the obvious, a blush evident on her cheeks again.

Pointing the mirror to their side, he gave her the chance to stare at her reflection and get a sense of what he was saying.

Her eyes widened in realization, her cheeks were indeed pink at the edges. Slapping the side of her face, she shook her head, trying to control her emotions. "You saw nothing!" She warned.

Raising his hand in defense, he took a step back, "saw what?" he feigned ignorance.

Smiling, she realized something she had forgotten to chip in all the while. "Are you going to participate in the sparring session tomorrow?"

"Sparring what now?" He replied immediately, confused as to where she had heard such information.

"It was said in class today, the one you didn't attend due to your sick leave." She made air quotes with her fingers on the latter part.

Clearly, the one standing in front of her didn't need such leave anymore. He had outrightly escaped the premises of the academy on an unknown journey, definitely he could participate.

She wanted so badly to watch him whoop some ass, her mates had a sharp tongue that she wished she could dish out what they put out to them, if only the management allows her to participate.

Internally she raged at the unfair and boring treatment that restricted the thrill she once used to have a year ago in the academy.

"Why would I need to join the sparring session?" Nix shrugged, leaning on the wall. "I would rather pity those paired against me, it's definitely an unfair arrangement if I'm in it."

"You just had to put it that way, didn't you?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"What's the catch for participating, anyways?" He asked with a raise of his brows.