Chapter 43: Like You

For a while, they simply sat there without saying much. Lira had suggested talking until they became sleepy, but now that they were actually sitting together, neither of them seemed to know what to talk about. The apartment remained quiet, with only the faint hum of the fan and possibly their breathing too and aside from that everything else was quiet because it was dead in the night.

"So..." Kyle finally spoke, glancing at her. "How is your leg now?"

Since Kyle himself couldn’t think of anything to break the ice, he couldn’t help but blurt out a question about her injury again. It hadn’t even been a few hours since she’d gotten injured, yet he had asked about it multiple times, as if doing so would somehow heal her injury in an instant.

Lira looked at him for a moment before answering. "Still hurt."

"Oh."

’What the fuck am I thinking? Of course it’s going to hurt. It hasn’t even been a few hours yet!’

He realized how stupid his question had been the moment she replied.

Silence returned almost immediately.

Kyle scratched the back of his head awkwardly and looked around the room. "Your apartment is nice."

"Thanks."

That was it from her. A single-word answer—it didn’t seem like her at all. Her behavior was odd, and it made Kyle question himself as well.

’Why the hell am I doing? I am not making anything better...’

Kyle almost sighed at himself. He had managed to turn the silence between them into an awkward one because of his stupid questions and compliments.

’Is there something...? I’ve never seen her like this before.’

He glanced toward Lira again, expecting to see that familiar teasing smile of hers, but there was nothing of the sort. She sat quietly beside him, her hands resting together on her lap as she stared at the floor.

"Lira? Are you okay?"

Even though Kyle was dense when it came to matters of emotion, he could still tell that something was wrong with her. So, he didn’t waste any time thinking about what was going on and instead directly asked her about it.

"I’m fine."

She answered so quickly that Kyle immediately knew she wasn’t.

"You don’t look fine."

"I’m fine, Kyle."

Her voice was quieter this time, almost as though she was trying to convince herself more than him.

Kyle decided not to press her. Maybe she simply needed some time to process everything that had happened. After what they had gone through tonight, anyone would have been shaken.

But a few seconds later, he noticed her shoulders trembling.

"Lira?"

She covered her face with both hands. Her breathing became uneven, and when she finally tried to speak, her voice cracked.

"I..."

A tear slipped between her fingers.

Kyle’s expression changed immediately. He had expected her to be upset, but seeing her actually break down caught him completely off guard.

"I thought you were going to die."

Kyle remained silent.

Lira lowered her hands slightly, tears already running down her cheeks. "When he was choking you... I couldn’t do anything. I just sat there watching him. I kept thinking that if I didn’t do something, you were going to die right in front of me."

"Lira..."

"And it was because of me."

She looked at him with trembling eyes.

"You wouldn’t have been there if you weren’t with me. You wouldn’t have been chased by those people. You wouldn’t have been beaten. You wouldn’t have almost been killed."

"It’s not your fault."

Kyle shook his head immediately. "Those bastards were the ones who chose to do all of that. You didn’t ask them to follow you."

"But you were the one who got hurt!"

Her voice rose before breaking again. She wiped her cheeks, but the tears continued to fall.

"You were the one who almost died!"

Kyle didn’t know how to answer that. He wanted to tell her that everything was fine now, that he was still alive and sitting beside her, but he knew those words couldn’t simply erase what she had witnessed.

Lira took a shaky breath and looked down at her hands. "I was so scared, Kyle. I’ve never been that scared in my life."

Kyle slowly moved closer, unsure of what else he could do. He wasn’t exactly experienced when it came to comforting someone, especially a woman he had feelings for, but leaving her alone while she cried felt even worse.

Lira suddenly reached over and grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, holding onto it tightly as though she were afraid that if she let go, he might somehow disappear.

"I don’t want to lose you."

Kyle looked at her.

Lira swallowed hard, trying to steady herself, but her voice remained shaky. "I know this probably sounds stupid. We only started getting close recently, and I don’t even know exactly when it happened, but..."

She paused, gathering whatever courage she had left.

"I like you, Kyle."

Kyle’s eyes widened.

Lira looked directly at him through her tears. "I really like you."

Kyle’s mind went completely blank.

’She... likes me?’

The woman he had spent so much time believing was simply teasing him had just confessed that she genuinely liked him. For someone who had never even been in a proper relationship before, hearing those words from Lira felt almost surreal.

Lira gave him a small, trembling smile. "At first, I thought I was just teasing you because it was fun watching you get embarrassed. But then I started looking forward to seeing you every day. I started wanting to spend more time with you. And somewhere along the way, you became someone I actually cared about."

Her fingers tightened around his sleeve.

"Today made me realize just how much."

She took another shaky breath, her eyes becoming even more emotional.

"I don’t know what you did to me, Kyle, but somehow you’ve become someone I don’t want to lose. When I thought you were going to die tonight..."

Her voice faded.

"I realized I couldn’t imagine going back to my normal life if you weren’t in it."

Kyle stared at her, unable to find the right words. His heart was pounding so hard that he could almost hear it.

"Lira, I..."

Before he could finish, she suddenly leaned toward him.

Her lips met his.

Kyle froze.

For several seconds, his brain simply refused to process what had just happened.

’She... just kissed me.’