Chapter 27: I Like You

"I’ve been distant."

Ethan replied. "I noticed."

Lila knew that this was the only chance she would get. She had taken her time gathering enough courage just for this moment...

If she didn’t take this chance now, whe would never be able to...

Her fingers pressed lightly into her sleeves behind her back. "I know you noticed. I wasn’t mad at you our anything, really. I just needed space. After that night."

Ethan pressed his lips together. He opened his mouth as he was about to apologize before Lila spoke again.

"I thought if I kept things normal enough on the surface, it would settle." She sighed. "It didn’t. Every time I tried to talk to you like before, it felt wrong. Not because I was angry. It just felt... off. So I pulled back instead."

Lila clenched her jaw. She had always pulled away from things she wasn’t sure of...

She however knew that if she didn’t address this now, she would never be able to.

And that was something she never wanted to happen.

She shifted her weight onto her other foot. "That night kept coming back. At random times, during class, when I was trying to sleep, when you were just sitting across from me, and times that the memory had no business surfaces. I couldn’t keep acting like nothing happened when my head refused to let it go."

Ethan watched her carefully. Her shoulders were tense, but her voice remained steady. Or at least tried to...

"I tried," Lila said. "The morning after, I decided the cleanest option was to treat it like it didn’t change anything but I just couldn’t..."

"That’s why I stayed in the dorm when you went to train, even though I really wanted to go with you... and that was why I did everything I did for the past week..."

Ethan leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on his knees. "You could have said something earlier." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"I know." she exhaled. "But I wasn’t sure I was ready for that yet. Do you know how hard it is to confront that kind of thing?" She gave a dry laugh then. "It’s not very easy you know..."

Ethan stayed silent. He couldn’t say he understood how she felt because he had no experience with girls in his previous life.

It was the usually, him meeting a girl, her sending him mixed signals, him falling in love and confessing and him being rejected...

Fuck. He was a bum in his old life...

This is why he needed to stay away from popular girls...

He however, stayed silent and let her continue...

"I kept telling myself that things just escalated," she said. "That the massage went further than either of us planned. People get caught up in things, I know that. It didn’t have to mean anything or leave a lasting impression. Besides, it was my fault. I asked for it..."

She looked down. "That version of the story was easier to carry around though." She paused. "But soon, It stopped being convincing. The weight of it remained..."

Ethan did not say anything. In his previous life he had been rejected so many times, enough times to know that situations like these always had the same outcome.

But was it necessary to have this lengthy talk if she was just going to draw a line between them?

He really didn’t understand...

Lila’s fingers curled lightly against her sleeve as she spoke again. "I’ve been trying to figure out what I actually want, I don’t have a full answer yet—"

She looked at him directly now.

"But the distance I kept from you was intentional."

Ethan held her gaze. He knew that the moment of truth was approaching....

He was already thinking of an apology...

"Why?" he asked.

Lila hesitated, not sure whether she wanted to continue this conversation...

But after a short moment, she answered, looking directly into his eyes...

"I like you."