"Ugh! Dammit!" He gave up and covered his head with the wet towel. "I'm not here."
"Too cute," I praised and slipped on my panties. Putting on my bra, I noticed his heavy sigh as he paused in ruffling his hair.
"Kaito?"
"You've really changed, Brianne."
I turned around to look at his dripping back as he moved the towel from his hair. I could see his eyes that looked at me through the mirror, noticing the bits of sadness and worry that took over those dark purple orbs.
"Is that bad?" I hesitantly asked while ignoring the bit of nervousness that flickered through me at his comment.
"No," he revealed. "It just proves I still have some work to do, that's all."
Swallowing any worries, I took the brave steps to walk around the bench, until I was in front of Kaito, who took in my body as I stood there in my dark blue lace lingerie. I should have slipped some sort of material on, but his words tugged at me in a way that was hard to describe.
Tugged on the lingering fears regarding us.
It was only a few weeks before the semester was over. Midterms were over with. We all focused on preparing for the future exam and our final semester at Witchling Academy. As much as I worried about everything we had to do, what was bothering me most was how stagnant our connection had become.
I knew out of the four of my men, my relationship with Kaito would be slower than the others. To be completely honest, I’d originally thought he'd surpass Finnick with how confident he was in the beginning of our Witchling journey.
What changed? Why are we suddenly going backward? It makes no sense.
"Brianne," he whispered, and I braced myself for his words, but my brain decided to go a different route as the words left my lips before I could stop myself.
"If you're thinking about breaking up with me, there better be a good reason or I'm going to kick your ass."
He blinked and stared up at me with wide eyes before I blushed and slapped my face with my hands. "I didn't think before saying that."
"Why would I break up with you?"
"I don't know," I muttered but kept my hands where they were.
He let out a sigh and I felt his hands land on my hips. "Brianne."
I spread my fingers just slightly so I could get a glimpse of him, his expression conflicted, flickering between worry and disappointment.
"Sit for a second," he whispered. I bit my lip and looked at his lap, trying to figure out if he wanted me to sit on his lap or next to him. He ended up moving me back as so he closed his spread legs, and I sat on his lap with me facing him.
He tried to hide his blushing cheeks while he lowered his gaze to my breasts for a brief moment. He then let out another sigh and looked into my eyes.
"I don't want to break up," he whispered.
"Then what's going on with you?" I was trying to figure him out. To unlock the doors that were fighting to keep me out. "Are you having nightmares still? Is something troubling you that you're afraid of talking about? Do you want to take things slower?"
"Brianne," he whispered my name again and wrapped his arms around me to hold me in a tight embrace. "I don't want to take things any slower. Fuck...I want to take things further. I don't know why I'm going backward in this. I can't figure out why I'm hesitating. Why I can't just accept the amazing lovers and friends in my life. I can't pinpoint the problem, and all it's doing is delaying what I know would be the inevitable moment where I'll have no choice but to confront this unknown ordeal."
"You know I'm always here to talk to you. So are Finnick, Jax, and Connor," I whispered. "We want to help you figure this out, Kaito. You don't have to do it on your own. We're in this together, but it feels like you're closing the door on us." I pulled back and continued, "I sometimes feel you...well...you're not attracted to me anymore. Or Finnick. Or this idea of being together."
"That's not it." He shook his head quickly. "It's definitely not that, Brianne. I...I want this." His eyes begged for me to believe him, while desperation morphed through his facial expression.