Page 299 of Light Leech

I nodded. “I’m happy to be here with you to do it.”

Her smile was beyond anything superficial. It was a deep expression of gratitude that pushed through the worry that constricted her.

She took my hand. “Might as well commit to the act now.”

I rubbed my thumb across her knuckles, wanting nothing more than that act to be true. “You think 3Rochi will believe that you have a boyfriend? I thought most idols weren’t allowed to date to keep the fan boys dreams up.”

She shrugged. “It’s an older standard. We could have relationships, but they could never be public. I’m not a part of Reef anymore so any rule like that will be insignificant. Besides, they knew about plenty of my past relationships.”

My eyes widened but I tried to keep myself relaxed.

She raised an eyebrow. “I never took you for the jealous type?”

“I–I–”

She giggled. “They were all part of a business deal anyway. You know that, right? That was the old Naoma.”

“And what does the new one want?”

She bit her bottom lip, then spoke. “To find out if this,” she eyed our hands, “is worth my emotions.”

I gave her a half smile. If she wanted this, I would give everything to her but I knew that my life carried a burden like no other. I didn’t need to ask her if it was worth it. She knew the cost and everything about me. If she wanted this, who was I to refuse what I wanted so much as well. It would have been easy to look forward and continue but now was as great a time as ever to confront it. My chest was light and my core burned.

“Is this something you want?” I squeezed her hand.

She smiled, taking it lightly. “Haven’t we been over this?”

“I’m serious. Why make this an act?”

“Because…” She looked up at me with sincerity.

“We keep skirting around it. It’s a passionate friendship that keeps stopping before the best part.”

She let out a light, nervous laugh. “We went on a date, didn’t we?”

“Yeah. I guess we did.”

“What else could you want?” Her voice was soft, longing, and as real as she had ever been.

I pulled her closer and leaned in when I saw her eyes close and lips point towards me. Our lips met, locking with a passion that I had longed for since our first spark of infatuation. That had been a drive of emotions, this was something real and raw, a moment that we had built up to and could now savor.

I sucked her lower lip, running my teeth against it with a soft caress. She pressed against me, savoring the moment like a divine delicacy.

We had breached the superficial attraction of a girl who had just regained her mind and a boy meeting his idol.

Our lips moved in a rhythm. Feeling her warmth, I released the tension I had been holding. The fear of a one-sided infatuation was dispelled in the sincerity of the kiss.

We let go and caught our breaths, each of us staring at the other with a sincere, shy smile.

The words, “I love you,” tried to press through my lips, but I held them back. I had spoken them once before, but now they meant so much more. Our relationship took time. We admired one another and I was fine with that for now. If patience had brought me something like this, I could wait.

Red cheeks shined through her blush. She laughed. “Let’s get moving.”

I took her hand, this time with sincerity. “Lead the way.”

The walk to Donki tower was short and silent. I didn’t feel the pressure to talk and hoped that she didn’t either. I tried to process what had happened but it felt unreal. I had been so set on accepting horrors followed by tragedy that I couldn’t believe something so delightful was permitted in my life. Not only was I holding someone’s hand, but that someone was the girl I had admired since I heard her voice. But knowing her had beat out the superficial attraction. She was more than the girl of my dreams.

She was real.