CHAPTER 28

Despite what Neteyam had told her, Erìhe had managed to avoid talking to Ao'nung for days - and he definitely was catching on.

Whenever Ao'nung looked over at her or even took one step in her direction she practically bolted from the scene. It made him feel horrible - had he taken advantage of her? They were both drunk, but he thought she wanted to kiss him too. Now he wasn't so sure.

"You have to talk to my brother some day," Tsireya sighed. Her, Erìhe, Aluva and Neteyam were sitting in her pod, helping the Tsahik out by drying herbs. "He's actually going to go crazy."

Aluva had learned of the kiss that had happened by mistake. She had overheard Erìhe and Tsireya talk about it and had walked over to offer some comfort and advice. "We're going to go crazy," Aluva corrected, "I have never known something like this that I am not allowed to tell anyone."

Erìhe nodded, "The next time I see him, I'll talk to him," she swore.

"It'll go well," Neteyam said. He was sure of this - even though he would have lied through his teeth if he had to.

"Yeah-"

The very boy they had been talking about had appeared in the opening of the pod. "Hey, Tsireya-" his sentence was cut short when he saw the three others sitting on the floor looking up at him. Then his eyes fell on Erìhe and he seemed to go pale.

Erìhe looked just as horror struck.

Despite not finding anything funny, Aluva chuckled quietly and nudged Erìhe toward Ao'nung. The girl stumbled to her feet and toward the boy. She looked back at Neteyam - her eyes wide and panicked.

Neteyam offered her a small smile and waved his hand, beckoning for her to just go.

Erìhe looked defeated when she turned back to Ao'nung, who had not moved an inch since entering the home. "Let's go," she said quietly and walked past him, her head hung in shame.

"Yeah - okay," Ao'nung agreed. He shot Tsireya a terrified glance before following behind Erìhe who was leading the way out of the pod.

The two walked in silence until they reached the edge of the forest. This was a preferable spot for conversations - as people rarely stumbled across the place.

"So.." Ao'nung said awkwardly as Erìhe turned to look up at him. He made sure to keep a good amount of distance between them - he was not sure where they stood, after all.

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you," Erìhe said.

They were both silent. Ao'nung was expecting Erìhe to go on to tell him why it was that she'd been ignoring him.

Erìhe was waiting for him to say something - anything. To forgive her or to demand to know the reason. Even the latter was better than the look he was giving her.

Finally Ao'nung spoke, "Why did you avoid me? I thought we had a moment at the party-"

"Exactly because of that," Eríhe said bashfully. She was now avoiding eye contact.

Ao'nung sighed and nodded once, "Can I ask what was wrong with it? Did you not want to kiss me or is it something else?"

"I did want to kiss you," Erìhe told him and Ao'nung breathed out in relief. So he had not taken advantage of her or anything of the sort. That was good to know. Then Erìhe went on, "But I do not like you." She admitted.

Ao'nung sucked in a deep breath but nodded.

"You're not mad?" Erìhe asked. She was still waiting for some big reaction.

Ao'nung slowly shook his head, "No. Though I am disappointed," he glanced up at the sky awkwardly before looking back at her, "I kind of - actually liked you."

Erìhe smiled awkwardly, holding her hands behind her back. She did not know how to act in a situation like this. "You'll get over it," she offered.

Ao'nung barked out a laugh, "I suppose I will."

Erìhe felt bad for Ao'nung but a smile was slowly creeping it's way across her face and she was doing her very best to contain it. She knew that Ao'nung's feelings for her was merely momentary attraction - he would get over all this in no time.

Then from the corner of her eye, Ao'nung saw a group of his friends heading in their direction. When they noticed him and Erìhe, they smirked and nudged each other, painfully unaware of what was going on with them.

Ao'nung cleared his throat as he looked back to Erìhe, "Well - I should go now," he said, "Thank you for being honest."

"Oh," Erìhe breathed out. She was surprised - was that it? She was not complaining. She'd just thought they'd have to talk about it for a little longer. Well, she did not know how relationship thing worked, "Alright," she smiled softly before getting on her tiptoes to press a light kiss on his cheek.

When she pulled away, she turned and skipped off.

Ao'nung watched as she left before walking up to his friends. He forced a smirk on his face as he came to a stop in front of them.

"Ooh-" one of them nudged Ao'nung, "What was that about?"

Ao'nung grinned as he looked back at the disappearing figure of Erìhe. Then he turned to his friends again, "You know," he shrugged, "Just had to reject her. I hope she got the hint."

His friends laughed. "I bet she didn't," one of them snickered, "She kissed you before leaving - she's not over you."

As his friends started talking amongst themselves about Erìhe, Ao'nung looked down guiltily. He hoped that Erìhe would not come to hear of what he'd said. Not only would it be embarrassing as hell for him, it could possibly hurt her - and he did not want to do that.

But unfortunately for him - like most teenagers - Ao'nung felt the need to act tough and cool around his friends.

₊˚.༄

       "Neteyam!"

Neteyam turned and smiled when he saw Erìhe running toward him. She wore a bright smile which indicated that her talk with Ao'nung had gone well. This made him feel good too, since he hated seeing her so stressed.

The minute Erìhe had finished her conversation with Ao'nung, she had set off to search for Neteyam. He'd been nowhere to be found and she only saw him now - an hour before eclipse and just before they'd go down to dinner.

"Erìhe," Neteyam smiled as she came to a stop in front of him. "How did it go?"

Erìhe beamed, "It went great. He understands."

"That's good!" Neteyam held a hand up for a high five and Erìhe complied, hitting her hand to his as she laughed.

"I'm so glad it's over with," she sighed as she plopped herself beside him. Neteyam had been carving something out of a block of wood by the shore of one of the beaches. Erìhe was sure that he'd just arrived since he had not been there when she'd passed a few moments ago.

"I'm glad it's over with too," Neteyam agreed with her. He was glad that she really did not like him and that Ao'nung was aware of it now as well - and he was glad that her stress and guilt seemed to have evaporated.

Erìhe grinned as she leaned back on her arms, looking over at Neteyam as he turned his attention back to the piece of wood he was carving. "What are you doing?" She asked as she turned to her side, eyeing what he was doing.

Neteyam paused, looking down at her. Her chin almost rested on his arm. "A sturmbeest figure," he answered, a light dust of blush coating his cheeks and nose as he tried to refocus on his work.

"Like the one you destroyed?" Erìhe raised a brow as she glanced up at him.

Neteyam met her eyes again and felt the need to look away immediately. "Yeah," he admitted quietly, "I realize that it was an important toy to Tuk - this isn't the same but I wanted to make it up to her."

Erìhe smiled softly, "That's sweet of you."

Neteyam smiled too. She thought he was sweet?

He admired her features as she turned her gaze toward the water, admiring the sky that had turned to an orange hue. No matter what time of day or what kind of lighting shined on her, Erìhe always looked beautiful in Neteyam's eyes. He was sure that everyone could agree.

Erìhe could feel his gaze on her, which was why she had to turn her head in the opposite direction when she felt her cheeks heat up under his scrutiny.

-
A/n:
Me and a few of my friends who also write avatar fanfictions have been getting mean comments and messages regarding our books which is so not fun <3

I got like three today which doesn't seem like a lot but I'm already struggling with finding motivation to update my book and writing new chapters so hearing these kinds of things isn't lovely

I'm being a little dramatic but it really sucks to hear someone say they hate the oc of the book when I have put effort in creating her and coming up with her morals and personality - it just really made me feel bad

Especially since I just have this constant vitutus on lmao

But yeah to the mean ish people out there, of course you can let me know if there's something I can improve on and you can express your disappointment and stuff but using strong words like "Hate" and stuff really brings me down

I'm a very sensitive person so even seeing comments like "oh she's so quirky" makes me want to rip my eyeballs out LMAO

if anyone feels called out I am sorry and I love all of you <33 I appreciate and love everyone's comments - and no one is saying that you seek for forgiveness but I forgive you (I'm saying this because i personally would feel uneasy as fuck if I wasn't forgiven)

And to the people who may have said something like this - I'm really sorry for responding kind of harshly
I will never disclose who those people are so no one should even ask <33

AND I hope people will read this part because if you're saying stuff like "Erìhe you dumb bitch 😭" on chapter 26 where she kissed Ao'nung, I'm not talking about you!! Those comments are entirely different and I find them relatable and funny (also I did not quote an actual comment)

Also just because a book has many reads does not mean that the author won't see your comments <3 I personally check my notifications like a hundred times a day to see how people like my book and what I should be doing differently

Don't feel like you need to walk on eggshells in the comments though!

So sorry for that rant :")

But on a more unserious topic:
Y'all - don't come for my bbg Ao'nung okay?? Like yes, I kinda made him a dick and yes he kinda is a dick in the movie but I love him so.. I will not tolerate any slander <33

Sometimes I just like to turn a blind eye on red flags :)

Be like me in this situation <3