❝ it's crazy how beautiful
she looked while she was
trying to kill me. ❞
As the eldest carry such burden on their shoulders, they learn to deal with one another when one hates the other and the other is infatuated.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰
"No, you're doing it wrong."
Neteyam winced at the slap he received from Emea, who had hit his hand from not learning sign language right. She had been teaching him for the past two or three hours and so far, he has only learned how to sign "swim" and "over there."
"I'm trying," Neteyam sighed, shaking his hands as they began to hurt. "Look, it's not easy for me as it's easy for you. We never had to communicate with our hands to form words and such."
"That's why you're learning," Emea spoke and he looked at her and the way she frowned, her hands fixing his own because of the way he was signing words. "It's important to learn new things."
"Okay, okay," Neteyam nodded, agreeing with her words before following her lead.
They were both near the water, away from everyone, practicing. They were both in silence, Emea muttering words under her breath to let Neteyam know what he was doing wrong and right.
"Okay, that's it for today," Emea patted his hand, placing her hair behind her shoulder with curly strands framing her hair. Her skin, a lighter blue, glistened under the sun and Neteyam smiled at her.
"Did I do better this time?" He asked, hopeful that her answer would change. She looked at him and shrugged.
"It didn't suck as the first time."
Neteyam slowly nodded, hiding his smile. "I'll take that as a compliment."
Emea shook her head, walking away from him. He followed after. "Please don't."
Neteyam chased after her before he walked backwards, his eyes meeting hers. "C'mon, Emea, I know you've just met me a couple of days ago but I do want to know you and not as the future leader of your people."
"I'm not opening up to you," she simply said in a monotone voice. Neteyam opened his mouth to speak but Emea cut him off. "Look, I'm not... I don't have friends. I have different thinking than others. Half of the guys here don't want to talk with me in fear of having to be mated to me later on, which I don't mind. So, don't think anything's wrong with you. I'm just very afraid of becoming close to people because of me trying go satisfy my people and doing something stupid."
Embarrassed at the sudden reveal of emotions, Emea freezes out of shock before walking away, thinking of what she said.
Neteyam was about to call out to her but he realized that if he was in her shoes, he would react the same way. To reveal such emotions to someone you're not close with is embarrassing to an extent because they don't know you.
Emea walked away till she saw her pod, shaking her head. She hated being any type of vulnerable around anybody. What type of leader was she if she couldn't keep her emotions at bay? But, she also knew it wasn't necessarily a healthy tactic to go by.
"You okay?" She heard her younger sister's voice and Emea turned to look at her. She smiled a little, sitting down.
"I'm okay," she waved off her feelings before sighing and sitting down. "It is crazy how much I close myself off. I'm not a good sister to you nor Ao'nung. But, my people depend on me."
"I know they do, Emea," Tsireya gave her a reassuring smile to help soothe her. "But, you're just as much as a child as we are. They can't have high expectations for you."
Emea listened intently, her fingers grazing the skin of her thigh, a habit she developed when she became anxious of her own feelings. She nodded.
"It just gets tiring."
"I know, sister," Tsireya scoot next to her, holding her hand. She held her head and placed it in top of hers. "You need to be the person you truly are. Honestly."
Emea would think about it but she knew it was true. She has become someone that was unknown to her and became someone else for the satisfaction of her people.
As Tsireya left, Emea was left in her thoughts. She didn't notice the figure popping up before she looked up to find Lo'ak about to clear his throat.
"Are you okay?" He asked. Emea looked at him.
"Yeah," she nodded. She cleared her throat as he was about to do so. "Hey, tell your brother I'm sorry for revealing too much. I did not mean to and I apologize for dropping my issues on him."
Lo'ak looked at her before he curtly nodded. "I will. But, hey... if you do need to talk, we are here next to you."
Emea gave him a small smile before he walked away, leaving her alone as she was before he interrupted her thinking.
Lo'ak headed towards his family's pod, coming to see Neteyam staring at the sunset by the water. He sat next to him and nudged him with his shoulder.
"I talked to Emea," he froze and looked at his younger brother, not realizing that his parents looked at them, "she apologizes for revealing too much and that she did not mean to drop all of her issues on you."
Neteyam sighed. "She doesn't need to apologize..." He muttered under his breath before nodding. "I'll talk to her tomorrow during our next lesson."
Neteyam thought about her reaction. He understood very well.
The eldest children, too many expectations on them. They had to be the perfect role models to their younger siblings and they had to protect them, not themselves. He understood her struggles
He sighed one last time, watching the sunset.
"She is so beautiful," he muttered and Lo'ak stared at him. "Very beautiful. I feel connected to her in a way that it feels... nice, you know?"
"You, my bro," Lo'ak started, placing a hand on his shoulder, "are in love with someone who will most likely be out of your reach since she is very closed off."
"It doesn't make me feel bad!" Neteyam exclaimed. "It makes me want to beg to Eywa to let me have a chance with her just for a moment. At least like 2 minutes or something. And don't make fun of me when you are just as worse as me."
"Nuh-uh," Lo'ak defended himself. "You look like you're about to faint when she looks at you. Don't get me started when she says your name."
"Shut up."
"Boys," they turned to look at their father who was giving them a soft glare, "quiet down. You both are in love."
They both stared at their father in shock who looked away to smile to himself.
But Neteyam thought about it.
Could it be possible to fall in love with someone you just met? Especially one who is very closed off?
Neteyam didn't care. If it meant waiting for Emea to open up and become more comfortable around him, then be it. He'll wait for her if it mean she becomes her true self and doesn't need to hide from him.
AUTHOR'S NOTE.
I was going to update yesterday but... I keep updated books at 5 am or 6 am when I haven't slept all day like rn for example... 🙂
But guys! Comment more because I do like reading comments. I take it as criticism so I can make the book better 😭it's okay if you don't want to, I know how ghost readers are but still (only if you want)
