Thanatophobia | Ao'nung

⋆˚✿˖°ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟝⋆˚✿˖°

"I don't want to talk," Ni'la scoffed, and Ao'nung grabbed Ni'la's wrist to turn her towards him.

"Please," He begged, and the girl looked at him with hard eyes before sighing and breaking out of his grip. "Fine. We can talk, but if you insult me or my family, I'm leaving," She huffed, and Ao'nung let out a sigh of relief.

He hadn't expected her to give in to his request so easily, and he was prepared to do anything to get her to talk to him. Ao'nung wanted to apologize for his words, what he'd done to Lo'ak, and what his friends had done to Ni'la, even though he'd already apologized for two of those things. The boy didn't want to be mean or hateful towards the Sully family anymore.

The two teens walked over and sat on the edge of the beach with their legs crossed, and a moment of silence fell over them. Ni'la didn't want to start the conversation because she didn't want to talk to Ao'nung in the first place, and Ao'nung was feeling a little overwhelmed because of the awkward atmosphere.

However, as the minutes continued to pass, Ni'la's patience grew thinner and thinner until she looked over to see the boy looking at his hands. "Are you going to talk or what?" She asked, and Ao'nung turned to look at her as he cleared his throat.

"Uh, yeah," He paused as he felt his heart rate pick up. "I wanted to apologize for everything that I've done," Ao'nung said, and Ni'la raised an eyebrow.

Why was he apologizing to her again? Was he serious about wanting to be her friend? After everything he had done? After everything they've said to each other? Don't get Ni'la wrong, she knew she wasn't entirely innocent in the feud between her and Ao'nung. She had said things that she shouldn't have said, and done things she shouldn't have done.

Of course, the girl wouldn't openly admit that she wasn't innocent, and Ni'la knew that was wrong, but at the moment, she didn't entirely care. But when she saw the sincerity on Ao'nung's face, she felt slightly guilty. "Why are you apologizing?" Ni'la asked, and Ao'nung looked at her, confused. "I mean, it's no secret that we don't like each other. So, why apologize?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. I've been a dick, okay? And I don't want my people to think that it's okay to treat others the way I've treated you and your family," He said.

"Okay, well, I accept your apology," Ni'la said, and Ao'nung let out a sigh of relief. "But I don't think we would be good friends," She shrugged, causing a scoff to escape past Ao'nung's lips.

The boy looked at her in disbelief as he realized that she was being completely serious. There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in her voice or a playful look in her eye, and it made him frustrated. He understood why she wouldn't want to be his friend, but couldn't she at least try? Why was it so hard for her to put an effort into attempting a friendship with him?

"Can't you at least try?" He questioned.

"No."

"Why do you have to make everything so difficult?" Ao'nung snapped.

"Give me one reason you want to be my friend," Ni'la stated.

Ao'nung clamped his mouth shut as he racked his brain for a reason to be her friend. Of course, when giving someone a reason as to why they want to be their friend, there are a million reasons, but his mind seemed blank. Why did he want to be Ni'la's friend? No, he didn't want his people to treat the Sully family poorly, but that wasn't exactly a reason to be their friend.

As long as Ao'nung was cordial with them, his parents wouldn't care if he was friends with them or not. So, that brought him back to the original question. Maybe it was because he didn't want Ni'la to feel like she was alone. Or maybe it was because he thought she was a little pretty... Okay, maybe he thought she was really pretty.