Chapter 17

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When Garu woke up, he noticed that Pucca was still sleeping against his chest. He affectionately began to carress her smooth raven hair with his palm, allowing the young goddess to sleep in his arms. He didn't dare bother to get up while she was still leaning over him for comfort.

Pucca sure was a heavy sleeper. Even though Garu wakes up pretty early, he didn't even think of waking her up after the traumatizing experience that she went through. The slightest movement might cause her to wake up, though, so he put all of his effort into making sure he wouldn't move.

The sound of the morning birds outside were comforting his ears. Garu bet that his silent alarm clock, which was given to him by his father when he was a child, wasn't enough for Pucca to wake up. He didn't really blame her for it, though.

The both of them went through a lot. They both lost their fathers in a traumatic event, so they could understand one another more than anyone else in the village. They knew how it felt. It felt not a punch to the gut, but a stab to the chest.

Or maybe it was even worse. A stab to the chest was fast, so this wasn't it. The emotions they felt during those traumatic experiences were too hurtful to describe by using just words. They just knew that they wanted to be taken by Death instead of their fathers.

"Awww, look! Aren't they adorable?"

Garu slightly looked back at whoever owned the voice, only to catch a glimpse of Abyo and Ching standing beside their futon. Even if the two of them were trying to stay quiet, they were the type of people you wouldn't want to bring to a cinema.

Garu looked at them while positioning his index finger over his lips, basically telling them to be quiet or else they'd unintentionally snap Pucca out of her peaceful slumber. When the both of them noticed that they were becoming a bit too loud, their booming voices eventually drowned out into whispers.

It took Garu quite a while to notice that Abyo was holding a camera, which was facing Garu and Pucca, in his hands. Was he planning to become a photographer or something. When Abyo noticed that Garu's eyes were staring at the camera, a mischievous, smug look began forming around his face.

"You wanna see what we've got here?" Abyo chuckled, turning the camera around to show the picture. "See that~?"

"...!"

And what Garu saw afterwards almost made him want to cover himself using the futon out of embarrassment. His face turned into an instant pink when he saw the image.

Because in the picture was him and Pucca in the futon. Garu was embracing Pucca because of a nightmare that she had, but the image made it look like the both of them were cuddling in their sleep. Garu silently cursed Abyo for taking the picture like that. It was so rude of him to take it!

If Pucca wasn't asleep in his arms, Garu would've gotten up from the futon and chase Abyo until he finally got a hold of him. This is why Garu secretly wished Pucca would wake up, or else Abyo would spread the photo throughout the entire village.

As if the goddess decided to grant his wish, she woke up. Slowly removing his arms from the tired Pucca, Garu got up from the futon and intently began to stare at Abyo with a look of both anger and embarrassment.

"Hey, Garu..." Abyo staggered, sweat falling down his face. "No hard feelings, right...?"

Yeah... definitely not... Garu signed, slowly walking towards Abyo, who was backing away. Come here, Abyo... I just want to talk with you.

"NOOOOOO!!!"

Realizing that he just pissed Garu off, Abyo began running away, Garu chasing after him with all his speed.

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