*Author's Note*
Y'all are so sweet and so funny! Fear not, I am alive and well! I didn't have time to finalize this chapter in draft yesterday. So, I couldn't post it for y'all.
Because I was having so much trouble adding gifs to the playlist chapter. 😭 The struggle was real. Wattpad was not a friend yesterday because every time I added a gif, it messed up the text format! And then I had to keep fixing it.
But anyways, we made it through! <3
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A brief pause ensued as Katiya locked eyes with Aonung, who still appeared shaken.
He searched her golden eyes, his lips apart, and his breath heavy.
She swallowed nervously, averting her gaze from his, as she heard buzzing coming from a distance.
"We have to leave, now," she said, retracting her hand from Aonung's grasp. "There's a swarm of them heading this way. If they attack us, it'll be fatal."
In silence, Aonung kept his gaze fixed on Katiya's pinkish-purple sting.
"Come on! Let's go," she urged, pulling on his shoulder. But he wouldn't budge and she realized he was still in shock.
"Aonung."
Upon hearing his name, he looked up at her. It was the first time she had said his name.
"Damn it," Katiya cursed, looking for a way out. After a moment, her eyes settled on the cluster of red berries behind him. The bushes beside the tree were full of them.
With no time to waste, she leaned forward and reached for the red berries, closing the distance between them.
Aonung couldn't help but look at her, their bodies touching, as she plucked some berries from the bush.
Then she pulled back and crushed them in her hands, creating an unpleasant cloud of scent and mist around them. As the buzzing drew nearer, it suddenly turned away from them and faded into the distance.
"That was close," Katiya murmured, breathing a sigh of relief.
She turned to face him, and he was already looking at her.
Even though she wondered why he was still acting so strange, she didn't question him. Instead, she grabbed his hand and pulled him up with her.
As his gaze slipped back to the sting on her hand, she peered at him to get his attention.
"I'm fine. I won't die from a single sting," she said, eyebrows furrowed. "Though you probably don't care anyway."
Several seconds passed before Aonung finally let out a shaky breath, blinking twice as if he was returning to his senses.
Immediately, he pulled his hand out of Katiya's grasp and nodded.
"Yeah..." he muttered, his voice trailing off.
She gave him a strange look, following him as he led them out of the jungle back to shore. On the walk back, they didn't speak a word, each too preoccupied with their thoughts about the other.
It was an odd occurrence that they had to endure together.
"I see them!"
As soon as they stepped out of the jungle and onto the sandy ground, Kiri's voice caught their attention.
"Kati!" Tuk yelled, tightening her grip around Neteyam's neck as he carried her on his back.
"Brother!" Tsireya called Aonung as the group rushed toward Katiya and Aonung.
"Are you guys alright?" Rotxo asked.
"What happened to your hand?" Loak asked, noting the reddish-purple sting on Katiya's hand.
"Oh, I got stung by a hellfire wasp after we escaped the thanator," Katiya replied.
Tsireya gasped, placing her hand over her mouth, and touching Aonung's arm in concern.
"Were you okay, brother?" She asked, drawing attention to them.
"I'm fine. I'm not the one who was hurt," Aonung muttered, nodding his head.
Katiya furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she watched him walk away from the group, leaving everyone confused.
"You should probably have Mom look at that," Neteyam suggested, drawing their attention back to him.
Katiya pulled her gaze away from Aonung and nodded at her brother.
"What's up with him?" Loak asked Tsireya.
She sighed as she lowered her head.
"Aonung does not do well with hellfire wasps. There was an incident a long time ago when he was young and it still haunts him to this day," she explained, her voice soft. "But it is not my story to tell, so I can not share much with you all. Come, let us head back to the village."
Katiya remained silent on the walk back with the gang as Tsireya's words lingered in her mind.
She had never expected to see Aonung in such a vulnerable state, especially in front of her. He had always been cold toward her and always fought with her for the stupidest reasons.
So, she couldn't help but wonder what had happened.
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Several days passed and everyone seemed to have forgotten what had happened in the jungle.
Except for one person.
Perhaps it was because he never wanted anyone to see him with such vulnerability, especially her.
But out of everyone, why did he have to encounter a hellfire wasp with her? He was irked that she had seen him in that way.
In particular, he disliked the fact that she had kept silent about what had happened between them in the jungle. Especially since the sting on her hand, while healing, always reminded him of that day.
While part of him hoped that she would never ask him any questions, another part despised the fact that she didn't seem to care.
Regardless, perhaps he preferred it that way since he didn't know why it bothered him so much whether she cared or not.
As a result, Aonung had grown increasingly irritated with Katiya lately when she said and did even the tiniest things.
Like how, during rainy days, she would sit on the edge of the netted walkway and watch the rain pour. Or how she scrunched her eyebrows together ever so slightly when something bothered her.
Her voice, her words, and even her name.
Despite his annoyance, there was no time to pick fights with her, since his bonding with a skimwing for his iknimaya was just around the corner. After this one, he would finally get his first tattoo.
In the past few days, he hadn't been with the group until tonight for dinner.
"You don't think I'm scary?" Rotxo asked Kiri offensively.
"Nope," Kiri shook her head as she bit into her bread. "You're too gentle and softhearted. I don't think you can scare anyone."
Rotxo pursed his lips in irritation and turned to the group. "Do you guys think the same thing as Kiri?"
"Yeah," Aonung nodded.
"Yup," Neteyam smiled.
"Totally," Loak said.
Upon hearing their replies, he pouted. "Aw, come on, I can totally scare someone."
"Just accept that you're not scary, Mr. Too-nice-but-thinks-he's-bad," Tuk said, eating her berries. "You can always come to me and I'll teach you how to give someone a heart attack."
"Really?" Rotxo exclaimed, his ears perking with excitement.
"But it'll cost you," Tuk said, to which Rotxo groaned.
"Has anyone seen Kati?" Tsireya asked, joining the circle with her leaf plate of food.
"She's getting her final sting treatment from our mom," Kiri replied.
Aonung's gaze lingered over tothe Sullys Marui in the distance as he heard this.
The fire crackled from a small stove hanging from the ceiling, lighting up the room as Neytiri finished applying medicinal herb creams to Katiya's hand.
"How are you feeling, ma Kati?"
Katiya averted her gaze from the fire towards her mother.
"What?"
Neytiri cracked a smile. "What are you thinking about so intently that you do not hear me?"
"Nothing," Katiya said, straightening her back. "I wasn't thinking about anything."
"Really? Our minds constantly think about something. Even when we don't try, the smallest thing will find its way in," Neytiri replied, wrapping the herb back in its cloth. "Tell me, what bothers you, my daughter?"
Katiya sighed. Her mother was always persistent. She always had a compassionate heart and a caring nature.
"Is it the pain from the sting?" Neytiri continued.
Katiya, however, remained silent, her gaze fixed on the flame.
As Neytiri gazed at her daughter, a faint smile appeared on her lips.
"Perhaps... a boy?"
At the sound of this, Katiya's eyes widened in surprise and she finally looked at her mother.
"No, absolutely not," she said, gritting her teeth in annoyance. "Even if dad still wants me to apologize or try to get along with the Olo'eyktan's son, I refuse to become friends with someone like him. He's extremely rude, mean, and an absolute skxawng. No matter how good-looking the other girls think he is, I will not succumb to his handsome looks over his ill personality. Even if he pretended to be nice by saving me from that thanator."
Following her sudden outburst, Katiya realized she had been breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling. Neytiri was stunned, her mouth agape as she looked at her daughter with wide eyes.
"I... did not say anything about Aonung, ma Kati."
Realizing too late that her mother was only askingabout a boy in general, Katiya's cheeks tingled with heat. Aonung had been preoccupying her mind so much that she had not been able to focus on many things lately.
It also didn't help that the annoying sting on her hand always reminded her of the incident in the jungle between them that day.
Neytiri's soft laughter drew Katiya's attention back to her mother.
"You do not have to think so much," Neytiri said, smiling as she stroked Katiya's hair. "I am your mother, ma Kati.If there is anything heavy on your heart, you are welcome to share it with me. I will always be here when you need me."
"Thank you, mom," Katiya whispered, hugging her mother. In her speeches, she always had a way with words.
With Katiya's leaf plate of food, the group made their way to the Sullys Marui.
While Aonung resisted going, Tsireya dragged him along since he hadn't been spending much time with them.
Leading the way were Kiri and Rotxo as they bantered over his ability to scare someone.
"Just watch me do it first, okay?" Rotxo argued. "I can most definitely give Kati a fright."
"Trust me, you do not want to scare my sister," Kiri replied. "Last time Loak did that, she drop-kicked—"
"But I'm not Loak," Rotxo protested.
"Alright, fine. Don't say I didn't warn you," Kiri huffed, rolling her eyes at the boy's persistence.
As they neared the entrance to the Marui, he shushed her and licked his lips in anticipation. Kiri glanced behind her, seeing everyone else still heading toward them.
From outside, they could hear Katiya and Neytiri putting things away and bidding farewell.
Rotxo waited for her to emerge, hiding beside the entrance while Kiri stood behind him.
Her foot entered his line of vision and he jumped in front of her, screaming loudly and raising his hands in intimidation.
"Oof!"
Immediately, he was knocked on his ass by a punch to the face. Upon witnessing this, everyone rushed toward them in panic.
"Great Mother!" Katiya hissed, her eyes wide with surprise when she realized it was Rotxo.
"Skxawng! See?! What did I say?" Kiri laughed as she knelt beside the poor boy covering his nose with his hands.
Warm blood trickled out from Rotxo's nostrils and he quickly tilted his head up.
"Ow... it hurts so bad," he whimpered, his eyes glossy with tears. Still, he refused to let them fall.
"Are you stupid? Why would you do that?" Katiya said angrily, her eyes flitting from Rotxo to the rest of the group.
"S-Sorry, Kati... I was just trying to scare you..." Rotxo replied nervously. "Well, at least now I know how Aonung feels. A bloody nose is no fun at all."
Gazing down at him, he looked pitiful.
Katiya sighed and handed him a clean cloth from her pouch. "Here, for you. I'm sorry for hitting you."
"It's okay, hehe. It was my fault," Rotxo laughed cutely as he put the cloth against his nose.
"But never do that again, you skxawng," Katiya said sternly, to which he nodded with a smile.
She turned and looked at the group, her voice trailing off as she caught a pair of ocean eyes staring back at her.
Upon meeting her gaze, Aonung narrowed his eyes at her. She never apologized to him.