☆☆☆ Chapter 18 ☆☆☆
To Love is to Care?
The room was otherwise untouched, just as I had left it.
The sole exception from that fact wasn't anything upsetting, it was pretty much the opposite. Lying idly on my bed were two beautiful dresses working together to cuddle the living daylights out of a pale blue envelope. One of those dresses was── yes, you know it── the long-awaited classy Victorian maid dress that everyone wore on the clock 'xcept for me, the so-called personal maid (a.k.a. the overpaid adult nanny).
The other dress on the bed I assumed to just be one of the many for me to wear off the clock, but it was far too fancy for me to wear casually, and when have I ever gone to a ball or banquet hall? It was an elegant, long, and graceful white dress with long sleeves. It had golden lilies, silver roses, sky-blue hydrangeas, and many other colorful flowers embroidered into it. Something with such a delicate texture and design couldn't possibly be worn to the park, for example (I guess I can wear it in my room every now and then to show it off to the mirror).
Overall, I can't really complain though 'cuz it's definitely the best gift that Daniel has given me as of yet. I'm surprised actually that Daniel would have such great taste (or is it that he knows exactly what I like from following me around a little too much?), and that he heard of my concerns with my trashy playboy uniform (I may have pestered him enough 'bout it to the point of getting on his nerves, but it was definitely worth it). Honestly I thought he would make me wear something just as perverted as the bunny uniform. I was even convinced that his next big thing would be a smexy nurse outfit as a combination of both his dirty fantasies and an inside joke from one of our many walks around town.
As for the envelope though, I didn't dare to open it just yet.
I placed it on the dresser for a future me, 'cuz who knows what the heck's in there?
☆☆☆
Daniel was standing behind his desk, looking down at his pool in a trance, from his monstrosity of a window. It wasn't 'til I slammed the door shut behind me that he dared to move a single inch.
He failed to break away from his trance. "Did... did you read the letter?" As soon as I said no, an obvious wave of relief hit him from all over. For a few moments I was convinced that his neck cracked from how swiftly his head turned to face me, but I didn't see any sort of reaction from him that would've confirmed my thoughts. "You're not lying to me, are you?" I shook my head, and his eyes glowed almost immediately. "Thank the lords! Just throw it away, toss it somewhere where not even a single soul could give it a quick glance. Actually, just burn it. I'll buy you a flamethrower if necessary."
"Y'know, just 'cuz you're making such a big deal 'bout it I might just read it as soon as I leave out of this room."
His entire face flushed all over within minutes. It made me think of a plump and tasty tomato. "Please, just don't. Do it for me, please?" I swear his ears drooped, like those of a begging dog's. "My mind yesterday was foggy and all I could think of was you and Ro── uh, sh-shit, um, like, I-I'm sorry for── ugh, everything; everything I did yesterday. It was mortifying. Gods, I don't even know what to tell you, or how to explain myself, haha... "
I found myself shrugging a little too passively. "Well, don't worry. I... had a fun time with you during that time." Now why did I have to say that?!
I didn't even think it was physically possible, but Daniel's adorable tomato face turned several shades darker, to the point where I was genuinely concerned 'bout it bursting at any given moment. "Okay," he muttered, playing with his fingers. His eyes seemed to not know where to look, but soon enough they landed on the dress he'd given me and remained there. "You weren't wrong about the uniform, by the way. It... it looks good on you."
The look in his eyes made my heart do a double flip── a shy Daniel was just too much for me to bear, man!
"Thanks," I pushed myself to say.
Daniel continued to find new ways to play with his fingers, but during a handful of seconds, two of them lightly brushed his bottom lip. It reminded me 'bout how soft and tender they felt on me. I even recalled the most vague taste possible of the sweetest taste of vanilla during the time our lips greeted each other.
Right then and there, I felt something inside of me... click.
I wanted him to kiss me again. I wanted his taste again, and everything that came with it; his heat, his heavy breathing and panting (when he did breathe), his touch.
"Um... Ane? I... C-Can I ask you something?" I felt myself jerk a bit from his tone, before nodding. "Did... Did you really mean it yesterday? About you, um... l-liking me?"
It was only then that I noticed the cold sweat beads sliding down my neck, and the wave of heat hitting me right across the face, savagely rubbing itself onto the rest of my body just as fast as the beats of my heart. What should I tell him? This is my chance to clear things up, to let him know that it's still too early to say I like him, that I needed more time to think 'bout our relationship regardless of my crystal clear interest in him, and yet... no matter how much I nag 'bout it, I... I don't want to do that. Is something wrong with me, to be so complicated 'bout everything that has to do with what my heart feels for Daniel── to find myself only dipping my feet in the water and not going all the way? Is it just that my mind refuses to wholeheartedly dive right into what we're becoming, resisting as often as possible 'til I can no longer stop it? This is the chance to break out of it, then. This is the chance for one of over a million possibilities to exist, to thrive, and I'm the one that'll be responsible for whatever it may be.
My throat felt as if it was closing in on itself, refusing to say anything, but somehow through sheer willpower, I looked into Daniel's strong gaze and said: "Yes, I like you." My eyes didn't move even a single inch away from his, and it didn't make it any easier for my throat to loosen up. It actually made it worse for both my throat and everything that was already burning within me. "I really do like you, Daniel."
By the time I snapped out of a daze I didn't notice I had fallen into by Daniel's strong gaze, I was against the window with the pool goggling up at us from a few floors down. I wasn't sure if it was either me or Daniel breathing hard, but it didn't really matter 'cuz I interrupted it with the kiss I'd been craving to give him for a long minute now── if he can't initiate one without getting pushed by Deep Feelings yet 'cuz he's just a shy lil' nugget, then I might as well do it and smooch it out of him. My arms rushed over to hold firmly onto his cute body for the sake of bringing him as close to me as possible, ready to feel everything that defines Daniel. The heat and sweat building up in between our torsos boiled us alive, but nothing that could possibly be out of it beat a certain feeling gushing and tingling all over my body: the sweet, sweet Daniel Fever.
His lips, his mouth, his tongue and everywhere inside and in between it all had the taste of a heavenly nectar that I just couldn't get used to, and I feared that within the short-lived moment that is now, it was bound to turn into an addiction of mine that I could never save myself from, and yet, the longer I held him, the more I allowed that insatiable hunger for him to stitch its presence onto every single part of what makes me me.
And so it grew within me, demanding more and more and much more and much, much more than that 'til down I pushed Daniel to the cold, hard floor, ready to pounce the living daylights out of him with everything I had in me, but a shriek that had escaped from him froze the hell out of my plans.
Daniel's eyes shriveled up and in the middle of biting his own lips, I rushed to his aid. "God! Daniel, are you okay? What happened?" I was one more Daniel-shriek away from mixing up my words.
"Ugh, my... " His left hand, though trembling, grabbed onto his right counterpart and squeezed it lightly. "It... it hurts... m-my shoulder... " Through his whimpers, he managed to say he may have sprained the shoulder, and that his elbow wasn't feeling all that hot either.
My heart shriveled up just as much as Daniel's eyes. I admit I may have pushed him down a little too hard, but god how did I just lose myself into the heat of the moment like that, enough to hurt him?!
I apologized to Daniel over a million times for getting him into such a predicament before kissing his forehead, promising that Grace would drive us to the hospital in between my hiccups and sobs. On my way out of the room we were in and while running all around Daniel's residence in the search for her, I felt the sticky sweat on my clothes and body bite me back with the cold wind from all of the heavy sprinting I was doin', but it couldn't even compare to the sting in my eyes.
If this is what the Daniel Fever leads to, then I don't want to do anything with it.
If this is what liking, caring, or loving someone leads to, then I... I...