Chapter 18: You know... this is the longest we have talked in years.

"I’ll never watch cartoons."

Lucian replied and the instant he did, Naomi lost it instantly.

"You take that back or you won’t like what’s going to happen next."

"You won’t understand, novels are much better. They have more details, cartoons don’t."

"Anime is not cartoon!"

Naomi raised her voice and for the first time in a long while, Lucian smiled.

"Alright alright, I take it back."

He laughed.

"Good."

Naomi smiled when she saw Lucian smile.

This was what she wanted, this was why she came here. She knew how attached Lucian was to his parents, even she was devastated when she heard the news, she could only imagine what it was like for Lucian.

She knew he would have locked himself inside his house and she knew he needed her to cheer him up.

She just...

Did not expect to cheer him up the way she did.

Her face turned red when she thought about it.

Lucian looked at her and...

"Thank you."

He spoke with a gentle, genuine smile on his face.

"For everything you did."

"Great, first it was apologising, now gratitude.

Why don’t you go wear a tie and start giving me a formal interview?"

Naomi snorted.

"I am not trying to be formal, Naomi. I am saying what I truly feel."

"Then stop saying what you feel.

It’s annoying."

"Alright."

Lucian smiled.

For the next few seconds, both of them remained silent.

"You know... this is the longest we have talked in years."

Lucian commented.

"What can I do? You stopped talking to me."

Naomi complained.

"I stopped talking...?"

Lucian raised his eyebrow.

"Of course!"

"Wow, so you are not even going to mention how you started avoiding me?"

"As if! You were the one who avoided me!"

The two glared at each other, then, heavy silence fell over the room. After all, both of them knew the truth.

They both had distanced themselves on their own.

As Lucian grew, his weakness became more obvious and he felt ashamed of it. Even though Naomi never mocked him for his weak stamina, low scores, or the next to zero progress he made at anything, he still hated how he was failing in front of her.

Naomi was no different either, when her family started facing problems, she became quieter and distanced herself from him.

The distance was only made worse when Ryan started targeting Lucian, he began avoiding her to make sure he didn’t implicate her.

Naomi too, because of her excellent grades, was pulled into extra classes which Lucian could not join because of his lack of grades, because of that, Naomi became part of a different friend group. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

So yes, while it wasn’t either of their mistake, life still pulled them apart and they became two individuals who silently supported each other without talking.

"Just admit it, it was your fault."

Naomi laughed as she spoke in a low voice.

"Whatever."

Lucian smiled, not admitting anything.

It was definitely her fault.

"Let’s eat."

Lucian muttered, Naomi looked at him with a twitching mouth and—

"You really are shameless, aren’t you?"

"Huh?"

"What? You want me to eat naked?"

Lucian’s face turned red at those words.

"And look at how you smartly put my clothes in the washing machine, you must be planning this, weren’t you?"

"Of course, I am a master planner.

Everything is going just as I expected."

Lucian laughed as he covered his face with a hand.

Naomi stared at him with a deadpan look on her face, Lucian laughed awkwardly and stood up, then, he gave her one of his t-shirts.

"Here. This should fit you."

"Alright, now leave."

"Leave?"

"You want me to wear it in front of you?"

Naomi’s mouth twitched.

"Don’t you think we are past that point now?"

Lucian grinned shamelessly, Naomi glared at him, ready to throw a nearby remote at him and Lucian hurried out.

After Naomi changed, he returned, they ate, they chatted, Naomi didn’t bring up any of the heavy topics she wanted to, she didn’t ask any questions Lucian didn’t want to give answers to, Lucian appreciated that.

For the first time in what felt like a long time, he had a normal, healthy interaction.

About three hours later, Naomi left wearing Lucian’s clothes, her house was only two houses away, plus, her parents weren’t home, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Once she left and Lucian was left alone in his house, he... just stood there in silence.

Even now, his senses were sharp, he could hear sounds from hundreds of meters away, his nose was far more sensitive too and so was his vision—he could now clearly read the small label on a jar that was about 10 meters away.

And for the first time since he transformed, his advanced senses didn’t hurt him.

The sounds he was hearing didn’t give him a headache, his mind had adapted to them, Naomi’s scent did not fill his mind with those ugly thoughts either, his body was no longer in heat.

The only thing he felt inside him was this new endless energy.

For the first time in the past few hours, he truly felt... alive.

He felt... strong.

And now,

It was time to understand how strong he had actually gotten.

With that thought in his mind, Lucian decided to go to the gym.