Chapter 33: So Close Yet So Far

I stared into Sol's amber eyes the colour of honey. We were much to close for me to hide how nervous I felt.

A stray thought crossed my mind as I felt like touching him in a way lovers do. Yet I held myself back as the eyes that looked back at me was filled with trust. I didn't want to lose it.

Although we usually are considered pretty close, the situation now felt different. I could either push past the point of friendship right in this very moment.

My hands faltered as I didn't know whether to let him go or to pull him closer. The fact that Sol was also silent made my heart beat faster and my throat feel constricted as I wondered what went through his thoughts.

He is never this silent in any situation. Please... say something... I feel like I might say something I will regret if I speak up first.

Sol blinked a few times as he stared at my face. It seemed innocent albeit tempting, given our current situation.

Am I making a weird face? It's probably red. I don't want to think about it right now... I feel like my heart is going to explode.

"Aries."

I snapped back to reality when I heard Sol's voice. He smiled at me and ran his slender fingers through my hair, stroking my scalp lightly.

I leaned in to his touch until a knocking resounded from the door. At that moment, my hand faltered as I jolted from surprise. My hand slipped and I fell forward.

It happened so fast but the only thing I remembered was how my lips brushed against his lightly despite the fact that I practically smashed our faces together by accident. So it was a tad forceful.

"S-sorry!" I quickly pulled back as I covered my mouth.

Sol sat himself up and glanced over in my direction as he tilted his head to the side. He did not look flustered in any sense so it must have been only an accident in his mind. It was a good thing he didn't mind, although I felt a tad disappointed.

"It's fine. I felt like my soul left my body for awhile there. You're pretty heavy." Sol laughed before I noticed a wound by his lips.

"Wait, come here. There's a nick by your lips." I said as I slid Sol towards me and inspected his face.

"Ngh. Don't touch it then! OW! H-huh? You have one too! Oh no... What about your photoshoot tomorrow?"

I furrowed my brows as I wasn't concerned about my face. It would heal before tomorrow anyway. I'm more concerned with the wound by his lips.

"I'll grab my medicine kit. Stay still."

I felt Sol's gaze trailing after me as I rummaged through my luggage. It was a good thing I decided to bring my medicine kit.

I kept it with me on occasions when Sol and I leave his house together. It's not that he was a klutz or anything, I simply want to be prepared in case anything happened.

"I found i--" I said as I turned around, noticing Sol touching his lips before he found me staring and turned red.

"I-I just wanted to check if there were any other injury!"

"R-right..."

My cheeks flushed a little as I felt the weight in my chest lighten. It was nice to know that he had felt something as well. Sol was pretty oblivious in things like romance, despite loving romcoms. What an irony.

"Look here." I grinned to myself as I applied the medicine to his wound.

Sol winced a little but followed my orders as he sneaked a glance in my direction.

"Anything you want to say? ... and done."

"... You seem awfully happy. Anyways, my turn. Look here." Sol said as he snatched the medicine from my hand and squeezed some out as he rubbed it onto the wound on my lips.

As Sol pulled his hand away from me I held onto it and caught his eyes. We remained in that position for awhile before the knocking on the door interrupted yet again.

"Should I get it?" Sol asked as he gently removed my hand from his wrist.

"... Okay." I quickly looked away as I felt irritated by the person who ruined the mood.

After brooding momentarily, I stood up and headed over towards Sol and leaned on the doorframe behind him. My gaze fell on the person who was talking to Sol as they shifted their gaze towards me.

A girl.... Seems a little familiar, but I don't really care.

"Mr Aries, d-do you remember me? I'm Felicia. I'm working with the photographer tomorrow. I'm just here to g-greet you and inform you that you should arrive by 8am tomorrow."

"Okay. Thanks for the trouble coming all the way here. I'll see you tomorrow then." I said as I pulled Sol into the room and waved the girl goodbye before shutting the door.

"Aries? Wasn't that a little rude to your co-worker? Also... AH! Your ears and tail! Did she see them?! I got used to it that I completely forgot!" Sol panicked as he quickly circled around me to check.

"I wouldn't simply show up in front of people if it were still out." I smiled before thinking back to when we briefly brushed our lips together.

... Was it out then? I hope not.

"Oh... That's a relief but... I made a small batch of medicine during the past month when you were gone. It's supposed to suppress the tail and ears from popping up for roughly four hours. Take it before your photoshoot and let me know if it works. Try not to get too flustered okay. It's still in its trials since you weren't around to test it when I had first made it."

"Okay."

"... W-want to put our luggage away?" Sol asked as I nodded and followed him to bring our luggage towards the drawers.

***

The rest of the evening went on without events. Sol explored the private lodge and was astounded by the amount of clothes I had told them to prepare for him.

Completely astounded... that he told me to return at least half of them. Sigh. How do I tell him that I got them personally from the designers for him?

My attention snapped back to Sol as I heard an excited laughter from his side of the bed. He grinned as he glanced up at me with a confident smile.

"And with one more card... that would be the end of the game." Sol wiggled his single card in front of me before I returned the confident grin.

"Are you sure? You didn't say Uno by default when you were down to one card. So you need to draw 4 cards." I raised an eyebrow and smiled slyly as Sol groaned.

"What? No way. You're such a stickler for the rules. It's no fun." Sol pouted as he drew four cards regardless.

"Atta boy. And with that... I'm skipping your turn. I'm changing to red... and uno... skipping your turn again... it's my win." I grinned as I triumphantly leaned back and folded my arms.

"Dammit. I thought you weren't paying attention. How did I still end up losing regardless?" Sol fell onto the bed in frustration as the cards fluttered beside him.

Time seemed to slow as I watched the cards gently scatter around him as he fell onto the covers. His pouting lips and annoyed expression looked really adorable as I felt like squeezing his cheeks. Regrettably, I didn't and instead focused on a card by his side.

"You had the blank card?"

"Yeah. It was my last one... before you caught me not saying uno."

"If you had placed it right after your second last card you could have won."

"Eh? I could do that?!"

"And who were you saying was a stickler for rules?" I laughed as Sol furrowed his brows.

"I... demand a rematch. I'll knock you off your high horse this time!" Sol sat up as he collected the scattered cards by his side and shuffled them into the deck.

"I'd love to see you try."

"Done, shuffled and dealt." Sol said as he dealt me my cards.