“Why not?”
“You can’t buy an apartment just because I liked it.” The tone she uses isn’t playful like when we arrived, nor teasing like when she asked if I’d bought it in the last ten seconds. If I had to name it, I’d call it worried.
“And why not? I expect you to spend a lot of time here—it’s important to me that you like it,” I tell the truth, and her gaze softens.
The emotion lasts only a second before Nina hides it. The reaction is strange—myLittle Faehas always been direct and transparent about what she thinks and feels. Seeing her withdraw like this is definitely not normal.
“I didn’t know you were moving,” she says quietly, her eyes everywhere but on me.
“You said you were worried about the gossip and preferred to try being more discreet. I thought it was a good time,” I remind her, but that still doesn’t bring her eyes back to mine. “Will you help me choose the bed? I intend for you to spend a lot of time in it too.” I flash a wicked smile, trying to lighten whatever is pulling her away from the here and now, and pull her back into my arms.
I draw her closer, expecting a cheeky reply—but all I get is a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. I’m about to ask what’s going on when Nina’s phone starts ringing. She pulls it from her pocket and holds it right in front of her eyes, almost as if she wants to keep me from seeing the name on the screen. I frown.
“Sorry, I need to take this,” she says, slipping from my arms again and leaving the bedroom to answer the call away from me.
The careful, curious way I watch her walk out has nothing to do with not wanting to give her privacy. It’s just that she’s never done anything like this—and it isn’t the first unusual behavior I’ve noticed from Nina this past week.
Beyond today’s strange tendency to withhold feelings and information she used to share without a second thought, over the last few days she’s declined at least half a dozen phone calls while we were together, brushing them off as unimportant—when for weeks I watched her answer every call as if each one were life-or-death.
A few minutes later, she returns to the bedroom wearing the same odd smile as before.
“Everything okay?”
“Mm-hmm. It is. It was nothing,” she says, and that’s all.
If it was nothing, why step so far away to answer?
“So—what do you think about choosing the bed on Wednesday? If you can get some time off, we can pick one here in Khione, but if you’d rather, we can go to Athens on Tuesday.”
“This week is a bit hectic at the shop—we have a few orders. I can’t leave early. And Tuesday?” she asks, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I can’t on Tuesday. I’ll be very busy.”
“Busy?”
“Very.”
I wait for more information, but it doesn’t come. Nina stays quiet, looking at me with unease.
“Next Tuesday?” I suggest when too much time passes without a word.
“That sounds like a good plan,” she agrees, then opens her mouth to continue—but stops. Finally, she goes on, thank God. “You don’t really need to take me to choose your bed, Nero. I’ll be happy lying on whichever one you pick.”
“Is that what’s bothering you?” I ask, extending my hand. Nina takes it and returns to my arms. “That I considered your opinion important?”
“When you put it like that, it makes me sound ridiculous.”
“Talk to me,Little Fae,” I ask softly, fitting her chin between my thumb and forefinger so her eyes won’t run from mine again.
“It’s not just the bed, Nero. It’s the apartment—it’s you thinking you need my opinion to decide something as important as where you’re going to live. You spent days sleeping cramped in a single bed in my pink bedroom because you wanted to be with me. I’d do the same—I’d be happy with whatever you chose.”
“So it reallyisabout me wanting your opinion,” I say, considering it. She bites her lip. “I thought we’d already agreed that we’re a couple.”
“This is a bit more than just being a couple.”
“And why is that a problem?” Nina swallows at my question. Unable to turn away, she only averts her eyes.
“It just feels too soon.”
“Too soon for what?”
