I looked up into his beautiful face, feeling strong arms around me, and felt more at home than I had in years.
Savouring the moment, I closed my eyes, letting the feeling wash over me. I let it settle my sharp edges and mend the little chips and cracks in my soul for a long moment. Pulling away, feeling settled for the first time in a long time, I smiledup at Oskar, feeling a too-wide grin creep up, my facial muscles complaining.
“Let’s go find the others. We need to talk, and I can only let them mope about for so long.”
And Oskar smiled like he had always smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling, an almost supernatural happy glow around him.
“Oh, so you knew that they were pouting,” he joked, lightly brushing his shoulder against mine in a familiar movement.
I tossed my head.
“Of course, why do you think that I was up on that boulder? I like a clear view of everything that is mine, aggravating men included.”
His laughter rang out in loud peals.
***
I was thoroughly sick of the cabin, but on the westerly side of the pasture, there were a couple of large flat rocks that were surrounded by moss and covered in lichen. That’s where we sat, a lively fire on a rock in the center. I sat on one of the less flat rocks, slightly above the guys, and I lounged on it like it was a throne. Oskar sat to my right, and the rest of them were arrayed mostly in front of me. They all wore expressions that ranged from acceptance to worry. I cleared my throat loudly before I began speaking, not that I needed to grab their attention.
“Need for secrecy or not, it was quite cruel to let me believe that you all were going to die. I have decided to forgive you for that, but I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us. I’ll be frank and honest with you, and if you agree, you’ll be frank and honest with me too. Are we in agreement?” I asked them, Bartosz was nodding before I even stopped speaking, and so was Jin Woo, but Ettore was looking at me seriously.
“I agree to be forthcoming with my secrets, but not with the secrets that are not mine to tell.”
“Fine,” I agreed. I wondered if he had a law degree; there was a charming level of pedantry in him.
Once that was settled, I leaned back onto my hands, looking them over.
“I’d like to speak about two things,” this was the awkward part, they were on the wrong foot, as they felt guilty, but being this transparent still felt too vulnerable, a slicing of my side and baring my flesh and bone to them, “do you want to keep in contact after we leave here?” knowing that would allow me to plan, to structure the time we had here, and, honestly, find a way to numb the sting of rejection that I knew I would feel.
“Ettore and I would like you to become our partner,” Jin Woo said directly.
My jaw dropped open so abruptly and so aggressively that I heard my jaw click.
“Really?” I couldn’t help but say, “but...”
Ettore interrupted smoothly.
“I had meant for it to be brought up with more tact,” he shot an exasperated look at his fiancé, “but we adore you, and would love to have you in our life long-term,”
“Forever,” Jin Woo interjected with a wide smile on his face.
“Forever,” Ettore repeated.
I couldn’t be more shocked if they had slapped me in the face with a prize-winning trout.
“But what about, well, everything,” I said, “ your responsibilities, and wait–I’m not Renai. What has changed to make it so that I can now be with Renai men?”
Jin Woo’s face was serious, “Most likely, your adverse reaction to being around a Renai for so long was due to being so young, you would have to be carefully monitored, all of uswould, and you would probably would have to take a couple of long vacations away from us a year, two or three weeks each to be careful, but we could make it work if you wouldn’t be against it.”
“Renai, due to our possessiveness and the way our relationships work, tend to marry or formally mate shortly after they meet and click, but since you are not Renai, we could date if that would work, or visit you wherever you live, or have this conversation when we are not shipwrecked,” Ettore finished. Jin Woo was twitching, obviously on the ‘live with them forever starting now’ side of things.
“I think I would like that,” I said slowly, “but-” I glanced at Oskar, who didn’t look particularly annoyed.
“You forgetnaekkeo, that Renai relationships are larger than normal human ones are, Oskar would be more than welcome. Ettore has always had a thing for redheads.”
Ettore winked exaggeratedly at Oskar, who only smirked.
“Bartosz could come too if he promised not to be an asshole,” Jin Woo finished.
