Lament of the Moon S&H - Ch.07: Trial and Success - Ep04
#4 of LoM 07
At the coffee shop, they found a nice empty table inside and ordered their preferred cups of hot beverage, and as they waited for their order to arrive, Seif noticed Sasuga awkward and demure silence and sensed something was off beam. "May I ask why you have been crying?" he started off and took the kirin off guard.
"Wha-? How'd you...? I mean, I wasn't really..." Sasuga timidly replied.
"Your tears. You have dried tears on your cheeks, that's why I was able to tell. I doubt that you value your purse that much to shed that much tears for it, so it must be something else," the lion keenly said and made Sasuga wipe her dried tears off of her face bashfully. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I don't want to intrude in your personal life. But if there's anything I can help you with..." Seif continued, as Sasuga looked back at him with fond eyes at how considerate he was. She was dying to share her misfortunes with someone, and Hazard and Panja had enough of those already.
"Here's your coffee. Enjoy," the waiter said as he brought them their order, leaving them to continue their conversation.
"Actually... you're right, it is something else..." Sasuga confessed and started to narrate to him what happened to her, from the accident at the university cafeteria right to how she got suspended from school just an hour ago.
"I'm... sorry you had to go through all of that," Seif regretfully said, feeling bad for the kirin. "I'm even sorrier that I wasn't present to help."
"Oh, no! You don't have to apologize for anything, you couldn't have known. I guess it just couldn't be helped. I'm just fated to live a life full of hardships," Sasuga smiled weakly.
"I don't believe that. You've been through a lot, yet here you are, being able to draw a smile on your face. It takes a lot of courage and strength to be able to do that," Seif complimented her, and Sasuga's cheeks blushed again. He just didn't realize that he was the reason that made her smile.
"N-No, I'm not that strong. I'm actually pretty scared now. I don't know what I should do next," Sasuga replied, shying her eyes away from the lion's.
"That can happen to anyone, including me. Everyone is allowed to be scared when changes suddenly happen and they don't know what the future holds for them. But it's not the end of the world. You still have your legs. Use them and keep moving forward," Seif sincerely said to her as she looked back at him in total awe. His words were so simple yet struck much sense; she already started to feel less bad about her troubles.
"Seif... you're... you're right!" Sasuga replied with a brighter face.
"Yeah, keep that smile. It looks better on you," Seif softly said and made Sasuga's whole face blush. Did he just flirt with her? The lion belatedly realized what he just said and got a little flustered himself, looking down on his cup of black coffee and taking a sip from it. "Erm, you better... drink your coffee before it gets cold," he murmured. Sasuga smiled softly and did what he suggested, holding her cup with both hands and drinking her coffee with cream.
"S-So... Panja is your cousin?" Sasuga then asked, trying to lift the awkward mood.
"Afraid so," Seif answered jokingly and Sasuga giggled a bit.
"You two look so much alike, aside from the fur color of course. I could mistake you for identical twins," Sasuga stated, though their personalities couldn't be any different.
"Yeah, I get that a lot"
"Oh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound redundant..."
"No, it's totally fine," Seif smiled. "Panja can be a handful, but his heart is in the right place."
"Ah, Haz said something similar too," Sasuga mentioned.
"Oh yes, Barzard... is he treating you well?"
Sasuga nodded, "Yes, he's great. He's a good friend and very dependable, he helped me more than once. Though, he's a little accident prone."
"That's Barzard alright." The lion let out a good chuckle at Sasuga's little remark and that elated her greatly.
"So you know Hazard as long as Panja, too?" she curiously enquired.
"Just about," Seif replied, taking anther sip from his coffee. "Barzard is... special. I feel privileged to have known him and traveled with him in many journeys. He taught me so much; I don't think I could repay him. The only way I could think of is to help him out whenever I can," he openly expressed to her and she was quite impressed by what Seif said about the golden wolf. She could tell that he was telling the truth, because she too felt the same way towards Hazard. "Keep this between the two of us, though," Seif then whispered to the kirin and she blinked.
"Oh, sure! I won't tell," she said with a firm nod, but then she muttered. "Can... Can I ask you something, Seif?"
"Of course."
"Is it... Is it hard being an immortal? Bearing this curse?" Sasuga coyly asked the blond lion. He paused for a few seconds, trying to think of words to answer her with. "I'm... I'm sorry, that was a stupid question. You don't have to answer it," she apologetically said, feeling thoughtless for putting Seif's in that awkward position.
"No, it's fine. It's normal for you to wonder that. I did the same thing when it first happened to me, and I'll tell you what Barzard told me when I asked him the same question," Seif replied and Sasuga listened to him intently. "Just live. Live your life, one day at a time, as best as you can. It's not going to be easy, but life isn't easy no matter what or who you are. There's a greater purpose for you in life, you just have to find it," he tried to explain to her as best as he could.
"A purpose..." Sasuga uttered, mostly to herself. Maybe that was it. If she could find a purpose for this drastic change in her life, then maybe she could make better sense of it and accepting it more easily.
"You'll figure it out. Like I said, one day at a time. You have all the time in the world now, after all. Err... sorry, that came out wrong," Seif apologized, thinking that it was an uncalled for comment.
"Eh? Oh, no, it's okay! I get what you mean," Sasuga said and put his mind at ease. "I guess I can start out by taking control of my new powers..." she wondered, looking at her own palms.
"Hrmm... Maybe I can help you in that. Are you done with your coffee?"
"Umm, yeah, I guess so. But why?"
"We need to take a long trip."
"We? Trip? But aren't you going to be late for work? I, I don't want to cause you any trouble."
"I'm the boss. The only one who could fire me is me," Seif said lightheartedly. "Wait here for a minute, please? I'm going to pay the bill," he told her as he got up and went to the cashier. Sasuga watched him pay the bill from afar and simply thought how charming he was in anything he did. Just talking to him now made her totally forget about her sadness of getting kicked out of the university and made her feel everything was going to be alright. While that last part was a bit of a stretch, at least she had newfound hope for the future. She just needed to fine her new purpose. "Ready to go?" the lion's gruff voice brought her back from her deep thoughts, seeing him standing next to her.
"O-Oh, yes! Ready!" She sprang up on her hooves and was about to exit the cafeteria when the lion stopped her.
"Sasuga?" he called out for her and a shiver ran through her spine when his sexy voice uttered her name. She turned around and saw him holding up her purse. "It'd be a shame to lose it again this soon, don't you think?"
She cringed at how clumsy she was acting and went over to him to get her purse back. "Th-Thanks, again," she smiled with a slight embarrassed blush. Seif merely replied with a smiling nod and went ahead of her to his car, as Sasuga sighed wistfully when he was far enough, feeling her heart beating rapidly. She just can't get a firm hold of herself around him.
To be continued...