~•Aden•~
"Oh! She's an angel too."
The very moment those words left my mouth, regret washed over my entire being. I wished to go a minute back in time so that I could clamp my own mouth shut, or better to hit myself on the head.
"W-what d-did you s-say?"
Her stuttering voice entered my ears and I could only wish for the ground to swallow me alive. I was left with no strength to face her, but I also knew that it was something which couldn't be avoided. I couldn't even try to run away to avoid the confrontation which was heading my way. I had my damned arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"Aden!"
I was still contemplating my response when I heard her. Her words had an underlying threatening tone which were enough for me to throw the idea out of the window. It would be better if I was honest with her. And since the cat was already out of the bag, there was no harm in letting it enjoy a little, right?
"Yes, Amara?" I muttered out as confidently as I could without moving my eyes from the trail ahead.
"Look at me." She spoke up just when I had started to count the number of stripes on the barricade tape. The authoritative tone with which her voice was laced with didn't give me a chance to turn a deaf ear to her.
Heaving out a long, tired sigh, I turned my head in her direction only to find her looking back at me. Her heterochromic eyes were more or less drilling holes through my skull. Maybe she just wanted to have a peek inside just so she could tell what was going through my mind.
"You heard it right." I mumbled softly. I didn't want her to think of me as a liar, so I went along with the truth. "She's just like us, and we have been together for the last century or so." I added giving her a helpless look.
"And you are telling me this now?" She gritted through her clenched jaw. It wasn't hard for me to tell that she was trying her best not to burst into flames before me. And I didn't blame her for it. I would have felt the same way if it was me in her place.
"In my defense, it never came up until now." I added in a meek tone, clearly not wanting her to get any more enraged.
"You are good with words. Tell me more about you two." Her response made me exhale out a breath of relief. I was willing to answer every single query of hers about me and Dana, as long as she wasn't angry with me.
"What do you want to know about us?" I questioned her as I gave her shoulder a little push to make her walk with me. We could have this discussion while walking back to the campus as there wasn't much time left in our class.
"For starters, how do you two know each other? And what was the nonsense you were spouting earlier about giving your relationship sometime?" She muttered out while looking ahead on the trail.
"We ran into each other some twelve decades ago. At that time, she was stuck in a problem with some human angel hunter, and I helped her out with it. After that, she willingly stayed around with me. I didn't mind it as it feels much better to have someone living with you, especially when that someone is just like you." I replied to her as we continued to walk towards the campus. We were already past the yellow and white barricade tape.
"So, you guys ended up falling in love with each other." Her words were more like a statement rather than a question, to which I couldn't help but nod in response.
"I don't know whether I should call it love now." I spoke up as we made our way towards the corridor which would lead us to our class. My arm was still slinging over her shoulder, and she didn't seem to mind it either. Though it was merely an action which showed her level of comfort around me, it still made me elated.
"Why is that?" She looked in my direction and gave me a quizzical look.
"A girl and a boy living together under the same roof for decades are bound to develop feelings for each other. Those feelings can vary from mutual affection to actual love. I used to think of my feelings as love, but I doubt that it was or is love." I answered her.
"Have you looked at her? She is hot, and I enjoy myself when we are together in a room." I continued. "But I don't think the flux in my hormones can be named as love. It's better that I give us some time to sort it out. It would not be fair with her if I continued with it any longer."
She let out a low hum in response as she bobbed her head up and down. "And does this sudden change in your thinking have anything to do with me?"
I didn't know what to reply to that, or how to say what I wanted. But her next words gave me some courage to continue with my honesty
"Please, be honest. I won't bite your head off."
"If I truly loved her, I wouldn't be interested in knowing some other girl. And it was way before I found out that you were like me. In fact, there had been other cases like this before too. But I kept shoving them inside a pothole, thinking that it was wrong of me to grow interest in other women. " I don't know from where the surge of courage came from, but it helped me in accepting the truth. Maybe it were her words.
"You felt like you owed it to her for being there for you all those years." I heard her say, and to me she sounded like she was talking from experience.
"Yes, it did feel like it." My steps came to a stop as I pulled along with me. "Do you also have someone like that in your life?"