Wura felt the harsh cold wind and equally cold droplets of rain falling of her face as she pulled back the entrance of her tent. She was brutally reminded of the turmoil that was still going on outside while she was facing one inside as well.
Wura let out a hopeless sigh. She could not go outside, or at least not in these conditions, where we should go? But she also could not stay here, not with the question Mero had just thrown at her, she was unsure of what to do; but she could not stay here, not at all.
"Wura." called Mero as initially he had been worried that she would rush out of the tent into the storm outside, but to his relief, she had stopped.
He knew that she had nowhere else to go, and she could not leave while it was still raining heavily outside. He knew that they were inevitable stuck in here with each other till it stopped raining.
So that made him calm, he did not want to make Wura uncomfortable, but there was no going back with the question he had asked her, because internally, he already knew the answer to that question.
"Wura, come back, you cannot go out there." said Mero softly as Wura ignored him and huffed in exasperation.
She looked outside, desperately wishing that the rain would stop instantly, but all her pleas were not heard.
If anything she was just getting herself unnecessarily wet, there was no escape for her, she could not leave and she hated it.
"Running away will not solve anything Wura, you can try to avoid it, but for how long?" Mero asked as Wura hated that she could hear his voice clearly.
She was relieved that he had not come any closer to her, he just remained standing where he was. She was unsure if she would be able to take it if he had been close to her.
"Yes it will, I definitely not have to deal with this..." she said, her tone helpless, subtly pleading with Mero to let this go.
"Even if you do run away, this matter will not go away, I will not forget about it, like I have forgotten about other things." Mero said as Wura kept on internally pleading that the rain would stop.
She had her back turned to Mero, she did not want him to see the scared look on her face. She did not want him to try to take advantage of the fact that she could not escape.
"Forget about it Mero! Forget that I ever asked, please forget this, so we can move on and never mention it again!" she said as Mero shook his head.
"I cannot do that Wura, I am sorry, but doing that will not do either of us any good, we need to face this." said Mero.
"No we do not, you just want to punish me. I get it Mero, I understand, now can we drop this matter and never bring it up again?" asked Wura, her tone pleading.
"I cannot do that Wura, I really cannot understand why you refuse to answer my question, it is a simple one, a simple yes or no will end all this." said Mero.
"No it will not, do you think that I am stupid or what? Mero drop this matter or else leave my tent, I do not care where you go just leave!" she said, her voice almost a scream in desperation.
"You will not throw me out, if you really wanted me out of here you would not still be standing where you are." he said, his tone confident, not from pride, but from the understanding that Wura was simply scared. and that was why she was trying to avoid this matter at all costs.
Wura groaned, knowing fully well that he was right, there was no way that she would throw him out. Neither of them could leave in these conditions.
"Just be honest with me Wura, and be honest with yourself." he said.
"Do you feel anything for me?" he asked again as Wura winced, hearing the question be repeated.
"Just answer me simply, whether it is a yes or a no, I will accept whatever answer you give me." said Mero as Wura started to feel cold, she shivered slightly and wiped off the droplets of water on her face.
She turned around and sighed in defeat, there was nowhere she could go, nowhere she could turn to at this moment. Mero was right, there was nothing else for her to do than to face this situation head-on.
"Do you feel anything for me?" Mero asked, unrelenting as Wura looked at him sternly.
"No, no I do not feel anything for you." she replied as Mero looked at her as if she was lying.
"That is not true, that is a lie, you are lying to me." he said, his tone certain.
"You said that whatever my answer was you would accept it, and yet here you are, mere moments later going against your word." said Wura.
"I am not going against your word, you are being untruthful, I will only accept a truthful answer, nothing else." Mero said.
"And how are you so sure that what I said is untruthful?!" asked Wura in irritation.
Mero looked at her knowingly. If she had been telling the truth he would have accepted her response, but judging from the way she reacted when he had first asked the question, it was clear that she had some feelings for him.
If she had not initially reacted that way, Mero would have not been certain that she was lying.
"Let us be honest Wura, if your reply was as simple as you said it was, you would not have reacted that way." said Mero as Wura looked away.
She hated that he was right, she hated that he was so perceptive, and most of all she hated that she was unable to control her emotions at such a delicate time like this.
"Look Mero, what do you want from me? What do I have to do to make you drop this matter?" asked Wura in a pleading tone, she had stopped addressing that Mero had feelings for her, all she wanted was for them to move on.
"Be honest with yourself and with me." he replied plainly as Wura looked away, he had asked the one thing that she found herself unable to do.
Maybe it was from fear, from surprise or from shock, but she was certainly not prepared to be honest. No, not now, the timing was terrible, she felt cornered, she felt trapped, there was no escape.
Wura found herself looking everywhere except for Mero's eyes, she could not bare to face him, not after she had made such a fool of herself.
He was not stupid, he was right, her previous actions said otherwise to her statement. She just could not answer truthfully, for the sake of her sanity, she could not.
"I will ask you again Wura, and please be truthful to yourself..." said Mero as a took a deep breath before continuing.
"Do you... have feelings for me?" he asked as Wura as if she was on the verge of tears. She unconsciously looked at Mero and answered.
"Yes! Yes I have feelings for you Mero, what do you want me to do about that??! What? What I feel will not change anything, not in the slightest, so please just stop." she pleaded with him.
Wura unconsciously felt tears dropping from her eyes. She had not intended to cry at all, and yet here she was.
"What would you have me do? Just what do you want? There I said it, now leave me alone and let this matter be!" she cried as she could no longer control herself, she just felt so overwhelmed, so weak, so vulnerable right now.
"Just leave it at this Mero, please I beg you." she cried as Mero felt his heart breaking as he heard her crying.
He did not know how or when he found himself by her side, but he was there, and he did nothing other than to embrace her warmly in a tight hug as she cried.
Mero did not say anything, he did not try to comfort her, did not try to console her, all he did was hug her and give her a shoulder to cry on, someone to lean on.
This was not about whether she had feelings for him or not, rather, he could see clearly that this was harming Wura exceedingly, and the last thing he had wanted to do was cause her harm of any sort.
He now saw clearly that this was something she could not handle, and for the sake of their friendship, although it hurt him, he would have to drop the matter and forget that this ever happened.