Mero did not even hesitate at all, he moved from where he was standing and he quickly embraced Wura warmly.
He had realized that for the past two days now, she had not been herself. At first he thought that maybe she was still thinking about his confession of love for her, but after a while, he realized that was not it.
He concluded that maybe she felt homesick and she wanted them to return to the camp. They had spent more time that they had intended here, and he had a feeling that this whole being ambushed matter was creating more stress for her than every before.
"There, there, it is alright Wura, I am here for you, always." he said as he coaxed her and she held onto him as she cried.
Mero felt terrible that there was no way he could make her feel better. All he wished to do for her was to relief her pain, her suffering, her stress, but Wura rarely let other people into her deepest thoughts and emotions.
She always preferred to keep things to herself. It was only in rare instances like this that she showed how truly terribly stressed she was on the inside.
"I just feel so terrible Mero, so terrible..." she said as she cried, she hated feeling this way. Feeling so useless, so unable to be in charge of all her feelings and emotions. She hated how she was crying right now and letting Mero see her in such a sorry state.
Mero always saw her when she was her weakest, and although he made it very clear to her that he did not mind, she hated that she relied on him so much.
"I know...I know, and it is alright to feel that way, everything has been extremely stressful as of late." said Mero as he rubbed her back and she began to quiet down.
"Sometimes it is all too much for one to handle and you have to just take a moment to breathe and remember that things will not always stay this way." said Mero as Wura scoffed as she sniffed.
"It is rather hard to remember that things will not always stay like this when you are feeling so terrible." she said, her tone mocking.
Mero did not like how negative Wura was being, she was usually one who always had hope. He did not want the situations that they were in now to change her in a way that she would want to be changed.
"Do not say that Wura." Mero said seriously as Wura ignored him.
"I am being serious look at me." he said as Wura continued to ignore him.
"Look at me Wura." he said again, but this time his tone commanding as Wura hesitantly moved her head to look at Mero as he softly brought his hand up to touch her face.
He held her chin and slowly moved her head to look at him whether she wanted to or not.
"Things cannot always remain at their worst." he said as his voice was steady and soothing. Wura found her eyes exploring his face, moving from his eyes, to his ears, to his nose, his cheeks and finally resting on his lips.
"Sooner or later things will get better, remember that before things get better, they must first become worse." said Mero as Wura could feel his soft breath fanning her face.
"So I need you to trust me and trust yourself, it is alright to feel disheartened, but it is bad to allow that feeling overwhelm you to the point that you cannot see a way out." said Mero.
"I need you to agree with me and say that things will get better." said Mero as Wura nodded slowly.
"I...agree... things will get better..." she said as she found herself inching closer towards Mero, their noses were on the verge of touching.
"Good, say it again." Mero said.
"Things...will...get... better..." Wura said unconsciously moving closer and closer to Mero's face and before she knew it, she captured his lips with hers.
Mero's eyes opened wide as he had not expected this at all, he was surprised, but that surprise only lasted for a little while as he closed his eyes and sunk into the feeling that he was experiencing in the moment.
He made no attempt to stop Wura, instead, he responded to her kisses with the same vigour and emotion that she gave him.
Wura instinctively wrapped her arms around Mero's neck as he held her tightly. In the moment, there was not a single care in the world for either of them, they just focused on what they were experiencing together.
Wura felt herself losing her breath, she immediately pulled away as she was left gasping for air as Mero was panting.
Wura took three steps back as she tried to regain her composure. She raised her head and was met instantly with an unexplainable look in Mero's eye as she gasped.
"Mero... I am so... I am so, so sorry, I did not mean to..." she said as she instantly began to apologize, she did not know if she had been in her right senses, she had just been carried away in the midst of her emotions that she did something she did not want to do.
"There is no need to apologize Wura." Mero said, he would be lying if he said that he did not enjoy what had just happened.
"No but there is a need, a huge one, I should have never let that happen, how could I have made the same mistake again." Wura asked in regret scolding herself severely.
Mero on the other hand had no regrets, he was still recovering from the passionate kiss that they had just shared.
"Oh my goodness, I am a terrible person, such a terrible person, Mero, I am so sorry, I am so sorry for being so terrible to you." she said as she looked at Mero and apologized.
"I am being so mean to you, I told you that nothing could happen between us, and yet here I am torturing you like this." said Wura.
"You blame yourself too much Wura... you cannot kiss yourself, I responded when I should have pulled away... so we are both at fault." said Mero as he explained and he wiped his mouth.
"But I was the one that started it, and for that I am sorry, I do not want you to think badly of me." said Wura in defeat.
"I can never think badly of you never." Mero replied, emphasising the word 'never'.
"Look Wura, you already know how strongly I feel for you... so I will not lie by saying that I regret the kiss, or that I did not enjoy it." Mero said as Wura felt as if the ground should open and swallow her up, how did she always cause things to end up worse than the beginning?
"I know Mero, and it is because I know that I feel bad for playing with your emotions like this, nothing can happened between us, nothing at all." she repeated as Mero smiled even though Wura could not see the happiness in the situation.
"You are not playing with my emotions, if anything you are being honest with yourself." he said.
"What do you mean?" she asked, feeling confused, there was obviously something he knew that she did not.
"Be honest Wura, why would you kiss me if you felt nothing for me?" asked Mero as Wura fell silent.
"That kiss was you telling me that you feel the same, that I am not the only one suffering." he said as Wura shook her head.
"I told you Mero, nothing can happen, absolutely nothing, I am only torturing you and myself." said Wura.
"That is not torture, true torture is you to continuing to lie to yourself." Mero said as Wura shook her head violently.
"Stop it Mero, just stop it." she said feeling terrible.
"But it is the truth, if you felt nothing for me, you would not have kissed me in such a passionate manner." Mero said with a soft smile on his face, he seemed to be enjoying this and it made Wura feel even worse.
"It was a mistake." said Wura strongly.
"Maybe in your head it was, but in your heart it was not." said Mero as Wura looked at him, wondering how he could say such serious words while looking so happy.
"Mero, look, it was a mistake, I did something that I should not have." said Wura.
"I only have one question... did you feel what I felt when we kissed?" Mero asked gently as Wura went silent and just stared at him.
"I only need one answer Wura, only one, yes or no, it is simple, just one answer." he said, his tone pleading as Wura sighed, she found no gain in lying because Mero knew how to tell if she was lying or being truthful.
So with a deep sigh of defeat, she turned away slowly and said:
"Yes."