"Avian, are you okay?"
A soft whisper caressed her ear, making her frown as she responded coldly, "Yeah, I am."
Sweat dripped down her forehead as she parted her lips slightly in a poor attempt to even her breathing. Unfortunately, she was too focused and strained for that to work, making her attempt futile.
'Focus, Avian.'
She rebuked herself internally while leaning back and straightening her arm a bit.
Heaving a heavy sigh, her arms were shaking while she was holding her posture. It was her first time, but she refused to admit that.
Her pride was too high for her to accept bowing down to Zenith.
Yet Zenith did not seem to get the hint.
"I can help you if you want," he whispered lightly, his hot breath making her involuntary shudder.
Avian shook herself away from these feelings and pushed him lightly away before grumbling under her breath, "No, this is my responsibility."
"Oh come on now."
Rolling his eyes, Zenith grumbled under his breath. "Don't be an idiot and just let me help you. It's obvious you have never used a bow."
"Ugh!" groaning unhappily, Avian threw the bow to the ground and huffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Why the hell did you wait this long before saying that then?"
"I've been trying to say that and help you, but you decided to completely ignore me. Such a prideful thing."
Zenith smirked smugly despite the glaring Avian; he shrugged his shoulders before swiftly picking the bow and the arrows up.
"No need to be so mean. I'm going to help you; you wanted that plushie, am I right?"
He received no verbal response, but Avian reluctantly nodded. Her rosy lips pressing against each other into a thin line.
'Why am I letting him help me? That's so embarrassing…' However, despite her embarrassment and her pride being hurt, she was also satisfied. 'If Zenith was willingly tolerating me and even giving me gifts, I'm on the right path.'
For her, this trip was not only for fun. She was here to test the waters and gauge how much emotion Zenith would be holding for her. Fortunately, it appeared to not be a simple crush from their first meeting.
Zenith had a strange aura around him whenever he smiled. His lips, curving a bit upward with his eyes narrowed almost into slits, made him appear like a mischievous devil toying with his victim.
A charming devil who would tug on his prey's heart.
Despite being a naturally charismatic figure and a person who could handle their heart and brain well, Avian did not feel comfortable next to him. She was cautious, or perhaps overcautious even due to Zenith's nature and vibes.
As a defensive mechanism, whenever he played nice with her, she would be mean. Even though she would feel uncomfortable with how she acted later, for the time being, she could not let her guard down.
"Watch me; I will show you how to do it correctly this time. And I will make sure to win that plushie for you."
A hard, burning glare.
Zenith laughed again as he felt her burning glare on him. If the white-haired woman had any fire affinity, Zenith was afraid he may need to run for his life with his back having an undying wisp of flame.
"Fierce~" he whispered under his breath.
Avian's gaze almost roasted Zenith to death. She was hoping for the devil-like guy to suddenly be engulfed in fire, then to die peacefully with no pain.
As if sensing her mood, Zenith finally stopped playing around. He stood next to her before adjusting his posture.
He placed his feet apart, allowing his left foot to be slightly ahead of his right one. With a calm and steady hand, completely unlike Avian, he gripped the bow firmly before taking out an arrow from the bag next to them.
Evening his breathing, he started to draw the bowstring back until it stretched as far as it could.
Avian looked at him doubtfully. Although she was a newbie who could not fire an arrow for her life, she knew the basics. Such as how you should never stretch the bowstring to this point unless the target was very far away.
Gulping as she watched Zenith, Avian picked silence this time. She had no reason to meddle since this guy was showing himself off as a great archer.
On the other hand, Zenith did not notice Avian. Every ounce or his attention was focused on the target ahead of him. In fact, there were three targets in front of him. But he decided to choose the one in the middle.
Why? Because what Avian wanted was above it, Zenith vowed to home that he would do everything to please her on this day. It was the simplest thing he could help her with.
After adjusting his hand a bit more, he finally released the bowstring as the tension was all released with the arrow, which cut through the air with a faint whistle straight to the target.
Bullseye.
"Oh my!" Avian could not stop herself from gasping in awe.
The arrow shot straight and hit the target directly; even the bored owner was looking at them with his mouth agape in shock.
"Sir, please give us that plushie then,"
Zenith picked the plushie, which was an adorable pink teddy bear, then handed it to Avian before dragging her to enjoy the rest of their night. He did not allow her to ask him about anything else and did not let her speak about it too; he just asked her to enjoy the rest of the night.
At the end, Avian felt exhausted and allowed him to carry her back to her dorm room. At one point, she decided to treat Zenith as one of the males she would pick up casually at times.
He, oblivious to that, was pleased with himself, as he thought he had managed to make Avian comfortable with him, even if for a bit.
Once he let her rest on the bed, he wanted to take off her clothes as she needed to be comfortable to have a nice sleep. As soon as he reached toward her shirt, Avian shot up and slapped his hand away with a crisp sound.
"What the-"
"Oh. Zenith, I'm sorry."
Gulping thickly, Avian tried to hide the shakiness of her body. Her heart was beating so fast, but she forced herself to stay composed.
"Sorry, I had some sort of weird nightmare. Don't mind me, thank you for the night."
Scrunching his nose a bit, Zenith let out a soft sigh. 'I just wanted to give him a good night; there is no need to be annoyed.'
Instead, he asked.
"How did you like your night with me?"
"It… was perfect. Thank you again."
Although it was an unexpected encounter, it went better than what both had expected.