Free Web NovelChapter 139: Oakhaven (3)
"Arisha."
"Mm?"
"Remove your hand." He said as polite as possible.
"I don’t want to." She refused with indifferent expression. Though there was no expression on her face, Noah knew that she was enjoying this.
She was doing this on purpose, for her amusement.
Lyria watched this exchange from the side without saying a word, her pink eyes moving between the two of them with quiet, unreadable interest.
Marina pressed her lips together, clearly suppressing a smile. "You two seem close," she said to Arisha.
Arisha considered this for a moment, still running her fingers through Noah’s hair without any sign of stopping.
"I might be..." she said simply.
Lyria’s gaze shifted to Noah.
He felt it immediately, that particular quality of being watched from close range and he turned to meet her eyes. His blue eyes stare back at her pink.
"What is it?" he asked.
She looked at him for just a second longer, then turned away.
"Nothing," she said.
Before Noah could respond, an eruption came from several rows ahead.
Leonard had stood up from his seat, fully upright, one hand gripping the headrest in front of him — and was pointing directly at Noah with a betrayed expression.
"Noah!! You absolute jerk!! You’re back there surrounded by beautiful women while Kaelan and I are sitting here like two miserable rocks next to each other!!" Leonard said in displeased voice. He was not happy with what was happening. He was also a man...he also want to sit with beautiful girls.
Noah looked at the tanned, blonde-haired young man with a flat expression.
"Look behind you first...That Damien is flirting with Emma," he said.
Leonard blinked and looked back.
In the row behind him, Damien was mid-conversation with Emma. She was leaning slightly toward him, a soft smile on her face that she clearly wasn’t aware of, the tips of her ears a visible and incriminating shade of red.
Damien, sensing the eyes on him, turned around and frowned at Noah and Leonard.
"Don’t look at me like that. I’m just talking to her."
Leonard stared at him.
The expression on his face was one of profound personal betrayal. Like a man watching his most trusted companion walk across enemy lines in slow motion.
"Damien," he said, voice heavy with quiet devastation. "You were supposed to be different. You were supposed to stand firm. You and me and Kaelan — we were the ones who didn’t fall for this nonsense."
Emma flushed deeply and snapped, "There is no nonsense here, Leonard!" Then she turned her glare toward Noah. "And you — stop instigating things or next time I won’t hold back from beating you Noah!!."
Noah ignored her completely. Not worrying about her threat at all.
He was enjoying this slightly. Expect the palm that was playing with his hair.
While Kaelan, who had been sitting with his arms folded in silent dignity this entire time, chose this moment to speak without looking up.
"Don’t group me in with your issues, Leonard. Just because I keep my distance from women doesn’t mean I’m incapable. That’s entirely your personal problem. Its you who is not able to get closer to girls."
Leonard spun on him. "You dare—!!"
"Leonard."
The voice came from the front of the bus.
It was very old, even and equiring no volume to carry absolute authority. If course this voice belong to none other than their instructor.
Morgana didn’t even turn around fully. Just enough to make eye contact.
"Sit down. You are not a child, so stop behaving like one. Keep your voice down for the remainder of the trip."
The blood drained from Leonard’s face in real time.
"Y-yes, Instructor Morgana. I apologize."
He dropped back into his seat like a puppet with its strings cut.
From behind him, Noah let out a short, quiet laugh, small enough that only the people immediately around him could hear it.
Leonard heard it.
He turned and shot Noah a glare sharp enough to cut glass.
But then his eyes landed on Arisha’s hand, which was still casually resting on top of Noah’s head, and his expression shifted from furious to deeply irritated all over again.
He swear inside his mind, that he would also get closer to beautiful girls.
Just like Noah and Damien.
Meanwhile Noah reached up and removed Arisha’s hand firmly.
"That’s enough," he said. "Next time, ask first. I might give you permission if I am in good mood."
Arisha pulled her hand back without any remorse and sat back in her seat. "Fine," she said, sounding entirely unbothered.
"You two really are close," Marina said again, this time more to herself than anyone.
Arisha smiled and said nothing.
The bus settled back into its traveling noise low chatter, the hum of the engine, the occasional sound of something shifting in an overhead compartment.
Noah leaned back in his seat.
Several rows back, past the noise and the laughter and the bickering, a young woman sat alone on the seat across the aisle from a man watching the trees pass outside his window.
Short black hair. Round glasses. A face that gave away nothing at all.
She was Mary.
She had been watching Noah for the last several minutes with an expression that belonged to neither curiosity nor disinterest. Just steady, quiet observation. As if she was trying to find something from observing him.
A man sitting behind her seat, near window spoke while watching outside the window.
"Looks like we’re getting close to the forest." freewёbnoνel.com
His name was Ken Takaene. Dark hair, calm eyes, the kind of stillness that came from someone who was always paying attention and rarely showing it.
Mary turned away from Noah at the sound of his voice and looked out the window instead.
The trees had grown denser. Taller. The light filtering through them had taken on that deep green quality that meant the forest was close.
Her expression remained exactly as it had been.
It was unreadable. No one could tell what she was thinking.
So whatever she was thinking, she kept it entirely to herself.
