Calm Wanderer
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(AKJ) Chapter 25 - Why do you love me?
🕑 Added 2023-12-08 19:31:13 +0000 UTCDamovotsk, Molkovia, Earth.
Demian's P.O.V.
After a dreamless night, Demian finally regained consciousness. Instead of opening his eyes right away, the young man checked his body state, feeling that his wounds were seemingly much better than yesterday, or at least the pain he felt from the small ones disappeared completely. As for the holes in his left side and left shoulder, although slightly aching, seemed less severe than the previous day.
What was interesting was that he could feel a weird sensation in his side, probably from the bullet still lodged inside. 'To be able to feel it, I guess my nerves were probably healed. At least, to a great degree.' He thought amazed at the constant improvement of his physiology.
'Will I get a healing factor at one point like those superheroes in movies and comics? Probably, right?' He pondered amused. As he 'examined' his injuries, he noticed something peculiar. 'It's strange. I also feel stronger than yesterday... Could it be my Physiology Perk at work? Wait a second! If it works by stimulating my basic attributes... Then isn't stamina used for healing? That means that by getting hurt and healing over and over again, my strength will increase?!... Should I feel happy or worried about that?'
He felt a bit uncomfortable at his sudden realization but quickly decided that it would just give him one more avenue to grow stronger. In that case, why should he complain? 'What doesn't kill me makes me stronger, indeed.' Feeling amused at his own joke, Demian's train of thought was suddenly interrupted by something moving on his right arm.
Earlier, he did not really pay attention since he thought the weight on his arm was the blanket, but from the movement, he understood he was wrong. Opening his eyes, he turned his gaze to his right and spotted the culprit. It was Seraphine who was lying beside him under the blanket and who was holding his arm between her not-so-small covered breasts.
Thankfully, the young woman was still asleep and thus would not notice his physical reaction due to the thought-provoking position the two were in and the fact that despite being thirty in his previous life, his current body was only 18, and with that came out of whack hormones. A lot of them. Especially with how his body kept improving, he could feel that his urges followed along. Thankfully, there was the Internet!
It helped distract him from how captivating the three women he was living with were. 'I know we're blood-related, but with my previous life memories it doesn’t feel the same... I'm confused...' He thought while admiring the pajama shirt showcasing the beautiful upper curves of his cousin while enjoying the sensation of his arm hiding 'inside' her chest.
Shaking his head softly, he had a wry thought. 'It's definitely my lower half messing around with my mind.' Despite being aware of the problem's origin, he could not help himself from falling into a light daze when he noticed the movement of her bust following her breathing pattern. Up and down, up and down. Or was it 'forward and backward'? In any case, those motions mesmerized his horny teenager’s mind, directing a greater part of his blood flow toward his lower member, which made the latter even stiffer than it was previously.
Turning his face away from the alluring but seemingly defenseless woman breathing softly beside him, he forced himself to remove those dangerous thoughts from his mind by using the tried-and-true technique of focusing on his breathing pattern. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out.
After an unknown time, the young man felt his chaotic mind calm down, with his heart beating at a slow pace again while the blood flow in his body returned to normal. This meditation 'technique' was something his previous life's mother taught him to help him calm his former crippling anxiety.
It did not work at first since his fears, which were the cause of everything, were too entrenched in his mind. But with repeated practice, Demian could feel improvement and went from someone who had horribly painful stomachaches every time he met people to now being confident enough to engage a random stranger in a conversation. Not that it was something he would often do, but he COULD do it if he felt like it.
It was not the only reason for his change, obviously, but it helped him repress his chaotic emotions enough so that he could work through them and feel better. And this technique seemed to become even stronger in this world. 'It's probably thanks to my Physiology perk, with the whole mental stimulation thingie.' He thought, satisfied with the choices he made with the Unknown Entity.
After an unknown time of serene meditation, the young man felt his cousin's body twitch, prompting him to gaze at the woman's face. Knowing that she was blind, he instead focused on her breathing pattern to find out if she was awake. 'Wait a second! She wouldn't have been able to see my morning wood anyway... I'm so dumb!' He thought with some embarrassment.
Since it was a waste of time, he just decided to ignore his previous lack of intelligence and instead focused on his ears. And indeed, he noticed a change. She was starting to inhale and exhale at a quicker pace, which, coupled with the slight blush and happy smile appearing on her face, made it obvious to Demian that he was not the only one awake.
Feeling a bit playful, the young man decided to tease the innocent woman. With a playful smile on his face, he declared softly, as if he were talking to himself. “She's so beautiful that I wanna kiss her. Should I do it? She IS sleeping, so she definitely won't notice anything.” As his words fell into her ear, the young man could feel the woman's body stiffening, while her breathing froze for a second, before becoming erratic.
However, she did not say anything, and so he chose to continue. “Don't wake up, Sis.” He said doing his best to hold back his laughter at her cute reaction. Indeed, the closer he moved his face to hers the deeper her blush became, with her breathing becoming more and more chaotic until he thought she would faint from lack of oxygen.
He felt that she'd had enough, and so he simply kissed her forehead, despite noticing the way she nervously puckered her lips in anticipation. 'No way am I getting my first kiss this way, Sis.' He thought as uncontrollable chuckles escaped him at how frozen and disappointed she looked.
“Why do you look so disappointed, Sis? Did you want me to kiss you elsewhere?” Those words seemed to make her remember the situation she was in, and she turned so red that he felt that if it was a cartoon she would have smoke coming out of the top of her head.
Hitting his right shoulder softly, she exclaimed in an adorable voice. “Why are you making fun of me?! You're so mean!” Before pouting and turning her body the opposite way. With a smile on his face, he asked in a teasing tone. “Shouldn't you say 'baka onii-chan'?”
Snorting softly at his question, she retorted. “First, onii-chan is for older brother, so you should be the one calling me onee-chan. And second, I'm not a female Japanese teenager.” Chuckling at her surprisingly logical explanation for his stupid joke, he replied in a warm tone of voice. “Fair enough. I'm sorry for earlier then.”
Pausing for a brief moment, he added softly. “Do you mind if we talked?” The young man received no response for a few seconds before the charming woman turned back toward him with a curious look on her face, the red on her cheeks having greatly faded. “About what?”
While gazing at her adorable visage, he responded. “About us and about me and also what I hid from you girls for a month now.” Her facial expressions turned serious, even worried at his words. “S-sure.” From her reaction, he knew that she was more worried about the first topic than the rest. Since he did not want to make her uneasy, he continued.
“Let's start about us then. Could you tell me since when you... I mean since when did you have feelings for me?” She looked hesitant, which was understandable due to the nature of the question. “I... Before I answer you, are you? I mean, do you li...” The flustered look on her face made his heart melt as he understood what she wanted to ask.
In the same soft tone as earlier, he cut her off to say. “Yes, I like you. Although my feelings for you are a bit chaotic because we're blood-related cousins, I've been attracted to you for a while. The reason I'm asking you this is because of a very important reason, but it has nothing to do with my own feelings.”
The tension seemed to leave her body at his words and a smile appeared to replace the previous frown on her face. In a cheerful tone, she exclaimed. “You scared me for a minute. I thought you were breaking up with me.” “Are we dating already?” He asked while cocking his brow, making the woman speechless for a moment before she exhaled and retorted.
“You've got a point.” The disappointment on her face bothered the young man, prompting him to add while gently caressing her right cheek with his left hand. “My silly cousin. I meant we're not formally dating yet.” A blush crept up her cheeks at his caress, while he continued. “Now, could you answer me please?”
Looking a bit lost he added. “I asked you 'Since when did you have feelings for me'?” Looking enlightened, she started to explain. “Around three years ago, after the accident.” 'Since back then?!' He thought while remembering the poor physical state they were in at the time, with Sera even losing her eyes because of it.
“When I lost my eyes, I felt crushed. I mean, I was 'normal' for 19 years. I could see colors, I could read, watch movies... I could look at you... And in one day I lost all of that... I couldn't even keep my eyes...” Her previously cheerful tone switched to gloomy very quickly along with her words until she fell silent for a while.
After a long moment, she resumed her explanation. “You know, it's strange how we take for granted all the amazing things we're born with, and only when we lose them do we understand how precious they were...” Halting for a second, she then added. “I took my eyes for granted and when I lost them I realized how stupid I was for not enjoying them more. And that's when I fell into a deep depression. The visual darkness I ‘saw’ constantly matched the darkness inside my head. It's ironic, isn't it?” She asked rhetorically.
Seeing the woman he had feelings for in this state made his heart ache. He thus moved his right hand to grab hers and squeezed it softly, which brought a small smile to her previously dim face. She then resumed. “I was in a dark place and the only lights I had were the three of you, the people I love the most.”
Her small smile then turned loving as her face was directed toward him. “I really appreciated what my sister and mother did for me, but you... You were special...” At her words, Demian felt warmth filling his heart and thus asked in a similar loving tone. “How so?”
Giggling at what he could guess were old memories of their time together, she replied. “You've always put up with any unreasonable demands of mine. Every time I asked you to read a book for me, to describe a movie we watched, or simply to spend time with me, you agreed, even if you had other things to do...”
Pausing for a second, she added. “I know that you also had to go through some... some hard moments... And because of me, you lost your friends and I'm really sorry about that...” Putting his left index finger on her lips to cut her off, he stated. “It's not your fault. It never was. People come and go in our life and it's the same thing for them. It was simply their time to go out of mine.”
Switching his hand's position to stroke her cheek again, he said. “Now that I know your reasons, I want to share mine for asking you that question.”
