Chapter 26: Fish Food

I think we are both honest with each other enough to do that. At least I trust you enough for this part. Do you?”

Eren suddenly got serious and asked Nina. To which, she smiled as if all her questions were put to rest and said:

“No!”

Eren was dumbfounded. He made a face like he just got punked by Nina. Like his soul would leave his body through his mouth. Nina took pleasure at that sight and started laughing.

“I was just kidding, little rat. Of course, I trust you. It’s just that I need to think about it. My ‘no’ is not for me, but you. Who knows? Maybe you will be the one who would back out first after meeting some girls in the academy.

I’m not criticizing you or questioning your intent. I’m saying that it will be natural if you do so. And for that to happen, I need to give you enough space to grow a little. If we rush into this thing now, you might regret it later.

I agree with all that you’ve said till now. And I appreciate you being honest with me. I’m glad that you care so much about me, and I can never do anything to harm you.

It’s just that you never had extended contact with the opposite sex of your age. Your adamancy of staying with me all the time because of your infatuation towards me as well as your innate reclusive nature has isolated you. You’ve never truly mixed with people.

But that’ll all change when you enter the academy. You’ll meet new people and maybe have a friend circle of your own. If you decide to work on us even after experiencing all that, that’ll mean you prioritizing our bond over any potential new one. We both will have no regrets then. Only then can I have some peace of mind while reciprocating your feelings of that kind.

Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. If I ever have a man in my life, it’ll only be you. Let’s just say I’ve had my fair share of heartburn. Apart from you, I will never trust anybody else my whole life to be in a relationship with.

Till then, let’s not think about growing our relationship but maintain what we have right now. And thank you for saying all that you said just now. I was guilt-tripping hard but you made me realize how the act of labelling what happened between us as wrong wasn’t justifiable from your point of view.

You made me realize we care about each other enough to not let a single incident affect our bond. Thanks to that, now I can talk to you and discuss anything with you normally without feeling any remorse.”

Nina stood up from her seat, approached Eren and ruffled his hair while saying that. She was genuinely happy and satisfied with Eren’s way of handling this thing. She couldn’t have done it better even if she was allowed to hit pause on the situation and given enough time to think about it.

Nina felt like a huge boulder had been lifted off her back after understanding that the incident had not negatively affected Eren. She was also low-key looking forward to the future if and when Eren decides to strengthen their bond even after the choices become available to him. And she would be equally fine if he prefers being with girls his age.

What she didn’t know was that Eren had already experienced what he could from the academy life. But he couldn’t outrightly tell her that. Eren could only accept Nina’s decision for now.

Eren needed to flirt his way to Nina’s heart and into her pants if he wanted to have another chance. He had already started making plans for the future.

Eren finally smiled mirthlessly and nodded to Nina. She gave a dazzling smile to him before planting a kiss on her little admirer. She understood that he was crazy about her and her saying no might break his heart a little no matter how carefully she told him about the intentions behind it. But she knew she had to do it if she ever wants to have peace of mind in the future.

Although Eren didn’t gain complete success in his mission, he managed to be content with whatever he achieved so far. He had already stopped Nina from being not-okay with their intimate relationship. She would not be averse to the thought of it at least. Now he just needed to close the gap between them slowly, each flirtatious reaction at a time. He started on that project right away:

“That’s all fine, aunt Nina. But why do I smell fish even when we don’t have any in the kitchen today?”

Eren acted as if he was smelling the air, trying to track the source of the pungent fishy smell. He knew exactly where it was coming from. Nina had forgotten about her releasing discharge in her clothes and now it was making its presence known.

It took a while before Nina realized that she needed to clean up and change clothes. She again pinched Eren’s arm on the same spot before rushing towards her bedroom to freshen up.

Eren acted blank till Nina retired into her room. Then he smirked at himself before taking a seat on the same sofa. He folded his hands, scratched his now-beardless chin and thought about many flirt moves.

The day was spent normally. Eren had managed to keep his interactions normalized with Nina even after the incident of intimacy. He kept on pestering the latter about the origins of the afternoon’s fishy smell during their dinner. Nina tried to change the subject many times. In the end, she just hypothesized that the winds must have carried that smell from somewhere else.

Nina thought the smell must have been repulsive for Eren. Although she had heard that men would develop a certain palate to like the vaginal smell after they become sexually active, he was still a kid. He had not experienced anything like that. So admitting to being the origin of that smell wasn’t something she was willing to do. But Eren’s next words made her cheeks paint in red:

“That aroma was tempting though. I suddenly want to have some fish food.”

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The next day, Eren and Nina started the day as usual. Then they got busy with making potions. Eren was again assigned elementary potions. And he again made some aphrodisiac secretly out of them. He was going to stockpile them now and would use them consecutively when the time was ripe.

Eren was going to wait to make his next move now. Because he was expecting an interruption to arrive today that’ll last for days to come. The mess that he had created in the forest was going to get discovered sooner or later.

And the interruption indeed arrived at their doorsteps!