CHAPTER 426: BEATS

I looked at Ai, who had her head down and her still lightly shaking. This is going to be hard. Asking Ai out of nowhere to get out of the place that meant so dear to her was not going to be an easy thing to do. Even though I fully understand how she is feeling, she has lived here for the majority of her life, and this place was specially built by her father to keep them safe. Sadly, the place is nowhere safe since it is widely known by the vampires, and I am mostly to blame for that.

"Do we have to leave right away?" she asked in a meek voice.

"I won’t be that cruel to ask you to leave right away, but I’ll say it’s best you move out in a week. While Dominic- "

"Natsumi-san, I think we understand," I said, interrupting her, not wanting Ai to hear the end of that, but I think both of us understood what she meant.

I felt Ai’s arm shaking more, and her eyes were shot wide. Her breathing was getting rapid and uneven, and I could hear her heartbeat rushing. She grabbed my arm harder and started to hyperventilate. I quickly held her closer to me and hid her face in my chest. Her entire body was shaking in fear, and she was holding onto me for dear life. My eyes met with Natsumi-san’s, and she nodded her head and sat back down. I’m not sure if the report mentioned what happened to Ai when she was captive to Dominic.

Ai held me closer, and she didn’t show any signs of calming down. No, I need to snap her out of this. Something, anything to get her mind off.

"Ai, that guy isn’t here. It’s okay, both I and Natsumi-san are going to keep you safe, okay? Everything will be fine," I spoke clearly. Ai looked up at me, her eyes welling up with tears. She is not calming down. This isn’t working.

I pulled on my shirt collar, almost ripping it, and exposed my neck. She stared at it but wasn’t moving. I placed my hand on her face and gently brought it closer to my neck. "Drink up, it will help," I said, and stinging pain went through my body as she dug her fangs into my neck. Yeah, she is not using the aphrodisiac.

I started to slowly rub her back and caress her hair, and I saw her slowly yet steadily calm down. I leaned forward, enveloping her with my body, and closed my eyes. It’s okay, Ai, drink up as much as you want. I’m here for you for anything you need. We will make sure that bastard never lays a finger on you. If my words can’t reach you, then please listen to me like this. I will give you as much blood as you would need.

Her body stopped shaking, but she continued holding onto me, and I slowly moved us to a chair and made her straddle me, making it more comfortable for her to drink from me. It looks like this helped a lot, as she started to drink my blood at a slower pace. I held onto her for as long as she needed until she fully calmed down.

After what felt like a long time, she took her fangs out of my neck, and movement still felt a little painful. She looked at me, her eyes looking damp from the tears before, and rested her head on my shoulder. I didn’t move and kept holding her. What Ai had to go through was way worse than I could even imagine. I will not forgive Dominic for ever doing this. I don’t care how much time it takes, how many times I have to try. I will get strong enough and kill him with my own hands.

"Give us at least a day to reply to reply to you," I said to Natsumi-san, and she nodded her head.

"N-No, it’s okay. We will move out in a week," Ai said in a soft voice, but enough for Natsumi-san to hear. She didn’t turn around to look at her and kept holding me. "It’s safer being around you anyway."

"Thank you for understanding. It doesn’t make me any happier to ask you to do this. I know how much this place means to you," she said.

"Yes, it does. But this place is no longer as safe as before, and we are not taking any chances anymore," Ai replied in a more determined tone. "Dad made this place for us specifically to keep us safe and hidden, but if it can’t do that, there isn’t a point in staying here. Not like I have much of them to take with me anyway."

Natsumi-san held her head down, feeling bad for her, and then soon stood up and started walking towards the door. I looked at her, wanting to ask her to stay, but she stopped me. "I will be seeing you two in school tomorrow, though. There is no debate about that."

After that, she walked out of the apartment and closed the door behind her. I looked back at Ai, and she didn’t lift her head from my shoulder. "You don’t have to push yourself. If you want, we can take tomorrow off."

"It’s fine, I don’t want to be more of a bother to Kazu-kun and Natsumi-san," she said, and I held her tighter.

"Who said that you were a bother? I never once thought about it, and Natsumi-san is more worried about us than anything because she cares about us. Why would you think you are a bother, Ai?" I said in a softer voice. Honestly, hearing her say that, I was going to talk a lot louder, but I stopped myself from making that mistake. That is not how Ai will listen right now. She needs calmer and more gentle words.

"But it was all my fault, wasn’t it?" she said, finally looking up and locking eyes with me. Tears started to well up in them again. "I got caught because I went after that asshole without thinking about anything else, and that forced Kazu-kun to go after him to get me. You almost died because of that."

"Ai, if I were the one captured, wouldn’t you also do the same?" I said, cupping her face in my hands, softly smiling at her. Don’t make the same mistake yesterday and lose your composure. "If I went after that bastard and got caught by him, wouldn’t Ai also come to find me? No matter what would have happened to her?"

"I would, but it doesn’t matter, does it? Kazu-kun is all that matters to me," she said, her voice going shaky.

"The same goes for me, Ai is all that matters to me. We are in the same boat as each other, you understand that, right?" I replied and touched our foreheads. "We both are idiots who love the other person so much that we have no sense of self-preservation. We recklessly charge for saving the other person and then go around to say that the other person shouldn’t be doing it. We are both hypocrites who are in love with no sense of understanding of our limits."

"But that is not how it is supposed to be. I told Kazu-kun I would be the one protecting him. I would be looking after him and taking care of everything, but look where I am. I wasn’t able to do any of them and went ahead and got myself captured. This isn’t how it was supposed to happen," she said and looked down. "I failed to keep the promise I made."

"Isn’t it unfair that Ai gets to be the only person who is so dedicated to her partner? What about me? Should I also not want to look after her and do everything in my power?" I asked her and she didn’t respond. I know she wants to deny it, but she couldn’t.

"I wanted you to save me..." she mumbled to herself, but I could hear it. "I wanted to be saved by the person I swore to protect."

"And I want Ai to save me when the time comes, even when I swore to protect her," I said, and rested her head on my neck.

"Kazu-kun has saved me enough; it is my turn to do the same," she said.

"And Ai has saved me plenty of times, looks like we are in a bind," I replied and kissed her head. "Ai, this is not about who saved the other person how much. I love you, and I want to save you as many times as I have to, and the same is true for you. You don’t get to blame yourself for how you are being a bother and whatnot. It’s not like I have a clean slate on that record either. I had been absolutely idiotic with some decisions, and you saved me multiple times. Did you do it just to return a favour?"

"No!" she said desperately and locked eyes with me. "It’s because Kazu-kun is special to me."

"And Ai is special to me."

"If anything happened to him, I would not be able to forgive myself."

"If anything were to happen to Ai, I would be absolutely destroyed."

"Can I really allow myself to have you save me?" she said, her voice shaky. "Can I still ask you to save me if anything were to happen? Can I still ask you to take care of me when I have caused so much trouble for you? Can I really be that selfish?"

I held her face in my hands. Her skin was cold and so smooth to touch. Her eyes were beautiful, ruby and emeralds lightly glowing in front of me. There is no way I wouldn’t be ready to do anything in my power to save her. "Be as selfish as you want. That is what I love about you."

"Mmmh...okay," she said and held out her lips. "I can be selfish enough to ask for them, right?"

"Of course," I said and kissed her.

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