It happened on an ordinary Thursday.
No holiday.No big event.
Just a quiet afternoon in Kai's room, textbooks open, homework half-done.
Velithra sat cross-legged on the floor, flipping through her notes. Kai was leaning against his bed, watching her more than studying.
"You're staring," she said without looking up.
"I know."
She glanced at him. "Why?"
He hesitated.
That alone made her sit up straighter.
"What?" she asked softly.
Kai looked like he was trying to measure something invisible. Weighing words before letting them fall.
"I almost said something earlier," he admitted.
"When?"
"When you were laughing," he said. "At nothing. Just… laughing."
Velithra felt her chest tighten slightly. "And?"
"I almost told you I—"
He stopped.
The silence that followed wasn't awkward.
It was charged.
Velithra didn't rush him.
Didn't demand the rest of the sentence.
Kai exhaled slowly. "I don't want to say it too early."
Her heart skipped. "Say what too early?"
He met her eyes.
"You know."
And she did.
The word hovered between them, unspoken but understood.
Love.
Velithra swallowed—not out of fear, but because the weight of it felt real.
"I don't need you to rush it," she said gently.
"I'm not scared of feeling it," Kai replied. "I just don't want it to sound automatic. Or expected."
She nodded slowly. "I feel the same."
They sat in that honesty for a moment.
It wasn't a confession.
It wasn't dramatic.
But it was close.
Velithra shifted closer to him, resting her head lightly against his shoulder.
Kai relaxed immediately, his arm coming around her without hesitation.
"We'll say it when it feels right," she murmured.
"Yeah," he agreed.
A pause.
Then, softer:
"But it's getting there."
Velithra smiled against his shoulder.
"Yeah," she whispered.
It was getting there.
And somehow, not saying it yet made it feel even more certain.