Plato?No Thanks Chapter 08
I looked at Liam in confusion.
Liam pulled me over to the box.
“Open it.”
Even more confused, I carefully opened it.
Inside was a bouquet of flowers. And next to the flowers…
Wolf tail, wolf ears, bunny ears, dog ears… all kinds of animal headbands.
There were even waist chains and neck chains.
My face went hot. I fumbled to close it, but Liam stopped me.
“Wh-What is all this?!”
Liam took a wolf ear headband and put it on his head. Then he held the flowers in both hands.
His face was flushed red, and his voice was nervous.
“Ava, I’ve never been in a relationship. I’ve never been chased before.
“When you called me honey, it felt strange. I didn’t understand why. Until you started sending me those messages…
“I was actually kind of happy. I wasn’t trying to be clueless and change the subject on purpose. It’s just… no girl had ever chased me like that before. I didn’t know what to do.
“Every time you came to see me and said all those bold things, I
wanted to hide you away. I only wanted to hear those words when we were alone, not in front of other people.”
I put my hand over my heart. My blood felt like it was boiling.
Liam liked it when I acted like that.
Liam said a lot.
Like how every time his phone buzzed, he’d check it first thing, hoping it was me.
Like how when we went out to eat and someone hit on him, I’d jump in and say he was taken, then whine in a baby voice: “Honey, no looking at other girls.”
“Ava, I like you. And also… I’m really not Platonic. You don’t have to worry. I don’t have any issues in that department.”
“…!!”
My face was red enough to draw blood. I immediately tried to play it cool.
“Who-Who cares if you’re Plato or not?! Don’t just say stuff like that!”
Liam’s lips curved up slightly. He walked toward me.
“Sweetheart.”
Liam tilted his head, his brows and eyes curving. With the wolf ear headband on his head…
Thump thump thump!
Fireworks went off in my brain.
“Don’t call me that…”
I’m a person with very low self-control.
Liam lowered his gaze, suddenly looking pitiful.
“You don’t like it when I call you that? You used to say you wanted me to.”
“…”, “Avi, do you not like me anymore? Really? Can you please not stop liking me?”
“…”
Oh no.
I wanna bite him so bad.
I closed my eyes, trying to hold back.
“So… that time you said I was annoying… what was that about?”
Liam looked confused. “When did I say that?”
Liam showed me his phone.
【Doesn’t it get annoying, being stuck to like that all day? Showing up at your office every day, dressed to the nines?】
Him: 【Yeah, it’s a little annoying.】
【But what’s it to you? She’s only annoying because I’m the problem. I keep letting her down.】
【Avi is a super cute girl. You wouldn’t get it.】
Then came his friend’s rant.
I pointed at the two messages underneath that I hadn’t seen before.
“I didn’t see those when I looked that day.”
Liam thought for a moment.
“I had just sent the first one when you showed up. You took my phone, put it aside, and said your stomach hurt and wanted me to rub it.”
“…”
“You left before I sent the last two. I didn’t know you saw that. I’m sorry. I never thought you were annoying.”
“…”
Damn these hands of mine. Why do they work so fast?
“Avi.”
“Present.”
Liam held the bouquet out to me.
Serious and sincere.
“Can I be your boyfriend?”
I took the flowers without hesitation. Then carefully placed them back in the box.
Liam paused, a flicker of bitterness in his eyes.
“You—Mmm?!”
“Ow—!!”
I held my teeth, looking wronged and frustrated as I stared at Liam’s slightly reddened chin.
“Why do you have to be so tall?! I can’t even reach you to kiss you!”
Liam touched his chin, eyes crinkling with laughter.
“My bad.”
The next second, Liam grabbed my waist and lifted me up.
I wrapped my legs around him and my arms around his neck.
Now we were eye to eye.
“Now we’re the same height.”
I kissed him right then and there.
But since it was my first kiss, I messed up the force and bit his lip.
“Sorry.”
Liam smiled and shook his head. “It’s okay. I don’t know what I’m doing either. I can practice with you.”
Liam tilted his head and kissed me back.
Lips tangled together.
When we finally pulled apart, my face was completely red.
I buried my face in Liam’s neck, my voice muffled.
“Liar.”
He was clearly good at this.
After we got together, I immediately hunted down Noah.
“Did you tell Liam I thought he was Platonic?!”
Sophie didn’t talk to Liam much. But Noah was a different story.
They were besties.
Noah hid behind Sophie. “I didn’t tell him on purpose. But one time when you were in class, he asked me where you were.”
I brandished a broom at him. “And you just told him?”
“His face was so dark, I was too scared not to…”
“You!”
Sophie quickly played peacemaker.
“Okay, okay, Avi, cut him some slack. He was just trying to help his bro find happiness.”
Liam started making plans for us to move in together.
“If we live together, we can grow closer.”
I laughed. “We’ve been dating less than a month. Isn’t that a little fast?”
Liam glanced at me, not stopping as he helped me pack.
“Back when you called me sweetheart the first day we met, wasn’t
that faster?”
“…”, Fair point.
Moving in together happened pretty quickly.
Except… Liam seemed genuinely afraid I’d change my mind.
Every night, he dressed like he was literally begging me to commit a crime.
Liam knelt on the bed, the chain at his waist glinting coldly, cat ear headband that actually moved perched on his head…
He held out a bell to me.
“Sweetheart, will you put this on me? Please?”
“…”, Why on earth did I ever think this man was Platonic?
When a man says he “doesn’t know how”…
I’m never believing that again!!!