Chapter 26: Chapter 26
The front door slams shut. Osmond and Natalie take off their shoes and put the groceries on the kitchen counter.
"Wanna eat right away?"
"Whatever."
"Are you still mad?"
Osmond goes to his room without responding and changes his clothes, then goes to the bathroom to wash his hands. As he opens the bathroom door, he sees Natalie waiting for him to finish.
"You done?"
"Yeah."
Osmond goes to his room, wipes his hands and lies belly down on the bed. A bit later, Natalie knocks on his door.
"I'm coming in!"
She enters and walks up to the bed.
"The fla- the Japanese custard pudding is ready."
Osmond doesn't respond. She sits on his bed and starts rubbing his back with one hand.
"Heyy…"
"Leave me alone."
"Don't be like that, c'mon."
"Go eat your stupid flan."
"Ozzy."
Natalie lies down next to him.
"Oz, I said I'm sorry and you said you accepted my apology, so what's going on?"
"I still feel like shit."
"Ozzy…"
Natalie puts her arm around him.
"Nothing hurts me more than seeing you like this."
"What about me eating pasta?"
"You wouldn't do that."
"…"
"Oz, I'm sorry I made fun of you and laughed at you in front of the pharmacist."
"…"
"Oz, can you please come with me and have some Japanese custard pudding?"
"I'm not hungry."
"Still, it'll make you feel better. C'mon."
"…"
"For me?"
"…Fine. But I'm going back as soon as I'm done."
"That's fine."
Natalie gets up, goes to the door, then waits for Osmond to catch up. Osmond slowly rolls over and sits up, then stands up and drags himself towards the door. They go to the kitchen, Osmond sits down and Natalie takes three cups out of the fridge and puts them on the table. She takes two saucers and two teaspoons, puts one of each in front of Osmond, and one of each in front of her seat.
"We..."
Osmond stays silent.
"We…"
Osmond still stays silent.
"I offer this food to God, Om Tat Sat."
"Thank you, God, for this food." -They say in unison.
Natalie puts the teaspoon in her mouth, then removes the aluminum foil, puts the saucer on a cup and flips them over. She removes the cup, revealing a flan with caramel sauce dripping from the top. Osmond does the same, but slower, dragging his limbs. Natalie scoops up a bit of flan and tries to feed Osmond, but he doesn't budge. She gives up and puts it in her own mouth instead. They continue eating in silence for a little while, then Natalie gets up and hugs Osmond from the side.
"Oz, I'm sorry I did all that. I know you had a hard time in high school and what happened today just reminded you of how bad it was. I fully regret my actions, and from now on I will try to never embarrass you in front of other people ever again. Now please forgive me and let's move on, okay?"
"Do you have any idea how I felt? I don't know if this was some bad karma from a previous lifetime or whatever, but I know I definitely didn't deserve this treatment coming from you, the person I love more than anything."
"I know, and I'm sorry, I really am! Oz, I can't stand seeing you like this, it makes my heart hurt so bad and I start feeling like shit as well. I know for certain that I won't ever do this to you on purpose ever again because I can't stand looking at you like this! So please, please forgive me, because I truly am sorry!"
"I don't know. I feel like I can't trust you anymore."
"Oz, please!"
Natalie starts crying.
"I don't want to hurt you ever again, I love you, Oz, I want you to be happy! I don't want you to feel like this and I don't want you to stop trusting me! I don't want you to leave me or break up with me! I don't want our relationship to end like this! I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry, I regret doing it so much! Please don't stop trusting me, please keep loving me, please! I don't want to lose you, I love you, I love you so much and I wanna be with you! Oz, please…"
A few tears roll down Osmond's cheeks.
"I won't leave you, Nat, I'm just angry and disappointed."
"Oz, please!"
"Natalie… I also wanna be with you. I wanna spend my life with you. But what happened today was really awful, and I can't overlook it."
"Oz, I'm sorry…"
"I forgive you."
"You do? You really forgive me?"
"Yes, I forgive you. But don't do anything like this ever again!"
"I won't, I promise!"
"Alright, now go back to your seat already and let me eat."
Natalie kisses Osmond on the cheek and goes back to her seat.
They wipe their tears, Natalie blows her nose, and they continue eating.
"Do you think you'll be able to trust me again?"
"Do you think you can keep your promise?"
"I do, because I never wanna see you sad like that. It really hurts when you're cold towards me and mean it. I felt like my heart was gonna turn inside out."
"I'm sorry I was cold to you."
"It's fine, you were hurt. I deserved it."
"You did deserve it, but I should've been more considerate."
"Dammit, Oz, I'm the one in the wrong here!"
"Alright, you suck, happy?"
"No, I'm not happy. I want to make you feel better, and I want to redeem myself for this."
"Just don't embarrass me like that again, and you'll be fine."
"I can't accept that. I wanna do something for you."
"I can't think of anything right now."
"I can give you this entire JCP."
"JCP?"
"Japanese custard pudding, but abbreviated."
"Just say flan."
"No, it's JCP."
"Whatever, I don't want it."
"Then… I can sleep in my own bed tonight."
"I don't want that either, I like sleeping with you."
"Then… I can stop forcing myself onto you."
"Natalie, we've been over this, I like it when you do that."
"But you rejected me a few times already."
"That's different, you were way too horny and it felt like you didn't care if it was me or someone else."
"Oz, there's no one else for me but you."
"I didn't feel any love in that, just lust."
"But I do love you, Oz."
"I know, sometimes when you force yourself onto me I feel it, but sometimes I don't, sometimes I feel like you're completely blinded by lust and that just doesn't sit well with me."
"And then you reject me?"
"Yeah."
They finish their flans.
"Wanna split this one?"
"You can have it."
"I made three of them just so we can split one."
"Fine, we can split it."
"We don't have to if you don't want to."
"Natalie, we're splitting it."
"Alright, thanks. Can I feed you?"
"I don't feel like it."
"Please?"
"I really don't feel like it right now."
"Then we'll have it later when you feel like it."
"Fine, whatever."
Natalie puts the third cup in the fridge and goes back to her seat.
"Oz, I'll try not to go overboard when I feel super horny."
"It's okay to feel horny, I get horny. Just don't let it do stuff you might regret later on."
"Okay, I'll do my best."
"Great. Are we done here? Can I go to my room?"
"You still haven't answered my question from before."
"What was it again?"
"Do you think you'll be able to trust me again?"
"Right."
"So?"
"It's not easy to build up trust, but it's really easy to lose it. We've known each other for a few years now, and I know you didn't do this with the intention to hurt me. In fact, I feel like I might've overreacted. You seem like you really regret your actions and like you definitely learned from this. I don't feel like trusting you after this, but that's just how I feel, and I don't want that. I want us to keep being best friends and to start being lovers. I want to start trusting you again, and even if I can't do it right away, I'll try my best to trust you again. So yeah, I think I'll be able to trust you again."
"Thank you. You're free to go."
Osmond gets up and starts walking to his room. He stops on the way there and turns around.
"Why aren't you following me?"
"I thought you wanted to be alone for a while."
"But we have a date ahead of us."
Natalie's expression brightens. She gets up and quickly runs up to Osmond and hugs him tightly.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"How can you be so forgetful? Geez!"
Natalie kisses Osmond. She hugs him tightly again, then kisses him again. She stops kissing him and sees him smiling.
"You're so handsome when you smile."
"Thanks."
"Wanna split that JCP with me now?"
"Um… Sure, why not?"
"Yay!"
Natalie leads Osmond back to the kitchen. She puts the third cup back on the table, takes the aluminum foil off, puts a saucer on top and flips it.
"Can I remove the cup?"
"Sure."
Osmond removes the cup.
"Is it really okay if I feed you?"
"Yeah."
"You don't feel awful anymore?"
"Your hugs and kisses cured my sadness."
"I'm the best, aren't I?"
"No, you still suck for making me feel bad."
"Oh."
"It's fine, you'll make up for it."
"Yeah, just you watch!"
"Anyways, let's eat!"
Natalie scoops up a bit of flan from the top and feeds Osmond.
"It turned out pretty good, right?"
"Mmhm."
She puts a spoonful in her mouth.
"Let's make some popcorn after this, I'm still not full."
"And then we'll cuddle and read a book together?"
"That's the flan!"
"Pfft, flan."
"Can I feed you as well?"
"Sure."
Osmond takes his teaspoon, scoops some flan and feeds it to Natalie.
"It really is fun."
"Right?"
Natalie feeds Osmond again, then as soon as he swallows, leans over the table and briefly kisses him. She sits down again.
"Don't soil your tank top."
"Look at Mr Responsible here, watching out for other people's tank tops."
"You say that, but it's not like you have to wash it afterwards."
Natalie rolls her eyes.
Weekly Power Status
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