Chapter 172: Chapter 166. Touch of Malice

It was always the hardest when you had no idea what to do as someone you loved went through something.

Bassena knew, from the darkness curtaining those usually brilliant blue eyes, that Zein was inside his negative space again. But this was a topic Bassena couldn't touch upon unless Zein started to open up first, so all he could do was sit there, debating if he could at least ask if the man was fine, only to shrink back because he didn't want Zein to clam up even more.

"I'm fine," Zein said, suddenly. Bassena had been staring so much that the esper might as well voice out all of his concerns. "Just let me think on my own for a while."

"...okay," Bassena shifted his gaze back to the front, at the darkening sky that seemed to make everything gloomier than it was supposed to be. Because he knew Zein was lying. The guide wasn't fine.

But he said he'd wait, so he'd wait. Whether it was for Zein's heart to be ready to open up, or to accept his own feelings.