Luis was similarly sneaking a peek, and he couldn’t help but rub the back of his neck in awkwardness.
Considering that most of the people here were either close friends who were boisterously hanging around, or were lovey-dovey couples holding hands or hugging, the two of them quietly walking a foot away from each other looked a little odd.
They were both shy and awkward, which was sad considering the camaraderie they had developed after working many months together. It was just that they started developing other feelings, and that changed up the dynamic between them.
Yllana was assigned to Luis’ team a few months ago and their relationship was slow to develop, but it did. They were in the ambiguous phase now, with Yllana still uncomfortable with being too close to men after what happened in Guia, while Luis had also been treading lightly since his failed relationship with Becky.
To be honest, when the Crow trio warned him about Becky he had indeed been wary. However, how could a virgin like him looking for love reject the advances of such a beautiful and sexy woman?
Contrary to what people assumed though (he had tried to correct them many times), there was no cheating involved in their breakup. Although they had a nice relationship that lasted a month, she broke up with him saying she needed time for herself—to discover herself outside of men.
Becky had been hanging around Juni and Melissa a lot (he thought she was pregnant at first, which earned him a pinch) and it seemed a lot of their lessons affected the woman.
He was hurt, but in retrospect it had more to do with his pride than anything else.
That was a few months ago and Becky had yet to be with anyone else, and Luis had not made a move to get back together with her. On the contrary, he found himself falling for an aborigine woman instead.
He didn’t know if he was lucky or not though, while he was walking around with Yllana, they encountered Becky with a few friends. They were all females, and he wondered if she was taking her hands off men completely for a while.
Becky’s eyes flickered when she saw Luis and the other girl, but she kept her smile and greeted them casually, before walking away.
"She’s still so pretty," Yllana mumbled, and her body language became even more insecure.
When Becky and him were dating, Yllana was already on the team. She knew how close they were and how beautiful that woman was. How could she not feel unworthy?
Seeing her going back to her shell, Luis quickly pulled himself together. He gently smiled and patted her head before his hand fell and held hers.
This made both of them pause and look at each other, wondering what to do next. Neither one pulled their hand away though. They even wanted to intertwine their hands—so they did.
Yllana looked at Luis, whose attention was all on her, and her insecurities calmed.
They stopped in front of Romance Resto, one of the more famous places along Nightlife street. It was a high-end restaurant with a grand piano in the middle. There was someone playing a tune there every night, and it was a perfect place to date.
Her eyes sparkled as she looked around. She flinched when Luis opened the chair for her, and she awkwardly sat down, unsure how to handle it.
Interestingly, another familiar couple was there—Chris1 and Aditi,2 one of the Fargo rescues. The two smiled when they saw each other before settling down in their seats.
This was a relatively exclusive restaurant and the seats were far apart, there were also a few lattice partitions to separate the space without making things clustered, allowing each couple enough privacy even while in a public place.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World