100X Returns System: I Dominate the Age of Gods-Chapter 235. Fresh Start - 1
"Did you miss me??" William asked for the second time as he came forward and closed the distance between himself and Tamasya. His voice carried a soft and familiar teasing tone, but beneath it lingered a subtle nervousness that even he could not fully suppress.
Tamasya came out of her stupor and took a breath; her eyes, which had been fixed on William, shifted towards the ground; she did not meet his eyes.
His sudden appearance had caught her off guard, leaving her momentarily defenseless in a way she rarely ever was.
One of her hands raised to the side, and she put a few locks of hair that remained in front of her eyes behind her ears. The small, almost habitual action betrayed the storm of emotions she was trying to contain within herself.
She chose not to reply to William again.
But today, William was not here to get flustered. He extended his hands and presented her with the bouquet of red carnations. Back on earth, these flowers were considered the symbol of deep love. Their deep crimson petals seemed almost alive under the light, carrying an intensity that matched the feelings he held for her.
"These are for you," he said. He did not use the designatory word "master" in his sentences anymore; today, he was here to cross that line. The absence of that single word changed the entire tone of his sentences.
Tamasya took the bouquet from his hands; she then turned around, making William face her back while she blushed, her heart beating fast, filled with embarrassment and awkwardness. Her fingers tightened slightly around the stems.
Her lips were tightly pressed together; she was trying hard not to reveal her emotional fluctuations on her face. The effort was visible in the subtle tension of her jaw and the stillness of her posture.
But as she turned around, her eyes bloomed shiny and cheerful, even though her stiff face didn’t move. She was happy.
She walked towards the entrance holding the big bouquet. The flowers contrasted beautifully against her dark attire, making the moment feel almost surreal.
"Come inside," she said before William followed her with a smile. He noticed the faint reddish hue of blush on her ears and knew he had been able to make her happy with those flowers and his presence.
William felt a sense of relief. With this, he knew that in her heart, Tamasya was not holding any bitterness for him. This meant he could do what he had come here for.
William also noticed the outfit change; Tamasya used to wear a simple, loose black robe, or a combat-ready outfit that William had seen her wearing in the prison of gods.
But right now, he saw the change of dress, which just amplified her feminine features and made her look undescribably stunning, which, in his opinion, made her look leagues above how he had always imagined her in his mind.
The dress clung gracefully to her form, decorated with faint silver accents that shimmered whenever light touched them. It was dangerously captivating.
He wondered where the idea for the outfit change came from.
He didn’t mind the change at all; in fact, he thanked the person responsible because William was certainly several times more excited to propose to Tamasya in such beautiful clothes.
His cheeks blushed as he saw her exposed back and slim waist from behind. Her hourglass figure was much more pronounced, unlike the earlier loose robes of hers. Every step of her elegant walk just crushed William’s heart with excitement and nervousness as well. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
"Stop gawking!" Tamasya’s stern voice rang, making William shocked and embarrassed. He wondered if Tamasya had eyes at the back of her head.
Meanwhile, Tamasya giggled in her mind; Shadow was reading every microexpression on William’s face before telling Tamasya about it.
<"He seems flustered now that you caught him">
Tamasya found it hard to control her laughter, but she still sustained it, biting down on the urge to let it spill out completely. Meanwhile, William now just rubbed the back of his head and looked to the side, trying to regain whatever composure he had left.
They were now walking inside a dark corridor only lit by sunlight coming from a distant window, with the silver accents and white crystals on her pitch-black dress, while Tamasya was leading him to her room.
"Sorry, I was just wondering about your new dress," William said with a sigh.
"Why??" With a sudden jerk, Tamasya turned around with a stern expression, leaving William off guard. "Do you think I can’t wear new dresses?" she asked with an elevated tone that just made her look cuter in William’s opinion.
"No!! That’s not what I meant; you can wear as many dresses as you want." William raised his hands lightly and took a defensive posture as if a hungry lioness had pounced on him.
"So!! Do I not look good enough...?" Tamasya squinted her eyes and leaned forward a bit while resting her hands on her waist.
"No!! No, absolutely not!! You look...." William was about to say something when he suddenly gulped, checking out Tamasya from head to toe for the nth time.
He didn’t know if words would be enough to appreciate her beauty.
"I look... what??" Tamasya didn’t let the matter rest. By now, even William realized that she was messing with him.
He felt like she was testing him, whether he was really suited to handle someone like her. He couldn’t explain it, but his instincts just told him everything Tamasya wanted.
*Surprise me, take me off guard, and impress me if you dare*.
"You look..." William said, but gave a breathy pause in between the words while his eyes looked at Tamasya, telling her silently that he had accepted her challenge.
He walked closer to her and stood at a breath’s distance away from her; he looked down at Tamasya’s eyes, who reached the level of his shoulders; his voice turned breathy.
"You look... so beautiful that my words betrayed me the moment I tried to speak. With whatever fragile pieces of life left inside of me were stolen by my own eyes that were condemned to fall for you again and again, and still unable to explain to the rest of me what they’ve just witnessed."
He exhaled softly in surrender.
"I feel like if I dare confine your grace within words, I’d be punished by the heavens for it... as if something this breathtaking was never meant to be reduced to words. How could I ever be arrogant enough to try?"
His gaze lingered on her as he breathed a sigh and shook his head lightly as if he had been defeated by her beauty.
"It would’ve been easier... if you were just pretty."
A faint, helpless smile formed on his lips.
"But you had to be... you."
"Do you have any idea what you did to my heart, it’s beating like it’s being suffocated by something only you can fill..."
"That’s what you did."
The air between them stilled like something sacred was happening.
"And when you asked me if you weren’t beautiful enough..."
His voice lowered as his gaze shifted from her eyes to her lips.
"...you accused me of a crime."
"The crime of not closing this distance... of not kissing you and proving just how wrong you are to ever doubt yourself."
William said with an expression that could kill maidens from a heart attack; his eyes refused to waver while looking at her.
[Kiss her!!!!] The system said, but was ignored.
Tamasya, meanwhile, looked up at him, her eyes opened wide, as well as her mouth. She had been masking her blush and emotions that had been threatening to break the dam in her heart.
William, with his words, had been able to break those shackles, and her face was now as red as the flowers in her hand.
She looked lost in her stupor as if not being able to face the reality that William had just said what he had said. William looked at her with a satisfied expression. At last, he had been able to draw out the warmth he had been trying to.
He had meant everything he had said earlier, although he won’t let things just die down here; he will make Tamasya fall in love again. And that wouldn’t be achieved by just a few words.
He then broke the silence between them with a chuckle: "Just joking, you just looked cute."
Tamasya’s expression changed once again and turned into a pissed one. "You scoundrel!!, do you think you can mess with me!!!" She was breathing heavily before, while feeling surreal, but now she was pissed at William for making her lose the silent battle that she had started.
She hit him lightly while William held her hands, a cute physical and verbal banter started between them, William broke her expression again, this time tickling her neck.
A few spurts of giggles came out of her mouth like a melody she had forgotten she could make.
To William, they meant relief of heart.
One thing the now giggling figure of Tamasya did not realise among those tickles and light curses was that William had slowly dissolved the freezing awkwardness between them, and they were back to bickering the way they used to before.
The invisible wall between them had crumbled.
It was perfect for William; he will be able to make Tamasya fall in love with him again now.
Even if she loved him already, he still wanted to make her fall over him again. He did not want his love to be associated with the painful memories of him breaking her heart earlier.
This time, he wanted laughter to replace silence, warmth to replace distance, and choice to replace regret.
It was his attempt at a fresh, brand-new start.
