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“Nisha, this isn’t your fault. None of this.”
“But—”
“But nothing. We’re right on schedule. Solgre didn’t want us back yesterday. He was adamant about us taking a seven-day trip, not a six-day one. Besides, this probably falls on me.”
“Wait. If I can’t blame myself, then neither can you.”
Kien shook his head. “I should’ve defied his orders, gone straight to the ship, updated the portable replicator and returned straight away. This could’ve been a two-day trip. He would’ve been mad, cursed and would’ve gone on and on about dissections, but at least he would’ve been recovering.”
“Like I said, you can’t blame yourself. He gave you an order and you yourself told me that you can’t go against it since he’s your captain.”
“He’s our captain and technically he can give us orders, but Solgre doesn’t operate like that. We all have a say in how things are run. I could’ve defied them and just dealth with the consequences from a healed Solgre.”
She went quiet as she stared out the front window. Luckily, there weren’t any cars in her way and she had the left lane of the highway to herself for miles to come.
“When he gave you the order to make this trip with me...”
“I could’ve said no and pressed to leave on my own.”
Nisha was quiet again. He let her ruminate on what he’d said. He didn’t want to hide his feelings any longer. Hiding his feelings has caused him nothing but trouble and pain as far as his dealings with Nisha.
“I didn’t have to come?”
“Not if you didn’t want to.”
“But why did you make it seem like you didn’t have a choice?”
Kien took a deep breath. Not only had he never had feelings this deep for anyone ever before, but he’d also never had to discuss them either. There’d been the, “Do you like me?” or “How do you feel about me?” that the occasional bed partners had asked, but those conversations had been brief, to the point and honest. He wasn’t looking for any commitment.
What he felt about Nisha was different. Even knowing that their love affair was soon to be over, he still wanted to spend what little time they did have learning everything he could about her and making her happy. So far, he’d only caused her hurt.
“Because I—”
His sentence was cutoff by her cellphone ringing. The atmosphere in the truck stilled as he held his breath, scared it was Phate again with even worse news than before.
Nisha answered with a, “Hello?”
“Hello, Miss Nisha,” came a deep voice. The same voice Kien recognized from the previous night. “It’s Douglas.”
With everything that had just happened, he’d forgotten all about Nisha’s planned date for the night. Kien balled his fingers into fists.
Douglas. What an ugly human name.
Nisha’s eyebrow quirked. “Miss Nisha? Your Southern roots are showing, and I think I like that.”
“My mother taught me to respect a beautiful lady,” Douglas responded.
Nisha smiled and giggled lightheartedly.
A smileanda giggle? Kien growled in his throat. Why was him calling her Miss Nisha making her act...happy?
Kien could also call her Miss Nisha. In fact... “Miss Nisha, why don’t you hang up the phone so we can finish our conversation?”
Nisha turned to him briefly, her eyesbrows pinched together. “Why are you calling me that?”
Kien lifted a shoulder. “Because he did, and it made you smile.”
More confusion splashed across her face. Her jaw dropped to respond.
