Page 71 of Teaching the Kot'oll Coach

“Yeah, I don’t know the language.”

My eyes light up and I let out a breath. Right, there are languages that are more native to different species and some common ones everyone knows. “Good.”

He narrows his eyes on me. “Now, are you planning how to hide things from me? You know that I can read it with my phone.”

I pat his chest when his shoulders are a bit too high up there for me to reach without standing on my tip-toe. “I know you can, and you probably talk perfect Kot’oll-ean, or something you call your language. I’m just finding it funny. It’s okay. I run into that a lot in the library too.”

He huffs. “Now you make me wonder what the books are about.”

My cheeks heat up. I’m not going to tell him about that... My romance books are fine, and he doesn’t need to know that much.

He winks. “Is it about human females finding their strong mate?”

“Stop staring at my book!” I take the whole pile and head to my office room. He is just here to annoy me.

“Hey, you are the one inviting me over. You’re also the one putting the books on the table.”

“No, I’m just the one who didn’t put the books away!” I shout at him as I put my books back onto the shelf.

“Haha, there’s no need to be ashamed, though.” He is standing at the door, peeking in with his hands on the door frame.

“Now you remind me of a monster peeking through my door.”

“Hey, that’s not nice, I’m not a monster.”

I roll my eyes at him. “You are a creepy monster.”

I go up to him after settling the last book. Standing close to him reminds me of another reason why he annoys me. He is a bit too tall, and I can’t make myself intimidating in front of him. It’s hard to be concerned about a being that’s only his chest’s height.

I poke his chest. “Stop making fun of my books.”

He spreads his arms to the side. “Hey, I didn’t. I’m just curious. Speaking of which, we should get started with the tacos first.”

“Are you trying to bribe me with those?”

He winks. “Maybe.”

We head to the coffee table. He unwraps the tacos. “Here, you have to try this. The restaurant may not look very enticing, but I promise they do great tacos.”

I take a bite. This restaurant used a kind of spice that I can’t name, but it mixes the gamey meat and something else that’s spicy together, mashing them well together. There is something crunchy too, it doesn’t feel like lettuce, but I like it regardless. They even put in melted cheese, which is my favorite. The tortilla is still warm, making the taco a nice and comfy hug for the stomach.

Telke watches me with eager eyes. I’m not sure whether he’s waiting for my comment on the taco or waiting for me to give him my taco, which isn’t going to happen.

I swallow my food, still enjoying the tasty taco lingering. “It’s great.”

“Just great?”

“Amazingly great.”

“Good, you have fine taste.” He picks up his taco with a grin, munching it down.

I like to watch him eat. He looks so happy. Maybe the restaurant is creepy, but he enjoys that place. The environment... may fit the adventurous type, which is as far away as I can be.

Ossa meows and hops onto the couch, seemingly asking for some tacos. I shake my head at him. “No, you can’t eat this.”

He meows again and invites himself onto my lap.

Telke chuckles. “Is he hungry?”

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