Page 52 of Titan

“Hello, you two.”

“Hey, Remi,” Theia said, her voice pitched higher than before as if we’d been caught doing something we shouldn’t. She looked at me with wide eyes. “I should go. I’ll see you soon.”

Theia darted inside, leaving me alone with Remi, who was staring at me with conflicting emotions in her eyes.

“What?” I asked.

“What indeed? I could ask the same of you. Pretty sure I warned you not to hurt her.”

I frowned.

“What makes you think I’m hurting Theia? We were just getting coffee.”

Remi shook her head.

“Are you reallythatoblivious?”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Don’t get her hopes up only to crush them, Gil.”

Now I was seriously confused. What the hell was she trying to tell me? I wasn’t doing anything with Theia other than trying to be her friend… and work out why I was having these new feelings for her all of a sudden.

“I’d rather you tell me what you mean than make cryptic comments about what I’m doing.”

“Do you like her?”

“Of course I like her.”

Her lips thinned.

“No, I mean, do youlikeher, Gil? As in, do you have romantic feelings for her?”

Do I what?

I was about to say no, but everything that had happened today made me pause. I couldn’t dismiss it out of hand without thinking about it.

“Romantic feelings?”

“Yes. Listen, don’t get mad, but Theia told me about your sexuality. You’ve spent a lot of time together and now you’re going on coffee dates outside of the club, so excuse me for questioning whether your feelings towards her have changed in light of those circumstances. It’s okay if they have, but you have to understand I’m trying to protect Theia.”

I wasn’t mad that she’d told Remi. I hadn’t realised the two of them talked about me. It wasn’t an issue. Remi could keep a secret, as evidenced by her staying silent about me visiting Theia at the club.

“Why would you need to protect her from me?”

She gave me a sad smile.

“If I tell you the truth, I’ll be breaking her confidence, so I’m going to need you to answer the question first. Do you have romantic feelings for Theia?”

I looked away as my chest tightened with each breath I took.

“I don’t know the answer to that.”

For a moment, she said nothing. I turned my gaze back to her, finding Remi looking at me with a pensive expression on her face.

“The fact you don’t know says a lot more than you realise.” She sighed and dropped her arms from her chest. “I have to get to work. Think about it for me, and when you do work it out, tell her the truth. She deserves that from you.”

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