Chapter 116: Chapter 116

“Ugh, I absolutely hate boys,” Khailis said in disgust as she threw her sweaty gauntlet onto the floor.

Shortly after, Khalis heard a shriek. She gasped as she realized who it was she had just injured.

“Gavil, Gavil, I’m so sorry! Were you hurt?”

A black furry cat sat by the floor, rubbing his bum with his tail due to the accident she had just caused.

Khalis has often gone home in sulky moods before, but this was the first time he was ever hit by him, and as a result, his feelings were deeply hurt.

Khalis picked him up like a baby and put him at her lap, stroking his sleek, black fur and patting his behind apologetically. “Was my Gavil hurt? Were you injured?”

Gavil whimpered some more, not because he was hurt but because he was sad and lonely.

Even before Khailis went out today, Gavil had stayed in this spot because it was the most comforting place in her room. Every day, Khailis went away at dawn and did not come back till late in the afternoon. He missed her terribly, and because of that, he started staying near Khailis’ laundry basket where he would be able to smell her scent at any time. This was the only way he wouldn’t feel so lonely...

“Can you transform and let me see? Let me take a look at your behind,” Khailis said with a concerned look in her face.

At the thought of standing naked in front of Khailis, Gavil, feeling shy and nervous, curved himself into an even tighter ball. Has she gone mad? How can Khailis ask him to do such a thing?

“Oh you don’t want to? Are you mad at me, little cat,” Khailis teased. She stroked him under the chin to make him warm up to her. “Come on, let me just take a quick look where I hurt you...”

Despite Khailis’ wishes, Gavil remained firm, feeling flustered and horrified.

How can Khailis be so naive at this thing? He was akin to an adolescent boy, and she’s a fifteen year old girl. Even if she was still childish and innocent, how can she be so nonchalant about seeing his naked body?

In people’s eyes, there was nothing wrong with their set-up. To them, Gavil was simply a big, black cat whom Lady Khailistra Humphrey, the tomboy child of the Humphrey Duchy, had brought home as a pet one day. Nothing could be wrong with keeping a pet, no matter how large and suspiciously smart it looked like for an ordinary house cat. However, the simple truth was that he wasn’t a cat. He was a Pauca Billie – a feline that can transform into a human, a divine beast man from Teotroly, and that’s where everything could go wrong.

Gavil didn’t mind it when Lady Khailista took him in two years ago. On his first night at the human realm, she found him injured in the woods, and she cared for him. She was the first human he had ever encountered, and in his eyes, she was also the loveliest of them all.

The more Gavil spent time with her, the more he got to like her. Khailis was nice, kind, funny, and full of energy. She was always playing around with him. She was always full of funny surprises too, and life is never boring when he’s with her...

Khailis sighed deeply, breaking Gavil’s reverie of the past. “Okay, if you don’t want me to see your bottom, I understand... That means you’re okay, right?” She stroked his ultra soft fur, and he purred. How can he truly behave like a house cat to her, he asked himself thousands of times but arrived at no sane explanation.

“Anyway Gavil, how’s your day? Mine was utterly bad,” she said.

He can’t help but be curious. Since no one was listening, he used his magic and spoke in the Human Tongue. “Why? What happened?”

“The boys at the training ground, they mocked me...”

“Mock you? In what ways?” Khailis was excellent in swords. When Gavil first met her, she was in the midst of preparing for a sword fighting competition. Her parents were vehemently against her joining a competition meant only for boys, but Khailis was insistent. She had made a wager with them that if she won the mid-summer sword fighting competition, they’ll let her join the knight’s training, which was her dream ever since.

Obviously, she won, and now she had been in training for the past two years already. She’s a very dedicated trainee too. Gavil couldn’t see how the other trainees could mock her when it comes to her ability.

“One of the boys fought with me... Ever since I turned down his gifts and invitation to a party, that kid had been pestering me,” she said sorrowfully.

“How does he pester you?”

“I overheard him make a public announcement that if he wins a certain bet with the other boys, he’s going to attempt to kiss me,” Khailis said, her nails digging into Gavil’s fur as she demonstrated how pissed she was.

“That devil! What’s his name? Wasn’t he that Perkins boy?” Gavil said, the cat-like slit of his golden eyes becoming thinner with anger.

Khailis nodded. “Yes that’s him. He made a wager with Fincher and the others. Uh, it just frustrates me that they use me in their games like I am some kind of object! What am I – a jewel, a decoration?”

Gavil couldn’t agree more. Khailis was far more beautiful and more precious than any jewel. His own heart thumped wildly when he thought of how unique she was. Her red, wavy hair was as gorgeous as the setting sun, and her lips looked so plump and soft that he just wanted to try sinking his lips on it too...

Gavil shook his head vehemently. Why in the world did he just think of her in that manner? At this rate, he wouldn’t be any better than that Perkins boy...

“What do you think I should do, Gavil?”

“Maybe you should make the wager yourself and beat him up for good.”

“You’re right! I can do that,” she said excitedly that she began to claw at some of Gavil’s fur. “You’re really so smart, Gavil! What would I do without you, hmm?”

“Well, do you need any help?”

“How are you going to help me, you furry ball? Why, you don’t even want me to check your butt, but you wanted to help?”

Gavil was truly thankful that he was in his cat form. Otherwise, Khailis could’ve seen how red he was in the face.

“Hmm, on second thought, maybe you could help me with something really!”

“What’s that,” Gavil said, his ears perking up.

“Come and give me a kiss!”

“What, no!” He immediately jumped from her lap before he could go ahead and force her to do so.

“Come on! That Perkins boy only wanted to kiss me because I blundered out that I didn’t have my first kiss yet. If I already had one, I’m sure he’ll quit pestering me!”

“Khalis,” Gavil hissed in his foreign-sounding accent. “First kisses are special! If I kiss someone, I’d make sure that person is the one in my heart,” he uttered before escaping into the open window and into the dead of the night.

“I see,” Khalis whispered, feeling stunned. He had violently refused her jest, so that means Gavil didn’t like her at all, right?

******************

As the night deepened, Gavil’s thoughts were filled with only one thing: he’d have to find that Perkins boy and beat him up so badly for what he was doing to Khailis!

He hurriedly went into the woods and looked for that hidden spot inside a hollow tree trunk where he kept some human clothes for emergencies.

As soon as he was able to change into his human form and don some clothes, he set out into finding that mischievous boy, hell bent on teaching him a lesson.

How dare that kid ask for Khailis’ first kiss? He must have been insane!

Gavil went into the estate where he knew the boy was residing. Despite the heavy security of the place, it was very easy for Gavil to sneak in. He was a divine beast after all.

Sure enough, he found the snotty boy practicing his sword alone in the garden, as Khailis often did when she goes home.

Gavil watched him practice for a bit. The boy wasn’t bad after all. It looked like he was skilled in sword fighting too. Watching him made Gavil’s heart wrap itself tightly into knots.

If that boy wins... Gavil shook his head thinking about Khailis kissing this boy for the first time on the lips...

But what was it to him? Khailis was a dear friend. She’s a dear friend he really didn’t want to share with anybody, not even in terms of kisses...

As soon as he found his chance, he pounced on the boy like a cat. Of course, now that he was in his human form, the boy’s chest felt doubly in pain as Gavil used his knees to pin him down on the ground.

“Ah, by the gods, w-what the hell,” the boy whose last name is Perkins said.

“You – don’t you ever disrespect Lady Humphrey again,” Gavil viscously remarked in his ear. The boy tried to struggle underneath him, but it was no use. Gavil simply dug his knees further into his airways, making him gasp.

“W-Who are you?”

“It’s none of your business! Just stay away from my girl!”

There - he said it! He called Khailis his girl, but was she really his?

Gavil ran as swiftly and as far away as he can from that pesky boy’s home, embarrassed at how he had just called Khailis...

Despite the confusion in his head, his feet knew the way, and before he was aware of it, he had already been taken by his body back into his safe haven – in Khailis’ bedroom.

Gavil could see that no one was inside the room. He slipped inside, still in his human form.

During this time, Gavil had a vague idea what Khailis might be doing based on the rigorous schedule she always followed...

Half-crazy, he let himself be swayed by the intoxicating scent of the honey-and-milk bath water, the kind that Khailis used every day after her training. Sure enough, he found her submerged in the bath tub, taking a light nap.

Gavil took a step closer towards Khalis. He could see her white calves perched at the edge of the bath and could make out the clear and milky white silhouette of her bare shoulders.

He was mesmerized by her, and in his heart, something else was taking form – a want that was so strong he was almost about to act on it...

For the first time, he knew he must no longer stay beside her.

“Gavil,” Khailis whispered, finally waking up. While Gavil was still debating on whether he should flee and hide from her or whether he should come closer, she spoke again. “Gavil, come here. Do you want to take a bath too?”

Khailis’ face had a pure and innocent look on it that made it extremely hard for Gavil to just ignore.

Finally, he surrendered to the tug of his chest. He went over to where she was, bent over the milky bath water where her head resided, and he kissed her on the lips.

It was his first ever kiss... He was in utter heaven, and for the first time, he recognized it.

He had fallen in love with Khailis... After this, there was clearly no turning back.

As soon as he finished, he looked at Khailis’ surprised and flustered cheek. He knew he could no longer keep his feelings within the boundaries of friendship after what he just did...

“I... I can’t stay here anymore, Khailis,” Gavil finally said. “I am starting to feel things for you that I should not feel at all...”

Khailis could only give him an utter look of surprise.

“Good bye, Khailis, and thank you for that first kiss... I shall treasure it...” With that, Gavil left by the open bathroom window, never to return to the bed chamber he had happily shared with Khailis.

If only Gavil knew how to read human emotions as well as he could say the Human Tongue, then he’ll probably realize that the feelings he shared with Khailis had always been mutual.