JP - The Keep - Dining Hall - He didn't know!

“I didn’t know!” Lek said, pushing his toast aside. He turned to Rook. “What do I tell her? How do I let her down without hurting her?”

Rook took another drink before speaking. “Travel back in time and stop yourself from meeting her” he spoke in a joking tone “seriously though this is a situation where someone is going to be hurt. You’re best bet is to be direct and honest. Though let me ask if Pinja wasn’t in the picture could you see yourself with Miyuki?”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Lek shrugged. “Pinja is the only one I’ve ever felt this way about.”

“You can’t help that you love her, just like Miyuki can’t help that she loves you,” Rook replied, patting him on the shoulder. “Just ask yourself this. Are you prepared to wait your whole life for her? What if she never accepts you or if she does what if she doesn’t want children? I’m not saying to forget about her but if there is a part of you that sees Miyuki as more than just a friend, would it really be that bad to pursue her. Just take some time to think about it, maybe talk about it with your sister.”

Lek flushed. He had already committed to waiting his entire life for Pinja. He was willing to sacrifice anything if she ever accepted him, he even made it clear that they would not even have to sleep in the same bed if she married him. She still turned him down, kind of freaked out too. Lek regretted scaring her so badly. “I’ve already considered all of that for Pinja… I’d wait forever for her.” He sighed. “I don’t want to hurt Miyuki though. I see her as a friend, a good friend.”

“Take some time to clear your mind before talking to her,” Rook suggested.

“Yeah.” Lek sighed. “Why’d she get sweet on me? I just treated her like anyone else.”

Bella made a lot of signs with her hands and slapped the table to make sure Lek knew she was speaking to him. ‘You were there for her when no one else was, you dummy!’ She went back to her food, satisfied with her scolding.

Poor Lek did not understand what Bella was signing and just stared in confusion at the dog girl.

Bella growled and took paper and a pencil from Ferrus, quickly writing out what she signed, shoving the paper at him.

Lek read it and blushed. “I was just being her friend because she needed one. No one should have to be alone going through that.”

Taking the paper back, she wrote more. ‘Yet a lot of women are these days. She’ll be alone when it happens and she was alone when she got hurt. You’ll just be adding to it the longer you don’t tell her the truth.’

“I’ve tried to be there for Pinja and helped the other women where I could… Most of them didn’t want me around.” Lek sighed. He had to talk to Miyuki and dreaded it. He did not want to hurt her, but she obviously had already been hurt by her being so dense about how she felt. “I guess I’ll go talk to Millie.”

Bella looked confused by this. Why would he want to talk to Millie? Maybe she’d give him advice? The dog woman was unsure and just finished her food.

Lek got up from the table and saw his sister leaving with a tray for Pinja. He hurried after her.

"Millie is his sister and usually the only one around Pinja " Ferrus explained "hopefully she'll talk some sense into him I mean it's sweet that he's willing to wait for but personally I think this is a tree that's not going to bear fruit if you know what I mean."