On Saturday, Nova found time to study, but it wasn't business as usual. She stared at the same page for over thirty minutes, her eyebrows twitching.
Was this mental fatigue?
But she hadn't made any progress yet. She tightly clenched her fists. If she continued feeling this way, her grades would surely drop.
Ares sat on the bed, watching her with his lips thinned into a worried line. She was doing it all wrong.
He walked over and gently shut the book, placing his palm on top of it. "Would you like to take a walk?"
Nova stared up at him with a scowl, but after a second, her expression softened. This was an opportunity to learn a thing or two about him.
***
They stepped outside, walking side by side down the street. Amidst the soft morning sun, a cool breeze blew. Nova closed her eyes, smiling. "This feels good."
Ares gazed at her, then continued facing forward. It was such a sweet expression. It wouldn't hurt if he tried getting more out of her.
"Should we visit a park?"
She nodded repeatedly. They changed course, turning a corner.
***
A short while later, they entered the community park. The joyful, nostalgic voices of innocent children immediately drifted into Ares's ears. He looked across the central lawn to the far end and saw children playing on a carousel.
How merciless.
He curled his fingers, but after glancing at Nova beside him, he straightened them.
Nova had seen him staring at the kids as though reminiscing.
He pointed at the swings on the playground. "We should go there."
Nova almost lifted her leg to take the lead, but after glancing at the picnic area, her foot suddenly became heavy. "No way. Are we kids or something?"
Sighing inwardly, Ares held her hand and began pulling her across the lawn. Her cheeks flushed, her eyes darting around the park. She turned to him, whispering insistently. "Hey! Don't give them the wrong idea!"
Ares looked at her, then continued focusing forward. She bit her bottom lip.
"Fine! I'll walk by myself!"
With that, Ares loosened his grip. She remained behind, glaring at his back while straightening down her blouse. After this, she joined him on the mulch, sitting on the next swing.
She slowly began to pump her legs, before abruptly planting them on the mulch. She looked at the children on the carousel, then turned to Ares. "You really broke character just now. Can't you be fair and just tell me something for once? Even if it's just a simple story?"
Ares couldn't meet her eyes.
Was he perhaps exploiting her?
If there was a way of paying back her kindness, he wouldn't hesitate. He could now enjoy some freedom, but he was still hopeless, like a fly banging against a windowpane.
He kicked off the ground, and as he fell back, he let his swing drift closer to Nova's, dragging his feet in the mulch near her.
Nova looked away, convinced he was trying to bury the topic.
Holding the side of her seat, Ares drew both of them back as far as possible. Immediately, Nova's eyes widened as she faced forward.
Ares laughed, before powerfully shoving their connected swings away from the earth into a rather sharp arc—so sharp that they almost looped the loop. She let out a scream, not of pain or terror, but of horror and ecstasy.
Ares wondered whether she was the same person who had been shy of playing on the swings a while ago.
As the swing mightily swung back towards a horizontal level, she increased the volume of her scream, tightly pressing her eyes. The children and those enjoying meals on the picnic tables were watching them, and it didn't seem like she had noticed.
Ares's mouth curled into a genuine grin. The feeling of acceleration was simply a slow, predictable pull that barely registered against his senses, but Nova's expression invoked a different kind of enjoyment inside him.