I cannot lie

"Mero I beg you, let us bring this thing to an end, I beg you, let us just forget about it and never bring it up again." said Wura as she pleaded with him and hugged him. She just felt so terrible right now.

"I know that this is hard for you... it is also very hard for me..." said Mero as he rubbed her back gently.

"But pretending as if this never happened will do both of us no good." he said.

"You say that we should forget... but we never truly forget." he said as Wura looked up at him and moved away.

"Why not?" she asked as she rubbed her eyes and sniffed, she did not know why she had a feeling that Mero was just bent on them never moving on from this.

"We forgot about the kiss that unfortunately happened, so we can of course forget about this silly thing." she said as she rubbed her eyes, she did not think that continuing to cry would solve anything.

"No..." Mero said as he shook his head as Wura had questions written all over her face,

"I never... I never forgot about the kiss... no matter how hard I tried to." Mero admitted truthfully as Wura was silent, she froze, she made no movement as deep sigh escaped from her lips and she turned around and walked as far as she could.

"So you lied that we would forget?" asked Wura as she turned back to look at him, at this point, she had realized that Mero was right, there was no way that they could pretend like this never happened.

"No, I did not lie... I did try to forget, but it was almost impossible to." he replied honestly as Wura sighed.

"Mero...Mero... this is... this is really serious, I cannot *sigh*... I cannot deal with this right now." said Wura as she felt as if her mind was turning.

How could she have thought that it would be easy to forget something as serious as that? How could she have been so naive, all this while, she had assumed that she and Mero were on the same page, but they clearly were not.

"I know that it is hard to come to terms with... but this is me telling you the truth... nothing but the absolute truth." he declared firmly as Wura looked at him.

"You are free to ask me any question that you wish you, and I promise to answer them truthfully." he said as Wura sighed and looked at him.

She knew that she had to handle this situation like the adult she was. Firstly, she concluded that the best course of action would be to find out when exactly Mero started to develop feelings for her, because she was sure that he had not always had feelings for her.

Something told her that they only developed recently, and she hoped with all her might that this was true. Or else, she would not know what to do.

"When we kissed... you had feelings for me?" she asked in uncertainty as Mero shook his head.

"No...not then." he replied as Wura sighed in relief.

"So when?" she asked.

"I will admit that when we kissed, I had no feelings for you... but I think that is when I started to develop feelings for you." said Mero as it thundered lightly outside subtly reminding the both of them that it was still raining outside.

"So when do you really think you started to feel what you feel for me?" she asked.

"A few months ago." he replied quickly.

"A few months ago, I started to see you differently... it affected me more when we argued, I knew from then that the way I saw you had changed." he said helplessly as Wura sighed and looked away.

She was unsure of what to do with this information. At least she was sure that the way he saw her had not changed until a few months ago. That was a huge relief to her, because now she was wondering if his loyalty was only because of what he felt for her and not because he truly trusted and respected her.

But she was relieved to know that was not the reason at all. She honestly trusted Mero, and she seriously regretted pushing this matter to this point, but there was no turning back now.

"I tried so hard to hide it, I tried so hard to push it away, but I was unable to do it. It was torture, it was killing me on the inside." said Mero.

"And then you said that we need to learn to be honest with ourselves, and I felt like you deserve to know." he said as Wura just looked at him as he spoke.

"Hiding it was not doing me any good, and neither was it doing you any good. If there is a reason I have been so overprotective lately, it is because of this." he said.

"Alright, then what do you suggest that I do with this information? What do I do Mero?" she asked desperately.

"I do not know Wura, whatever you deem fit to do with it." said Mero.

"You can ignore it, you can throw it away, or you can choose to accept it." said Mero.

"You say it as if it is that easy to do." said Wura with a helpless scoff.

"It may not be, but what I know is that ignoring this or pretending it never happened will only make things worse." he said.

"I cannot lie to you... even if you choose to pretend this never happened, it will never leave my mind." he said.

"I have never felt this way before for someone..." he said strongly.

"How are you so sure that what you feel is serious?" she asked.

"How are you so sure that you do not just only believe that you have feelings for me because we spend a lot of time together, we know each other well, maybe it is just the familiarity parading itself as strong emotions." Wura said, her mind running with explanations.

"Maybe it is... maybe you are right that I am not sure..." said Mero.

"Or maybe it is not, maybe what I feel is strong... and maybe you feel it too..." he said as Wura looked away, and shook her head.

"No... no I do not. I do not feel the same." she said, lying through her teeth as a way to protect herself.

Mero did not seem offended at all by her lie, instead he smiled softly at her, knowing why she had said what she did, it was because she was trying to protect herself, she was scared, and he could not blame her for that.

"Then why did you say you did when I asked you?" he asked, with a soft smile, his tone gentle and warm, Wura felt like she needed him to hug her again, but she knew better than that.

"Because...because...because I was under duress." she hesitantly said, she was unable to find the words to explain herself.

She groaned internally, hating herself with all her might for admitting to having feelings for him. Her response had just made this situation even more messy than before.

"Really?" Mero asked as Wura nodded, feeling bad that she was lying to him right now, but she had no other choice. 

"Well alright then... I am sorry if I forced you into saying anything you were not comfortable with what you said." said Mero as he saw no need continuing this conversation if they were both not being honest with each other.

"I apologize for causing you any discomfort." he said as he walked closer to Wura and she instinctively took a step back thinking that maybe he was coming towards her but to her surprise he suddenly stopped and sat down on the couch, covered himself with the blanket and said:

"Goodnight." he said as Wura was surprised to say the least.

"Goodnight?" she asked.

"Are you going to sleep Mero?" she asked in confusion.

"Well yes, you have settled everything, you were forced to say something that you did not agree with, there is no need to continue talking about this." he said.

"You are right, we just need to move on and forget that any of this happened." he said as Wura was surprised.

"But you cannot go to sleep Mero... this is still unsolved." she said as Mero uncovered himself in the blanket and looked at her.

"Then what would you have me do? It takes two people to solve a problem, and yet I am doing it alone." he said.

"You are not being honest, and I understand why, so it is best that I go to sleep, I will be gone in the morning." he said as Wura looked at him weakly.

She felt bad, here he was, hiding his feelings like he had been doing for the longest while because of her, and yet she had been demanding that they solve this.

"Goodnight Wura, I hope you sleep well." Mero said, closing his eyes calmly.