43 A Cat’s Wisdom

The notifications sounded in my head more times than I thought it would.

But I was focused on the kiss. What in the beginning should have been a simple peck changed after I tasted her lips. A warm sensation spread through my body and instead of parting from her I couldn't leave her lips. I'm not sure if this was Rose's first kiss, but I knew that she never had a boyfriend before.

At the beginning was a little awkward, but even the inexperience felt perfect, the passion grew in both of us as we kissed. With this in my mind I slowly tasted her lips while holding her hand, she also relaxed a little after some seconds and started to react better to my movements.

Clash!!!

Something fell behind us and that shattered the little world we have on our own we both turned around to found Hope there looking at us with her big eyes.

"OMG!!... emm sorry for interrupting… I'll leave you alone"

She picked something up and gave Rose a look that I'm pretty sure means 'you have to tell me everything later' and made a thumbs up gesture before escaping leaving us dumbfounded. Neither Rose or I said anything to her, I was still holding her hand. for a moment I thought of starting the kiss again but the atmosphere was already ruined.

While we were kissing everything was perfect, but the moment it ended all the questions and doubts we had before came back. She seemed deep in thought while she touched her lips, I did the same and remembered her lips.

"At least now is clear that I have feelings for you". I knew that her mind was in thinking about what to do now. When she heard my words, her eyes sparkled and looked straight at me.

"I-I-I need to think". I was reluctant to let her go, but even if we confirmed my feelings there were a lot of our fears that were still haunting us.

"Ok". I didn't want to push her, and I also had to think hard about what was the better for all of us. My brain and my heart seemed to be struggling between them to find the right answer.

"I need my hand back". She smiled at me and I remember that I was holding her hand

"Oh sorry". I set her hand free, she stood up and looked at me a few seconds before leaving the roof. She probably wants to talk with Hope.

After a few minutes I left the roof too and went to change clothes, G was (luckily) still sleeping. And I wanted to figure out what to do before doing anything else.

I went to my room and remembered the notifications.

[Mission Completed: Kiss someone for whom you have feelings

Reward: Cha+5, Astral Link]

[Charisma reached max, the extra point will be added when the max is increased]

[Achievement Unlocked]

[Are You even Human?

Finally, you are taking the steps to go beyond the human's limits.

Get an attribute to the human maximum (25)

Reward: 25 system points, 5 attribute points]

[What a nice guy

The kind of person that everyone wants to follow.

Get 25 Point in Charisma

Reward: Choose (Lady-killer/Good Leader/Puppeteer)]

Dante came into the room and sat beside me. I'm surprised for his perfect timing, maybe he has another ability that lets him do that.

His childish voice sounded in my mind

'Are you ok~?'.

'Yeah, why you ask?'.

'You look troubled about something~'.

Even the cat noticed that something was troubling me, I wasn't sure if it was because of his cat instincts or his new-found human intelligence.

'Yeah… I'm in a little dilemma'.

'Tell me~!! Maybe I can help~?' he started rubbing his head against my hand, his usual way to make me pet him.

Well, it's not going to be more awkward than talking with Hayley about this.

'Rose and I… kissed'.

'And??~'.

'What do you mean and? … oh, a kiss is when…'.

'I knyow what a kiss is~, I don't understand what the problem is~… Rose likes you~… you like her…~ is there something wrong with you two kissing?'.

'The kiss it's not the problem, it's what happens if we become a couple…'.

'If you become a couple~ and you to like each other~ you will be happy isn't that good~?'.

The simple way he was thinking about everything was refreshing in some way but it was slightly annoying too.

'If we become a couple it can be troublesome for the group'.

'Are you going to abandon the group if you get together with Rose~?'.

'No, but it can be a problem for the others, G can be angry because of it'.

'Why?~ G should be happy if his sister gets someone good~ who cares about her~'. Maybe he is right?

'And what about Hayley?'.

'Are you with her~?'.

'No'

'Do you like her~'

'No, but I promised her father to take care of her'.

'Are you going to~ stop caring about her~ If you are with Rose~?'.

'No…' every second I talked with the cat I felt more and more like an idiot.

'…but what happens if it doesn't work?'. Probably this was my major concern of all. The others were real worries and potential problems but if this doesn't work? What happens then?

'And what if it works~? Humans think too much~… follow your instincts~. what are they telling you~? Do you want to be with her~?'.

He was right, even if I was with Rose that wasn't going to change how I act toward the rest of the group. I'm not abandoning the group, and I'm not stopping caring for the others. I'm a good guy and I like Rose, Probably G is not going to like the idea at the beginning, but he will not oppose it either.

I felt stupid… a cat basically made it seems like if all things I was worried about were nothing. All of Dante's answers were simple and most of the situations were more complex than Dante make them seem. But his last sentence was the most important.

'Thanks Dante' I pet him as a reward and he started to purr in my hand.

'You are welcome~, humans…always with their invented troubles~ on hypothetical situations~ excuses to evade being hurt~'.

Is this cat a reincarnated sage or something??? Every time I talked to him, he became more and more intelligent. He closed his eyes to let me pet him, we stayed like that for a while.

Thanks to Dante my mind was clear on what I wanted to do, so I need to find Rose.

I left Dante napping in my room and went to the girl's apartment. I'm not sure why but I knocked on the door before going in.

'knock knock'

Hope voice came right away

"Come in" I opened the door and found Hope and Rose seated in the coach.

Hope looked at me with a smirk on her face. And Rose was blushed.

"Brother! what do you need?".

"I want to talk with Rose about something".

"Alone~~~?" her smirk become even bigger, Rose was blushed, probably Hope has been teasing her since she came back.

"Yes, alone now leave, how old are you 12?!?" I started pushing her away and threw her out of the apartment.

"Hey!! That's my apartment, and you can't close the door anyway!!". I left her out and thought about blocking it for her to not enter but it would mean more teasing for Rose later.

Rose looked at all our interactions and was giggling. At least it helped to lighten the mood.

"Let's talk in my room" She also knew that Hope was going to enter anyway so we went to her room.

She sat on the bed and I did the same, she was clearly nervous.

"What you want to talk about?".

I answered her with another question.

"Have you thought about us?". She looked at me a few seconds. Probably remembering the kiss.

"That's the only thing in my mind since this morning"

"I thought a lot too, and talked with Dante"

"Dante?" she looked at me surprised.

"Never underestimated the wisdom of a cat". I said trying to be as mysterious as possible. "Thanks to him everything is clear to me".

Her eyes were expectant to know what my conclusion was.

"I want you to be my girlfriend"

She looked at me for a few seconds, I could see tears forming in her eyes and her hand covered her smile.

Before I could hear her answer an excited scream came from the hallway.

I ignored Hope and hold Rose's hand, I intertwined our fingers and looked at her waiting for her decision. With tears in her eyes, she got closer to me and answered my question with a kiss.

I would like to have enjoyed it for longer, but Hope scream made Hayley come here worried. At least it wasn't G the one that hears it. I need to talk to him and explain everything in the best possible way and finding me in a room alone with her sister wasn't a good way to start that conversation.

We laugh a little while listening to Hope apologies and how she was explaining that Rose and I were a couple now. Since Rose had her eyes a little red I didn't want to leave the room yet, she had her head on my shoulder and had her eyes closed.

I also got a new notification.

[Activate Astral Link? (Y/N)].