66 Why are you so curious about this?

Ariel blinked her eyes and then looked away with flushed cheeks. She had been caught watching.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat. "I'll look away, you can go ahead and dress up." She said,

"What are you doing here, Ariel?" He asked her.

"No, no, we have a lot of time to talk so take your time, put on your clothes and then we can talk."

"Just say what you came here to say. I don't need to dress up first." He said and Ariel took in a deep breath, summoning courage to bring up the topic.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" She asked him.

"I've not been ignoring you. I've just been busy." He said, no hitch in his expression.

"But you refused to come down for dinner yesterday, breakfast this morning, lunch and even dinner this evening." She counted with her fingers. "You were at home the whole time and I don't think you've ever missed eating at the dinner table, no matter how busy you were."