The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story

hapter 0583

Julian immediately took another step backwards, adding more space between him and me. We both nervously glanced at Nicholas who mostly seemed confused by his own reaction. He cut off his growl with a sharp grunt.

"Sorry," he said.

"Don't worry," I replied.

"It's my fault," Julian said.

"No," Nicholas quickly corrected. "I don't know what came over me."

"I knew this game was a bad idea," Bridget says, rising from the couch. "I tried to warn everyone, but no one takes me seriously."

I distinctly remembered Bridget championing the idea for charades so much that she took to mostly organizing it herself. Now, suddenly, when something had gone wrong, she didn't want anything to do with the idea?

"We should definitely stop," Bridget continued, "I, for one, am out totally." She looked around at everyone, expecting them to agree.

Maybe she wasn't wrong in this instance. The joyful mood I had been attempting to cultivate seemed utterly at waste now, with only thick tension in the air.

Jessica worried her bottom lip. Veronica looked down at her lap. Julian apologized. Nicholas said, "I'm the one at fault."

Everything really did seem like it was falling apart.

Then Elva raised her head, looking up from her coloring books. She spotted the empty spot between Nicholas and Jessica on the couch.

"Can I be on Nick-lass's team?" she asked.

And just like that, the entire mood shifted. The tension broke and everything brightened. Jessica laughed. Veronica's lips twitched in an almost smile. Julian smiled outright. So did Nicholas.

"Of course you can," Nicholas said. He glanced at me. "If it's okay with your mom."

Elva turned her doe eyes on me. It would have been fine with me anyway, but having her look at me like that would have melted even my coldest moods.

"You can," I told her, and she cheered. Cóntent belongs to NovélDráma. Org

said. She placed her hands on her hips. "This unbalances the teams." "I don't see how," I

have four, compared to your team's three." "My team' she says," Julian scoffed. "Didn't

Elva volunteered to take your place," Nicholas

thought we were quitting the

be jealous of a child," Julian told her. "Just sit this one out

looking at her that way. Elva was

me.

and I wouldn't care. Not anymore. The moment she pushed me off that boat was the moment she forfeited any right to my feelings. I should have stopped caring what she thought long ago.

of empathy for a long time. It was

Then she turned at

she was gone, the fun

to pick out her word. I decided to stay with her, while Julian

by now, I think, was rooting for

with a word and looked at it. Then she showed it

than a thing. It would be a trickier word to try to act out. But Elva seemed confident about what she had

place in front of her team. I stood nearby, ready to assist

"Timer!" she called.

down from three, then said,

and hugged me. Tears welled in my eyes at once, but I blinked them back. I

Jessica called.

my neck, then she let me go. Turning, she rushed across the room to Nicholas, where she threw her arms

time to catch Elva's hug. He wrapped his

"Family," Nicholas said.

shook her

Nicholas considered.

asked, slightly taken

to click within Nicholas. An understanding flashed behind

"Home," he said.

hammered in my chest. How had he

"You got

puddle right there in the living room. Elva so wanted Nicholas