Chapter 25

"So you can't read my mind then?" Elana glanced down at her feet, moving her eyes from Xiumin's intense gaze. She wiggled her cold toes, trying to warm them in her wet socks. The moss, which covered a majority of the chapel ruins, was wet with dew from the waterfall at the entrance. It had been very comfy to walk on, soft and squishy beneath her feet, but her now soaked socks stuck to her feet like a second skin. It probably didn't help that when Xiumin had led her over to one of the few remaining pews they were now sitting on, she had stepped into a shallow puddle. Effectively making her left foot that much more wet than the other. 

Having wet socks was never something Elana enjoyed, but her active annoyance with it was purely for distraction. She would much rather think about wet socks than what Xiumin had explained to her was called Vevila. It was an old language term that roughly translated to melodious voice. Elana's wasn't sure if that's what she would have called it. Having someone speaking to her through her mind was not all that melodious to her. It was along the lines of creepy. She did, however, think (despite the weirdness of it all) that Xiumin's voice was very soothing. Sweet and smooth like rich fudge, yet it also a bit of roughness to it that sent tingles of pleasure down her spine. Elana blamed it on the fact they were supposedly mates, but it was also the little things like this that just proved further that she and Xiumin were compatible. So in the end maybe Vevila was an okay description.

"No, I can not read your mind. You are not reading mine either. I am just projecting my voice into your head, that is all that you are hearing." Xiumin ducked his head down touching his nose with Elana's and gaining her attention back onto him. As their eyes met, he could feel the giddiness fluttering across his body. Gosh he was so happy. He body was shaking in elation and joy, there was only one thing that could make him happier. He stuck his nose at the corner of , her in a chaste kiss. 

"Hey," she stuttered, "What was that for?"  Elana reached up to wipe the spot he had , only to stop when she got caught in his gaze. Suddenly feeling guilty for treating him how she would treat her own dogs, Elana just left her hand covering the spot. 

"No reason other than because it makes me happy." Xiumin wagged his tail, his body wiggling with it. Like when dogs get so excited that their wags can't be contained by just their tail. "And because I love you."

If she was stunned by the kiss nothing could have prepared Elana for those particular words. Never in her life had Elana imagined anyone aside from her family saying that they loved her. It just wasn't going to happen. There wasn't much to love. Elana wasn't a nice girl, she tended to be blunt on most things and laughed where other girls would gasp in terror or shoc