"So Xian, is it? How do you know my daughter ?" My mother asked, taking a seat on the chair opposite us.

To any one watching, this might seem like a friendly question, but I knew exactly what was playing out here.

This was an Interrogation. One fuck up and Xian may not be allowed inside this house ever again. It was a life or death situation and I was quaking in my boots just thinking about it.

Oh God, this is going to go horr-

"First of all thank you ma'am for the snacks." I heard Xian say, making me raise my head from the floor.

This might not be so bad.

He was appealing to the Yoruba in my mother, and I could see genuine smile creep up on her ever so judgemental face.

"And she's in three of my classes at school ma'am, I actually came over to talk about the Algebra homework our teacher gave." Xian finished with a polite smile.

What happened to this boy?

Not that I'm complaining, but is this the Xian Hunt I know?

God in heaven Eṣe oo. My God doesn't wear flip flops, therefore, he can never flop.

My mother had released a full smile, you could tell that Xian had successfully passed her test and she was confident enough to leave him with me.

"That's wonderful, you kids have fun, if you need me, I'll be in my office, before leaving for work." My mum said, smiling, while walking towards her office.

I let out a heavy sigh, then turned to face Xian.

Ah ah, what kind of Gemini behavior is this.

See the boy that was just smiling at my mum, he's now looking like he wants to die.

"Is there anywhere more private we could go to, perhaps your room ?" He said, as if trying to control himself from doing something.

My room? So he can do what? Please oo, I'm not ready to start bearing children.

"We can go to the garden." I said, giving him the biggest side eye ever. He looked as if he was trying so hard to stop himself from doing something. What you may ask? I too was trying to figure that out.

I led him to the garden, but I didn't stop at the general seating area, I wanted to show him my secret rose garden.

It had to be my favorite place in the entire house. The secret garden led up to a tiny cottage that was just enough for two people to live in.

I didn't even think my parents knew about this place, because the gardener had never been here even once.

The vines were left to tangle and the grass and flowers were wild and free.

It was so beautiful and I wouldn't have it any other way.

We walked over to the front of the cottage, were two old chairs were situated but, it seemed as if Xian would rather stand, so I did as well.

I could see the way his breathing was timed and he looked like he was shaking with each breath.

I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, but the way he flinched when I did told me it was having the opposite of the desired effect.

"Xian are you alright?" I finally womaned up and popped the question,  I had started to get worried.

He took in a deep breath, before finally speaking.

"Abby, will you have sex with me?"

*†*†*†*†*†*†*†*†*†*†*†*†*†

"Abby, will you have sex with me?"

That statement kept ringing inside my head.

Sex?

I wasn't a virgin. I'd had sex before, but not with someone I necessarily liked.

Lawal Ayomikun.

He was the golden retriever type, perfect in almost every way. Someone from school hosted a party. Party's were basically religion in LIC and there was one almost every week.

I knew Lawal liked me, there was no denying it. I could see it in the way he looked at me. I was bored and there was subtle flirting, then we both got drunk and the rest is history.

I hated myself after, I wanted my fist time to be with someone I loved, not the aftermath of a drunk dazed one night stand.

Lawal had apologized several times and even tried to ask me out. I wasn't mad at him, I knew he didn't take advantage of me, we were both stupidly drunk.

But there was no helping it, I just didn't like him that way, and I told him so.

It was pretty hard for a couple of weeks,  seeing each other every day in school and all, but eventually we both talked, and made up.

Xian's request made me remember the whole scenario, and I had to question, did I really want to have sex with Xian?

I didn't want to repeat the same mistake I made with Lawal, if I gave myself to Xian, I didn't want to regret it after.

But wait, why is he even asking me this? What's wrong with him?

"You don't have to, if you don't want to of course." Xian said again, this time fisting his hands and shutting his eyes.

I put my hand on his cheek, then avoiding the question like a pro, I hit him with one of my own, "I asked you a question first, what's wrong with you?"

"Please Abiola, I'm trying so hard to control myself, you touching me is not helping matters." He muttered in a guttural tone.

I quickly retracted my hand as if something had burnt me, because it actually felt like Xian was burning up.

"Xian, you're running a fever." I blurted out.

"No, I'm just in rut." He said with a dark chuckle.

"You're in what?" I replied with a questioning tone.

"Rut, it's what happens when a wolf meets their mate, and they haven't consummated the bond. It's basically me being incredibly horny." He said, sounding like he was downplaying the matter.

"Xian, this doesn't look like you're incredibly horny, you look sick, does it hurt ?" I asked with folded arms.

This looked serious, and Xian seemed to be in pain.

He kept quiet for a while before muttering, "Yeah it does."

"And if I sleep with you, the pain will subside?" I questioned again.

"God, this is why I didn't want to tell you. I don't want you to sleep with me because you feel you have to, I want you to do it because you want to." Xian replied, leaning against the cottage walls.

I don't know why, but the thought of Xian being in pain drove me near the brink of insanity. I felt like it was my job to alleviate any burden he might be carrying.

I'm not sure if I'm running mad but I could swear that I felt some of Xian's pain, and it wasn't pretty either.

But did I want to have sex with Xian?

I knew deep down that I wasn't ready, and I didn't want to make the same mistake I made with Lawal all over again.

"Xian I-" I started before he cut me off,

"No Abby, it's fine, really, I shouldn't have sprung up on you like that. I should go." The mumbled, before walking off.

I quickly caught up to him and held his hand.

His gaze was strictly focused on our hands.

"Abby, you shouldn't." He muttered, and I dropped it.

"I still want to help you, what else can I do to help you feel better?" I asked, staring at his clouded eyes.

"I mean, physical contact would lessen it, but I don't trust myself enough to even be around you." He said, looking away.

"But I trust you. You haven't done anything without my consent and I know you're strong enough to fight your wolf off." I whispered softly to him.

I really did believe Xian wouldn't do anything to me, and I sure as hell hoped I was right.

I looked at the time, my mum would have already left for the hospital by now.
She owned a chain of cancer research centres scattered around the world, two in Nigeria, five in the U.S, two in Germany and one in Singapore, so to say she was always busy and in high demand was a bit of an understatement.

I opened the cottage door and signalled Xian to follow me.

Within the short time I had discovered it, I had turned the cottage into a sort of hideaway, a place I could come to when I need to get away from the drama that is my life, or if I simply needed to think.

I lay with my upper body against the headboard of the bed and pat the soft baby blue bedspread beside me giving Xian the go ahead.

"Are you sure about this? I don't want you to do anything you aren't comfortable with just for me." Xian said, scratching his neck awkwardly.

"I'm sure Xian, come on." I said, smiling softly.

Xian came over and lay on my thighs. My fingers found it's way into his hair, it was evident that he hadn't done anything with it, and it was all over the place, but I liked it, it gave him this childish air.

I felt Xian release a sigh as I continued to play with his hair.

The tension is his shoulders lessened and lessened until he was finally relaxed. Before I knew it, he had fallen asleep, and soon after I followed.

VOCABULARY

EṢe - Thank you

A/N

Happy new month! I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter. I made it longer than most of my other chapters because I'm not going to post anything for at least three weeks. (School's a bitch ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ.)

Anyways, y'all saw another one of vilalove09  's character's, Lawal. Go read Intricacy to find out more about the LIC gang!

What do y'all think about Xian going into rut?🤔

And do you think Abiola handled it well?

☺️ That's all from me folks, till next time!

        ~ Your average ♡Pringle♡