Mika, of course, took one look at the Nuri body pillow and nodded with a maddeningly satisfied expression.
"As expected."
Astrid covered half her face with one hand.
"Mika."
He ignored her completely, holding the Nuri pillow up between them.
"A pillow of Nuri herself. Imagine my surprise."
He glanced back at Astrid, and his teasing expression sharpened.
"You act like you can’t stand her. You act as if the very fact she’s a demi-human is enough for you to start hissing like a winter wind. But clearly..."
He shook the pillow slightly.
"That’s not the whole story."
Astrid refused to et his eyes.
Mika’s voice softened, though only a little as he said,
"It makes sense, though. You knew Nuri from before all of this. Before the politics. Before the hatred beca the thing you wrapped yourself in."
He looked down at the pillow thoughtfully.
"And out of everyone, Nuri was the only one who actually called you big sister all the ti, wasn’t she?"
"? Your sisters? We all pushed back. We all rolled our eyes. We all made your life difficult."
He smiled faintly.
"But Nuri...Nuri was enchanted by you from the beginning."
That made Astrid’s face go softer in spite of herself.
"She followed you everywhere." Mika continued. "And you loved that, didn’t you? Because for once, soone truly acted like your little sister. No resistance. No argunts. Just affection."
"You two..." His voice dropped with a hint of sadness now. "You two had sothing really good."
Astrid said nothing, but her hand tightened around the edge of her skirt.
"Then everything collapsed." Mika sighed. "And you pushed her away too. Not because you stopped caring, but because at that point there was no way you could allow yourself to be seen with her."
"Not with the path you chose. Not with the alliance you built around yourself. Not with the image you were trying so desperately to beco."
Astrid lowered her gaze.
"That didn’t stop you from wanting to spend ti with her, though."
He gestured at the pillow.
"Even today, when you t Nuri, you acted cold and distant. You probably didn’t even want to acknowledge her. But inside?"
"I’m pretty sure you were absolutely giddy. Jumping with excitent just from being able to talk to her after so long."
Astrid said nothing.
But the look on her face told him everything.
He was right.
Again. And again, he was right.
"You know, Astrid..."
Mika let out a deep sigh, his expression shifting to sothing more thoughtful and concerned.
"You might think Nuri doesn’t like you anymore. You might think she hates you because of how you’ve treated her for so many years."
"But let tell you—that’s not true at all."
He looked down at the pillow again, then smiled to himself.
"In the past, she adored you. She clung to you. She called you big sister all the ti. You two played together constantly. She’d flap around after you, and you’d cover her up with your tails whenever she got cold or scared."
"You were an absurdly adorable pair."
Astrid’s face betrayed her again.
"And I know for a fact..."
Mika said with conviction.
...that she misses those monts too. So whatever nonsense you’ve built up in your head about it being too late, or her not wanting you anymore, or you ruining everything beyond repair..."
He shook his head.
"You’re wrong."
"As long as you go to her honestly. and just let her in—even a little—you’ll get that friendship back faster than you think."
Her lips parted slightly, but she didn’t answer. She just sat there, thinking.
Mika, seeing her hesitation, continued more softly.
"And it’s not just Nuri. It’s your sisters too. You think opening up to them is going to destroy everything, but it won’t. They’re still your sisters."
"You all might be rivals. You all might drive each other mad. You all might be dramatic disasters in different ways. But at the end of the day, you love each other. And I’m pretty sure they love you too."
Astrid’s eyes flickered.
"So if you actually tell them the truth—what you’ve been carrying all these years, how lonely you were, how badly you wanted to fix things—I think most of these problems would vanish before you even finished speaking."
That made sothing spark in Mika’s mind, and suddenly he straightened with a bright look in his eyes.
"In fact, I can help you."
Astrid looked up sharply.
He was already reaching for his phone.
"If doing it yourself is too embarrassing, I can coordinate everything. I can talk to them, explain the situation, drag all of you into the sa room if I have to, and make sure everything cos out properly."
"It’s really not that hard. Give ten minutes—"
But before he could unlock the screen, Astrid lunged forward and grabbed the phone with both hands.
"No, Mika. Don’t."
He frowned. "Co on, Astrid. I can—"
"It’s not that."
She looked down, hesitant.
"It’s not that I think they won’t accept ."
Mika paused.
"I already know that if I really opened up to them—if I spoke from the heart—they would accept ."
"They’d forget the past and welco back without hesitation."
Now Mika was confused.
"Then why—"
"Because I can’t." Her voice was barely a whisper. "Even though I want to say everything, even though I know they’d accept ...I just can’t."
She looked up at him, and there was so much pain in her eyes.
"The guilt is overwhelming. The sha is too much. To just walk up to them after everything I’ve said, everything I’ve done, and act like none of it happened? To ask them to just forgive ?"
"I can’t face that. I can’t be so...shaless."
Mika’s heart ached at the rawness in her voice.
"But if you’re struggling to express yourself, I can—"
"No." She cut him off firmly. "You can’t do that either."
She t his eyes.
"This is my responsibility. I need to do this on my own. I need to make ands myself. If you do it for , it won’t be sincere. It won’t be real. And I don’t want that."
Her expression shifted to sothing more determined.
"Trust , Mika. I am trying. I really am trying to fix everything."
A wry smile crossed her face.
"It may not seem like it. I know I’m weird and awkward and confrontational about it. But this is my way of doing things."
"It’s slow. It’s strange. It probably looks ridiculous from the outside. But this is doing my absolute best to make everything right."
She reached out and took his hand.
"So please. Let do this on my own. Not because I don’t appreciate your help—I do. But because this is sothing I need to do for myself."
Mika looked at her.
At this vulnerable, sincere, determined woman who was trying so hard to reconnect with the people she loved, even if her thods were bizarre and roundabout.
He let out a long sigh.
"Fine. Fine."
A smile tugged at his lips.
"If you’re doing your absolute best, I guess I can leave you to it."
He squeezed her hand.
"And honestly? I’m so proud of you for taking this step. I thought I’d have to interfere, to force you to change your mind. But it seems like you understood everything on your own."
Astrid let out a quiet, crooked little laugh.
"I wouldn’t say I understood it on my own." She muttered. "It’s more like I was forced into it. After years of loneliness, eventually even soone like starts breaking."
"And because of that." She said, looking down. "I was forced to co out of the shell I built and look at the person I used to be."
Mika nodded slowly.
"Well...it’s good that you’re moving forward. Good that you didn’t stay trapped in the past forever."
Then, as if sothing only just occurred to him, he tilted his head and asked,
"Speaking of the past...what about your mother? Are you doing the sa thing with her? Are you trying to reconnect?"
The mont the words left his mouth, Astrid’s face changed.
The vulnerability remained, but it was joined by sothing heavier. Sothing darker.
Hesitant.
Lost.
She looked away, and Mika knew imdiately—this was different.
This wound was deeper.
This relationship was more complicated.
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