"Here you go. This is the style for the suits."
In the Wakandan royal laboratory, Hawking somewhat absentmindedly handed Shuri the suit design Wanda had chosen.
He had never expected that simply asking about suit styles would end with him confirming his relationship with Wanda.
Honestly, he did have feelings for Wanda. He had not agreed to her confession solely because he was afraid of hurting her.
Otherwise, when Wanda had pounced on him, he could easily have restrained her with his abilities and prevented what followed.
As for why he had feelings for Wanda, aside from the fact that the grown-up Wanda was indeed beautiful and suited his tastes, the main reason was his own personality.
In his previous life, family circumstances had made him rather withdrawn. Combined with his lack of sensitivity when it came to romance, he had never had much luck with women.
His views on love were also rather unusual. Deep down, he had never believed in things like love at first sight. He believed more in affection that grew over time.
He felt that only feelings developed after two people had spent a long time together, gotten to know each other, and understood one another could sustain a lifetime together.
But in modern society, it was normally very difficult for affection to grow over time.
Other than colleagues who worked with you every day, who could spend every day with you and have enough time to truly get to know you?
It was fine if you had many unmarried colleagues around your age. If there were few, it became even harder. If there were none at all—if they were all married, or simply all the same sex—then you were doomed to die alone.
In this life, his personality had changed somewhat, but fundamentally, he