"Th-This... you ran out just to take a girl's clothes off? But isn't that a little too hasty?"
"What exactly happened between you two?"
Zhao Bai took a deep breath. Feeling another misunderstanding brewing, he recounted everything that had happened over the past few days in full detail, including the monster, to prove his innocence.
Theresa remained silent for a long while before finally speaking.
"You even prepared a shiromuku?!"
"After everything I said, that was the only sentence you heard?!"
Theresa froze, lowering her head in thought. Was it too late for her to only start thinking of baby names now?
"Were you even listening?"
Zhao Bai asked angrily, having completely lost his usual calm control. He had become anxious and insecure.
"Ahem." Theresa stared at him and asked, "Since you said you have nothing going on with Bronya, I'm willing to allocate some funds to purchase this O-furisode kimono sash. Are you willing to sell it?"
"Not selling."
Zhao Bai answered instinctively.
Chapter 63: Everything Felt Dull
Theresa had merely been testing him. She could not afford it at all.
Zhao Bai realized it immediately, but the answer had slipped out on instinct. It was already too late to take it back.
He had ten thousand excuses he could use to brush off the headmistress, but he could not deceive his own heart. At a table in his restaurant, during one fleeting instant in the endlessly flowing river of time, Zhao Bai truly felt an impulsive urge to throw caution to the wind. He had even thought of a child's name.
It had been brief—so brief that even he had not noticed it.
Perhaps it had been the instant Bronya held out her arms and asked him to help untie the sash.
Or perhaps it had been when