"Then you hate it?"
Asharuiya has no answer.
The light outside the window fell through the gauze curtains and fell on the side of her face, revealing the layer of fatigue that was usually well hidden.
Lu Ling looked at her for a while and didn't ask any more questions. He just picked up the teapot and refilled her half cup.
"Asharuiya."
"... Huh?"
"You said last time that it would take some time."
Lu Ling's tone suddenly became very soft, as if he was confirming something very important.
Asharuiya's fingers stopped on the edge of the cup.
She raised her eyes, met his gaze, and pursed her lips slightly.
Then she put the tea cup down, folded her hands on her knees, and sat upright than before.
"... I did." She admitted. Her voice was not loud, but she did not dodge.
"What about now."
Silence.
She lowered her eyes, her eyelashes casting two small shadows on her cheeks.
The heat in the teapot floated between the two of them, and the air suddenly became a little sticky.
"... What are you asking me?" she asked knowingly.
Lu Ling didn't speak, but stretched his hand across the table, palm up, and placed it in front of her.
Asharuiya stared at that hand for a long time.
The hand had clear joints and lay there quietly, neither forcing nor intending to take it back.
She suddenly smiled softly, and her smile was different from usual.
There was no calculation, no calmness, just simplicity, as if I had finally let go of something I had been carrying for a long time.
"...Lu Ling." she called him.
"Hmm."
"You know, you are really too much."
There was a faint hint of complaint in her voice, but the ending was as soft as a feather falling on the water.
"You always know everything and arrange everything for others, and you don't even give others a chance to hesitate..."
"I gave you more than two months."
Lu Ling interrupted her, with a hint of rogueness in her tone that was not easily noticeable.
"Long enough."
Asharuiya opened his mouth and wanted to refute, but found that not a word could come out.
She looked away, then back, and finally landed on his hand that was still spread out on the table.
She raised her hand from her knees, and her fingertips touched his palm, which was cool and trembling slightly.
Lu Ling closed his fingers and held her hand.
Her fingers were very thin, holding it in her palm like a bird parked on a branch.
"... I'm not ready yet." Asharuiya lowered his head, his voice muffled.
"I know."
Lu Ling stood up, walked around the table in front of her, bent down, and looked at her level.
"You are never ready. You think too much."
Asharuiya raised his eyes.
The distance between the two was very close, close enough that he could clearly see the fragility in her eyes that had never been seen by others.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and then she closed her eyes.
It's not acquiescence, it's a choice.
Lu Ling lowered his head and kissed her.
This kiss was different from the first time.
The first time she just pressed against him gently, clumsily like a cat testing the temperature of the water.
But this time, she didn't retreat.
She took her hand out of his palm, climbed onto his shoulder, tightened her fingertips slightly, and tried hard to find a fulcrum.
Lu Ling grabbed her waist and took her up from the chair. The distance between the two people was completely reduced to zero.
Her lips were soft, with a hint of the sweetness of tiramisu and the hint of astringency of black tea.
Their breaths intertwined, and her eyelashes swept across his cheek, causing a thin itch.
The kiss goes from shallow to deep, from testing to confirming.
She was trembling, not the kind of fear, but the kind of uncontrollable trembling that happens after she has been suppressed for too long and finally let go.
After a long time, he finally let her go.
Asharuiya was panting slightly, his blue eyes were covered with a thin layer of mist, and there were two groups of very light red on his cheeks.
She raised her hand and rubbed the corner of her lips with the back of her hand, looked away, and spoke so softly that it was almost inaudible.
"... Are you satisfied now?"
"Not yet."
Lu Ling's forehead was pressed against her forehead, the tip of his nose touched the tip of her nose, and the corners of his lips curved in a bad arc.
"I've owed it for so long, shouldn't I charge some interest?"
"... bastard."
She scolded without any confidence, but her voice was too soft to speak.
Lu Ling laughed, lowered her head again, and blocked her voice in her mouth.
This time she didn't ask when, nor did she say whether she was ready or not.
Her hands slid up from his shoulders and gently hugged his neck. She closed her eyes and responded to the kiss seriously, clumsily, and with her usual reserve and pride.
Gradually, the atmosphere became anxious...
With a flash of light, the two of them came directly to the depths of the Spirit Realm.
"... I lost to you, bad guy." Asharuiya closed his eyes as if resigned to his fate.
Asharuiya woke up and didn't move for a while.
As my mind slowly came back to my senses, the first signal I received was acid, as if my whole body had been torn apart.
She was lying on her side on an unfamiliar bed. The quilt was rolled into a mess and half of it was dragged to the floor.
He was wearing pajamas.
However, I have no impression of who put it on her or when.
Then, she saw Lu Ling.
He lay sideways next to her, supporting his head with one hand, and just stared at her quietly.
"... what time is it."
"It's just past noon." Lu Ling's voice was still a little hoarse from sleep.
She sat up, slid the quilt off her shoulders, raised her hand to gather a handful of hair that was disheveled, and slowly moved it to one shoulder, inserting her fingers into the soft hair, smoothing it out step by step.
The posture was not like being in a man's bed at all, but rather like he had just taken a nap in his Goddess Peak cliffside cabin and was tidying up carelessly.
"What are you looking at?" She didn't look back.
"Look at you."
He really doesn't turn around at all.
"... What's there to see?"
"Good looking."
She patted her hair with her fingers and continued to comb it down. The roots of her ears were a little red.
She stepped on the carpet with her bare feet, her eyes swept over the black dress that was so crumpled that it was almost unrecognizable. She paused for a moment, and then moved away as if nothing happened.
"Last night--"
"Last night was beautiful."
She turned back and glanced at him.
There was helplessness, anger, and something else she couldn't explain in her eyes.
"I haven't finished asking yet."
"You asked."
"... Forget it."
She walked to the window and pushed open the ajar window.
A bit of cold wind blew in and hit her face, and she squinted her eyes slightly.
"Asharuiya."
"... Huh?"
"Do you regret it?"
She was silent for a few seconds.
Outside the window, there is a vast sea of flowers, blown by the wind.
She turned around, leaned against the window lattice, and looked at him against the light.
"... Your question is very stupid."
The corners of his mouth curved in a small arc, without any calculation or calmness, he just took it seriously, with a smile that seemed to have no way of defeating him.
"If I would regret it, I wouldn't have let you be next to me from the beginning."
Lu Ling looked at her and laughed after a while.
He got out of bed, took a coat, walked behind her and put it on her, his movements too light to be true.
Asharuiya gathered up the coat and continued to look out the window.
The two of them just stood there without speaking.
The soft light slowly spread over them, making the two shadows quiet.