A Belated Confession

The air was filled with the faint scent of the new bedding and the intoxicating warmth of their breaths, lingering after their kiss.

Lu Yan's hands were still braced on either side of Aemeath's face as he drew back a little.

His gaze traced every inch of the girl's face beneath him.

Aemeath's cheeks were an alluring peachy pink from the kiss, and her golden eyes were misted over.

She simply gazed at him, her eyes clear, trusting him completely and utterly without the slightest guard. Her lashes trembled, making her look just like a little pink cat that had sheathed its claws and willingly bared its soft belly for a pet.

Gone was the obsession that had made her want to devour him whole and become one with him. Right now, Aemeath was just a sweet, delicate, clingy little wife whose heart was filled with him alone.

Lu Yan gazed at her in silence, his heart pounding in his chest harder than ever before.

"Thump... thump..." It beat once, then again.

Suddenly, Lu Yan felt the world around them begin to fall silent.

The rustle of the breeze through the persimmon leaves outside the window faded away. The occasional car horns from the distant street vanished. It was as though even the paths of the tiny specks of dust floating through the air had come to a standstill.

It was as if the whole world had been muted, shrinking until all that remained was this sunlit bedroom and the sound of their mingled breaths.

Everything that had happened over the past few days flashed through Lu Yan's mind like a movie.

From meeting Aemeath at the door of his old place, to her barging into his life, to her imperiously making a deep kiss the wager in front of the game console.

From her wanting to provide for him as Venus, to her eagerly buying all this little furniture today, just to fill every gap between them.

All along, Aemeath had been the one constantly drawing closer, constantly giving, using her overbearing yet utterly sincere ways to pull him bodily off that lonely, insecure island, where he had always been ready to move on.

Lu Yan suddenly realized something very important, something they had both overlooked in their mutual attraction.

They had moved in together, they had embraced, and they had even given themselves to each other without reservation.

Yet they had skipped the most conventional step.

He had never formally asked her to define their relationship.

"A-Yan?" Aemeath blinked in confusion as she watched Lu Yan stare at her for so long without saying a word.

She called to him softly and reached out a soft little hand to tug at the collar of his hoodie. In a sweet, playful tone, she asked, "Why do you keep staring at me? Are you so dazzled by me that you've gone silly?"

Lu Yan's heart softened at the sight of her like this.

Instead of playing along with her joke, he let the smile fade from his lips, his expression growing more serious than ever before.

Lu Yan thought for a moment, then spoke, his voice unusually clear in the quiet bedroom.

"This time, it's my turn to go first."

Aemeath froze for a moment, confusion appearing in her watery eyes.

"Huh? What?" She tilted her head and looked at him, puzzled.

What did he mean, it was his turn to go first? Was A-Yan going to do something?

Lu Yan did not answer immediately.

He slowly reached out and took the little hand that was tugging at his collar.

He gently pulled her hand down and laced his fingers tightly with hers, feeling the unmistakable warmth of their palms.

Lu Yan took a deep breath. In the room so quiet that only their heartbeats could be heard, he looked into Aemeath's eyes and said with perfect clarity:

"I love you, Aemeath."

Aemeath's pupils contracted in an instant, and even her breath stopped.

Lu Yan held her hand tightly, as though it were the most precious thing in his life.

"The truth is, from the moment you appeared, you completely changed my world."

"But I've always been a coward. I was afraid I wasn't good enough for you, afraid I couldn't give you the happiness you wanted."

Lu Yan's voice was a little nervous. "But you showed me in your own way that I didn't need to become someone else. I only needed to be the Lu Yan you needed."

"You've done so much for me and crossed so much to come to my side. You even arranged our home."

Lu Yan lowered his head and brought their tightly interlaced hands to his lips, pressing a reverent kiss to them.

Then he raised his head again and looked deep into Aemeath's eyes.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

Lu Yan's eyes grew a little warm, and his lips curved into a smile that was somewhat clumsy but utterly sincere.

"Can a fool like me be your boyfriend?"

The rustling of the persimmon leaves outside the window, the birdsong-all of it seemed to fall quiet in that moment.

Time stretched out endlessly.

Aemeath lay on the bed in a daze, completely motionless, as though a spell had rooted her in place.

Boyfriend? Girlfriend?

Over the past few days, she had always declared, "You're mine," and "I'll provide for you," with unshakable confidence, using every means she could to leave her mark on Lu Yan's life.

Because she was afraid that if she didn't hold on tightly, he would vanish again like a bubble.

She was used to asserting her presence in that almost overbearing way.

But she had never imagined that Lu Yan would take the initiative to offer her a key to his heart like this, using the simplest, gentlest words.

Boyfriend... girlfriend... Aemeath silently turned the two words over in her mind.

These were more than just titles. As a man, Lu Yan was entrusting her with all his responsibility.

In his own most ordinary, most clumsy way, he was trying to catch the full weight of her love.

An indescribable joy burst through all of Aemeath's mental defenses like a flood breaking through a dam.

Large tears swiftly welled up in her once-clear eyes.

With a plop, a crystalline tear slipped from the smooth corner of her eye and fell onto the soft, nude-pink pillow, spreading into a small, dark patch.

"Aemeath?! Why are you crying?" The sight of her tears sent Lu Yan into a panic. Thinking he had been too abrupt, he hurried to let go of her hand and wipe them away.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Don't let go!" Aemeath suddenly cried in a tearful, coquettish voice. She turned the tables and gripped Lu Yan's fingers with astonishing strength.

She abruptly raised her upper body and threw herself into Lu Yan's arms.

"Boohoohoo~~~" Aemeath cried like a child who had finally found where she belonged.

She buried her face deep in the crook of Lu Yan's neck, her warm tears soaking the collar of his hoodie.

Lu Yan was startled for a moment, then immediately understood.

The panic in his eyes faded, giving way to a gentle warmth.

He wrapped his arms around the girl trembling slightly with tears in his embrace, one hand gently stroking her back over and over.

"Don't cry... don't cry..." Lu Yan murmured soothingly, his voice impossibly tender.

"A-Yan is a big dummy..." Aemeath sobbed in Lu Yan's arms, her voice halting but full of a sweetness that went to the bone. "Who... who waits until they're already sleeping in the same bed and have even arranged their home... to ask if someone will be their girlfriend..."

Though she complained, her arms tightened around Lu Yan's waist, as if she wanted nothing more than to melt into his body.

"Yes, I'm a dummy," Lu Yan admitted with a smile, resting his chin on her head and gently nuzzling her hair.

"Then, Lady Aemeath, will you accept this dummy's confession?"

Aemeath nodded vigorously in his arms, her pink ahoge poking Lu Yan's face again and again.

She raised her head, and a smile many times brighter than the sun blossomed on her beautiful, tear-washed face.

Tears still clung to the corners of her eyes, which were brimming with happiness.

"I will!"

Looking into Lu Yan's eyes, Aemeath declared solemnly, "I... Aemeath, am willing a hundred times over, ten thousand times over, to be Lu Yan's girlfriend."

She sniffled, her gaze growing impossibly soft and resolute.

"A-Yan isn't a dummy at all." Aemeath reached out and caressed Lu Yan's cheek, feeling the warmth of his skin. "You're my hero, my one and only."

In the quiet bedroom, the sunlight gradually lengthened the shadow of the two of them in each other's arms.

"A-Yan~"

"What is it?"

"As your girlfriend..." Aemeath tilted her chin up slightly, her pink lips parting, her eyes filled with a young girl's purity and playfulness. "Don't you still owe me our first kiss as an official couple?"

The smile in Lu Yan's eyes spread fully.

He looked at the sweet, adorable little girlfriend in his arms, who depended on him wholeheartedly, then lowered his head and gave her his all without reservation.

"As you command, my girlfriend."

Their lips met.

In this home filled with furniture and filled to the brim with love, they held each other close.

There was no savior who had saved the world, and no insecure artist.

On this peaceful morning, there was only an ordinary couple, happier than anyone else.