0% 1.
No matter how fun sothing was, eventually, it had to end.
The closing announcent echoed throughout the venue, accompanied by a cheerful comrcial song.
By the ti they had taken a short ride in the hot air balloon, it was already 10 PM
“We didn’t make it to the aquarium, after all.”
“It’s okay.”
Siwoo and Alia, holding hands like a pair of lovers, walked through the crowd toward the exit.
The cold night air couldn’t put a shade over the departnt store’s light, which seed to wave them off warmly from behind.
Alia slipped their clasped hands into Siwoo’s coat pocket to cut through the chill.
She thought that it’d feel a little warr like this.
“...”
anwhile, Siwoo noticed that Alia seed to be lost in thoughts in a different way than before.
Her profile carried the lingering glow of joy, as if she had just woken up from a beautiful dream.
She didn’t glance around or say much, just occasionally playing around with his fingers in the pocket
And yet, he couldn’t brush off the feeling that sothing was off.
He couldn’t exactly describe the feeling, but if he had to call it, it was close to awkwardness.
Actually, he had felt it throughout their short trip, it was just, the feeling was getting stronger now.
A date is supposed to bring people closer, isn’t it?
As such thoughts lingered in his mind, they retraced their steps back to the hotel together.
When they arrived, the warmth of the room thawed their frozen ears.
It seed like their decision to turn on the heater earlier was a smart one.
“Siwoo.”
“Yes, Ms. Alia?”
When he was hanging up his coat carefully, so that he wouldn’t wrinkle it, Alia spoke for the first ti in 30 minutes.
In that strange, awkward silence, her sudden voice brought him relief.
“Thank you.”
It was just a simple thank you, but he could tell that it carried sothing heavy.
He could feel the unspoken depth to those words, almost impossible for him to grasp.
“From now on, I hope we can say thank you to each other more often instead of apologies.”
Following by a small smile at his words, Alia gave a slight nod.
It was a smile that seed to be tinged with sadness sohow.
2.
Being a witch, Alia never had a regular sleep schedule.
Since she had a spirit body, she didn’t usually need rest, but after her physical, ntal, or magical exhaustion reached its peak, a soft bed and a warm pillow turned into necessities.
A way to reset herself ntally.
Although, during her journey to clear up the Kill List, she didn’t get a wink of sleep except for the tis when her body gave out from sheer exhaustion.
When she did, she did it on rough ground rather than a plush mattress, and she hadn’t truly slept since returning to Gehenna, not even after her hearing had concluded.
Perhaps it was because she had finally resolved the misunderstanding with Siwoo and had such a good ti that she finally felt all the weight lift off her shoulders...
As she stood under the warm shower, she felt an exhaustion that she hadn’t felt ever since her days as an apprentice witch.
She felt like collapsing onto a bed, burying her head in a pillow, and falling into a deep sleep right then and there.
“...”
Her outing with Siwoo today had brought her overwhelming happiness.
Although the intense flavor of the modern world food had tornted her tongue, and the unexpected thrill rides had drained her energy, the ti she spent walking hand-in-hand with him through the streets, as if they were lovers, was sothing that the word ‘happiness’ couldn’t even describe properly.
That was the degree of the joy she felt.
She was so happy that her heart felt full to the point it was about to burst, but at the sa ti, she felt a sense of lancholy and sadness.
An incredibly contradictory feeling.
When she walked beside him.
Sharing a al together.
Even during the ti when they exchanged the most trivial conversations, Alia felt that sothing grew inside her.
Guilt.
No matter how much Siwoo reassured her, she couldn’t shake the overwhelming guilt off.
The guilt of driving him out of his quarters and leaving him in a shabby barn to sleep on.
Forcing him to survive on stale bread and watery porridge while smugly offering him cake and cigarettes, as if she was doing him a favor.
All the ridiculous orders she issued, like telling him to hunt a deer from the forest.
There was also the ti when she forced him to stand naked before the twins and made him ejaculate.
And the ti when she made him work overti for hours, even though she could finish that task with a re flick of her hand.
No matter how much Siwoo said it was fine or how much she promised to make ands, the weight of her past mistakes echoed in her ears with terrifying clarity.
‘Do you think soone like you deserves happiness?’ the voice whispered in her mind.
Alia bit her lip.
Although perhaps, this was all just an excuse.
To cover up the fact that she wasn’t used to happiness.
But, she knew better than anyone how fragile and sharp happiness could beco when shattered, like pieces of broken glass.
That was why, even when happiness was within her grasp, she hesitated to reach for it.
In the end, she was just afraid.
Towards this strange, unfamiliar emotion that crept in, the emotion that she just wanted to observe from a distance.
Realizing this, a faint, bitter sigh escaped her lips.
3.
Having finished his shower before Alia began hers, Siwoo leaned against the bed, feeling restless.
He fiddled with his phone, pretending to look up places to visit tomorrow, but his mind was elsewhere, completely unfocused.
-Shhhhhhhh
The sound of water from Alia’s shower was distracting him.
“This is just....”
He believed they had truly reconciled this morning.
They had kissed before, but this ti, he had finally understood Alia’s feelings, and she had opened up about the emotions she’d been bottling up.
Not only that, they’d even gone on a date, just like a real couple.
But if soone were to ask, ‘What’s the next step?’ he wouldn’t know what to say.
Hell, he wasn’t even confident that he could give a clear answer.
After all, he and Alia had never been ‘lovers’ before.
Kissing holding hands on a date staying at a hotel together = ?
To most people, the answer would seem obvious, but when Alia was involved, it beca a complicated, unpredictable equation.
Of course, the way the sound of water made him uneasy was proof of his anticipation.
After all, what kind of man wouldn’t lust after Alia after seeing her beauty?
But, he couldn’t bring himself to reveal those feelings to her.
For one, there were Sharon, the twins, and his master to consider.
Not to ntion his promised relationship with Countess Yesod.
He had already explained this to Alia, and she hadn’t responded much at the ti.
Still, that didn’t an she wasn’t bothered by it.
Since then, he had never brought up his ‘other lovers,’ almost unnaturally so.
“Forget it.”
In the end, he decided to let it go.
The others had grudgingly accepted his nearly polygamous relationships in their own ways.
But, expecting Alia to do the sa would be unfair to her.
He told himself to let Alia follow her pace was the best thing he could do.
-Click!
At that mont, the bathroom door opened.
A bitter smile appeared on his lips.
For all his promises to not dwell on it, his head turned instantly at the sound of the door opening.
“...”
Of course, she wasn’t naked or draped in a robe as his fleeting thoughts had imagined.
Instead, she was wearing her pajamas that he had seen for the first ti in a while.
The frilly, lacy dress looked more like sothing for a doll than a real person.
But Alia wore it flawlessly, making it look completely natural on her.
He even had a fleeting, ridiculous thought after he saw this. He thought that if she modeled for an online store, there’d be a flood of refund requests from custors who realized they couldn’t possibly replicate her beauty.
Regardless, he needed these silly thoughts to distract himself from the awkwardness that had crept back into the room.
Her hair was dry and fluffy, a normal thing since she’d just stepped out of a shower, but her flushed cheeks still looked warm.
Alia glanced at Siwoo and then switched off the main lights.
She was getting used to doing things herself now.
The bedside lamp, however, remained on, casting a soft glow.
She walked over to Siwoo’s bed.
His heart pounded wildly, reminding him of the feelings he still couldn’t shake.
Trying to avoid his gaze, Alia carefully sat down beside him, on the edge of the bed.
“Can I...hug you?”
She asked in a fragile voice, barely audible in the dim light.
With a hopeful, yet doubtful feeling, he nodded, then Alia’s arms slipped under his armpits.
She rested her cheek against his chest, as if she was cuddling a giant teddy bear.
His heart was pounding so hard that he beca worried if she could hear it, but at the sa ti, he beca aware of how incredibly soft her body felt through her thin clothes.
“I want to return to Gehenna tomorrow.”
“What? What about the rest of the trip?”
“I have sothing I need to take care of. Sothing I left unfinished.”
Siwoo wanted to show her more of the Modern World, but with how firm her tone was as she said that, what could he do?
With that, it was decided that their trip would end way sooner than he’d expected.
Alia rubbed her cheek against his chest like a child seeking comfort.
“Thank you for showing around on this trip.”
“You’re welco. I was happy to be with you.”
“I’ll never forget what you’ve shown , Siwoo.”
She sounded drowsy, as if she was about to fall asleep.
Then, the sound of her soft breath, like a bird that had found a resting place after a long journey, echoed.
Siwoo tentatively reached out and gently stroked the back of her head.
I guess I don’t need permission for sothing like this, right?
Alia flinched slightly and then carefully looked up at him.
“I know this is a lot to ask, but... Can I ask for one more thing?”
“What is it?”
“After we’re back in Gehenna... Could you hold like this... Sotis?”
She ant it in a completely innocent, platonic way, but to Siwoo, still caught in his fleeting thoughts, it sounded incredibly suggestive.
To make matters worse, her fully relaxed, languid breathing and her soft voice carried an unintentionally sultry tone.
“...Of course I will.”
He hesitated for a second before answering, but Alia didn’t seem to notice that.
She just kept repeating, “Thank you, Siwoo. Thank you...” like she was truly relieved.
After that, her breathing evened out, turning soft and rhythmic.
No matter how much larger he was compared to her, she couldn’t possibly find his chest more comfortable than a pillow.
But, as if she had found the most perfect bed in the world, Alia had fallen asleep almost instantly in his arms.
“Ms.Alia?”
“...”
“Ms. Alia?”
“...”
Siwoo called her na a couple of tis, just to make sure that she was really out, before finally letting out a long sigh.
“This is driving crazy...”
He glanced down at Alia’s peaceful sleeping face.
There was no way he could sleep like this.
For one thing, he had to be careful not to get a whiff of her scent now that they were so close.
If he accidentally inhaled it in his sleep, who knows what kind of strange thoughts or reactions might occur.
But she looked so peaceful, he didn’t want to wake her, and he didn’t really want to move her either.
So he carefully supported her head so that she wouldn’t fall and stared up at the ceiling, wide awake.
“Her body is really soft...”
It was strangely comforting, in a completely non-sexual way, to just hold her, as she was softer than any cushion he’d ever felt.
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