As we sat there together, the world outside seed to blur into a gentle haze, leaving just the two of us wrapped in our little bubble of comfort. Nina's fingers intertwined with mine, her touch light and playful. She traced the lines of my palm with her fingertips, her gaze drifting downwards, a soft smile playing on her lips.
"Your hands are so big." She murmured, turning my hand this way and that as if inspecting a rare artifact. "Mine look so delicate compared to yours." She wrinkled her nose, giving my fingers a tiny squeeze. "It's like holding a bear paw."
I chuckled, letting her play with my hand while my other one idly scrolled through our chat conversation on my phone.
The screen flickered with ssages, a chaotic mixture of emojis, half-written words, and, of course, her utterly baffling encrypted ssages. As I scrolled further, a grin tugged at the corners of my mouth, and a soft laugh escaped before I could stop it.
"What are you laughing at, Kafka?...It better not be about ." Nina's eyes flicked up, suspicious.
I tilted the screen towards her, the light reflecting off my amused expression.
"I'm looking at our chat log, Nina. And, honestly, how do you expect anyone to understand this?" I tapped one ssage. " 'Whr u? Bsy w wrk. Il cl u ltr?'...That's not a text—that's a riddle."
"I'm not that bad!...I-I was typing with one hand at that ti, so it ended up that way." She gasped, cheeks puffing out in an indignant pout.
"Oh, you most definitely are that bad, Nina." I teased, scrolling down. "Here's another classic: 'Yup 👍😂🏃♀️💨.' I'm still trying to figure out if that ant 'yes' or if you were just having an emoji breakdown."
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She let out a dramatic groan, burying her face in her free hand. "Stop bullying !" She whined, her voice muffled. "You're such a jerk, even though you know I'm an amateur at this stuff and that I'm doing my best!"
"But you make it so easy, and your reactions are just the cherry on the top." I grinned and leaned in, my voice dropping to a gentle murmur.
"Hmph! If I didn't like you so much, I'd seriously reconsider this whole thing." She said as she gave my hand a light pinch, her lips forming a sulky pout.
I laughed softly, squeezing her hand in return.
"Okay, okay, I'll stop." I said and then continued to ask sothing on my mind, "But Nina...It seems like even though you aren't the most fond of texting, you really like to send pictures, seeing as you don't just send one or two in a day but dozens."
Her eyes widened in shock when she heard calling her out.
"What? I do not!" She leaned forward, trying to peek at my screen, her face scrunched in disbelief.
"You totally do, Nina." I said, still scrolling. I held the phone out for her to see. "Look at this...Here's one of a cup of coffee. And here's one of your desk. Oh, and look—your lunch, your shoes, the sky, so random cat on the street…" I kept flicking through. "You even sent a picture of a half-eaten sandwich once."
"I don't even rember sending half of these!" Her jaw dropped, her eyes darting between the screen and .
"Well, you did." I chuckled, scrolling through the endless parade of pictures. "It's like you have this compulsion to share every little thing with ."
She bit her lip, her cheeks flushed a soft pink. Her gaze dropped to her lap, fingers twisting a loose thread on her sleeve.
"It's not like I plan to send you so many pictures, Kafka." She finally admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "It's just that whenever I see sothing amusing or funny, or even sothing I did, I want you to see it, too." She peeked up at through her lashes, the vulnerability in her eyes tugging at my heart. "But that's probably annoying for you, huh?" Her lips quivered into a small pout. "I should probably stop sending you photos on a whim, shouldn't I?"
Her question, filled with such quiet hesitation, punched straight in the chest. I grabbed her hand imdiately, shaking my head with a vehent grin as I said in a hurry,
"Stop? Are you kidding ?...Those silly pictures make my whole day, and I literally cannot live without them anymore!"
Her eyes widened, the pink in her cheeks deepening.
"I an it." I insisted. "No matter what mood I'm in—whether I'm exhausted, annoyed, or just having one of those days, when I hear your notification sound, I get this stupid smile on my face." I laughed softly, my thumb brushing over her knuckles. "Because I know it's going to be sothing hilarious, ridiculous, or just so you...And that makes everything better."
Her lips trembled, a soft breath escaping her as her eyes shimred with emotion.
"You…You really feel that way, Kafka?"
I nodded, my grin softening into sothing tender.
"Of course, Nina. And if you don't believe , I can even show you a whole folder I made just for all the pictures you sent to ."
"A folder?" Her brow furrowed, and then I proceeded to show her what I was talking about.
I pulled my phone closer, swiping to my gallery app and opening a neatly organised folder titled 'The Things My Adorable Little Tigress Sent '.
The gallery filled the screen with a chaotic mix of pictures: her lunch in weird angles, street cats pulling goofy faces, accidental selfies of her scowling at her phone, and random snapshots of flowers, clouds, or doodles she'd done on napkins.
The sheer number was staggering.
Her eyes went impossibly wide, and her mouth fell open in a gasp.
"Kafka!" She yelped, her face going bright red. She lunged for the phone, her hands flailing. "Delete it! Erase all of it right now!...This is so damn embarrassing!"
Laughing, I held the phone high above my head, easily out of her reach.
"Not a chance." I teased, my voice laced with affection. "These are my treasures now, and there's no way I'm allowing you to lay your paws on them."
Her hands dropped to her sides, and she pouted, her eyes glinting with a mixture of frustration and bashful joy. "You really do know how to make my life difficult, don't you, Kafka?" She grumbled, crossing her arms. But the smile tugging at her lips betrayed her.
Then, with a haughty tilt of her chin, she smirked.
"Well, for your information, I also have a folder full of pictures you've sent ." Her eyes glead like she'd just played a trump card, clearly trying to claw back so dignity.
I raised an eyebrow, leaning in with a competitive glint.
"Oh, really? Is that so?" I challenged, a playful grin spreading across my face. "Alright then, let's see it...Let's see if your collection even cos close to matching mine." I waggled my brows, pretending to size her up. "Bet mine's still better."
Nina's eyes narrowed as a spark of mischief danced behind them.
"Oh, it's on." She whipped out her phone with a determined look, her fingers flying over the screen as she navigated to her photo albums.
For a mont, she seed ready to throw down the gauntlet, a bright, eager smile lighting up her face.
But as she scrolled and found the album she'd been searching for, her confidence faltered. Her cheeks turned crimson, the bravado slipping away in an instant. She blinked, frozen, like she'd just realised sothing mortifying. Her thumb hovered over the album na, which I couldn't quite see.
"Uh, w-wait a second." She stamred, trying to sound nonchalant as her fingers fumbled to rena it.
"Nina…What exactly are you trying to delete?" My eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Hold on, I just need to…Um, fix sothing real quick—" She shot a panicked glance, her voice rushed.
I wasn't about to let that slide. With a swift motion, I plucked the phone out of her hands before she could react.
"K-Kafka!" she squeaked, her eyes going wide. She lunged forward, desperately reaching for the phone. "Give that back! You can't look yet!"
Laughing, I leaned back, holding the phone high above my head. "Nope! Not a chance!" Before she could scramble any closer, I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her snugly against .
She let out a gasp, her flustered protests muffled against my chest. My other hand held the phone firmly, scrolling through the screen.
"Kafka, seriously! You can't!" She whined, her face burning as she squird in my grip. Her small hands pawed helplessly at my arm, but with my strength, she had no hope of breaking free. "Let go! You're cheating!"
I grinned, tightening my hold slightly, keeping her pinned to my side. "You think I'm the cheater? Then what are you hiding, hmm?" I teased, my voice low and mischievous.
"You're gonna regret this!" She let out a tiny whimper, her face buried against my shoulder now, making her voice muffled.
Ignoring her half-hearted threats, I finally found the album and squinted at the na. And there it was, glowing on the screen:
'My Sweet and Handso Dummy.'
I blinked, and then my grin stretched impossibly wide.
"My Sweet and Handso Dummy?" I repeated, my voice laced with delight.
Nina let out a pitiful groan, her hands covering her face.
"Don't say it out loud!" She pleaded, her voice tiny.
I couldn't help but laugh, a deep, warm sound that made her squirm even more.
"You're really calling a dummy?" I teased, nuzzling the top of her head. "When you're the one who spent years resisting a smartphone just to end up making an entire secret shrine to ?"
Her shoulders trembled, and she peeked up at , eyes shimring with embarrassnt and reluctant affection. "It's not a shrine, Kafka." She mumbled, her voice barely audible. "It's just…just a bunch of pictures that made really, really happy, okay?"
She took a shaky breath, her cheeks now a deep crimson as she decided to go all out with her thoughts now that she was exposed.
"But seriously…Can you bla ?" She added, her voice flustered. "You send so many photos where you look so freaking handso all the ti, so what else am I supposed to do but save it all!"
"...How is anyone supposed to resist making a folder dedicated to that?" Her hands flew up to cover her face, and she groaned as if the weight of her confession was too much to bear.
I blinked, completely caught off guard.
"Handso? Wait, when did I send anything like that?" I scratched my head, genuinely puzzled. "I'm pretty sure I just send pictures of whatever I'm doing. Like the one where I was fixing the car…Or the ti I was stuck in that boring neighbourhood eting with my mother…Or when I was waiting for my coffee."
She peeked out from behind her hands, nodding quickly.
"You did! But that's exactly it!" She exclaid like she was trying to prove her point. "Even in those random pictures, you're in them. Unlike , who just sends photos of random things like a cute dog or so weird sign, you're always in your own shots!"
"Is that a problem?" I frowned, still not getting it.
"Should I stop including myself in the pictures?...Is my face that annoying to look at?" I teased, though a hint of genuine curiosity lingered in my voice.
Her eyes went wide in panic, and she shook her head so violently it looked like it might fly off.
"No, no, no, Kafka! It's the exact opposite!" She practically shouted, clutching my shirt in her fists. She then continued saying, while her face was blazing but her eyes were filled with sincerity, "Every ti you send a picture with you in it, I can't help but blush! You always look so good, like stupidly good!"
"...Even when it's just you sitting in a chair, you look like you're in the middle of so professional photoshoot! How do you even do that?"
She covered her face again, peeking through her fingers with a flustered look in her eyes for admitting so many embarrassing secrets...
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