She turned her face away, refusing to look at him as her voice softened slightly. “I can't just run over and ask you to hug me. I'm not a child anymore.”
“Then what do you want?”
Louise was stumped by his question. She opened her mouth, closed it again, and finally turned back to glare at him in embarrassed frustration. “...I don't know either.”
Looking at her exasperated expression, Chen Mian reached out and gently hugged her over the blanket. “Then I'll just assume you wanted a hug.”
Louise's body stiffened slightly before she turned her face away. “...Don't think you can just gloss things over like this.”
“I'm not glossing things over,” Chen Mian said earnestly, lying on his side. “It's because I didn't know what state you were in. I didn't know if saying the things I used to say or doing the things I used to do would feel familiar to you, or if it would make you feel uncomfortable. That's why I haven't done anything.”
After he finished speaking, the room fell silent for a long time.
Louise didn't speak. She just quietly remained in his embrace over the blanket.
After a long while, her voice rang out again, much softer than before. “...So that's why you didn't come to see me all this time?”
“Yeah.”
“Not because you didn't care?”
“Of course not. How could I not care about you?”
Louise slowly buried her face into the blanket, her voice muffled and slightly slurred. “Well, now you know.”
“Know what?”
“Know that I don't feel uncomfortable.” Her voice grew softer and softer, laced with obvious bashfulness. “How you used to treat me before, you can do the same now.”
Chen Mian had already reached out, his fingers threading through her silver-gray hair as he gently tucked a stray strand behind her ear.
It took a long time before she peeked half her face out from the blanket. Her purple-gold eyes still held a hint of lingering awkwardness, but her expression had relaxed significantly. “...Are you done talking?”
“I'm done.”
“Then you can leave.”
“Kicking me out?”
“What else? Do you really want to sleep here?” Louise turned her face away, her tone returning to its usual lazy demeanor.
“Sigh. Someone complained that I didn't come to see her, yet I've barely been here and she's already kicking me out.” With a helpless sigh, Chen Mian stood up and started walking toward the door.
“Wait, come back.”
Chen Mian stopped at the door and looked back at her. “What is it now, little jealous jar?”
“You're the jealous one!” Louise immediately lost her mock-lazy act, her eyes widening in annoyance.
“Yeah, I am. If you get too close to another guy, I guarantee I'll be way more jealous than you,” Chen Mian said, leaning against the doorframe without refuting her. “But did you call me back just to say that?”
“I wouldn't associate with other men anyway.” Louise was slightly startled, and the blush that had just faded from her ears slowly crept back up. “...Come back and sit down.”
Smiling, Chen Mian walked back to the bedside and sat down, this time a bit closer than before.
Louise's gaze lingered on his face for a moment. She pulled the blanket down a bit more, her tone turning slightly more serious. “You said earlier that you didn't know if saying the things you used to say or doing the things you used to do would make me feel uncomfortable.”
“Yeah.”
“It won't,” she said, her pace quickening slightly. “Even if I don't remember, my body still does, and my feelings for you are real. So... I've thought things through.”
“Thought what through?”
“Even if I can't remember, I still agreed to go with you in this state.” She looked up, her purple-gold eyes meeting his without evasion. “You don't have to keep waiting for me to remember before confirming my true feelings. If I didn't end up with you, there could only be one reason—I was a coward.”
The room fell quiet for a few seconds.
After a moment, Chen Mian spoke, his tone slightly softer than before. “Then what if I do something and you suddenly feel uncomfortable?”
“Then I'll just tell you directly,” Louise answered almost without hesitation. “When have I ever been polite with you?”
The corner of Chen Mian's mouth twitched slightly, as if he wanted to laugh but suppressed it. “Alright.”
“Just an 'alright'?”
“Then what else do you want to hear?”
“I don't want to hear anything. Do something.”
Chen Mian looked at her, his gaze landing on her reddened ears, and then he reached out.
Seeing this, Louise's breath hitched imperceptibly.
Chen Mian used his hand to tidy up her silver-gray hair scattered over her shoulder. “In the past, I would only do this when I was coaxing you.”
Louise tilted her head, her gaze falling on his retracting hand. “...And now? Are you coaxing me now?”
“No,” Chen Mian said with a smile. “I'm just doing what I used to do to you.”
Louise was stunned for a moment, a trace of playfulness flashing in her eyes. “...But compared to what you did to Flora and Loviki, this is still not enough.”
Chen Mian's gaze paused on her face, shifting from her curving lips to those purple-gold eyes that held a hint of provocation.
He leaned his body directly forward.
Louise only had time to see his body approaching before she was boxed in between the edge of the bed and his arms in the next second. The distance between them was so close that she could clearly smell the faint scent of Moonlight Grass on him.
“...W-What are you doing?”
Chen Mian looked down at her, smiling. “Didn't you say it wasn't enough?”
Louise's gaze shifted from his jawline to the side of his neck, then back to his eyes. Her voice was much softer than before. “...I-I didn't mean 'not enough' in that way.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“Just that you could hold my hand more often, or something like that.” After saying this, she turned her face away first, seemingly finding it even more embarrassing to have uttered those words.
“You should have said so earlier...” Chen Mian looked at Louise and said with a straight face, “Is it still in time to hold hands now?”
Louise didn't turn back, but her hand resting on the blanket twitched slightly.
Chen Mian reached out and gently grasped her hand resting on the blanket, saying casually, “But... Louise, now I feel like holding hands isn't quite enough either, compared to what I do with Flora and the others.”
Before she could react, Chen Mian leaned down slightly and kissed her on the cheek, then said with a smile, “This is more like it.”
Louise slowly turned her head back, her purple-gold eyes wide with obvious shock. Her voice fluttered slightly. “...You...”
“Yeah.”
“Just now, you...”
“Yeah.”
“...You kissed my cheek.”
“Yeah.”
Louise stared at him, blinking. She slowly reached up to touch the spot on her cheek where his lips had just brushed. “...You never used to do this before.”
“Well, what I'm doing now is what the current me wants to do. Does it make you feel uncomfortable?”
She hesitated for a moment, then gave a very slight shake of her head, her voice a bit clearer than before. “...No.”
“Then how about another one?”
“No way!”
“Then get out of bed and eat, or else I'll keep going.”
“I'm not getting up!”
Rate on N.U.
