“You… You complete…”
“Not the orange-flavored one. Give me the one next to it,” ordered Arkhan with a completely brazen face, shamelessly.
Wiping my finger completely with my skirts, I sighed with resignation and picked up the butter cookie. “Yeah, yeah, go on and eat it all.”
I offered it up to him so he could do whatever he wanted and this time he only pulled the cookie out with his teeth.
What the – what now?
My eyebrows twitching, I lowered my hand a little and Arkhan winked at me as he chewed on his cookie.
“Did you expect something?”
“… Scram off!”
With quite some strength in the motion, I slapped Arkhan’s arm.
“Ow, ow, ow.”
There could be nothing more disgusting than seeing a fully grown guy crumpling in his big body and pretending to nurse his wounds. He’d been at least cute when he was younger.
Sighing, I shook my head from side to side.
“Man, I am so bored.” I spaced out for a second, then picked up my book and raised my stiffening body up.
Tilting the parasol back, Arkhan asked me in surprise, “You’re leaving already?”
“Yeah, I’m honestly not having any fun. Can’t do anything with my cast like this, see?” Resisting the urge to yawn from the boredom, I dusted off the cookie crumbs from my skirt. I sighed. “It’s just that everything seems so pointless.”
Arkhan folded the parasol and sat in the chair next to mine.
“Kate, you’re weird these days.”
“Hey, what did I… do…” Trailing off, I rubbed the back of my head. It felt like his words had hit a sore spot for me.
After I’d read that book, I did feel really under the weather with how demoralized I felt. Though I’d always known it was a hopeless emotion to have, once it turned out to be fixed facts, I’d become a bit depressed.
Rubbing the back of my head in awkward motions, I glanced at Arkhan sideways.
“Ugh.”
“… What?”
Grabbing his face, I sighed again.
You really don’t know anything, man.
Arkhan blinked his eyes, taken aback, before he grinned and rubbed his face on my hands.
“Why, you like my face?”
“No… Honestly, it’s not that.” Even if his feelings got hurt, I needed to speak the truth. Smiling sweetly, I shook my head.
“Then do you like faces like that senior’s?” Arkhan asked, tilting his head.
The corners of his mouth were turned upwards, but there was no joy to be seen in his eyes.
“Well.”
Noah… Noah had a handsome face.
I was pressing my hand to my chin in serious thought when I heard a flat voice from the side.
“Must be right.”
“Maybe I should grow out my hair,” Arkhan mumbled to himself, fiddling around with his short hair.
Feeling pity at how glum he’d become, I threw him a couple of words. “Hey, you’re a looker too. Don’t be discouraged.”
“You’re not lying?”
“Has nobody ever told you that?”
That was impossible. Nobody had told him that before?
Brushing Arkhan’s hair back, I leveled my eyes to his red ones and said it directly to his face, “I’m telling you, you’re handsome.”
“…”
His scarlet eyes blinked a few times before a red tint glowed on his pale face.
Yo little guy, were you embarrassed just now?
“… You’re pretty too, Kate.”
“What? Pfft.”
I burst out laughing at what Arkhan came up with after a long pause as a response.
“Don’t say things you don’t mean.” Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Now that I think of it, what are we both doing standing under this scorching sun?”
With my unbandaged hand, I shaded myself from the sun.
“The parasol…”
“No need, I’m going. I just need to say goodbye to Lady Jenkinson first.”
Stopping Arkhan from raising the parasol, I patted his shoulder and smiled. “Thanks. Thanks to you, I had a little fun today.”
Though I was still going to head home anyways.
As I walked towards my family’s carriage, I twisted around to face Arkhan.
“Don’t be too sad. We’ll see each other at the academy, right?”
I ruffled his red hair tremendously and gave him a mischievous smile.
“And, well, you can always come to visit our house.”
“… Right.” As if he was never rendered speechless, Arkhan broke out into a picturesque smile. “I’ll come to visit soon.”
***
And a couple of days later, Arkhan really did, in fact, come to visit.
I waved at Arkhan as he came in through the doors. “Wow, you really came.”
Arkhan smiled, his eyes crinkling. “Since you weren’t coming, I had to.”
“You really like playing, don’t you?”
“You finished all your homework, right?”
Pausing on our way to the drawing room, I looked at Arkhan with a stern face.
“I did finish… When I’m with you, Kate, it’s like I’m with the family tutor,” Arkhan grumbled, pouting. “And your arm. Is it all healed yet?”
“Mm, it needs two more weeks or so to heal completely. It’ll come off before school starts, I’m sure,” I answered, rubbing the cast on my arm.
As soon as we entered the drawing room, Arkhan glued his butt onto the sofa and began complaining.
“Can you believe that when we were parking the carriage, this person called Sir Zion was glaring at me very hard?”
“Aw, really? That’s not right.”
Frowning, I patted Arkhan’s head.
Despite everything, Arkhan was still a noble and a count’s son at that.
“The knights protecting your family hate me.”
“That does seem to be the case,” I said, acknowledging Arkhan’s grumbles. Then I tilted my head.
Sir Zion really wasn’t someone who would do that for no reason, though.
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