Chapter 45

Lakis didn’t follow up with his reason immediately . He looked at Yuri with narrow eyes then he wrote something on the paper again . And he lifted it up .

When Yuri saw the next words displayed in her sight, it was her turn to narrow her eyes .

[Because you cried . ]

If Yuri could feel emotions right now, she would probably want to make herself scarce in embarrassment and shame . But fortunately, the current Yuri reflected over last time’s event indifferently .

“Yes, I didn’t expect that either…but I think I’ll be fine today . ”

She then added, ‘Of course, I can’t be sure but still,’ then stared at Lakis . Somehow she felt that if she pushed it a little more, Lakis would agree .

“So, Mr . Lakis . ”

Then, from her position where she stood in front of him, she took a step closer . Lakis unconsciously held his breath as he looked at Yuri .

“Can I hold your hand?”

The voice lowered to a whisper gently lingered in his ears .

It was just a hand .

But somehow, he was swept up in a strange tension like he’d been asked to do something very secret .

Honestly, Lakis was the same as Yuri, in that he also had questions about what happened every time he touched Yuri . From the Yuri’s reaction and reaction of the parasite in his head, he was certain that there was something he didn’t know about . But that was definitely not the only reason why Lakis agreed to do this again .

When he held out his hand, Yuri did not hesitate, and their hands touched .

Once again, a warm flood of emotions rushed in through her fingertips, burrowing even to her heart . Warmth rose in her desolate cheeks and her expression became much softer than before . And this time, at least her legs didn’t grow weak .

But Yuri willingly shortened their distance, trying to bring herself closer to Lakis .

Plop, the wet towel fell to the floor . And at almost the same time, their bodies overlapped . Lakis immediately strengthened his hold on their locked hands .

“Ms . Yuri . ”

“I’m sorry…just a moment…”

Lakis whispered something under his breath . Yuri couldn’t control her impulse and exhaustedly placed her forehead on Lakis’ shoulder while mumbling softly .

Lakis’ eyes darkened . He was also disturbed by an impulse rising from within . Just that the impulse in Lakis was significantly more dangerous and dubious than Yuri’s .

In the end, Lakis lost to his impulse .

His strong arms wrapped around the waist of the woman touching him and tightly pulled her in .

Yuri was drawn into Lakis’ arms in the blink of an eye . Their bodies touched without a single gap between them .

Lakis buried his nose in Yuri’s neck and damp hair, taking in her sweet scent with a deep breath . Only then was his thirst slightly relieved and he felt a little satisfied in his heart .

Yuri momentarily flinched at the ticklish feeling on her neck . The sensation of someone else’s touch and warmth enveloping her body was unfamiliar . And now that she thought about it, she had never been hugged by someone like this, until she met Lakis .

Lakis’ arms were warm and cozy . Although it was an unfamiliar feeling, she didn’t hate it .

So Yuri held his hand even tighter and leaned into his embrace . Feeling her body temperature overlapping with his, Lakis hugged her even tighter like wanted to confine her .

His lowered eyes shone even more dangerously .

Like he thought, it was strange . Why did Yuri react like this when she came into contact with him?

And he wanted to know more . More about the woman in his arms right now .

Even he thought it was a little odd to feel like this towards someone he had only met not too long ago . But for Lakis right now, such reasons weren’t important . He breathed deeply, stroking the neck of the person opposite him .

…As expected, this was not enough .

But for now, this much was okay . Of course, it was impossible to know long his patience would last .

Part 8: Slowly approaching…

–

The next day, lunchtime .

Gilbert gave Yuri a break so she was relaxing at an empty spot outside the coffeeshop and drinking coffee . Then she suddenly recalled what happened yesterday with Lakis .

“Is this the so-called body compatibility…”[1]

In that moment, she unconsciously muttered an enlightening fact . Of course, she definitely didn’t mean in the ‘bright-red 19+’ sense, but she couldn’t describe it in a better way . Ever since she first held Lakis’ hand, she found herself always thinking about it when she had the time .

Even now when she remembered the events of yesterday, she thirsted for more . She felt eager enough to go right now and grab Lakis’ hand . So even though it wasn’t exactly ‘body-compatibility’, she felt the context was somewhat similar .

Crash!

“Uck, cough…!”

Clink!

“Ah, hot, hot!”

Clatter, thud!

Right after Yuri made a realization and mumbled to herself, a huge disturbance broke out in the coffeehouse . One of the customers sitting nearby had dropped the cup and dish they were holding, and their coffee spilled, burning their hand while they coughed vehemently like there was something in their throat .

At the commotion, Yuri’s level gaze moved to the side . Her mood went down a little, knowing that her work has suddenly increased .

“M-Ms . Yuri? I’ll handle this . ”

Gilbert said, looking flustered for some reason .

“Yes . Then I’ll clean up here . ”

It took some time to clear the broken cup and clean up the spilled coffee on the table .

“Ms . Yuri!”

Right as she finished, someone called her from the other side of the road . She recognized the pearly voice as Anne-Marie’s .

And as expected, when she turned her head, she saw the heroine coming towards her with a smile on her face as clear as morning dew . Yuri spoke to Anne-Marie first .

“Hey, Anne-Marie . It’s late but happy birthday . ”

Yesterday, she didn’t have any time to pull Anne-Marie aside and give her best wishes . It wasn’t the right time at the clinic so she could only congratulate Anne-Marie now, a day later .

Anne-Marie smiled bashfully when she heard the congrats .

“Thank you so much for the flowers yesterday . ”

Ah, Hestia seemed to have successfully delivered the flowers to Anne-Marie . Yuri refuted the thanks .

“That is Hestia’s gift . ”

Of course, she was the one who gave Hestia the flowers, but it was Hestia who gave it to Anne-Marie . So there was no reason for Anne-Marie to be that thankful to her .

However, oddly enough, a very warm and kind emerged on Anne-Marie’s face as she said:

“Do you know? You’re very sweet, Ms . Yuri”

“Yes?”

Yuri didn’t know how to reply to the unexpected words . Did she do something that nice for Anne-Marie for her to say that? Or was it because she occasionally gave them gifts?

But even if that was the case, she felt Anne-Marie was amazing to find sweetness in her . And the next moment, Anne-Marie did something even more startling .

“It’s nothing big but…I want to give you this . ”

Anne-Marie pulled something out of the paper bag she was holding and held it out to Yuri . It was a small packaged box wrapped with ribbon .

Yuri was a little taken aback .

“It was your birthday not mine, Anne-Marie, why’re you giving me a present?”

Moreover, she had still not paid Anne-Marie back for the cookies she gave her last time . Lakis had really enjoyed Anne-Marie’s cookies .

Of course, if Lakis knew this, he would cry out in dismay .

“You gave me such a wonderful present yesterday, Ms . Yuri, so I really want to thank you . ”

Then as if refusing what Yuri said earlier, Anne-Marie shook her head so vehemently that her hair swung .

“You brought Hestia to me yesterday . ”

She was talking about Yuri saving Hestia from the carriage accident the previous day .

‘Mm, but the result is what’s important . The one who did the job was the male lead, Kalian Crawford…’

“Honestly, you’ve given me so many things, Ms . Yuri and I’ve always wanted to give you something . So I prepared this some time ago, right after the festival . Today is just the time for it . So um…”

Then a pair of clear green eyes looked at Yuri, casting a pitiful sight .

“Can you take it…?”

Yuri couldn’t refuse after she had said so much .

“Then I will gratefully accept . ”

When Yuri took the box that was thrust in front of her, Anne-Marie’s eyes sparkled at her . In the east, it was polite to check a gift on the spot when you received it but Yuri wasn’t particularly fond of the practice, considering her reactions were quite weak .

But there was no helping it .

Yuri opened up the box Anne-Marie gave her . Inside was a white hair ribbon decorated with cameo and lace . [2]

“You always have your hair tied in the coffeeshop and I thought it would look really good on you, so I bought it…”

Anne-Marie wriggled her fingers and furtively studied Yuri’s expression .

Translator’s Corner:

[1] This gets a bit lost in translation but here is the ‘urban’ dictionary definition for the word she said: When two people are too sexually compatible that they meet up just to do it even after they break up . There is no English equivalent, so I went with what I felt was best .

[2] I did not know cameos were a thing . I thought it only meant when actors popped up in movies .