[Music Recommendation: "A Sweet Smile" by Yu-Peng Chen (Genshin Impact OST) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

After that, I signed the contract, and he gave me a copy of it for my safe keeping—in case I needed to remind myself of its contents. It was full of "Party A and Party B will do this and that" so I didn't bother reading everything. Then, the bell rang and we both went back to our departments to continue the next class.

The next class was a minor for me—something I wasn't very interested in. I paid a little attention to the professor because of that, and I'm sorry, it's definitely not the fault of the professor, it's just that I'm really not fond of the subject.

So instead, I decided to review the contract—something I should have done before signing it. Oh well, at least Kaiden was the one who made it, and I trust he wouldn't put something unreasonable there.

'Alright, let's read through this. Hmm… Party A blah blah blah… Party B yada yada… Party A and Party B will—wait, what?!'

My eyes widened in surprise. Was I seeing things again? But no, it was clearly written in the contract!

"Party A will do his/her best to help Party B's condition through skinship once a month. Any form of touch with Party B's skin will be allowed as long as it is within Party B's will and vice versa."

And then, it was followed by another clause that stated:

"In return, Party A will be allowed to ask Party B anything he/she desires, as long as it is within the options from clause C1 to C12."

Clause C1 to C12 contained a list of categories of material things I could ask in return—clothes, accessories, gadgets, furniture, etc, even a house and lot, and a car! Seriously, these rich kids.

'I see… So I will have to try touching Kaiden? And ask anything in return after? Isn't that too convenient for me? Why is this contract so much on my side? What about his side? Just a chance to cure his condition? Isn't this too much? It's not a fair trade at all. I mean, this is something I could do for a friend. No need for a contract or anything like that.'

Still… the idea of touching Kaiden's skin… somehow, it made me nervous. It's not that I didn't want to touch him—in fact, I really wanted to! It's just that… I'm worried for him. Why was it that he's pushing himself to change? I don't mind him being just the way he was. I would love to touch him, like hold his hands maybe, but that's only if he could survive it. His condition seemed too extreme for it to be just a simple mysophobia.

Badump! Badump! Badump!

'I hope… it's nothing too serious though.'

Anyway, if that would help him, then it's alright. I agree with that part of the contract, too. I wonder when we would be starting? We could practice with our hands for the first month. Then, progress further until the 12th month. The contract was for a year so I have 12 months in total.

'Right! I will definitely help Kaiden overcome his condition!'

Motivated, I swore to myself to do my best. It was the least I could do for him after all the kindness I received from him.

After that, I got called by the professor so I wasn't able to read the rest of the contract. Then, hours passed and later on, classes ended and we all returned home.

Once back home, I asked Kaiden via text message if it was alright to tell Hora about our deal. He said it was fine as long as it's not anyone from his family member—meaning, including Crystal. Oh no, that would be hard when she returned.

I also asked when would we be starting our charade and he said we'll do it next week since he had something to take care of. As to what it was, I had no idea. Oh well, at least I still had a week to prepare.

But, before anything else, there's some interrogation I need to do.

"Hora!" I called her out as I banged the door open in her room.

Hora flinched from her seat, and sighed when she saw it was me.

"Sena, please stop doing that."

"I don't always bang your door." I pouted. "Unless… you're doing something naughty and you didn't want to be caught?"

I waggled my eyebrows at her and Hora squinted her eyes towards me.

"Like what?"

"Like texting or calling a certain sly fox?"

Hora chuckled. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Check my phone call history if you want."

"Fine. Then what is it that you two talked about during lunch?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"As long as you tell me what happened between you and Kaiden, too," she replied, also crossing her arms.

We both squinted our eyes towards each other, then nodded in agreement.

"You first," I made sure to beat her to it.

Hora gasped, feeling unfair. But then, she conceded.

"Okay, okay. It's nothing special. I just told him that I confessed everything that happened to you. And I told him to endure it in case you lash out on him."

"Of course I will lash out on him! How dare he touch my innocent bestie!"

"I told you, I'm also to blame for that since I let it happen. So stop it."

"Oh, you're defending him now?"

"What? No. It's just—hmf! Sena!"

And so, we squabbled after that. I also told her about the contract with Kaiden, much to her delight. Now, she got the perfect come back at me. Because of that, I lost the teasing game and had to retreat back to my room to avoid more of her teasing. Then, I called Crystal to check on her. She didn't pick up. She's probably too busy. She left a message that she's fine though. I felt relieved seeing that. Hopefully, I could speak with her tomorrow. For now, it's time to sleep.