Alice chewed once. Twice. Then looked up at him, eyes shining with complete contentment. "How is it?"
Kaiden swallowed and, to his shock, felt emotion tightening his throat.
"… Perfect."
Alice's face lit up.
It was the biggest smile of her life.
Then she started bobbing back and forth on Kaiden's leg with her entire upper body swaying as if she physically couldn't contain the joy anymore. Her hands balled into tiny fists near her chest as she began softly singing under her breath, voice lilting and wobbly with happiness.
"He liked it~ he said it was perfect~"
Her shoulders bounced. "Perfect, perfect, perfect~!"
It was absurdly cute. Completely unrestrained. The kind of joy that didn't bother pretending to be dignified.
Then, she gasped.
"Ah!"
Alice abruptly leaned back and looked up at Kaiden with her eyes narrowing into sharp, suspicious slits as she studied his face with intense scrutiny.
"Did you truly mean it? Or did you just say that to make me happy?"
