24. I am Iphoe Bell. The Iphoe Bell you will remember.
Arwin asked me, who was laughing.
"Do you feel good?"
"Yes. Just because it's funny."
"Is that guy funny?"
"No."
"Then am I funny?"
It wasn't specifically about Arwin being funny, but the situation itself was funny.
I shook my head with a face still full of laughter. Arwin stared at me blankly, holding the teacup.
"It looks good."
"Pardon?"
"Iphoe Bell, I thought it looks good to see you smile."
At his sudden words, I felt my laughter fading instead. What did I just hear?
"What I saw was only you crying."
In the meantime, Arwin put down the teacup he was holding and came close to me. He reached out to my face without hesitation. Then he gently traced the shape of my lips with his fingertips.
His fingertips touching my lips were excessively hot. Whether due to the hot teacup or if his hands were originally hot, I couldn't gauge.
"I wonder what it feels like to kiss smiling lips."
He asked in a languid and sexy voice likely to make one's legs give way. Although I barely stopped myself from collapsing, my mind became a mess.
My mind, which had been seriously pondering Dalton's intentions, became a blank sheet, and a flush rose on my face.
Arwin tilted his head as if telling me to answer quickly. He seemed to not know the ripple effect his words had at all.
I felt like I was dreaming. If I had to define it, should I say a dream I never want to wake up from?
I answered him quickly before waking up from the dream.
"I'm curious too."
Even if this is purely reality and there is plenty of time to answer, it was unavoidable to feel impatient for no reason.
I smiled again too. It wasn't a difficult task at all.
Arwin cupped both my cheeks completely. He kissed carefully along the shape of my lips where the corners were raised.
His kiss was very delicate as if trying to engrave an unfamiliar shape anew.
The tip of his tongue licking my lips was hotter than his hands. As I opened my lips a little, his tongue entered through the gap. Arwin drove me, blowing hot breath into me.
His hands that cupped my cheeks wrapped around my waist before I knew it, and he made me backstep to the bed.
As I lay down on the bed following the flow, Arwin briefly detached his lips that had touched me. Our faces were close.
He stared intently into my eyes without a word. It was a look asking if he could wish for more. Instead of answering, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his lips.
It would be an answer more positive than any other answer.
Arwin naturally unfastened my dress. The series of movements were familiar. Then I realize anew. That there were quite many days we explored each other. Enough for our acts to be considered familiar.
How many more days are left for me to explore him?
My bare skin with nothing on touched his skin. His face is haggard, but his body is not. Arwin's firm body was felt unfiltered.
I groped every corner of his body with my fingertips. I was a woman who might die tomorrow immediately, and therefore wanted to remember today's Arwin.
Arwin's hands moved elegantly along the curves drawn by my back. Every time his hands passed, I felt my heart heating up. The heated heart pumped out hot blood repeatedly.
I felt that I was alive there. Even if only two months of life remain, I am alive now. That I am kissing the man I love who breathes out hot breath.
With a relaxed body, I dug deep into his embrace. Arwin held me gentlemanly, no differently from the day he first held me.
We explored each other's skin for a much longer time than past days. It was unbelievable for Arwin who made a tired heartbeat sound.
After several connections ended, he held me in his arms with a face slightly sweaty from before. His attitude not abandoning me even though the intercourse ended was quite satisfying.
"I'm tired."
He spoke in a damp voice. Of course, even that voice was very magnificent.
"I don't think I can work today. I just want to sleep like this."
"Shall I leave now?"
"No."
"Do you mean you want to sleep together?"
"Yeah. I like your smell. I also like your hot skin."
What about me? I wanted to ask that but couldn't. Instead, I confessed my true feelings.
"I like you too."
"Why? I haven't done anything for you."
"Such things aren't important. Because I like you just because it's you."
"I think that's a really strange statement."
Arwin spoke as if he couldn't understand me at all.
Even I couldn't properly explain the heart liking him. Just eyes met, fell in love at first sight, I will die soon, and therefore you just feel special.
There was no way Arwin could understand something even I couldn't explain properly.
Arwin kissed my forehead briefly. His lips were also still damp.
"Marquis, please tell me more about the old dragon."
I asked about the old dragon which I couldn't hear until the end due to Dalton's shower. Since Dalton left firmly angry, he won't be able to stop our conversation this time.
I looked up at Arwin as if asking him to answer quickly.
On the bed lying together, his face facing me looked tired, but even that appearance looked beautiful to me. Even his faint sweat smell is only fragrant.
It must be certain that I am wearing severe rose-colored glasses.
Arwin looked down at me and parted his lips slowly. His lips, unknown when they became red again, opened, and white, even teeth were seen through the gap.
"Do you remember the story about my screw?"
"Yes."
I answered at once without needing to think. Because I clearly remembered it was a story heard at the masquerade ball.
The heart hurt when young. Because of that, one screw fell out, a broken heart corner. And another screw found again. Roughly such a story.
I hadn't forgotten a single thing about Arwin. To that extent, Arwin's existence was overwhelming to me.
"I found a new screw from him. He possessed the only screw that could fix my broken heart."
Another screw said to be put back into the broken heart. He says he found it from the old dragon.
I still couldn't understand his words just like at the masquerade ball. But I couldn't guarantee if Arwin would explain enough for me to understand. So I offered a question.
"Did my existence influence your screw today too?"
He had told me that since meeting me, the screw that didn't fit started to find its place little by little. Did I influence you today too?
Arwin furrowed his brow faintly, whether contemplating. In his black eyes touching me, a faint gleam seen at the masquerade ball was cast.
It was a human-like look rarely seen from him who was always indifferent like a dead person. Soon, he grabbed my hand and placed it on his chest.
"Can you feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"My heart beats too fast. My body is tired but only my heart is lively. It wasn't like this when with other people."
Arwin spoke as if he couldn't understand the reason. I concentrated on his heartbeat transmitted through my palm.
This time I could definitely feel his heartbeat. The strong heartbeat proving being alive was transmitted to my heart riding my fingertips.
As Arwin said, his heartbeat wasn't that calm. It beat incredibly fast. That sound made me want to misunderstand.
That your heart regards my existence specially. That you are slowly entering my territory like Dalton's words. Then sooner or later, you might completely enter my territory.
No, in fact, I might already be misunderstanding. Even if I hear cold words from Arwin in the future, today's me wanted to misunderstand his heart as I pleased.
That you also came to like me.
"What are you to me."
What should I do with you who shakes me again despite telling me not to wish for anything.
Resting my face completely on Arwin's chest, I answered him.
"I am Iphoe Bell. The Iphoe Bell you will remember."
I wish your heart would also remember my name.
I brought up words to satisfy my greed today.
"Marquis. Will you continue to rest all day today?"
"Wouldn't it be okay to rest for a short while. I haven't rested properly these days."
"Then will you go on a date with me today?"
Of course, if Arwin says he hates it, it can't be helped. This was no different from a gamble done inadvertently captured by greed.
Even if I lose the gamble, since I had today's Arwin, I thought, well, what does it matter anyway.
And Arwin asked.
"What is a date?"
As if the word date is unfamiliar.
I overlooked that part. The part that this indifferent man wouldn't know exactly the concept of a date.
I giggled small. Arwin, who doesn't know a date, must have never had a proper date. Probably never.
If I go on a date with Arwin today, will I become his first date partner? I felt good enough to get goosebumps all over my body.
Unable to hide my excited voice, I told him what a date is.
"A date is, you see. You wear nice clothes, I wear a pretty dress, and we spend a joyful day."
"...."
"Engraving a wonderful day you won't forget even after dying into your heart."
"Engraving into the heart."
Arwin repeated my last words like a parrot. He seemed to like the nuance that phrase possessed.
"I'm curious what engraving into the heart would be like."
I lifted my head leaned on his chest and looked at Arwin's face.
"I'm curious too."
"That date thing. Would it be okay even for a short while?"
That words surely meant he would accept the date with me.
"Of course it's okay."
No, it's too good. I couldn't say that much and smiled. I had absolutely no way to suppress the smile leaking through my lips.
"How was the feeling of kissing smiling lips?"
"I can't know everything properly with just once."
Arwin answered truly seriously, not in a sly tone. Like a person researching the correlation between smiling lips and a kiss.
Therefore, I had no choice but to ask back seriously too.
"Then what do we do?"
"If we try kissing once more, I might know for sure."
"Now?"
"Just in time, you are smiling."
He recited romantic words stiffly like reading a book. Although romance wasn't felt at all, nevertheless, the smile worn on my lips deepened.
Arwin kissed my smiling lips again. It was a momentum to perfectly grasp that correlation this time for sure.
His kiss was a soft kiss contradictory to his stiff words.
It was a kiss I wouldn't forget even after dying.
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