Endless Kiss v1c33

“But how did you know I was here?”

“I heard you go out. I was sitting on the terrace, and when I looked down, you were here.”

I looked up following Rashanin’s finger pointing at the sky, but due to the angle, only the hotel’s wall face was dizzying, and the 23rd floor terrace couldn’t be seen. Looking down from the terrace in my room, I knew you could confirm there were people on the walking path, but it was difficult to tell who they were. Moreover, it was night now. Even with a full moon up, it didn’t seem possible to distinguish the faces of people who looked like ants.

I returned my head to its original position and looked at Rashanin.

“You can see?”

“I can see.”

“How?”

“I see well. I have good eyesight.”

“Is it a racial specialty?”

I was returning the words Rashanin had said last night when I thought ‘oops.’ I didn’t want to bring up that incident in this situation. Fortunately, Rashanin brushed it off lightly.

“That’s right. Jumping down silently from the 23rd floor is also a specialty.”

“Pardon?”

“Doesn’t it seem so?”

“Is that possible?”

“What else would be impossible?”

“But the height……”

I reflexively looked up at the top of the dizzyingly high hotel. Even for a vampire who could fly and crawl, that height seemed excessive.

“Why? Does it seem like I’m lying?”

At the same time as Rashanin’s voice, tinged with a crooked smile, was heard right next to me, I felt my body floating. When I came to my senses, I was in Rashanin’s arms. It was the commonly called princess carry position.

“Mr. Rashanin?”

“Hold on tight.”

Before I could ask what to hold tight to, my body shot upward. Feeling the force of gravity and acceleration with my whole body was only for a very brief moment. Without time to shout ‘whaaat,’ the surrounding scenery had changed. The cherry blossom trees and hotel wall were nowhere to be found, and an luxuriously decorated terrace and the night view below the terrace were spread out.

I was dumbfounded. This is……?

“It’s a simple matter.”

Only when I saw Rashanin grinning right in front of my nose did I grasp the situation. Don’t tell me we came up 23 floors in one go?

My heart, which had already been pounding, began to beat seriously as soon as I became aware.

“I, I need to get down.”

When I asked to be put down, Rashanin let my feet touch the ground. My legs had no strength and were trembling, so I had to grab the terrace railing. It felt like the gyro drop I rode exactly once during my university days had moved in reverse. I really thought I was going to die then, so I vowed never to ride it again.

“Were you surprised?”

“Sur… surprised? Of course I’m surprised. How could you without a single word.”

“I told you to hold on tight.”

“How was that telling me we were going to go up 23 floors at once?”

“Because you doubted me.”

“Even so. Do you know how surprised I was? Last night too, and your talent for surprising people is……”

I was about to say ‘outstanding’ in anger when I swallowed my words. I had resolved just a moment ago not to mention last night’s incident, yet here I go again. When I started to speak then stopped, Rashanin asked as if it was strange.

“Were you surprised last night too?”

“Wouldn’t… it be stranger if I wasn’t surprised?”

“I was only comforting you.”

“You don’t do that… kind of thing as comfort to a man.”

I stumbled over my words briefly, trying not to use the noun ‘kiss.’ Then Rashanin objected.

“I do it with men too.”

“I don’t.”

“Was it unpleasant or disgusting?”

“That was…… fine.”

Whether at the time or afterwards, if I had felt displeased and disgusted, I would have thrown a punch before blushing like this now.

It was probably the effect of his handsome face.

“It’s good that you’re honest.”

“Rashanin-ssi.”

“I’m sorry for startling you. I was wrong yesterday and today.”

“……?!”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“I didn’t think I’d be able to receive an apology so easily.”

“I must seem like quite a bad guy to you. I apologize for mistakes. That’s what a gentleman does.”

The words “What about earlier then?” rose up to my throat, but I swallowed them back. The atmosphere had improved enough that he wasn’t deliberately managing his expression, so there didn’t seem to be a need to create unnecessary trouble.

“Would you like a drink?”

Where Rashanin indicated with his eyes, there was a chair and table, and on the table was a glass half-filled with red wine. It seemed to be what Rashanin had been drinking. When I nodded, Rashanin told me to sit down and disappeared into the room, saying he’d bring a glass.

With a somewhat dazed feeling, I sat in the chair on the side without a glass. It seemed too nonchalant. Just a few hours ago we had fought, and just a few minutes ago I had even confirmed whether we had fought or not.

When alone, I think all sorts of thoughts, but when I actually face him, things somehow flow on. It might be because I can’t completely turn against him, but one thing was certain—human relationships were incomprehensible.

“The moon is bright, but will you be okay without light?”

Before long, Rashanin returned with a glass and asked as he sat down.

“This is fine. If I can’t see at this level, I might as well be blind.”

It was difficult to distinguish objects where shadows fell, but other than that, I could see most things. Rashanin said that was fine then, filled the glass with wine and held it out to me. I took the glass and drank it all at once. Rashanin smiled and refilled it, and I drank about half before setting it down and staring at Rashanin intently. The wine entering the man’s mouth under the moonlight looked like blood, probably because he was a vampire.

Moonlight, a face pale beyond white, a handsome man sculpted like a statue. These were conditions that matched those of the mysterious, dangerous, and attractive vampires that appear in movies or novels.

“Why did you do that earlier?”

Separate from the thoughts in my head, the question I’d been mulling over from earlier popped out of my mouth. At least because I whispered it quietly, it fortunately didn’t sound like an interrogation. Still, Rashanin, who had been setting down his glass, frowned slightly.

“You’re quite persistent.”

“I learned it from Rashanin-ssi.”

“You learn bad things quickly.”

“So, why did you do that? Is the business card that important?”

“It’s not the business card—it was Elisabeth’s intention in handing over the card that annoyed me. It’s true that she took a liking to you, but to deliberately provoke me like that……”

Rashanin stopped speaking mid-sentence and clicked his tongue while looking at me.

“You’re quite a skilled interrogator.”

“I told you I never intended that.”

“Yes. I know. And that I vented my anger on the wrong person too. Somehow I feel like I can’t hold my head up in front of you tonight.”

He was a man so accomplished it was sigh-inducing. Looking into those leisurely yet sharp violet eyes, I began to doubt whether Elisabeth’s revelation was a lie.

I couldn’t believe that Rashanin, who had acted endlessly cunning and turned everything upside down, was actually in a state of lethargy. Moreover, that he had run away because living was boring. The man surrounded by extraordinariness possessed so much that I didn’t have that he seemed to shine too brightly. So even while my insides twisted, I was envious.

“Elisabeth-ssi said that Rashanin-ssi is ill.”

“Ill?”

“Elisabeth-ssi said so. That ennui is also an illness.”

Rashanin didn’t deny those words. Instead, he just smiled, baring his teeth.

“That’s like her. What else did she say?”

“That you threw away your duties and ran away to Korea because of the illness. That’s why Elisabeth-ssi chased you all the way to Korea.”

“That’s right. Elisabeth is quite persistent too.”

The man who frowned slightly was saying that Elisabeth’s interference was bothersome.

“Is living boring?”

“It’s tedious.”

Despite it being a sufficiently rude question, Rashanin didn’t get angry and answered slowly. Just the leisurely smile of the vampire talking about ennui against the pitch-black night transformed the entire atmosphere. Somewhat savage, and with a languidness that seemed like it would melt into the night. Normally I would have stared entranced, but right now I didn’t have the energy for that.

“Was that a secret?”

“……?”