<Chapter 50>
#5. The Throb of Excitement (5)
At the time when Calix was finishing his conversation with Lila, Melty was face-down on the bed. Naru, who had been sitting on the headboard, worriedly watched his owner who had flung himself onto the bed after lunch and hadn’t moved since.
Occasionally, his straight-stretched legs would sway up and down, so he clearly wasn’t sleeping. Naru, who had been circling around Melty, extended his head and nudged Melty’s head. At the familiar feeling of pressure on his head, Melty squirmed and raised his face.
Looking at the round eyes, the cute little ‘ㅅ’-shaped mouth, and the tilted head, Melty unconsciously stretched out both arms and grabbed Naru.
“Naru! What should I do…?”
Melty’s brown eyes wavered. Naru, concerned about his unusual behavior, flicked his tongue briefly. Holding Naru with both hands, Melty let out a deep sigh. Meeting the eyes of Naru, who obediently allowed himself to be held, Melty mumbled.
– And logically, I wouldn’t give something dangerous to someone I like.
“Ahhh!”
As he tried to organize his emotions and thoughts that were only floating in his head to explain the current situation to Naru, Melty couldn’t help but scream at the face that suddenly popped into his mind. Naru worriedly looked at Melty as he buried his face deep into the pillow once more.
Unaware of Naru, who had stretched out on the bed hoping for Melty to return to normal, Melty grabbed his own hair. Since this morning, his stomach had been churning as if he had indigestion, and a halo kept appearing behind Calix. The sparkling light was so bright that he could barely look at his face directly.
Along with his uniquely radiant face, his heart kept pounding like someone with an illness, flaunting its presence. Heat rushed to his cheeks, and strangely, he couldn’t meet Calix’s eyes. As a result, he had left most of his food uneaten, which was unlike him.
“How can he suddenly become so sparkly…?”
Tearing at his hair in agony, Melty suddenly raised his head again. Thinking about it, Calix’s glowing face wasn’t a major issue. His good looks had already been certified by many people. So seeing him as handsome wasn’t particularly an unusual symptom.
“That’s right. Calix-ssi was always like that.”
Completely forgetting his past self who could never agree with others when they said Calix was handsome, Melty nodded vigorously with a bright face. Naru silently flicked his tongue as he stared at Melty, who continued to mutter incomprehensible things to himself.
Looking at Naru and poking his body with his finger, Melty recalled what had happened the previous evening.
His lungs had ached as his breath had risen to his chin. After running and running in panic, just when he thought it was all over, Calix had miraculously appeared. The warmth of the arms that firmly embraced him and the gentle voice that whispered soothingly were amazingly cool, enough to bring tears to his eyes.
– It’s okay. I’ve taken care of it, so you don’t need to see.
As Melty’s mouth gaped open, recalling Calix’s image once more, he heard a dull sound in his ear.
Knock knock.
Startled by the light knocking sound, Melty took a deep breath. Stiffening his body as if shot with a tranquilizer dart, he slowly turned his head to look at the firmly closed door.
“Are you in there? Can I come in?”
“Gasp!”
Melty took a sharp breath at Calix’s voice coming from beyond the door. Repeatedly saying “What do I do!” to Naru with wide-open eyes, Melty hurriedly burrowed under the blanket as the door opened.
Stepping inside the room after opening the door, Calix glanced at the bed. The clearly visible piece of clothing sticking out from the bulging edge of the blanket was undoubtedly Melty’s. Naru, who had raised his body upright, met Calix’s eyes.
“…Is he asleep…?”
At Calix’s murmuring voice, Naru, who had been making eye contact with him, shook his head from side to side. With a rustling sound, Naru pressed his nose against the area where Melty’s head would be and then coiled up in a corner.
Even without Naru’s kind explanation, Calix could easily tell that Melty was awake. The life form under the blanket had visibly flinched as soon as he finished speaking.
Looking at the blanket mound that was hiding Melty from head to toe with a serious expression, Calix set the plate he had brought on a nearby table.
“I brought some snacks in case you’re hungry.”
The blanket mound flinched again at his cautious words. Letting out a deep sigh at Melty’s busy movements under the blanket without any intention of coming out, Calix carefully sat down on the edge of the bed.
“How long do you plan to pretend to be asleep? Won’t you talk to me face to face?”
In the first place, Melty’s experience itself had been due to his failure to properly manage the mansion. If Melty resented him for that, Calix couldn’t easily come up with words to comfort or persuade him. At Calix’s careful words, tinged with self-blame, Melty raised his voice from beneath the blanket.
“I’m not pretending to be asleep!”
“Then?”
“I’m sleeping! I mean, I’m sleeping well!”
Calix momentarily lost his words at the loud voice. Staring intently at the round, puffed-up blanket, Calix wiped his mouth with his hand. With a speed of speech faster than usual and a higher vocal tone, Melty’s tense state was clearly evident.
Because of this, the words he spoke didn’t feel serious. Rather, they strongly felt like words blurted out without any thought. But Calix couldn’t ignore the possibility, however slim it might be.
“…Did he hit his head during the attack.”
“I didn’t hit my head. Are you trying to tease me now?”
Melty responded in a subdued voice, noticing that Calix’s genuinely concerned words didn’t have a good intonation. Realizing there was no hostility in his voice, Calix let out a deep breath of relief. Finally able to relax his face, he reached out and stroked the middle part of the bulging blanket.
“Why would I tease you?”
“You tease me all the time.”
“Can someone who’s sleeping talk this well?”
The blanket flinched greatly once more at Calix’s retort. Watching this, a slight smile appeared on Calix’s face. Though he couldn’t see Melty’s form hidden by the blanket, he could clearly imagine how flustered Melty was squirming under it.
“Sn-snore!”
Calix exhaled a laugh-tinged breath at the artificial snoring sound that was clearly made by mouth. If his act was just moderately sloppy, Calix might have pretended not to know, but when Melty was being this cute, it was impossible to ignore.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“……”
Seeming to have decided to properly pretend to be asleep, Melty kept his mouth shut and didn’t say anything. However, in place of his tightly sealed lips, his thin stomach rumbled loudly. Despite Melty’s attempt to curl up his body to stop the ‘grumble’ that had started, it was of no use.
“Well. That answers well.”
Holding back laughter that seemed about to burst out, Calix cleared his throat loudly to hide the tremor in his voice. Then he pushed the still unmoving blanket bundle with his hand, gently rocking it from side to side.
“If you’re not really sleeping, come out now. Isn’t it hot?”
“N-no.”
“…I thought you were fine this morning, but do you dislike seeing my face that much?”
Calix quietly asked, feeling bitter at Melty’s desperate attempt to avoid facing him. The hope that Melty might be okay, since they had been having a normal conversation, slowly sank.
At Calix’s dejected voice, Melty peeked out just the top part of his head from under the blanket. With only his eyes barely visible, he moved his feet to kick Calix’s waist. Though a kick with feet buried in a blanket didn’t have much impact, it was enough to make Calix lean forward.
“This is all Calix-ssi’s fault to begin with!”
Calix gave a bitter smile at Melty’s outburst. It was indeed his fault that Melty had gone through such an ordeal due to his failure to manage the mansion properly. If Melty blamed him for that, he had nothing to say. Feeling his mouth go dry, Calix bit his lower lip slightly and slowly opened his mouth.
“…I know. But I’ll make sure this never happens again…”
“Why do you have to be so handsome!”
Handsome?
Confused by the unexpected word that suddenly popped out, Calix blinked blankly. Melty, who had covered his eyes with his blanket-covered hand as if embarrassed, quickly continued. Though he clearly knew that none of it was Calix’s fault, when it came to actually having a conversation like this, Melty naturally blamed him.
“You keep popping up in my head, and I was trying to just let it go since it’s not Calix-ssi’s fault. But how can I look at your face when you keep radiating light from it?!”
As Melty’s words continued, Calix’s expression became increasingly dumbfounded. Feeling as if he couldn’t distinguish whether what he had heard was reality or a dream, Calix scratched his ear with his pinky finger. Lowering the blanket that had been covering his face, Melty became upset again at Calix’s response.
“My heart was already pounding, and I was trying to calm it down with deep breaths. Are you listening to me?”
“…Yeah. So…”
Opening his mouth slowly, Calix spoke in a voice still filled with disbelief. Under Melty’s intense stare, Calix covered his mouth with his hand and repeated what Melty had just said.
“You keep thinking about me, I keep looking handsome, and your heart is pounding…?”
“Yes. So…!”
Nodding vigorously up and down, Melty was about to continue eagerly when he noticed Calix now covering his entire face with his hands.
“Calix-ssi…?”
Tilting his head in puzzlement, Melty moved slightly closer to him. Instead of removing his hand from his face, Calix extended his arm and caught Melty as if he had been waiting for it, burying his face on Melty’s shoulder. With a “wak!” sound, Melty found himself embraced and slightly turned his head to look at him.
“Ah, I can’t control my expression right now, so don’t look at me for a moment.”
At Calix’s desperate mumbling as he tried to hide his face, Melty hurriedly fixed his gaze straight ahead. Through the gaps between Calix’s fingers as he tried hard to cover up, Melty clearly saw Calix’s reddened face.
Having stopped his excitement and calmed down, Melty could belatedly review what he had just said. Soon, as if infected by Calix, Melty’s face also turned red. What broke the heavy silence that had settled between them was Melty’s stomach clock, which had been silent after its previous show of presence.
At the growling sound, Calix softly laughed as Melty flinched, and spoke in an awkward voice.
“Should we eat something first?”
