<Chapter 51>
#5. The Throb of Excitement (6)
Melty settled at the table and silently ate the sandwich Calix had brought. He was as hungry as his loudly rumbling stomach had indicated, but he was also able to focus more on eating because of the awkward silence between them. Calix glanced sideways at Melty, who was singularly focused on his sandwich, and placed a glass of juice in front of him.
After neatly finishing all the sandwiches that had filled the tray, Melty sucked the sauce off his fingers with audible slurps. Once the food had quietly disappeared, another heavy silence enveloped them.
“Ahem.”
Calix, having confirmed that Melty had successfully eaten his meal, cleared his throat to freshen the atmosphere. At the sound of his throat-clearing, Melty subtly rolled his eyes to look at him.
“So you kept thinking about me, right?”
“…I didn’t say that.”
Melty mumbled, pushing his lips out in a pout. Despite his dissatisfied response, Calix wasn’t deterred. Pushing aside his embarrassment and awkwardness, all that remained on his face was a smile.
“You said I kept crossing your mind?”
“Just because I thought about you doesn’t mean I wanted to see you.”
“Really? Then you didn’t want to see me?”
“I didn’t want to see you.”
Melty’s head turned sharply to the side. Calix, having regained his usual composure, stared at Melty’s profile with a mischievous expression.
“Why? Because I’m too dazzling?”
“Ack!”
With a short scream, Melty covered his face with his hands. The red flush that had barely subsided began to creep back and conquer his face again. Unlike Melty, Calix had become considerably calmer and watched the changes in Melty’s expression with a deep smile on his lips.
As the surroundings quieted with Calix’s silence, Melty slowly lowered the hands covering his face. Peeking out, he found Calix smiling brightly at him. Calix naturally removed Melty’s hands from his face and meticulously wiped his fingers with a handkerchief he had produced out of nowhere.
This action made Melty’s chest feel ticklish inside, and he tried to pull his hand away, but he couldn’t escape Calix’s grasp. Without losing hold of Melty’s fidgeting hand, Calix finished cleaning it thoroughly and looked up at him with warm eyes.
“So, are we dating now?”
“No!”
“Why not?”
At Calix’s follow-up question, Melty blinked his wide-open eyes several times. Retrieving his hand from Calix’s grasp with a fidgeting motion, Melty raised his feet onto the chair and hugged his knees. Fiddling with his hands positioned in front of his navel, Melty cautiously opened his mouth while checking Calix’s reaction.
“I’m still thinking about it.”
“Still thinking?”
“You told me to think about it, right? I’m not done thinking yet.”
Melty conveyed his thoughts in a blunt tone and then lightly tapped his thighs with both hands for no particular reason. His unsettled feelings were clearly evident in each of his small actions.
“Even though I keep crossing your mind?”
At Calix’s question, Melty nodded his head vigorously.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard someone say they like me, except for my family.”
Melty mumbled, burying his head deeply between his knees. Seeing his adorably small ears drooping—so cute he wanted to touch them—a deep smile spread across Calix’s lips. Come to think of it, although he sometimes forgot, Melty was just a young hamster who had only recently become an adult and left his family’s side to venture outside for the first time.
The fact that Melty kept thinking about him already made this confession a success. Above all, it made him feel incredibly good that he was the first to occupy that place. Calix stood up, lightly tousling Melty’s hair as he spoke.
“This is the first time I’ve said ‘I like you’ too.”
“…But why are you so relaxed about it, Calix-ssi? Even though it’s a first for you too.”
Melty looked up slightly and pursed his lips. His moist, red lips jutting forward caught Calix’s attention. After briefly catching and releasing Melty’s lips, Calix smiled and said:
“Because it’s your turn to answer. So the worrying is also your turn.”
“Did you think about it a lot too, Calix-ssi?”
At Melty’s question, Calix scratched his cheek. Given the atmosphere, he felt like he should say “I also worried a lot,” but facing those troubled brown eyes, his conscience stung too much to tell a lie. In the end, Calix simply shrugged his shoulders and conveyed the truth.
“I’m a person who acts quickly.”
Melty, quickly grasping the meaning of Calix’s answer, felt somewhat indignant. Unlike Melty, Calix, now much more serene, smoothly smoothed out Melty’s increasingly crumpled expression with his swift and deft hand.
“Stop that—you’re cute even when you’re frowning.”
“Eek! Where did you learn to say such embarrassing things?”
“Do I need to learn that? I’m just saying something cute is cute.”
Calix finished by lightly pinching Melty’s cheek and then removed his hand. Pressing down firmly on his cheeks where Calix’s hands had been, Melty grumbled quietly. Each time Calix spoke, Melty’s insides kept tingling and his toes kept curling. Even though he found Calix annoying when he smiled brightly and said, “Now it’s your turn!” those feelings subsided when he looked at his face.
Just as Melty was cautiously raising his eyes to check on Calix, Angel’s voice was heard along with a brief knock.
“Calix-nim. You need to attend the meeting now.”
“Haa.”
Calix ran his hand through his hair and glared at the door with genuine frustration. The atmosphere had been so good, and it was disappointing to have to leave the room. However, as the person who had organized the exchange meeting, he couldn’t miss the first meeting.
“Calix-nim~ It’s urgent!”
“I know, just wait a minute!”
Calix shouted back at Angel, who was urging him in his characteristically flighty tone, and pressed his temple as he caught his breath. Even though he was obligated to host the exchange meeting, he had never been late for an appointment. He also knew that Angel was intentionally calling him early.
“Aren’t you going?”
Calix looked down at Melty, who was asking with his head tilted. Strangely, his irritation subsided at the sight of Melty sitting curled up on the chair, blinking his round brown eyes.
“I’ll go. Are you just going to stay in the room all day?”
“…I’m not sure.”
“I’ll tell Pel, so if you feel stuffy, go out and walk around a bit. Make sure to take Naru with you.”
Melty nodded obediently at Calix’s words. Even though it had happened at night, he still didn’t feel like going out to the garden now that it was daytime. Noticing from Melty’s behavior that he was reluctant to walk in the garden, Calix examined his expression and said:
“If you don’t like the garden, there’s also a balcony you can go to.”
At Calix’s kind voice, Melty nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. It felt very awkward to have Calix, who usually acted mischievous, speak so kindly. Calix lowered his posture in place of Melty, who was avoiding his gaze, and whispered in his ear while stroking his hair.
“Try to think positively, alright?”
After finishing his words and straightening his back, Calix moved toward the door with a chuckling laugh. Melty, holding his ears that had been teased by him with both hands, opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish.
“I-I had just managed to forget about it!”
Despite his belated retort, Calix had already gone beyond the door. After glaring at the tightly closed door for a long time, Melty’s shoulders slumped down. As he slowly lowered his legs from the chair, a cool sensation on his ankle greeted him, as if it had been waiting.
“Naru, are you here?”
Naru, now accustomed to accompanying him, looked up at Melty while wrapping around his foot. Melty lowered his hand as always to help Naru position himself on his wrist and smiled slightly at the sight of Naru’s flicking tongue.
“I wish my brothers and sisters were here.”
His brothers and sisters had always been Melty’s good teachers and advisors. But this feeling now couldn’t be sorted out with what he had learned from them before.
*Sssss—*
Naru moved his head in response to Melty’s words. As the snake kept pointing in one direction with his head gestures, Melty’s gaze followed. The first thing that caught his eye was the desk. Not understanding, Melty approached the desk and put Naru down, whereupon the snake brought over a letterhead that was tucked into one of the bookshelves.
“Are you suggesting I write a letter to my family?”
At Melty’s question, Naru nodded his head vigorously. Encouraged by Naru’s gaze, Melty promptly sat down. Perhaps because his mind was complicated, the letter flowed particularly well. After completing the letter, which he had filled with content in an instant, Melty raised the corners of his mouth in a bright smile.
“Done! Now I just need to send this to my family. Right?”
Satisfied with his master’s condition, which was definitely better than before, Naru proudly rested his head on Melty’s wrist. As Melty was giggling at Naru’s cute appearance, his ears caught the sound of something hitting.
It wasn’t a very loud sound, but the sharp tapping noise made Melty look around. Naru was positioned on his wrist as usual, after Melty had safely tucked the letter inside his clothes so as not to lose it.
“I definitely heard a sound from this direction…”
As Melty approached the window, he heard a more chaotic sound, unlike before. Tilting his head in confusion, Melty stretched his head outward.
Pel, who had accompanied him when he went to the temple before, was holding a woman with striking red hair. Thanks to her unmistakable hair color, Melty could immediately recognize her as Lila McNeil, with whom he had conversed at the banquet hall yesterday.
“I get it, so let me go already.”
“I cannot.”
“Look, I’m not trying to do anything bad, I’m telling you!”
“That’s not credible.”
“Hey!”
Raising her voice progressively, she swept back her red hair and let out a deep, irritated sigh. As she turned her gaze, Lila’s eyes brightened when she spotted him watching the situation with a puzzled expression from the window. Her hand pointed confidently toward where Melty was.
“I have a tea time appointment with Melty-ssi today!!”
At her sudden exclamation, Pel’s gaze landed on Melty. Having looked outside because he heard sounds, only to unexpectedly make eye contact with the two, Melty blinked his round eyes and opened his mouth blankly.
“Eh?”
