Our Summer Is Not Over - vanish into fiction

At that moment, Dylan rose from the sofa and walked over to Mia.

“Are these the clothes you’re supposed to try on?”

Because his gaze had been fixed on Mia, Elise didn’t immediately realize he was speaking to her. She only snapped to attention after a moment and answered hurriedly.

“Yes? Yes!”

“If there’s any part that’s loose, I can pin it, right?”

“Y-You’re going to do it yourself, Your Grace? I’ll take care of it!”

As Dylan rolled up his sleeves, Elise was startled and tried to stop him.

At the same time, Mia was startled for a different reason. She had caught sight of a faint red mark on the wrist.

For some reason, her fingertips tingled.

She felt as if the heat from that day was rising up all over again. In an instant, it spread throughout her body, leaving Mia tingling all over.

She tried hard to ignore it and clenched her fist tightly, but then Dylan spoke again.

“Wait outside. I’ll call you when we’re finished.”

His words reminded her of what he had said before.

“I’m not planning to just lie around prettily in the bedroom.”

In this space where only the two of them remained, it was only natural to wonder what might happen next. Not just Mia, but Elise and the other staff seemed to have similar thoughts.

Blushing, they quickly arranged their tools and hurried out of the room.

The soft click of the closing door left a silence behind.

But only for a moment.

Dylan reached out and started fiddling with the tools that had been laid out. Each time his long fingers moved, Mia involuntarily recalled the night a few days prior.

The memory of those fingers running over every inch of her body.

When she parted her lips, the heat that rose from her throat seemed to fill her entire mouth. Even when she took a deep breath, nothing changed. In a room filled with the heat of summer, there was no way for any coolness to seep in.

She found herself wishing, until her restlessness subsided, that nothing physical would happen with Dylan for a while.

It wasn’t that she wanted to avoid him.

She was simply anxious that if they spent any more time entangled like this—if she started getting carried away by emotions she didn’t even recognize—everything would end in ruin.

So this comment slipped out, as if she were nervously treading on her own feet.

“Dylan, wouldn’t it be better to be careful about what you say in front of others?”

“What do you mean?”

“I just think it’s better not to create situations that anyone could easily misunderstand…”

“When have I ever done that?”

As Mia quietly reviewed their previous conversations, she opened her mouth, then briefly acknowledged her own mistake. There was no point in making excuses.

Just like everyone else, Mia had misinterpreted his words on her own.

“I misunderstood. Sorry.”

Hearing her apology, Dylan’s lips curled up with a sly smile. Each time he parted his lips, his red tongue, damp with saliva, flickered.

“What kind of impure thoughts were you having?”

At his words, Mia bristled, clenching her fists and biting her lip as Dylan looked her over. Then, as always, he simply laughed and backed off a step.

That only made her feel more ashamed.

Taking his gaze off her, Dylan picked out a white dress from among the clothes the madam had brought and held it out.

“Go change and come out.”

He gestured toward the partition with his chin. Seeing she hadn’t moved and was just staring at him, Dylan added curtly,

“Nothing you’re worried about will happen, so just relax and get changed.”

Only then did Mia’s gaze drop to the soft fabric in her hands. It was lighter than what she usually wore, but it would still cover all her scars.

Realizing that, Mia bit her lip again.

He always spoke bluntly, yet acted with a kind of feigned tenderness, and it threw her into confusion. She couldn’t shake the feeling that her whole body was somehow bound up by him.

“Stop biting your lip.”

Mia flinched as he lifted his hand and brushed her lips with his finger. Unbothered, Dylan continued.

“If you keep doing that, I’ll have to make you bite something else.”