Our Summer Is Not Over - Chapter 23.1
As her emptied heart naturally filled, Dylan took up residence there. She didn’t even feel like she ought to resist the traces of him that were steadily accumulating within her.
Mia, with Dylan still kneeling in front of her and gazing up at her, took him in slowly, piece by piece.
His face looked the same as always, yet somehow, he seemed different. She couldn’t guess what it was that made him appear changed.
His eyes, especially tonight, shone deeply. Even his low, blunt voice sounded gentle to her.
Mia parted her lips.
“I…”
She had no idea with what intention Dylan had asked her to go with him. But she felt she shouldn’t go. It was an anxiety, a certainty, she had acquired over a long time.
That she shouldn’t let herself be swept up by emotion or lose control of her senses anymore.
Sensing she was about to refuse, before Mia could say more, Dylan’s soft voice slipped into her ear once again.
“Think of it as a reward for everything you’ve endured. Haven’t both you and I been running nonstop?”
Without meaning to, Mia wiggled her fingers at the tingling sensation she felt in her hand. Their hands were only touching, yet her neck and her vision felt suddenly feverish.
It seemed like she could only escape this feeling if she let go of his hand. But before she could act, Dylan gripped her hand firmly.
“Don’t run away.”
“It tickles. It’s hot.”
Mia’s pupils trembled violently.
Dylan answered without the slightest hesitation.
“It always itches when new skin grows.”
She didn’t ask what he meant by that. There was no grand reason.
It was just that her throat kept tightening, and she didn’t want to think so deeply and complicatedly about it. She wanted to relax and let herself be carried by Dylan’s voice.
He didn’t speak further, and neither did Mia.
How much time passed with their gazes locked, she didn’t know, until Dylan’s aide, Aaron, came running from afar.
As soon as Dylan saw him, he rose to his feet, and Mia’s gaze fell on his knees.
Because he had knelt in the garden wearing a white suit, his clothes had gotten grass stains. Yet Dylan didn’t seem to care. He held his hand out to Mia.
“Your clothes are dirty now.”
“We both look a bit ridiculous. But isn’t it better than being alone?”
“What a strange thing to say…”
“Aren’t you going to take my hand?”
As if to say ‘that’s enough, just take it,’ Dylan urged her.
The corners of his lips, always so stoic, curved up softly. Except when their bodies were entwined, he never smiled so languidly.
She didn’t know why he was looking at her like that, but Mia instinctively understood.
That today would remain in her memory longer than any other day.
* * *
“Your Grace, there is something I need to report.”
Aaron called Dylan carefully just after they arrived at the residence.
“Aaron. Can it wait until tomorrow?”
Dylan replied, still not letting go of Mia’s hand, which he was holding for her escort.
Reading Aaron’s troubled look, Mia let go of Dylan’s hand first.
“Dylan, it sounds urgent. Why don’t you go?”
“Isn’t your dress uncomfortable? You should change first…”
“It’s fine. I doubt it’ll take long. You came back sooner than expected, too.”
Even after hearing her answer, Dylan insisted on escorting her all the way to her room.
“Please go in and wait for me for just a bit.”
“Take your time. The smell faded on the way home, so it’s not unpleasant.”
“It’s because I’m worried about you.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead and murmured.
His lips slid down to the bridge of her nose, then soon after, to her lips.
Skillfully opening the door for her, he didn’t close it until he made sure she was safely inside, then finally turned to leave.
Leaning against the door, Mia listened to the sound of his footsteps receding into the distance.
Standing alone in the bright room, Mia traced the places his lips had touched, one by one, with her fingers. Layer by layer, heat built up at each spot.
She hadn’t felt warm at all just a moment ago, but now her whole body felt hot. Wondering if maybe it was the alcohol finally hitting her, Mia tried to erase Dylan from her mind as she went to sit on the couch.
“…It’s hot.”
Even fanning her face with her hand a few times didn’t dispel the heat.
The clothes she wore were looser than usual, but somehow they felt even more stifling.