“Ugh, this is too, cough!”
The tense atmosphere was instantly broken by the sound of coughing, but Ben was actually writhing in pain.
His stomach was churning, his insides were twisted and sore, and the scent of Absinthe strongly wafted from his nose, causing a rush of physiological tears.
As his persistent coughing caused his eyes to burn and Ben finally shed tears, the twins and Xenon—excluding the speechless Ellyn—fidgeted anxiously around him.
“A-are you crying, Ben? Penka and Pinka will drink it all to punish it!”
“Is there something to eat?! Oops, not this one—”
“D-do you want to eat… this…?”
His wet eyes blinked, and tears streamed down his face, flushed with alcohol.
He looked utterly pathetic.
Pinka, who was frantically trying to hand him anything to wash away the bitter alcohol taste, paused with a crumpled pink wrapper in his hand, and Xenon collected a few chocolates scattered on the table and offered them.
But whatever they offered, Ben, too busy coughing, couldn’t accept their goodwill.
Instead, Haimar, who had been glaring sharply at the scene, snatched the chocolates.
He then took the glass from Ben’s hand, supported Ben’s hips with one arm, and effortlessly lifted him, carrying him toward the dining room.
“Cough, ah, wa-water, cough!”
“Stop. Don’t cry.”
Since his coughing wouldn’t stop on its own, there was no way his tears would obey his will.
Ben barely managed to speak, burying his face in the coat hem that still held the winter wind.
Haimar, as if soothing a child, gently wiped his eyes with a finger, then took out an empty glass, filled it with water, and held it to Ben’s lips.
“Slowly.”
With Haimar’s help, Ben’s coughing finally subsided after slowly drinking the water.
Although he still coughed intermittently, Haimar’s gentle hand patting his back gave him room to catch his breath.
Only then did Ben start to realize what was happening.
No sooner had he told Haimar to leave him than he had badly swallowed the alcohol, and now he was completely nestled in Haimar’s arms.
He knew enough shame not to scream at Haimar to put him down, so he had nothing to say.
Just as Ben was wracking his alcohol-dulled brain, contemplating what stance he should take next, Haimar carelessly spoke a word toward the living room.
“…I’ll be staying over.”
“…Use the second floor.”
Ellyn, whose speech was now unrestrained, pointed toward the stairs.
Haimar, holding Ben in his arms, turned and disappeared up the stairs.
Ben, who had unknowingly been carried upstairs, sent a bewildered look to Ellyn, but all she did was wave her hand and smile innocently, saying, “Bye-bye~.”
‘They’re… they’re just sending me off like this?’
The atmosphere, which had been like an ice-cold bath with floating ice cubes, now felt like a lukewarm one.
Ben struggled to clear his head and straightened his body in Haimar’s arms.
It was an obvious consequence that if he and Haimar went up to the room alone, things would be awkward.
If they were going to send him off, shouldn’t they have at least pretended to stop this man, who had been like a ferocious beast just moments ago?
How could they send him off so casually with a wave, as if they had been waiting for this, knowing what would happen to him once they went up to the room?
“Uh, j-just a moment…”
Faced with the reality of having to bear the future situation all by himself, Ben cleared his throat, his voice still hoarse from the frequent coughing.
“Quiet.”
However, Haimar stopped him mid-sentence.
Ben raised his head and met Haimar’s cool, sunken eyes.
The dark gaze beneath his light eyelashes contrasted sharply, making his eyes look even darker.
Ben, intuitively sensing his slightly darker future, turned his body toward Ellyn to finish his cut-off sentence and ask for help, but Haimar shot an annoyed glance at the group behind him.
“Don’t talk to him anymore.”
As Haimar decisively drove in the wedge, no one dared to speak, and silence reigned.
Despite Ben’s weak defiance, Haimar left the spot cleanly without any hesitation.
Regrettably, Ellyn and the twins, who had completely clammed up after his warning (or not-so-warning), were already busy refilling their glasses, treating Haimar and Ben as if they had already left.
“G-good night…”
Only Xenon’s quiet farewell, which seemed to pierce Ben with its lack of concern, accompanied the two as they left.
After confirming that Haimar and Ben had disappeared up the stairs while downing a glass of whiskey, Ellyn finally let out the grumbles she had been holding back with an air of dissatisfaction.
“Ugh, the shrimp almost got crushed in the whale fight. Is this not a whale fight, but a lover’s quarrel, in this case?”
“Penka and Pinka were scared! That’s the first time we’ve seen Haimar like that!”
“We thought he was breathing fire from his eyes!”
As expected, the twins felt the same way.
If Haimar Eilec thought of Ben as a typical Guide, he wouldn’t act like that.
Today, self-proclaimed famous love and dating scholar Ellyn gained certainty in her shaky conviction.
This whole situation was orchestrated because she wanted to gain this certainty in the first place, and having Ben join Xenon’s mission was one thread in her grand scheme.
Plus, she had amply satisfied her personal desires as a bonus.
Ben and Xenon, decked out in her favored styles, were an incredible birthday event.
Both were so cute she wanted to bite them, and Haimar’s reaction was better than expected.
To think she would witness Haimar’s human side in her lifetime!
Moreover, to have the opportunity to tease him—wasn’t it only right to seize it?
The risk was high, and she felt her life was in danger just from testing the waters, but it was not in vain.
“But Haimar was gentle, wasn’t he~?”
“Right. Haimar was kind, wasn’t he~?”
Just as the twins, whose minds were quickly colored with images of flowers, reminisced, Haimar’s gaze had been fixed on Ben from the moment he arrived, hardly giving any attention to anything else.
He glared at every touch directed toward Ben, reacted sensitively to Ben’s voice, and ultimately, even personally gave him water and carried him lovingly in his arms—none of these actions were ordinary.
They were all actions that could not be done without affection.
Even if one were to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they were merely actions of good manners if performed by anyone else, the fact that the person performing them was none other than Haimar Eilec allowed them to be defined as affection.
It was obvious to others that the two were on the verge of dating, but watching the principals still wander around without finding the answer made Ellyn utterly frustrated.
From her perspective, she wanted to cheer them on, urging them, ‘What are you so unsure about? Just honestly confront and express your feelings!’
But she remained silent, knowing that giving Ben confidence was an issue for Haimar and for the two of them to resolve, not her.
Of course, her urge for self-preservation took slightly more precedence, and since her mouth was shut anyway, remaining silent was also the correct action.
In any case, self-proclaimed renowned dating scholar Ellyn had reached a conclusion: These two are having a chaotic ‘flirtationship’.
If she had known this would happen, she would have just given him more alcohol and sent him to Haimar earlier.
Maybe it would have been better if he had used the subtly unfiltered nature of his drinking habit to express himself then.
That was the positive side of alcohol.
Sometimes, it’s better to just trust one’s feelings and go for it, rather than calculating thoughts and theories.
“Still, well… the answer will come soon enough.”
“What? What? Tell Penka and Pinka too!”
“Ellyn, that’s mean! Why are you the only one having fun?”
Ellyn ignored the twins’ nagging and tightly hugged Xenon, who was lying next to her.
She had a subtle expectation that their relationship would progress, given that she had set the stage for them.
Since neither of them seemed to want to simply define each other as “Guide” and “Esper,” it was time for their relationship to be redefined.
She would definitely make sure they acknowledged her contribution later.
“Xenon, my baby. As expected, I only need you.”
“M-me, too…”
With the meddling in others’ love lives over, it was time to shower her own love with affection.
The twins seemed to have lingering curiosity, but knowing that now was not the time, they started downing their drinks again.
With her back to them, Ellyn pressed her lips firmly onto Xenon’s cheek.
*
“……”
He felt like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse.
The short time it took to climb the stairs and head to the room in the corner of the second floor felt incredibly long.
His body was being carried comfortably, but his mind felt the opposite, as if he were sitting on a bed of thorns.
No matter how much he thought about it, Ellyn and the twins should have at least held him and Haimar back, instead of just sending them off like that, regardless of what Haimar said downstairs.
But even if he regretted what had already happened, he couldn’t resolve the tangled situation alone.
With the alcohol reaching his throat, his mind wasn’t working well, so Ben just decided to half-give up.
He felt it would be more beneficial for him to quickly arrive at the room, hug the soft blanket on the bed, and seek deep sleep.
“…Put me down now…”
As soon as they entered the room—located at the very end of the second floor, complete with a private bathroom and a large bed—Ben immediately prepared to get down from Haimar.
However, Haimar didn’t put Ben down; instead, he sat on the bed with Ben still in his arms, staring intently without saying a word, continuing the strange standoff.
As time passed, one second felt like a minute, and one minute felt like ten.
Just as the magic of time-dilation was continuing, Ben, unable to endure the silence, finally spoke first, borrowing courage from the alcohol.
“Did you swallow a whole bee…? Why are you so quiet…”
