By Zephyria Hugo blinked slowly. He had heard the answer he wanted to hear, but unlike what he had expected, his mouth felt bitter.
Frankly, he thought that hearing that he would stay by his side and that he trusted him would make him feel more at ease. But he was greatly mistaken.
His answer was his own choice, but it sounded like a desperate situation in which he had no choice but to make a forced choice. Very paradoxically.
“So you too, keep your promise.”
Watching Leonardo, who was curling up the corners of his lips and speaking lightly, Hugo’s lips opened slightly and then closed again. Soon, he cut out unnecessary words appropriately, nodded slowly, and replied.
“…I will keep that in mind.”
The color of the blue eyes that answered that way was very deep. With those words, a silence fell for a while.
It was a fact he already knew, but strangely, Hugo felt complicated. Hearing the words that nailed it down didn’t make him feel any better than before. Perhaps he really had been mistaken.
Leonardo had said before that he had no intention of dissolving this relationship, but Hugo thought that he could overcome the distorted relationship and rebuild trust.
Also, if, as he said, the only thing he could hold onto and rely on in his desperate situation was the oath he had made, he thought that dissolving this relationship was absolutely necessary, even if it was just to make him feel a little more comfortable.
However, as he replayed his words, Leonardo’s emotional wounds seemed to be much deeper than he had expected. He was only accompanying him to get out of this place, but trying to dissolve the relationship in the meantime might just be his own greed.
Then, in the end, should they just let it flow as it is until the subjugation is over?
Without making any effort, just like this….
“But.”
A short opening flowed out from between Leonardo’s lips, which he thought had been tightly closed. Hugo’s gaze, which had been lowered in complexity, quickly followed his voice.
His lips were moving as if he had more to say, but this time it was not easy to take it out, so his gaze was only directed to irrelevant places.
He also touched his neck meaninglessly. Knowing that he did that when he was embarrassed or racking his brains, Hugo waited silently with puzzled eyes.
The words that came with a dry cough before long were quite pleasant to hear, as if they were compensation for it.
“That… it’s not like I didn’t come back right away because of you.”
Unlike the confident tone he had used a little while ago, his voice and tone were subtly hesitant. His expression was not visible because he was turning his head, but the long eyelashes that decorated his beautiful profile trembled finely, attracting attention.
“I was just wandering around… I came back from a walk, a walk.”
The small murmur that scattered into the air whispered as if tickling his ears. Hugo’s eyes, which had been focused, narrowed.
Leonardo, who had finished speaking, unknowingly closed and opened his eyes tightly.
‘Damn it, what am I saying now.’
A walk? Even he thought it was a ridiculous excuse. He felt like he could hear Agrizendro’s inner thoughts of being dumbfounded all the way here.
He wanted to clear up Hugo’s misunderstanding that he hadn’t come back because of him, so he blurted out anything, but all he said was a walk. Even a passing dog would laugh.
It wasn’t long before he realized that the reason he was spouting nonsense was because he wanted to comfort Hugo.
Leonardo, who had been biting his lip, roughly ruffled the back of his head. Then he barely opened his mouth.
“It’s true that I hate you. …But it’s not like I hate you that much… or loathe you. If it was to that extent, I wouldn’t be here already. How many opportunities have I had to run away?”
It was a small and unclear voice, but it was very clear because he was close. Hugo’s eyelids, which had been motionless, moved slightly.
After a moment of silence, Leonardo, who had been avoiding his eyes, glanced at the other person, who had no reaction. He gazed at the shaded eyes that were staring at him and then murmured as if he was letting it slip.
“Just… so you know.”
Hugo silently took in his appearance.
Watching the guy who acted like he was drawing a line but then threw a few words while trying to hide his awkwardness, it was as if he was holding a chance in his hand and shaking it in front of his eyes, as if telling him not to give up.
It was as if he was wagging his tail. It was somehow dazed and ticklish. As he recalled his words, a small chuckle flowed out.
He hates him, but he doesn’t dislike him. He wondered if the two were that different, but hearing it from his mouth, it felt like there was a clear difference. And he was saying it with so much difficulty that he just laughed.
Watching Hugo, who was letting out a pleasant chuckle, Leonardo felt embarrassed for no reason and frowned with a sullen face. Hugo decided to grab him quickly in case he took back his words.
“Thank you, Leonardo.”
His eyebrows were raised again at the sudden expression of gratitude.
“Thank you for letting me catch you on your own, for giving me room for improvement.”
Soon, a look of absurdity flashed across Leonardo’s face. It was because he had given him room for improvement, but he didn’t expect him to point it out so directly.
His face was burning, and he didn’t say anything, so Hugo wrapped his arms around his back and shoulders, tilted his head slightly, and brought his face closer. Then he looked him straight in the eye and asked in a low voice.
“It’s okay to be mistaken like that, right?”
He was clearly fine when he leaned in first, but when the other person came in, he felt suffocated by the strong scent that wafted over him. Leonardo, who was a little embarrassed, pulled his head back slightly. He wanted to gloss over it and turned his gaze elsewhere.
“Well… think whatever you want.”
It was strange that he was trying to confirm it. A low laugh lingered in his ear.
While being conscious of the gaze that brushed against his profile, he deliberately stared at the empty air, but Leonardo made an unhappy expression because he was not sure if he had done the right thing. Large hands leisurely stroked his arms and shoulders with affectionate touches. As if he was handling a fish he had already caught.
He didn’t particularly feel any resistance, so he didn’t push him away.
He wanted to speak calmly, but whenever he stood in front of Hugo, he felt like he was becoming relatively childish, and he didn’t like that. He also didn’t like Hugo treating him like a child. But on the other hand, he also thought that Hugo was amazing for being able to constantly say sorry and thank you to him.
…He knows that this person is trying to be good to him. He also knows that he’s not a bad person. Rather, he’s an unusually upright and kind person.
A flawed and immature adult? This person said that about himself, but frankly, he couldn’t agree. At least, this person was the only one he had seen who could say that.
In the end, Leonardo decided to think in a way that would make him feel a little more comfortable. He decided to relieve his resentment and that there was no reason to push away the person who was trying to approach him right now. He decided to put an end to his complicated feelings, even if it was just for this short time.
Then and now. It was just that the situation surrounding this person and him was bad.
Just as he had done his best at that time, this person had also done his best.
Leonardo, who had slightly lowered his eyes and was staring at the small gap between Hugo and himself, realized that the distance was so close that not even a fist could fit.
When he raised his head, he saw blue eyes, softened in the middle of his elegant and beautiful face, staring straight at him as if he would listen to anything he said.
As he met those jewel-like eyes, his furrowed brow gradually smoothed out, unlike his confused heart. His long and long thoughts were also gradually being organized.
Leonardo lightly placed his hand on the back of Hugo’s hand, which was wrapped around his shoulder.
He slowly stroked the back of his hand along the prominent blood vessels and joints, then dug between his fingers and grasped one of his long, straight index fingers. At a distance where he could feel his breath, his gaze was only fixed on Hugo’s eyes.
Seeing the eyelashes that were intermittently trembling, Hugo erased the smile on his lips. Because of the sensation that brushed between the back of his hand and his fingers, he unknowingly put strength into the hand that was wrapped around his shoulder. In the meantime, he was feeling for the first time in his life that he was vulnerable to visual stimulation. As he looked at his attractive lips and eyes that were drawing his attention, he realized once again that this distance was quite dangerous.
Before their relationship went wrong, this guy sometimes played pranks on him, so he was accepting this as part of that, but he was a little confused because he couldn’t see any playfulness in the sparkling golden eyes that were shining through his slender eyes.
That was how he was unable to take his eyes off him, half because he was curious about his intentions and half because he was simply captivated by his gaze, when suddenly a cold sensation brushed against the back of Hugo’s back.
At the same time, Leonardo’s gaze, which had been facing him, quickly shifted to the side. Hugo thought that he seemed to be looking at something behind him.
‘Fire?’
The strongest fire was right in front of him, so there was confusion in his perception, but the sensation that brushed past him in an instant was definitely fire. A very powerful one at that.
Hugo immediately took his arm off Leonardo’s shoulder and tried to turn his head to check behind him. It seemed like there was another presence besides him and Leonardo in this place.
However, before he could even turn halfway, his vision immediately returned to its original position. It was because two hands, which felt warm to the point of being hot, grabbed his face and forced him to turn back.
“……?”
Hugo’s brain froze for a moment, his gaze fixed by others. His eyes were wide open, unlike usual.
In front of him, he saw Leonardo reaching out his hands to him.
Suddenly, his behavior, which was more than provocative and even reckless, caused Hugo considerable embarrassment. However, his eyelids were wide open, his breath was held, and it seemed that Leonardo himself was quite surprised by his own actions. Clearly, both of them were quite flustered.
In Duke Hugo’s common sense, there had never been anyone who could grab his face like that without permission, so Hugo’s mind was filled with confusion. It wasn’t unpleasant, but literally chaos.
In the meantime, the area where Leonardo’s hand touched was so hot and stimulating as if burned by fire, and the feeling of sensing a strange energy a moment ago became blurred.
Looking at Hugo’s face, Leonardo, who was even more surprised, blinked his widened eyes a few times and then slowly lowered his hand that had been covering his cheek. Words that could not form sentences stammered out from between his barely parted lips.
“Uh, that’s… I mean.”
Hugo, who was looking at the hand that had slipped down, stared at the golden eyes that were shaking violently, wondering what he was going to say. But the words that followed were quite brazen, unlike what he saw.
“Well, you’re the only one who always touches my face. It’s unfair… so.”
The tightly bitten lips and the slyly glancing eyes created a sense of incongruity, unlike the unreserved remarks. Whether it was intentional or not, it came across as even more provocative than before, and Hugo, who was staring at him intently, barely held on to his blurred judgment.
Then, he narrowed his eyes and answered in a rather soft tone, though he was dubious.
“…If you had told me, I would have let you touch it.”
Perhaps it was an unexpected answer, Leonardo’s eyes twitched and widened a little more. Judging by the slow movement of his Adam’s apple, he seemed even more embarrassed.
An awkward silence lingered, and the two only stared blankly at each other. Meanwhile, various senses were quite busy exploring each other.
Leonardo, whose lips had unknowingly parted slightly, soon came to his senses and managed his expression. Then, he quickly scanned over Hugo’s shoulder.
Soon after, he immediately turned his gaze back, grabbed the large hand that had been caressing his shoulder a moment ago, and intertwined his fingers between his long fingers. Then, he got up from his seat and said to him as if urging him.
“I’m sleepy now. Let’s go in.”
Hugo wore a puzzled expression at the sight of him urging him to go quickly. However, the tightly clasped hands didn’t seem to have any intention of letting him go, so he got up from his seat as well.
“Oh, okay.”
There was something sudden about it, but he was drawn to the sudden skinship, and his body moved naturally like flowing water. In fact, it was rare for him to be dragged like this by someone, so he was very dazed, but he didn’t bother to show it.
Before going down the hill, Hugo turned his head halfway and glanced back. There were only angular rocks there, and nothing particularly noticeable was visible. There was no trace of anything, no sign of anyone.
The chilling energy he had felt in an instant was unlikely to remain.
‘…What is it?’
Hugo, who was scanning the vicinity with suspicious eyes, narrowed his brows and turned his head back to the front.
Then, he stared intently at Leonardo’s profile, who was holding his hand and arm tightly and leading the way.