By Zephyria “Okay. Then you can come now.”
Ashley said. For some reason, his voice sounded more nervous than usual. Koi felt a fear settling in a corner of his heart and carefully took a step forward. He swallowed hard, and finally, when he turned around the wall and faced Ashley.
…Huh.
Koi’s eyes widened and he froze in place. Ashley, standing a few steps away, wasn’t much different from usual. He was wearing a comfortable t-shirt and jeans as always, and he was wearing sandals on his bare feet. His hair was also messed up as it usually was when he was at home. Up to that point, it was as expected. What was completely different from what he had imagined was his face.
Ashley’s face was swollen. However, it wasn’t that his whole face was swollen from crying, but only one cheek was red and had a clear handprint on it. There were also marks on his neck that looked like scratches.
…A cat?
Koi thought that at first. He had never raised a cat, but he had fed stray cats before. It took quite a while for the cat to open up to him, and until then, it would scratch the back of his hand from time to time. After some time, it started hiding its claws and hitting him with its paws, which was also quite painful.
Ashley’s face looked exactly like that now. It looked like a stray cat with a bad temper had been wary of a stranger and had diligently beaten him up with its claws raised.
If it weren’t for that handprint, he would have thought so.
The clear marks of the fingers were left by a person. Koi, who had been just looking at his face without saying anything, carefully opened his mouth.
“Um, Ash.”
“Yeah.”
Ashley replied. His lips also seemed to be a little torn. Koi hesitated and asked.
“By any chance, that.”
He couldn’t bring himself to say the next words, but Ashley said,
“Yeah, Al hit me.”
“Eek.”
At that moment, Koi gasped without realizing it. Seeing him covering his mouth and just rolling his eyes, Ashley roughly scratched the back of his head.
“See? It’s not something you need to worry about.”
“O-oh, I see.”
Koi stammered. He needed to say something, but nothing came to mind. He looked around and opened his mouth.
“Um, well, it looks like they were really angry.”
“I guess so.”
Ashley said it like it was someone else’s business. He didn’t seem angry or depressed. Koi hesitated and asked.
“Um, are you okay?”
“About what?”
Koi hesitated and answered honestly.
“You got dumped by Al, right?”
“What?”
Ashley reacted the same way he did on the phone. This time, he seemed particularly surprised. Ashley frowned and distorted his face, then asked again.
“Ariel dumped me?”
Koi’s eyes widened in response to his genuinely surprised reaction.
“Was I wrong?”
Does that mean they didn’t break up?
As he was thinking to himself, Ashley blinked a couple of times and soon returned to his nonchalant expression, scratching his head.
“No, you’re right.”
It was clearly a perfunctory reaction. He must be in shock. Koi thought.
“Don’t be too disappointed, Ash.”
Koi comforted him with sincerity.
“I don’t know what happened, but forget about it. Al must have made a mistake.”
Ashley’s face turned serious as Koi said that, recalling the information he had obtained from his search.
“Al is a good person. It’s my fault.”
“Uh, uh?”
This wasn’t in the manual.
Koi looked up at him in confusion. Ashley chuckled as if his expression was funny. In an instant, the surrounding air softened, and the tension eased from Koi’s shoulders. Ashley turned around first and said,
“Come on in, you’re going to have dinner, right?”
“Huh? Oh.”
Koi hurriedly followed him. Ashley, who had opened the front door and entered first, stepped aside.
“Welcome.”
Koi couldn’t help but smile at his figure, stretching out one arm and bending over with a smile.
“Thank you for inviting me.”
He said with as much courtesy as possible and stepped inside, and Ashley closed the door behind him. The low sound of a thud echoed emptily.
Huh?
Feeling strangely uneasy, Koi turned around. There, Ashley was standing with his back against the door.
“You can’t leave now, Koi.”
He said in a particularly low voice. Ashley’s chilling face was reflected in Koi’s wide eyes.
“Because you’re mine.”
…Huh?
He was bewildered by the unexpected situation. What’s going on all of a sudden? Ashley locked me up? Why? Why?
He was just standing there blankly in confusion when Ashley stepped away from the door. He took a step towards him.
One step, then another. Ashley gradually got closer. His gaze was fixed on Koi all the time. Koi also couldn’t take his eyes off him.
An unknown tension filled the surroundings. He needed to react somehow, but he couldn’t move. He just froze and watched Ashley approach. This was the first time he had seen this side of Ashley. Koi hunched his shoulders in fear and chilling tension.
Thud…
Ashley slowly stopped. The distance between them was now only a step away.
“Koi.”
Ashley called his name in a low voice. Koi watched as he lowered his head as if he was possessed. Ashley’s face gradually came closer in his wide-open vision. Just when he thought his neat face looked as cold as a statue made of glass, his breath touched his ear. It was when he reflexively closed his eyes tightly.
“Woah!”
Ashley suddenly let out a short exclamation.
“Eek!”
Koi screamed in surprise, and he burst out laughing loudly. Realizing belatedly that Ashley had played a mischievous prank, he sighed in relief, stroking his chest.
“What was that? You scared me.”
Ashley, still smiling, took a step forward first at Koi, who lightly chided him.
“Where should we eat? In the garden like last time?”
“Uh, uh. I like anywhere.”
As he said, hurrying to follow him, Ashley walked along, humming softly. His heart was still pounding from what had just happened, but he was relieved that Ashley didn’t seem too down.
But why do I feel a little disappointed?
*
They decided to have dinner in the gazebo like last time. Koi became in charge of the drinks and diligently prepared and carried the related items. Ashley brought two kinds of salads, hamburgers, and sandwiches this time.
“Looks delicious.”
Ashley sat across from him and picked up a drink as Koi exclaimed, looking at the hamburger with several thin sticks stuck in it.
“You still had mango cola?”
Koi answered Ashley’s question.
“That’s the last one. I didn’t know what else to bring.”
Ashley poured the drink, removing the ice without any particular reaction. The two finished their meal without much conversation.
After dinner, Ashley made an unexpected suggestion to Koi.
“Don’t you want to sleep over?”
“Huh?”
Koi blinked in surprise. Two thoughts popped into his head at the same time. Should I sleep over or not? Father wouldn’t allow a sleepover. Of course, he’d be angry. The good thing is that he’s in a better state when he’s sober, so as long as he doesn’t get drunk, that’s all there is to it. Still, it’s better to go home quietly than to take unnecessary risks. Of course, the latter was the wise choice, and he knew it himself.
But Koi’s heart wasn’t like that.
“…Yeah.”
Koi nodded.
“I will.”
*
[I’m sleeping over at a friend’s house today because of homework. I’ll definitely be back tomorrow, so don’t worry. Koi.]
“…I will. I’ll definitely…”
Koi read the message he had written out loud, nodded, and pressed the send button. He immediately turned off his phone. It would be troublesome if Father called him drunk.
Hoo.
He was still breathing shakily and stroking his chest, but he couldn’t calm down easily. Let’s worry about tomorrow tomorrow. He repeated the same words several times, but peace didn’t come easily.
Calm down, you already sent the message. It’s too late to regret it now.
“Hoo.”This time, he took a deep breath, audibly, and went outside.
After finishing their meal, Koi entered the mansion with Ashley. While Ashley was putting the used dishes into the dishwasher, he went into an empty room and sent a message to Father. Actually, he had tried to call at first, but his voice was shaking so badly that he didn’t think he could speak.
If you’re this scared, you can just go home.
He scolded himself, but the temptation was much stronger than he thought.
Ashley told him to stay over, and there was no way he could refuse.
Koi steeled himself, but in the end, he couldn’t make the call. Instead, he ended the situation by sending a message and went back out into the hallway.