By Zephyria 
He didn’t even grasp the meaning of the question, let alone the sentence itself. But as if he hadn’t intended to hear an answer in the first place, Kyle grabbed my chin.
My head tilted back slightly, naturally opening my mouth as his thumb entered, forcing my jaw further down. I watched his serious face approach without blinking.
He observed my open mouth intently, as if inspecting it, and then said, “It’s incredibly swollen.”
“……”
“It looks like it would be hard to swallow anything at this point.”
His touch reached my lips and further inside, pressing down on the flesh until it felt parched. It seemed he was merely confirming something, rather than having any other motive.
But even so, there was an unusual lack of hesitation. It felt familiar and natural. It was certain that something like this had happened before.
Were we really having an affair, or were we in a similarly intimate relationship?
“First, I want to tell you in advance that in order to treat you…”
Kyle opened his mouth seriously, his expression still as grave and rigid as if several people had died. Because he was looking down, his long, thick eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes.
I quietly watched him, then leaned forward, closing the distance between us.
Kyle’s eyes widened, startled by my sudden action. But he didn’t pull back, and our lips eventually met.
I felt his body flinch at the soft, tender sensation. I had intended to stop if he pushed me away or showed disgust, but there was no sign of that.
Still, he was clearly flustered, his jewel-like eyes filled with confusion. I stuck out my tongue slightly and licked my scabbed lips, causing his fair brow to furrow. Did it hurt? Was he enduring it anyway? His eyes were red.
I had achieved my goal of confirming that we were close enough that a kiss wouldn’t be strange. As soon as I broke the kiss, Kyle sighed and muttered to himself, “Is she really suffering from memory loss…”
He looked somewhat angry. Kyle frowned and looked at me, asking from a distance where our lips were almost touching, “Why is your name Aska?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You said you don’t remember anything, right? But how did you know your name is Aska? Did someone tell you that you’re Aska?”
I felt that the question was a bit strange. It sounded as if he was implying that my name wasn’t Aska. I moved my lips a few times before closing them.
Even as he waited patiently for an answer, Kyle didn’t back away. The distance was still so close that either of us could touch again with the slightest movement.
I still had so many suspicions, but was it okay to tell him my story? I hesitated to speak, but when I came to my senses, I was already making a sound.
“I regained consciousness…”
“When?”
“I don’t know. It’s been quite a while. I was usually unconscious, but I would occasionally wake up. I couldn’t even speak when I first woke up. But as I gradually got better, I started to have questions. Where was I, why was I in pain, who was the person taking care of me every day…”
Even as I spoke, I couldn’t be sure if I was doing the right thing. Was it really okay to tell this man? If he wasn’t human but a monster, not only I but Abyss and Sakira could be in danger.
“So?”
His question urging me to answer made my gaze waver involuntarily. I avoided his eyes and looked down, continuing to speak.
“But other than my name, I don’t remember anything else…”
At that moment, Kyle reached out with a cool hand and cupped my cheek. I couldn’t tell if I was hot because I had a fever, or if his body temperature was naturally low.
Even as his lips touched mine and his tongue entered my mouth, licking the inside, my mind was filled with questions.
Then, belatedly realizing what was happening, I leaned back, but his hand moved even faster. His large hand grabbed the back of my head, and his arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me close.
Each time our lips rubbed together, the roughly touching scabs broke, and I felt hot blood. It inevitably entered my mouth and pooled there, naturally flowing down my throat, causing me to frown involuntarily.
His tongue, which had been cautiously exploring the inside, touched the inside of my cheek and gums, and then traced my teeth. I reflexively moved my tongue to push out the foreign object that had entered, but it wasn’t a good choice.
As our tongues began to intertwine, the movements became faster and faster. My brain, which had stopped because I couldn’t understand the situation, finally began to spin wildly.
But the friction caused by the rubbing and colliding of wet flesh was so vulgar that I couldn’t continue thinking.
“Hah…”
The inside of my mouth became even wetter, as if submerged in water. Then, my lips parted for a moment, and I opened my eyes, which I had closed at some point.
Kyle was catching his breath with his forehead pressed against mine. Because we were so close, I felt his faint breath on my face each time he inhaled. The faint breeze, not strong enough to move even a single strand of hair, felt like melted sugar sticking to every part of my body.
As I quietly watched his panting face and swallowed the saliva pooling under my tongue, my mind, which had been filled with questions and confusion, finally went blank. Lust bloomed instantly, as if flames were spreading through cotton wool.
“Are they treating you well?”
The question, asked with his eyes lowered, was as faint as his breath.
“Have the people you’re with been good to you?”
“……”
Kyle whispered without opening his still-closed eyes. He moved teasingly, like a small puppy rubbing its forehead, then slid down and buried his face in my shoulder.
“Have you ever felt self-conscious or disappointed?”
His soft cheek rubbed against my neck, and the tip of his nose touched behind my ear. Unlike the tongue that had been licking the inside of my mouth, the relatively hard sensation dug into me, and each time it rubbed, the flames spread wider and wider.
“Are you doing well…”
“……”
And the moment I heard the whining voice, I felt a shock as if my eardrums were shattering.
Kyle’s hand, which had been around my waist, groped up and lightly rested on my chest. My heart, which was pounding like crazy, was now on the verge of leaping out of my mouth.
“……”
“……”
Isn’t this a bit dangerous?
I felt an extreme sense of crisis, but I couldn’t even think of shaking off the hand that was caressing my chest. Even if Kyle had bad intentions and held a knife to my throat, I would be forced to watch my neck being cut with my eyes wide open.
At that moment, when the tension reached its peak and the whole world seemed to be moving in slow motion, his head finally lifted.
His eyes, red-rimmed and looking at me, were filled with satisfaction. He looked like a predator who had eaten his fill of what he wanted.
I wanted to see more, but Kyle, who had been looking at me with a smile, lowered his head again and leaned his face against my chest. He put his ear near my heart, and I had no choice but to strain myself to avoid being pushed back as he got closer and closer.
I felt a pleasant sense of weight and stability, but at the same time, my body became stiff.
“But why are you just standing there?”
However, the dreamy atmosphere that had been fading away was shattered like glass by Kyle’s question, which made me suddenly lift my head.
“Why are you suddenly kissing me when you don’t even remember who I am?”
He suddenly looked upset. I might have started it, but he was the one who ended up putting his tongue in my mouth and licking and sucking, so I couldn’t understand why he was getting angry at me.
I was dumbfounded, but I tried to make excuses in my own way.
“I was curious about how close we were.”
“So you just rub lips with someone you don’t know?”
“……”
“You haven’t been checking like this all along, have you?”
His expression as he asked with wide eyes was serious, but strangely, the tense muscles were gradually relaxing. I slumped my body, which had been so tense, and took a deep breath, and Kyle asked again.
“Are you going to do this every time you meet someone who pretends to know you? You can just ask, why do you act like this? Can’t you ask questions?”
“I asked, but you didn’t answer.”
“Then you should ask again!”
Now he was even scolding me. I couldn’t understand why I was being scolded. I was sure that just a moment ago, I had felt like I was in a dream, but was it really just a dream?
I was dumbfounded, but then I realized that my body was too fine. My neck didn’t hurt, my headache was gone, and my body was no longer hot. Why was this happening? This time, my body didn’t even glow?
I raised my hand and groped around my chest, tilting my head, and Kyle asked.
“So, have you been doing well?”
“……”
“Have the people you’re living with been good to you? Why haven’t you answered since earlier?”
His voice was still brusque, but it was full of concern. I was about to nod unconsciously, but I shook my head because I was curious about how he would react.
Then his eyes widened like those of a startled rabbit.
“You haven’t been doing well?”
I quietly looked at Kyle and answered.
“Yeah…”
“Why?”
“I don’t know… Just…”
Now that I had lied, I had nothing to say. I lowered my gaze as if I was intimidated, pretended to be pitiful, and then said, “They keep giving me the side-eye…”
“What kind of side-eye?”
“Because I’m not getting better quickly… They said they’ll only let me stay here until the end of the year and then kick me out. They don’t give me enough to eat either.”
I felt sorry for the people who had taken care of me day and night with such devotion, but I was too curious about how Kyle would react. I wanted to cry with a sad expression, but unfortunately, tears didn’t come out.
But when I thought about it, Kyle had also seen Sakira and Abyss attending to me diligently by my side earlier. So I quickly added, “It’s not everyone, some of them have been good to me.”
“……”
“But except for those few, the rest…”
“Hah…”
I was trying hard to imitate a pitiful act when I heard a long sigh. When I raised my head, Kyle was looking at me with a somehow annoyed expression.
He had been looking at me with such worried eyes just a moment ago, but what was that now? I suddenly felt bad, and my brow furrowed involuntarily.
“Okay, it’s good that you’ve been doing well.”
“No, I haven’t been doing well.”
“Okay, open your mouth.”
Without even listening to my answer, Kyle reached out and grabbed my chin. As he looked inside my naturally opened mouth, he stroked my neck and the back of my ear and asked, “Does anything else hurt?”
“My stomach hurts a little.”
I lied again, but Kyle kept fiddling with my earlobe and said nonsense.
“Tell me if anything hurts, even a little. Don’t foolishly endure it.”
Was he deaf?