The sofa, clearly prepared for customers, was covered in a luxurious fabric with delicate embroidery, and it looked so expensive that Koi couldn’t even afford a leg of it even if he sold everything he owned. He couldn’t move his body at the thought of sitting on such a chair.

“Koi.”

While he was hesitating, unable to muster the courage, Ashley called him. When he looked at him in confusion, he reached out his hand. While puzzled, he carefully took his hand, and suddenly Ashley pulled him with force.

“Ah!”

Koi, who screamed without realizing it, came to his senses and found himself sitting on the sofa. To be exact, he was in Ashley’s arms.

“S-Sorry!”

As Koi hurriedly apologized, Ashley tilted his head to one side and then spoke to Joanna.

“I’ll have a Spanish latte. Koi, what would you like?”

“Uh…”

Koi blinked in confusion and hurriedly replied.

“G-Give me the same.”

“I understand. Would you like it hot or cold?”

Koi’s body stiffened again at Joanna’s question. Ashley smiled and looked at Joanna.

“I’ll have it cold, and Koi will have it hot.”

And he added.

“My friend doesn’t eat ice.”

Shouldn’t he clear up Ashley’s misunderstanding now?

Koi suddenly thought, but the sight that came into view overwhelmed him, and he couldn’t bring himself to speak. Koi, who was once again intimidated and only nodded, saying, “Yes, that’s right,” silently listened to him ordering refreshments.

How grateful he was that Ashley remembered and cared for him like this. Koi thought so and changed his mind, thinking, what does ice matter?

A moment later, a long, wide plate brought by another employee was lined with macarons, strawberry tarts, scones, and even chocolates at regular intervals. They were all about the same size as bite-sized macarons, and Koi was once again surprised to see such desserts for the first time.

“You must be hungry, try it, Koi.”

Ashley was the first to offer him something to eat. He felt hungry belatedly, but he couldn’t bring himself to reach out. While he was hesitating, lacking the courage, Ashley, who had been watching him intently, reached out first.

The first thing he picked up was a deep purple macaron. While he was just staring blankly, Ashley held out the macaron to Koi.

“Here, Koi.”

Ashley smiled at Koi, who was belatedly surprised.

“Open your mouth.”

“Uh…”

Koi was momentarily embarrassed and hurriedly looked around, but fortunately, there was no one around. After confirming that they were alone, Koi straightened his posture again.

Ashley was still holding out the macaron to him. He was waiting for Koi to eat it. Koi took a deep breath and carefully opened his mouth.

Heat rose in Ashley’s eyes as he looked at the red flesh and soft tongue revealed between his parted lips. The moment he thought he wanted to put something else in that mouth, Koi put the macaron in his mouth.

He almost let out a sigh without realizing it. Ashley watched Koi eat the macaron without letting go of his hand. He stopped Koi, who was about to grab it and eat it himself, with his other hand. When Koi looked at him with only his eyes, Ashley opened his mouth. In a voice lower than usual.

“Don’t bite down hard, Koi.”

His voice was strangely mixed with breath.

“It hurts.”

Koi, who had half of it in his mouth, paused and nodded. It was the first time he had ever eaten a macaron, having only seen it before. Because of that, he didn’t know what he meant, but Koi thought that was how to eat a macaron and melted it in his mouth as gently as possible before swallowing it down his throat.

“Did you swallow it all?”

Ashley, who had been watching silently until then, asked Koi, who had swallowed the remaining half after chewing it slowly.

“Yeah, all of it.”

As he nodded and wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand, Ashley narrowed his eyes and smiled.

“Good job.”

He asked, fixing his gaze on Koi’s mouth in particular.

“How does it taste?”

Koi answered without hesitation.

“It’s delicious, very. Thank you, Ash.”

Ashley, who had been silent for a moment to Koi who added it with sincerity, asked.

“…You, you don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

Koi paused and looked at him.

“Aren’t you talking about the macaron?”

Did I make a mistake? Seeing Koi’s face, which clearly showed anxiety, Ashley tried to act as if nothing was wrong and said.

“…That’s right.”

After saying that, Ashley pretended to drink coffee and avoided his gaze. Guilt and desire boiled up at the same time, and he couldn’t bear to look at Koi’s face.

If you knew what I was thinking inside, you would never smile at me like that.

Ashley hid his embarrassed feelings and crunched the ice in his mouth. Just in time, Joanna and an employee returned with clothes hanging on a rack.

“Did you wait long? Do you like the refreshments?”

At her kind question, Koi blushed and replied.

“Oh, yes. It was very delicious. Thank you.”

His ears perked up briefly. Ashley thought he should take him to a macaron specialty shop next time and let him eat as much as he wanted. He could tell the people who do the housework to make macarons, but it was better not to. He didn’t know what he would do if Koi ate macarons when they were alone at home. Because of today’s terrible fantasy, he would never be able to look at macarons with a pure meaning for the rest of his life.

“You said you were going to look at your friend’s clothes today, right? I guessed the size roughly and brought them, but if they don’t fit, I’ll bring them again.”

Koi was momentarily stunned by Joanna’s explanation. What is it? He was clearly speaking English, but why didn’t he understand anything? When he looked at Ashley in confusion, he said nonchalantly.

“That’s right, we came to buy your clothes.”

“Clothes? Why? Suddenly?”

Koi shouted in a high voice without realizing it, then hurriedly lowered his voice and whispered.

“Why are you buying me clothes?”

Koi’s expression was clearly panicked, but it was a question Ashley had already expected. He replied nonchalantly.

“It’s almost Homecoming, isn’t it? Did you forget?”

“Homecoming… Party?”

Koi, who repeated Ashley’s words, recalled, “Ah.” Ashley continued, as if he knew he had forgotten.

“You need clothes to go there, don’t you? Am I wrong?”

“Uh…”

Koi was very embarrassed, but he had nothing to say. He just liked it when Ashley said let’s go, so he answered ‘Okay!’ without thinking, but it was an ignorant act. Clothes, he had been wearing the clothes he was wearing now for several years already, and the situation was the same with other clothes. Even if he added them all up, he didn’t even have ten pieces.

Ashley said to Koi, who was just bowing his head without being able to honestly reveal his situation.

“Of course, there’s still time, so we can rent or buy new ones. But you bought the coupon too.”

“I didn’t buy it, the teacher gave it to me…”

“Anyway, you gave it to me, right?”

Ashley interrupted him.

“So, I’m going to buy you clothes as a thank you for that. Is that okay?”

“Uh…”

The words were right, but he wondered if this situation was right. Koi could also see that it was a free ticket anyway, and even if he calculated the actual price, this side would be several times, no, several tens of times more expensive. No matter how rich Ashley was, it was unacceptable to receive something like this.

“Um, still, Ash, this is.”

“Koi, everyone has the best they can do for themselves.”

Koi closed his mouth and looked at him at the sudden words. Ashley continued to speak.

“Your best was the ticket, and my best is these clothes. Do you know what I mean?”

Ashley had been saying the right things since a while ago, but Koi couldn’t understand. Clearly, the words themselves were right, but why did it feel wrong? Ashley looked into his eyes and said seriously to Koi, who was just rolling his eyes.

“Koi, why do rich people pay a lot of taxes?”

“…Because they have a lot of money…?”

“That’s right.”

Ashley nodded at the carefully answered words and immediately continued.

“Okay, so go and change your clothes. We need to check what size you are.”

“Huh? Huh?”

“This way, please. You have a dinner reservation, right? You should hurry.”

“Huh? Yes?”

Koi stood up from his seat in a daze and looked back and forth between Ashley and Joanna. Ashley deliberately checked the watch on his wrist and said to Koi, who was out of his mind.

“Hurry up and come back, I’ll be waiting.”

Seeing him frown, Koi’s expression was clearly flustered. Ashley added to Koi, who was following Joanna in a daze.

“Call me if you can’t do it alone, Koi.”

“Oh, okay.”

Koi nodded and was pushed into the fitting room. Ashley crossed his legs leisurely and leaned on his elbow. He whispered, resting his chin slowly.

“I’ll watch everything.”

By Zephyria

Hello, I'm Zephyria, an avid BL reader^^ I post AI/Machine assisted translation. Due to busy schedule I'll just post all works I have mtled. However, as you know the quality is not guaranteed. Maybe just enough to fill your curiosity.

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