Louise looked back at him. Even if they were in the capital together, they couldn’t meet most days, and when they could, it would only be a hello and a smile.

Her lips tipped upward, and her eyes shone brightly. When she opened her mouth, however, she found that she couldn’t speak. What came out was a trembling exhale.

Don’t cry! Louise grasped the doorknob behind her back in spite of herself. The cold metal of the doorknob made her heart return to normal. She knew she would worry Ian if she cried here.

Kkiig.

The door creaked open. Louise took a step back.

“Well, be careful…”

She couldn’t say goodbye. However, the meaning would have been conveyed, so she didn’t say anything further. Ian’s palm gently pressed against Louise’s cheek.

“Be careful…?”

“…”

“You have to say goodbye at the very end. “

“…You are a real devil.”

Louise pouted her lips at him.

“I want to hear it.”

“…”

“I just want to hear you a little bit more. Say anything.”

“I-I don’t want to talk.”

If she did, she might blurt out “Go now.”

“How can I say that? How…”

Tears dripped from her eyes, flowing down Ian’s fingers. She really, really didn’t want to cry.

“I’m sorry. I…”

Louise backed away from his hand. The touch on her cheek was so sweet that she felt like crying more. Louise quickly wiped her face with her sleeve and looked at Ian again.

He stood exactly in the same place. Not too close nor too far away. Perhaps he was waiting for Louise to say the final words. She swallowed deeply and spoke again.

“Alright.”

She opened her mouth carefully. Ian’s grip tightened on her.

“Please, be careful—?”

Her words were stopped again, but this time it wasn’t her fault. She was caught by surprise as Ian suddenly drew close to her. Their bodies fell into each other’s, and then their lips.

“Oh…”

The rest of her breath flowed out, and that was the last. All her breath, words, and emotions—she surrendered it to his control. His arms tightened around her waist, and Louise closed her eyes as she felt tears tickle her cheeks.

She sensed someone coming by, and she pulled Ian back into her room. The door closed, leaving the room darker than before. They didn’t have to worry about spying eyes here.

Ian’s mouth fell on hers, and heat rushed out of his opened lips. Even a foolish human could forget to breath. Occasionally they pulled away when their human needs won over, but their lips crashed together again. The desire to imprint themselves on each other burned in them all the way to their fingertips, and they grabbed at each other wherever they could reach.

Ian finally lifted his head to kiss the tear tracks on her cheeks, then followed them upwards to kiss her eyes.

He didn’t want to tell her not to cry, and he realized how selfish and trashy it was. He thought she looked beautiful when she was crying. He didn’t want to compare himself with anyone, but he knew that the sweet and sincere Simon would only think of stopping these tears.

“…Don’t cry.”

He confessed with closed eyes.

“You’re so pretty that I can’t stop, please.”

Except he wanted to beg otherwise. However, he wiped away her overflowing tears with his warm palm.

“I’m…I’m not crying.”

As she looked up with reddened eyes, he gave a bitter smile. Taking back the lie was such a sweet temptation.

“…I wasn’t going to cry.”

“I know.”

Louise Sweeney was diligent and kind. She must have prepared herself for the one year separation. She would hate for him to worry.

“I can not bring myself to say that. I can’t.”

“I don’t really want to hear that, either.”

Ian held Louise’s face in his hands, carefully brushing her lips with his thumb.

“So you were telling me to do it just to annoy me?”

She looked at him grumpily, and he gave her a light peck on the lips.

“Yes, I did it to annoy you.”

“You’re bad.”

“Of course I am. That’s why no one else is good enough for you.”

“The president is so nice.”

Not so long ago she had called him the devil, and now she immediately returned a friendly remark.

“…Being nice.”

Then there was a soothing short kiss.

“Is okay.”

After the kiss was over, he patted the top of her head and spoke in a whisper.

“Say what you really want to say.”

Louise clutched the hem of her skirt. Say what she really wanted to say. She couldn’t do that. How much had she done in the past several days just not to?

“I won’t mock you for it.”

“…Well.”

“I want to hear it.”

Louise bit her lip. His arms were wrapped around her, and naturally she could hear the familiar sound of his heart. She remembered when she first heard it and realized that Ian Audmonial was a living person. He wasn’t simply a character or a protagonist of a novel. He was someone who lived and breathed in front of her. As time went by, that seemed to hold even more meaning.

“Yes.”

Louise managed to open her mouth. There was something she wanted to say. She would embrace this warmth and everything she heard.

“…I like you. So.”

She was out of breath. Despite her natural silence, Ian held her still and waited.

“I don’t want you to go yet—”

Her confession was swallowed up by his lips on hers. Louise held on to him with all her being as she murmured her confession between his kisses.

Over and over again.