Luka squealed in exaggerated protest, and Nina laughed at his antics. Just as she loosened her grip, Luka grabbed her hand.
“Nina, your hands are all dry and cracked! I bought you hand cream; after you shower, I’ll help you apply it.”
Nina awkwardly pulled her hand away, deliberately pushing Luka, “What Nina! Call me sister.”
Luka looked at her with indulgence, “Okay, okay! If it makes you happy, I can call you princess! I will always be your knight… even if…” The boy thought, even if one day you are with your prince, I will always be your knight.
Nina said nothing, taking her bike and preparing to head home. She wanted to feel the wind for a while, to clear her mind.
Perhaps it was time to get drunk; after waking up, they could pretend that the feelings between them had never happened.
Back home, Nina first rushed to the bathroom to wash up. She tried to let the hot water cleanse her body while also calming her restless heart. It was hard for her to convince herself that she had never had feelings for Luka. She had fallen for the way the boy cherished and cared for her, like an addiction to alcohol—saying she was about to get drunk while still downing glass after glass, all just to feel the fleeting tipsiness afterward.
In the living room, Luka nervously arranged everything. He placed the steaming salty crispy chicken on the table, with beer and preserved plums beside it. He couldn’t quite articulate his feelings, just anxiously waiting for Nina to arrive.
After her shower, Nina came into the living room with her hair half-dried. She glanced at the late-night snacks on the coffee table and, as always, said, “Oh, you’ve prepared everything!”
Luka looked at her with disdain, “You’re an adult now, and you don’t even blow-dry your hair after washing it?”
Nina picked up a skewer of grilled meat, eagerly taking a bite, mumbling, “That’s not… that person… that…”
Luka paused for a moment before realizing that it used to be Lanky who dried her hair. He rubbed his eyes and took out cotton gloves and hand cream. “Here, put this on! It’s rare for you to not get your hands wet for a day.”
Nina silently extended her hands, which were soaked in medicinal solution, allowing Luka to carefully apply the hand cream and then put the gloves on her.
“Let’s watch a movie! Which one?”
“‘Night City,’ you know you love Takeshi Kaneshiro.”
As they ate and drank, their focus was on the movie, and their bodies naturally drew closer. When the plot reached an intimate bed scene, Luka awkwardly found himself aroused. “Ah! Damn! I didn’t know Takeshi Kaneshiro would do this kind of scene.”
Nina was a bit tipsy, giggling foolishly, “You idiot! The opening said it was rated R.” Suddenly, she grabbed something and touched the boy’s arousal. Nina didn’t know what she was thinking, but she burst out laughing.
“When you were little, your little thing was just like Xin Xin’s intestines, so small! When did it grow this big? Is it true what your mom said, that a big nose is pretty~”
Luka felt embarrassed for a moment, and in frustration, he reached to tickle Nina. “Hey! You dare laugh at me! I didn’t even dare laugh at you; when you were little, you were like a fried egg, and now you’re just a soup dumpling. I like you, so you should be secretly happy!”
Nina pretended not to hear his last confession. Perhaps… even if she did hear it, she would insist she hadn’t. She twisted her body to dodge, one fair foot pressing against the boy’s chest. In that instant, Nina could feel the heat radiating from the boy’s body.
