“Wait, hold on…!”

“It will loosen up if you tie it like this.” Kyle pulled the ribbon around her waist very lightly and it came undone instantly. He proceeded to wrap it twice, leaving Noah unable to breathe. The distance between them was too close. When the ribbon circled her waist, his arms wrapped around her as though he was going to embrace her, then moved away and back, in a cycle. Kyle, fixated on her waist, spoke in a low voice. “I better ask the owner of the inn if she has any extra clothes.”

“I… I’ll go.”

“Dressed like this?”

Noah was unable to reply; partially because she had nothing to say, and also because Kyle was finished tying the ribbon. Her body relaxed from the tension and she was about to breathe in when Kyle lifted his hand. His hand brushed close to her neck, and she instinctively flinched. Kyle touched the collar of her shirt and called Muell.

“Muell, can you do me a favor?”

“What?”

“Can you go downstairs and ask for something Noah can wear, then ask them to send up the dinner.”

“Okay!” The beaming boy, who had been seated like a couch potato on the sofa, nodded and jumped down.

“No, Mu. Wait, don’t…g…go.”Noah tried to stop him from leaving, but Muell had already left through the door. She even felt like she caught a glimpse of a cheeky smile on his face.

“I don’t need it right now…”

“Then are you going to continue staying like this? I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Kyle started to button her shirt right to the top. Due to its large size, even though the shirt was fastened all the way to the top, Noah didn’t find it suffocating at all. Then, out of the blue, Kyle took her right arm and lifted it up, staring at the sleeve of his shirt. He didn’t utter a word but somehow Noah felt like she had to say something.

“The shirt is kind of big… My hand is here.”

As she moved her hand and made it pop out of the sleeve, Kyle smirked. “I know your hand is there.”

“Well, you were staring…”

“You’re smaller than I thought. So I was amazed.”

Well, isn’t that obvious.

Kyle folded her sleeves twice, and observed her protruding arm.

She wondered why he was staring at her, perhaps he imagined having blades in between my knuckles. Noah’s heart pounded as she came up with all sorts of ideas. Soon, her confusion reached its peak when he interlaced his fingers with hers. Despite the unforeseen gesture, she managed to look up at his face and saw that it looked the same as usual, or rather brazen.

“Let’s say this is give and take.”

“For…?”

“Just how you asked me to hug you, so I’ll call it even with this.”

She never imagined that a child’s play like interlacing fingers could be such a dangerous thing. There wasn’t even much force being applied. Kyle simply interlaced his fingers with hers.

But as Kyle had said, she had indeed asked him for an embrace out of the blue, so couldn’t find it in her to pull her hand away. She wondered if he had felt as awkward as she did now, when she had hugged him all of a sudden. It would be unfair if she was the only one overreacting.

Kyle, with their fingers still interlaced with each other, suddenly asked, “Did you just come out of the shower? Why is your body so cold?”“The water… cooled down.”

His palm touched her forehead and then swiveled to her cheeks. Contrary to her body which had been cooled by the cold water, his touch was warm. Knowing where his hands would move next after her cheeks, Noah turned her head away and replied, “I dozed off in the bath.”

“To catch another cold?”

She couldn’t let her guard down from these insignificant yet ceaseless contacts. Kyle let out a sigh and withdrew his hands. “Miss Noah, are you always this reckless with your body? Previously, I just let things go since it’s not my body, but if this is the case, then it is a serious problem.”

“Not really. My body is precious.”

“Aha… Are you acting reckless so that I can’t keep my eyes away?” It was a teasing tone. Noah simply rolled her eyes, to which Kyle clicked his tongue. “Well, nevermind. I’m used to doing everything for you now. So I will simply assume that you want me to take care of you.”

“I thought you don’t want to be a butler.”

“That is if you were rebellious. But you’re so delicate like you would break any minute… so I decided not to bother resisting since it is a meaningless act.”

Even though his words were blunt, his hand moved gently. As he folded the remaining sleeve of the black shirt, Noah could only hold hope that her face wasn’t flushed and that the thumping of her heart wasn’t audible to him. At last, Kyle had finished and lowered his hand. At the same moment, Noah withdrew in haste.

Kyle frowned slightly. “Why are you so defensive? I haven’t done anything yet.”