We’ll just hold hands and sleep. You trust me, right? (9)
–
“Cough!”
Tarkan drummed his chest as a violent cough rose from his lungs.
He was so agitated that he not only coughed violently but almost slipped out of the bed.
His neck and chest were dyed red as he fixed a glare at Aristine.
“I have never…!”
When he spoke up to that point, his eyes met with Aristine’s. Tarkan instantly turned away.
“Forget it!”
Seeing Tarkan coyly turning away, Aristine tilted her head slightly.
His face looked like he was going to explode with a single poke and seeing that, she suddenly realized something.
“Ah…you haven’t…oh no…”
Aristine let out a regretful sigh and apologized.
“Sorry.”
Tarkan turned to look at Aristine in disbelief.
Aristine’s expression was sullen as though she was trying to express that she was truly sorry.
That made it even more ridiculous.
What the heck was going through her mind for her to be so sorry?!
He felt like he knew what it was, but he didn’t want to know. While Tarkan’s mind was exploding, Aristine was spitting out excuses.
“Um, that…I thought you could naturally break a bed.”
She glanced at Tarkan from the side of her eye.
His body, which was packed with tight muscles, looked firm with a glance alone, and his pectoral muscles which were exposed through his loose night-robe, looked very bulky.
“Um, it’s unexpected but…honestly, it’s normal to not be able to break it. I hope you don’t feel too hurt.”
Once again, Tarkan’s head hurt.
“What in the, what part of me is getting hurt?”
When he spat out that question like he was chewing every letter, Aristine was startled and waved her hand.
“No, I really didn’t mean anything bad! I know they call it a man’s pride, but I didn’t exactly mean to ruffle that…”
“Like I said, when exactly did you hurt my pride?”
At those words, Aristine’s shoulders shrunk back.
Her big eyes continued to scour Tarkan’s face, seemingly at a loss for what to do, then she flashed a bright smile to comfort him and patted him on the back.
“Ah, of course! Our Tarkan can break beds! It’s not like I don’t know that.”
Aristine clenched her fists spiritedly and nodded as if she understood everything.
“You can break it in half, no, you can break it in fours! You just need one hit and the bed will break! You are practically the king of beds!”
“Ha…”
At this point, he was just speechless.
Tarkan exhaled, feeling ridiculous.
He seriously wanted to open up this woman’s tiny head.
When Tarkan lowered his head and just sighed, Aristine felt a little down too.
And she couldn’t help but say, “Don’t be too sad. You are still young so you can get more energetic. When I make a lot of money, I’ll get you so much stuff that’s good for your stamina!”
She offered compensation as a way to apologize but for some reason, the eyes facing her grew more aghast.
“What kind of person do you think I am…”
At those words, Aristine tilted her head.
She already told him last time that she thought he was a pretty good partner, so did he perhaps want to be complimented?
That might be it.
‘Ah, he can recover his bruised pride with compliments! Then I should do my best to cheer him up.’
Aristine resolved and looked right into Tarkan’s eyes then opened her mouth.
“Well, I think you’re a very shy—.”
“Stop right there.”
Tarkan immediately cut her off.
‘I shouldn’t have asked.’
He shook her head in resignation. He didn’t want to hear the word ‘pervert’ on the first night.
Tarkan felt incredibly exhausted and plopped back into the bed.
Aristine secretly studied his expression and carefully lay down next to him.
Again, their arms touched.
Their body temperatures mixed together, making their skins the same temperature.
Tarkan closed his eyes and emptied his mind, trying not to think of anything.
He wanted to go straight to sleep.
He didn’t have the energy to deal with this woman anymore. So he wanted to just keep quiet and go to sleep…
“…I have never broken a bed.”
Tarkan said abruptly.
Through the vibrations of the bed, he could feel Aristine turning slightly to look at him.
Tarkan stubbornly didn’t look at her and continued muttering with his eyes still closed.
“But I can break one.”
Hearing that, Aristine moved her hand which was touching his, and lightly patted his arm.
“Mn, yes, yes. Of course.”
“I just haven’t tried.”
“Of course, of course, as long as you try it, you can break it!”
Aristine comforted Tarkan like she was indulging him.
The effect was amazing.
Tarkan fiercely sat up.
“I can really break it!”
The problem, however, was that the effect was counterproductive.
Crack.
With a crisp sound, the agarwood bed frame split into two. At the same time, the mattress collapsed.
Of course, Aristine, who was lying on it, sank with it too.
“…”
“…”
Aristine blinked as she lay on the mattress which had bent into a strange shape due to the broken bed frame.
Blink, blink, blink.
‘So, so this is…’
Oh my, the bed is gone.
‘—that kind of situation, right?’
It was so ridiculous that it took her a while to accept it.
Aristine sprang upright.
The mattress was so soft that it absorbed the entire impact, so she wasn’t hurt anywhere.
“Wait, how am I supposed to sleep if you break the bed!”
Tarkan turned his head slightly.
“You can sleep on the floor.”
“I prefer a fluffy bed!”
And she had rambled so much about how she wanted to sleep in a good bed before marriage.
‘So disappointing…’
Aristine hung her head.
As she sat on the limp, contorted mattress, her anger slowly soared.
“…Who said breaking it like this means anything? It only counts if you break it while doing it!”
“That’s why I said I just haven’t tried but I can do it if I try!”
“That’s all talk, you didn’t even do it!”
“What are you going to do if I do it!”
“Do it! Go ahead!”
“I’ll really do it!”
“I said do it!”
Tarkan’s large frame moved swiftly like a beast fused with the darkness.
Aristine shut her eyes at the sudden movement that blocked her view. And when she opened her eyes again, Tarkan was leaning over her.
She had been sitting upright but suddenly found herself laying down on the mattress.
Her long hair was scattered over the bed due to the rushed motion and her silver hair shimmered softly under the rays of moonlight.
The dark shadow cast by Tarkan’s frame covered Aristine’s body.
The faintly flickering candle colored half of her face a blazing scarlet.
Under that light, her purple eyes were dyed a strange color. The same went for Tarkan’s golden eyes.
His eyes seemed like they could pierce Aristine.
Their eyes met at a distance so close that they could feel each other’s breaths.
They were frozen in place, like time had stopped, like their gazes were bound to each other.
No one knew whether it was just a brief moment or long enough for the position of the moon to change.
Because they couldn’t even sense the passage of time.
It was a moment that seemed to last forever.
Right then.
Creak, a grating sound rang out through the room and the broken bed frame could not bear the weight and collapsed completely.
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