This time, the truly surprised Noah wrapped his neck in her arms. And then she beat his shoulders with her fists out of anger.

“I told you not to do this.”

“I have to hold you so you don’t fall in.”

“Wow, people are so mean!”

Noah had always had the upper hand when he was called a butler, but things were different when she was next to him as a lover. Kyle swept the back of her head as he became wrapped in her legs. Their two bodies naturally became one.

“I'm not kidding, let me kiss you.”

“Isn’t that an awful shameless request?”

“Shouldn’t I be held responsible if I provoked you with your own words?”

Noah turned her head to avoid him before eventually surrendering. She knew that if she didn't kiss him as much as he wanted at a time like this anyway, he would be persistent until she became tired first. When she stopped rebelling he immediately planted his hot lips on her lips.

Noah’s open thighs, Kyle’s hard body touching her calves, and even the rubbing of their opened lips created a higher intensity than usual. Her white skirt that stuck to his wet shirt started to become transparent.

“Oh…”

The deep kiss didn’t end until after Noah’s white skirt had fallen below her chest. Her pale cheeks turned red before she knew it.

It was unclear whether it was because of her unstable posture, which put half her weight on him, or because of the stimulus that tickled her whole body by secretly pressing their skin.magic

“Ahh… It was a bad idea to tell you to come here together,” mumbled Noah, catching her breath. Her exhaling breath tickled Kyle’s chin. He, lowering his eyes and fixating them on her lips, suddenly opened his mouth.

“The teleportation portal. Summon it.”

“Tele…”

“Don’t you know how to go short distances now?”

It was a blatant enough request. Instead of replying right away, Noah stared at him for a moment.

The layer of relaxation lifting from those purple eyes was always accompanied by a numb feeling of satisfaction in her fingertips. There was a hint of vague thirst and weak hesitation on her face.“The hot springs…”

“We’ll do that later when Muell wakes up.”

The time of anguish, which had felt terribly slow for Kyle, was finally over. At last, Noah’s hands moved hesitantly.

A black orb appeared. Before long, what was left in the lake of hot steam was just the white towel that Noah had pushed away.

***

In the end, Kyle hadn’t kept his word that they would return to the hot springs when Muell woke up.

There were several reasons, but the biggest one was that one person and one extraterrestrial being were sound asleep until sunset.

“…I originally had something else I was going to tell you today.”

Noah, who’d woken up late, rebuked him.

“I had something to say when Muell was sleeping.”

Kyle handed her a cup of hot cocoa as he shrugged his shoulders.

“I know.”

“You know?”

“You didn’t think I knew? These days your head is full of thoughts. We’ve been together all week.”

“…tell me what you guessed.”

Kyle delayed answering for a moment and ran his fingers through the kid’s curly black hair. Muell blinked his sleepy eyes as he checked who was there; then he changed his posture and began to doze off again. Kyle quietly sucked his teeth. “You’re starting to become more like someone. You sure do sleep a lot.”

Kyle continued, finally addressing the topic, “I have indeed rested a lot this past month and a half, and there isn’t much time left on my vacation. Our baby has to start school again soon. I think we should take him to as many places as possible and broaden his perspective on the world. So that he can see, hear, and like many things besides you, Noah.”

“…what should I say? You sure do know me well.”

“It isn’t difficult to guess. I knew you were worried about Muell from the time you declared thorough neutrality at the trial.” Kyle, who spoke slowly, suddenly cemented his impression. “Don't get me wrong, Noah. I’m not saying this because of some ominous premonition nor because it is something I am pessimistic about.”

Noah nodded slowly, “I know. I didn’t bring it up that way either. I'm just trying to cherish the moment.”There was still so much time to spend together and so many more things that the three of them hadn’t been able to do together. Life would be short if you think about the end, but if you enjoy the present and live the moment like forever, life is more than enough. Noah hoped Muell thought that way, too.

After a brief silence, she muttered, “I’m strangely shaken. Thinking you're going to leave again.”

“Did it bother you this time?”

“Yes, and even from now on, I don’t think that will happen again. Come to think of it, this was a passing comment, but we were supposed to go on a cruise together. A super-luxury cruise; a good one.”

He hummed a few unrecognizable melodies. She seemed to have gotten better.

A light note spread from her small voice.

“My beloved child and my beloved man…”

But the content of that broke the languid silence and the man’s tranquility all at once. Sweeping Muell’s hair, Kyle raised his head in shock.

Had he heard her wrong?

“Noah, what did you just say…”

Until now, Noah had never once told him she loved him. Kyle knew she wasn't good at expressing her affection directly, so he didn't really urge her to say it.

Putting her arm on the window ledge and looking up at the distant night sky, she turned to him. Then she raised her eyebrows and responded casually. “Did you not hear me? Suit yourself.”

“Wait, hold on. What did you just ca—”

“Wow, the moon is so big.”

She changed the subject lazily as if she was getting revenge for having been disturbed at the hot springs bath earlier. But the playful grin hanging on her face didn’t change.

Kyle blankly repeated the words over and over. The dazedness soon turned to satisfaction and then filled him plentifully.

Noah, who dropped from the window and walked on her knees toward him, kissed Muell’s cheek and lips in Kyle’s arms.

“Okay, my beloved butler. Where shall we go tomorrow?”

A moonlight cast on her face when she asked this cheerfully. Kyle could see the redness in her earlobes.

At last, a smile appeared on Kyle's stiff mouth.

“Wherever you want to go.”

At the end of the sentence was a confession with heavy feelings. The redness of Noah’s earlobes was glowing on her cheeks; she smiled as if embarrassed.

The night was deepening ahead of another journey.