28.
“How?”
How exactly does one go about being proactive?
Though I possessed a wealth of life experience by virtue of carrying memories from my past life, when it came to romance, I was effectively at ground zero.
‘In my past life, I went to an all-girls middle school, an all-girls high school, spent my entire college years studying for the civil service exam, and then, barely after passing, I died of overwork.’
My life had been one where the very concept of romance didn’t even have a sliver of space to squeeze in.
‘Back in school, my teachers would say that dating was a shortcut to failing my exams, and when I was preparing for the exam, my online lecturers told me to leave it for later.’
And yet, there was no “later,” was there?
Although the Academy I attended in this life was co-ed, everyone who showed interest in me was nothing but chaff.
The same applied to those with whom I thought I might have a brief, fling-like spark.
Connie scratched her cheek, deep in thought.
I just let out a heavy sigh, sensing that no brilliant answer was coming my way.
“Should I go to the library and borrow some romance novels?”
Since this was a world without the internet, books were the only window through which to gain information.
When I muttered it as if talking to myself, Connie shook her head frantically.
She looked at me as if I were truly pathetic.
“Hey, who looks for romance books in a library? That’s not it.”
Connie firmly forbade me.
“Then what?”
“Let’s go to a bookstore. Libraries only have old editions, so they don’t reflect any of the trends.”
“Ah.”
Certainly, zero was better than a negative.
We headed to the largest bookstore in the vicinity and bought a mountain of books related to romance.
Then, we analyzed them as diligently as if we were preparing for an Academy exam.
Only after reading every book we’d bought did I lift my head and rub my stinging eyes.
“The conclusion is… make eye contact and smile, offer small compliments, and engage in subtle physical touch. Is that about it?”
“A superb summary.”
Connie, who had helped me review the romance books the entire time, agreed.
‘Flirting isn’t all that hard, is it?’
“Now that I’ve mastered the theory, the next step is practical application.”
I clenched my fists.
The next day, dressed in the clothes I’d shopped for with Connie, I headed to the meeting spot with Everett.
As always, I saw Everett waiting there already.
“Sir Rohas.”
When I called out to Everett and approached, his gaze, which had been directed somewhere far away as if he were scanning the surroundings, turned toward me.
I locked eyes with those golden orbs that looked even more brilliant under the sun.
‘First, make eye contact and smile.’
I beamed at Everett, curling the corners of my eyes.
Everett’s body flinched and stiffened.
‘Is it working?’
It was a strange reaction, but at the very least, it didn’t seem like he disliked it.
Maintaining my smiling face, I stepped a little closer to Everett.
‘Next is offering a small compliment.’
“Sir Rohas, you look so handsome today.”
It wasn’t as if Everett was only handsome today.
He was blessed with beauty that never faltered, after all.
‘But that was the example sentence for a small compliment in the book.’
I lacked the creativity to come up with another one.
‘Since it’s used as an example, it must be universally effective.’
Even after completing the second step, the compliment, and moving within a step’s distance, he didn’t offer his usual escort.
He just had a dazed expression, as if his mind were elsewhere.
While secretly observing Everett’s expression, I carefully reached out and took his hand first.
‘Next is subtle physical touch?’
It was the final step of the flirting I’d learned from the book.
This time, there was no reaction at all.
As if he had become a statue.
‘Is this not it?’
I tilted my head.
‘I guess holding hands isn’t considered subtle physical touch.’
After all, even friends hold hands.
Perhaps the touch required to move toward being lovers, as the book described, needed to be a little more intimate.
‘For example.’
Gathering every scrap of courage I had, I gently pulled my hand back and lightly linked my arm with Everett’s.
Everett jumped in surprise, like a startled cat.
If we hadn’t been arm-in-arm, I felt like he would have moved ten steps away from me.
‘Is it too bold?’
Worried by his intense reaction, I snuck a glance up at him.
Everett, who had been facing forward, turned his gaze toward me just then.
His movement was so stiff that a creaking sound effect seemed appropriate.
As our eyes met head-on, it was as if that were the signal; Everett’s face flushed red in an instant.
“Miss Diaz.”
He barely managed to call my name, and the rest of his words failed to follow.
Everett tried to raise his right hand, as if wanting to cover his reddened face, but his right arm was already being held by me.
Instead, with an unnatural motion, Everett raised his left hand and covered his face with his large palm.
Through the gaps in his fingers, I caught glimpses of his flushed cheeks and neck.
Seeing him so shy made me feel like I was heating up as well.
Our touching bodies felt as hot as if I were embracing the sun.
The sound of a heartbeat—I couldn’t tell if it was mine or Everett’s—thundered in my ears.
‘I guess this isn’t it either.’
I was the one who had linked my arm first, but because Everett’s reaction was so extreme, I felt like I had done something incredibly audacious.
Reading Everett’s mood, I gingerly unlinked my arm.
Then, I took a step sideways, moving slightly away from him.
Only then did I feel like I could breathe properly again.
We stood a couple of steps apart, looking in opposite directions.
Both of us with identically flushed faces.
The wind touching my cheeks felt colder than the season.
It was Everett who regained his composure first.
“The… entry time isn’t for a while yet.”
Everett addressed me, using the entry time—which was still a good three or four hours away—as an excuse.
“We’ve been standing outside for too long. Shall we go?”
But I was just as glad for that clumsy excuse.
We barely managed to piece together some words and walked side by side toward the exhibition hall.
We didn’t say a word, but our minds were busy.
Near the entrance of the exhibition hall, Everett tentatively reached out and took my hand.
Even though it was a hand I’d held many times before for escorting, for some reason, I felt more nervous today.
‘I feel like my heart is going to pop out of my mouth.’
It was beating so violently that even in the crowded exhibition hall, it felt louder than the noise around us.
I was even worried that if I took a deep breath, my heart might just pop out along with the exhale—a completely irrational fear.
We walked through half of the exhibition hall in silence, holding hands.
Like robots with programmed paths.
Yet, our minds were preoccupied with being conscious of each other.
It was half of an exhibition hall that was supposed to take at least five or six hours to walk through.
Even after a considerable amount of time, my heartbeat showed no signs of calming down.
‘If I want to calm down, I think I should let go of his hand first.’
I snuck a glance at Everett, who was walking while looking straight ahead.
‘But I don’t want to let go.’
I readjusted our joined hands for no reason.
And so, I began to get a little more used to my heart beating so wildly.
Just then, a stall selling exhibition catalogs caught my eye.
As my gaze shifted in a direction other than the one we were heading, my steps slowed slightly.
Noticing the distinct decrease in speed, Everett looked back at me.
His gaze, which had been fixed on me, slowly moved to follow the direction I was looking.
Everett paused when he realized what I was looking at.
Perhaps, in this very moment, the same scene was passing through both of our minds like a panorama.
Everett’s eyes trembled slightly.
He seemed embarrassed that I had caught him having memorized the catalog beforehand.
‘He was cute, though.’
I laughed only in my heart, without Everett knowing.
Thanks to that, the tension eased significantly.
Enough that I could pretend to be relaxed.
I teased Everett for no reason.
“Did you memorize the catalog today, too?”
At the tone that was clearly teasing, Everett’s gaze dropped to the floor.
Because Everett lowered his head, his reddened ears came clearly into view.
Once again, I felt as if my chest were filled with feathers.
I asked in a tone a little more mischievous than before.
“Did you not memorize it?”
Everett, who had been exercising his right to remain silent, could not withstand the repeated questioning and eventually answered hesitantly.
“I just read through it.”
Everett added, looking shy.
“To me, that thing the Dwarf used, the bellows, just looks like a lump of scrap metal, but… I still want to know what it is that makes you look at it with such sparkling eyes.”
Everett’s voice grew fainter toward the end.
As if he were running out of the courage to pull out the sincerity deep in his heart.
But at the same time, I felt Everett’s presence within me becoming a little more distinct.
To be honest, I had noticed as early as the second exhibition that Everett wasn’t particularly interested in ancient artifacts.
‘But if it weren’t for things like this, we’d have zero points of contact.’
I just hadn’t been able to say that he didn’t have to come with me if it wasn’t fun.
How should I put it? It felt like a connection linked by a few strands of thread, and I feared that if even one strand were severed, everything would become precarious.
‘However, a connection is something that will last as long as two people have the will.’
Points of contact were things one could create.
I lightly shook our joined hands and suggested:
“Next time, let’s go do something you like.”
Of course, there were plans for the time after next, and the time after that as well.