“Are you okay?”
A pleasant voice echoed in my ears, and I slowly opened my eyes.
As expected, there was a beautiful face full of concern. After staring blankly for a while, I realized.
I was currently lying on the sofa in the room. A blanket was draped over my body, and it seemed like I had been seriously sleeping.
I need to get up. Thinking that, I tried to raise my body, but the owner of the beautiful face, Jeremiah, immediately stopped me with his hand.
“It’s okay to stay like that. More importantly, what happened? How do you feel? Have you called a doctor?”
“Oh, no, it’s not that serious. I just got a little tired.”
I muttered and looked into the distance.
After a short pause, Jeremiah brought a nearby chair and sat down on it.
“What happened? Can you tell me without getting too upset?”
I hesitated at his question.
Certainly, I was incredibly tired, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Still, I remembered Jeremiah’s sincere gaze and the words he said to me earlier, so I decided to tell him.
“Well, you probably already know, but…”
I started talking about how Paolo, or rather Mark, came here. As expected, he seemed to know already and frowned uncomfortably but didn’t say anything and urged me to continue.
Sometimes he nodded along without interrupting the conversation, but I didn’t say anything more. Thanks to that, even difficult conversations went smoothly.
After that, Lucia’s story continued a little more. However, I was at a loss when it came to talking about the difference in emotions towards Mark and Emilio. Above all, I wanted to change her perception of Emilio, but I also knew that her feelings for him were helping to heal the pain of her heartbreak and betrayal, so I couldn’t say anything.
Feeling stressed out like that, the discussion then turned to the difference between love and infatuation.
In the end, I even asked for his agreement by saying “You understand, right?” but I didn’t understand myself, so I had no choice but to vaguely evade the question, and my stress continued to build up.
Even though it didn’t end there, he noticed that I was mentally exhausted and had become like a nodding doll, so I changed the subject by bringing up the topic of dresses for the Javier festival that we were preparing.
It seems that Lucia was also looking for Paula because she wanted to talk about it. The topic changed quickly, and I was relieved for a moment, but as expected, I was also dragged into it. We discussed which dress was good, what kind of attire was suitable for this season, what color was necessary, and while being criticized or praised, we managed to get a passing grade.
Well, I received plenty of fatigue from it.
However, Paula seemed satisfied and Lucia seemed to be having fun, so it can be said that it was meaningful.
Still, I was tired.
I was really tired.
And then Mark came to show off his new servant uniform sneakily, which made it worse.
I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of Paula and Lucia noticing.
“That’s what happened. It’s trivial, isn’t it?”
“No, it must have been tough.”
I blinked at the words of comfort.
“Every time I hear your stories like this, I always wish I could be by your side, but that’s not always possible. So when you’re feeling down, don’t push yourself too hard and take a break.”
“But it’s just something like this…”
“No, being caught in the middle is tiring. I feel that way too, so it’s only natural that you’re tired too.”
“That may be true, but I want to become stronger. That’s why this kind of thing is not enough… but it’s not going well, and I’m still weak. I have to give up on something again…”
I murmured that much and stopped.
This is just a complete complaint.
Saying something like this is meaningless.
Certainly, there was a lot of stress built up, but I think it’s just an excuse. I didn’t want to tell Jeremiah this story because it was so trivial. But when he came back home and worried about me, I ended up saying a lot of things.
His voice was so gentle and the light in his eyes was calm.
I didn’t want to worry him.
――But I’m happy that he’s worried about me…
As I fell into self-loathing for a moment, Jeremiah came closer with a happy expression for some reason.
As I was bewildered, a hand suddenly reached out and lightly pinched my cheek.
It hurt a little and tickled, and I couldn’t help but express my dissatisfaction.
“What are you doing?”
“Because I’m happy.”
What is that? What does it mean to pinch someone’s cheek because you’re happy? I looked at Jeremiah, but he had a face like he was seeing something very important and couldn’t be happier.
In an instant, my heart suffered a great deal of damage.
I thought I had gotten used to it, but I’m glad I was lying down. If I had been sitting in a chair, I might have fallen.
Jeremiah gently said to me, who was in such a state:
“You finally spoke up and complained properly.”
“Huh?”
I was confused by his words, which came out of his mouth with an incredibly happy expression. Have I never complained before? I feel like I have, but when I search my memories, all I can remember are memories of being scolded for some reason.
I can’t bear the thought that maybe all I’ve been saying to Jeremiah lately is apologies, but putting that aside, I think I’ve been complaining properly.
“That’s not possible.”
I answered without confidence, and Jeremiah shook his head.
“No, you certainly consulted with me and relied on me. I was happy about that, but I was a little worried. I know that you are always working hard, but please do it in moderation.”
“But…”
If I do it in moderation, I will never become the person he deserves. I don’t have any shining qualities in my appearance, social skills, or anything else, so all I can do is work hard.
If I do it in moderation, Jeremiah will remain far away.
That’s sad.
“It’s okay. I’m here for you… that’s why we got engaged. You don’t have to try so hard. You don’t need to do something for me to the point of forcing yourself.”
Those were kind words.
I almost cried, but I held back. If I cried, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Are you okay?”
A pleasant voice echoed in my ears, and I slowly opened my eyes.
As expected, there was a beautiful face full of concern. After staring blankly for a while, I realized.
I was currently lying on the sofa in the room. A blanket was draped over my body, and it seemed like I had been seriously sleeping.
I need to get up. Thinking that, I tried to raise my body, but the owner of the beautiful face, Jeremiah, immediately stopped me with his hand.
“It’s okay to stay like that. More importantly, what happened? How do you feel? Have you called a doctor?”
“Oh, no, it’s not that serious. I just got a little tired.”
I muttered and looked into the distance.
After a short pause, Jeremiah brought a nearby chair and sat down on it.
“What happened? Can you tell me without getting too upset?”
I hesitated at his question.
Certainly, I was incredibly tired, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Still, I remembered Jeremiah’s sincere gaze and the words he said to me earlier, so I decided to tell him.
“Well, you probably already know, but…”
I started talking about how Paolo, or rather Mark, came here. As expected, he seemed to know already and frowned uncomfortably but didn’t say anything and urged me to continue.
Sometimes he nodded along without interrupting the conversation, but I didn’t say anything more. Thanks to that, even difficult conversations went smoothly.
After that, Lucia’s story continued a little more. However, I was at a loss when it came to talking about the difference in emotions towards Mark and Emilio. Above all, I wanted to change her perception of Emilio, but I also knew that her feelings for him were helping to heal the pain of her heartbreak and betrayal, so I couldn’t say anything.
Feeling stressed out like that, the discussion then turned to the difference between love and infatuation.
In the end, I even asked for his agreement by saying “You understand, right?” but I didn’t understand myself, so I had no choice but to vaguely evade the question, and my stress continued to build up.
Even though it didn’t end there, he noticed that I was mentally exhausted and had become like a nodding doll, so I changed the subject by bringing up the topic of dresses for the Javier festival that we were preparing.
It seems that Lucia was also looking for Paula because she wanted to talk about it. The topic changed quickly, and I was relieved for a moment, but as expected, I was also dragged into it. We discussed which dress was good, what kind of attire was suitable for this season, what color was necessary, and while being criticized or praised, we managed to get a passing grade.
Well, I received plenty of fatigue from it.
However, Paula seemed satisfied and Lucia seemed to be having fun, so it can be said that it was meaningful.
Still, I was tired.
I was really tired.
And then Mark came to show off his new servant uniform sneakily, which made it worse.
I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of Paula and Lucia noticing.
“That’s what happened. It’s trivial, isn’t it?”
“No, it must have been tough.”
I blinked at the words of comfort.
“Every time I hear your stories like this, I always wish I could be by your side, but that’s not always possible. So when you’re feeling down, don’t push yourself too hard and take a break.”
“But it’s just something like this…”
“No, being caught in the middle is tiring. I feel that way too, so it’s only natural that you’re tired too.”
“That may be true, but I want to become stronger. That’s why this kind of thing is not enough… but it’s not going well, and I’m still weak. I have to give up on something again…”
I murmured that much and stopped.
This is just a complete complaint.
Saying something like this is meaningless.
Certainly, there was a lot of stress built up, but I think it’s just an excuse. I didn’t want to tell Jeremiah this story because it was so trivial. But when he came back home and worried about me, I ended up saying a lot of things.
His voice was so gentle and the light in his eyes was calm.
I didn’t want to worry him.
――But I’m happy that he’s worried about me…
As I fell into self-loathing for a moment, Jeremiah came closer with a happy expression for some reason.
As I was bewildered, a hand suddenly reached out and lightly pinched my cheek.
It hurt a little and tickled, and I couldn’t help but express my dissatisfaction.
“What are you doing?”
“Because I’m happy.”
What is that? What does it mean to pinch someone’s cheek because you’re happy? I looked at Jeremiah, but he had a face like he was seeing something very important and couldn’t be happier.
In an instant, my heart suffered a great deal of damage.
I thought I had gotten used to it, but I’m glad I was lying down. If I had been sitting in a chair, I might have fallen.
Jeremiah gently said to me, who was in such a state:
“You finally spoke up and complained properly.”
“Huh?”
I was confused by his words, which came out of his mouth with an incredibly happy expression. Have I never complained before? I feel like I have, but when I search my memories, all I can remember are memories of being scolded for some reason.
I can’t bear the thought that maybe all I’ve been saying to Jeremiah lately is apologies, but putting that aside, I think I’ve been complaining properly.
“That’s not possible.”
I answered without confidence, and Jeremiah shook his head.
“No, you certainly consulted with me and relied on me. I was happy about that, but I was a little worried. I know that you are always working hard, but please do it in moderation.”
“But…”
If I do it in moderation, I will never become the person he deserves. I don’t have any shining qualities in my appearance, social skills, or anything else, so all I can do is work hard.
If I do it in moderation, Jeremiah will remain far away.
That’s sad.
“It’s okay. I’m here for you… that’s why we got engaged. You don’t have to try so hard. You don’t need to do something for me to the point of forcing yourself.”
Those were kind words.
I almost cried, but I held back. If I cried, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to stop.
