Chapter 268 (2/2)
Food was the best form of happiness. Just as she drew some more of the spaghetti to her plate, a hand appeared in front of her eyes. The hand, holding a tissue, slowly approached her face before wiping off her mouth.
She raised her head a little. She saw Maru putting down the tissue he was holding. Usually, Maru would tell her that she was acting like a child, but today, he just looked at her without saying anything. She looked at Maru who acted as though nothing happened.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
She smiled and shook her head. So he could be caring at times, huh?
After eating all the food, they stood up from their seats. As it was a satisfactory meal, they thought that they should visit again.
In front of the counter, she took out her wallet. As she had been saving up all this time, she was fine with paying.
“I’ll pay.”
However, before she could even take out any money, Maru held out the card first. She took out some bills saying that ‘please take this not that,’ but Maru stopped her.
The employee took the card and did the transaction. As she couldn’t pay she decided to give the money to Maru instead.
“Here.”
“It’s fine.”
“I’m not fine with it though.”
After signalling the employee that she was sorry, she took Maru outside. Even outside, Maru put his hands behind his back so that she couldn’t give the money to him.
“Are you really going to do this?”
She looked at Maru with dissatisfaction.
“I feel sorry now.”
“What do you feel sorry about?”
“You’re the one spending money all the time. And this is how you act all the time as well. How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t like being treated?”
They were both students without much money. She wanted to split the dating costs half-half. Some of her classmates said that the boy obviously has to pay all of it, but she didn’t agree with that. She thought that if both parties liked each other, they should split the cost and the burden as well. How was it love if only one side took losses?
After scratching his brows for a while, Maru took a step towards her.
“It doesn’t matter to me.”
“I feel sorry though.”
“What do you feel sorry about?”
“That you’re the one taking care of all the costs.”
“If it’s like that, you don’t need to be sorry.”
Hearing his words, she frowned. Just as she was about to say something to him for making her repeat herself, Maru closed in on her before hugging her. At that moment, her head turned blank. She forgot what she was going to say and became absent-minded. Then, she realized that they were in the middle of the street and that there were others who were looking at them. She screamed in her mind and was about to push Maru away when a low voice entered her ears.
“It’s fine since I’ll have the money be our shared asset once we get married.”
She couldn’t exert any strength into her hands anymore. His words were just absurd. M-married? Shared assets? Those words filled her mind, and at the same time, her face felt hot as though it was about to burst.
She saw that Maru was smiling at her right in front of her. Then, that guy continued.
“Oh my, how bold.”
At the same time, Maru took a step back and hugged himself as though he was some embarrassed girl. She felt her last strand of reason popping and swung her arms.
Go die!
* * *
“Seriously?”
Maru held out the contract form he received to her as she clearly looked like she didn’t believe it. She started reading the contract with a sour face. It seemed that she was still angry because of the hug from before.
“So it was real.”
She blinked several times as she gave the contract back. Maru shrugged.
“So you’ll be working for JA Production in the future?”
“If there aren’t any hiccups, then yes. I heard that I’ll have things to do once the movie is over.”
“That’s kinda neat. A company, huh.”
She looked at the contract form with complex feelings. As Maru was well aware of the fact that becoming successful as an actress was her dream, he could guess how she felt.
“I’ll pave the way for you so do your best to follow me.”
“I’m not going to walk on a path that somebody else set for me.”
She smiled again. Maru put the contract inside his bag again.
“Then I guess you’ll be busy once work starts coming your way?”
“I’m not so sure about that. I guess it depends on how well I do.”
“So we won’t get to meet once you become a popular star, huh?” She pouted.
“I’ll just date you publicly.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“Actually, it might be better to just broadcast our engagement ceremony to the public. If I become famous enough, the journalists will come flocking, right? I guess I won’t need to prepare anything.”
“Keep dreaming.”
“Just get ready for it.”
“For what?”
“The engagement ceremony.”
“You must be out of your mind.”
After chuckling to herself, she looked away and asked in a tiny voice.
“...Are you serious?”
“When was I ever not serious?”
“Hey, we’re only in our 2nd year of high school. Engagement and marriage and things like that are just….”
“It might be unexpectedly soon, you know? If it was the old days, we would have gotten married already and have two kids….”
“S-stop! Don’t go any further than that.”
She had turned beet red. Maru felt like teasing her more and did his best to hold them in. If he went any further, he might actually get a slap on the face.
“So for the time being, I’ll take care of the expenses. It’s natural for the one earning money to pay. If I become penniless later, you can just take care of me at that time. Simple, isn’t it?”
“When did I ever say that I’ll be taking care of you?”
“Then I guess I’ll have to be careful not to run out. I have to keep taking care of you in the future.”
Maru tilted his head to avoid the napkin that was flung at him. These napkins were getting faster and faster every time, and she might as well join the girl’s baseball club.
“Geez.”
Maru stared at her who was avoiding his gaze, drinking coffee.
If there was a face that he would never get tired of seeing, it would be hers.