Vien (4)
Vien (4)
The path up to here was beautiful, but this space was on a different level.
When I pushed through the trees and bushes Vien pointed to, a small pond appeared.
Above the pond, fireflies were flying around, and all I could do was gasp in admiration.
"Wow... It's really pretty."
".... Yeah, it is."
Vien's honest admission was unfamiliar.
She unlinked her arms, which she'd had linked for a long while, and opened the basket.
When the arms that had been pressed against bare skin separated, it felt slightly cool.
A mat came out from inside the basket.
Vien laid the mat on the ground.
But she didn't stop there.
Showing just how thorough her preparations were, Vien rummaged through the basket and even pulled out candles.
"You even brought candles?"
"It's night, so of course."
It was in stark contrast to me, who had come with just my body.
"But how are we supposed to light the fire."
"Ah."
Vien, who had been arranging the candles, froze.
This idiot probably couldn't even think of the most basic things.
When the party members were together, Lily noona always lit the fire with magic, so she must have gotten too used to that.
At this point, Vien, who would usually have gotten embarrassed and started yelling something like 'Th... I just brought them because I wanted to?!', was quiet.
But I wondered if we even needed the candles.
The moonlight was so bright that there was nothing we couldn't see.
After fidgeting around for a while in silence, she lifted her head and looked at me.
Her eyes seemed slightly moist.
"... Is there no way...? Stachys..."
".... What."
"... Light this for me..."
It was sudden, so I was flustered.
Vien whined.
She held out the candle she was gripping with her fern-like hands to me.
I wondered why she was going this far.
Was this also part of the romance?
I let out a chuckle in disbelief.
But Vien didn't back down.
"How are we supposed to light a fire here. We don't have any tools."
"... I don't know either... What do we do..."
"Can't we just go without it?"
"...."
Vien's expression turned sullen in an instant.
My heart was about to weaken again.
If she had just gotten angry and snapped at me, it would've been easy to refuse, but
When she showed this kind of face, it was hard to reject her.
Yeah. Normally she wasn't like this.
And if I couldn't fulfill the image she had imagined here,
I didn't know how much she would grill me again.
I didn't know for sure, but it might have been a long-cherished wish.
Including this candle.
I scratched my head roughly and looked around.
I took the candle from her hand.
Vien watched what I was doing with a brightly lit expression.
I picked up pieces of wood, thick branches, and dry grass from the surroundings.
I sat down on my butt outside the mat and gathered the materials.
Then I started rubbing the branch vigorously against the piece of wood.
I had no choice. I had to do it like a primitive person.
"Stachys...?"
"You asked me to do it. Just wait and see."
sseuk sseuk sseuk sseuk
I shook my arm back and forth quickly.
It was the first time since I had tried it as a joke when I was young.
Back then, I couldn't light a fire in the end. Could I do it now?
After doing that for a long time.
-tik
Just as smoke was about to rise, I pushed it wrong and the branch went outside the block.
The rising smoke disappeared like a lie.
"Vien, this isn't working..."
I wiped my sweat and turned to look at Vien.
She was also crouching next to me with her knees hugged.
As if she had expected my words, she turned sullen again.
Seeing that expression, I couldn't finish my sentence.
She was like a much younger sister.
Aish... Why is she doing this to me.
I tightly closed my eyes and started rubbing the wood again.
sseuk sseuk sseuk sseuk.
.
.
.
I rubbed it for another long while.
Quite some time seemed to have passed.
At this point, I couldn't tell if we came to rest or to light a fire.
Thinking about it now, wouldn't it have been faster to go to the orphanage and get tools?
Ignoring the burning pain in my arms, I kept rubbing.
sseuk sseuk sseuk
This time, the smoke had been rising for a while.
I had gotten used to this too, so I moved steadily without making the same mistake as before.
But nothing more than that happened.
Vien wiped the flowing sweat for me.
If a drop of sweat fell wrong and killed the smoke, I was ready to stop regardless of Vien's expression.
"... Stachys, hang in there."
A really pretty word came out of her mouth after a long time.
How much did she want to light the candle to act like this.
Please light up...
And at that moment, a bright spark was born.
"Oh..!"
Vien was startled.
I was startled too and threw the branch, picking up the block.
I shook it gently to nurture the spark.
When the spark grew a little more, I blew on it weakly.
Vien next to me held her breath and waited.
Whoosh. And in an instant, flames rose up.
"It worked... It worked!! Vien, look at this!!"
"Wow..!!"
The sense of accomplishment was greater than I imagined.
I put down the burning piece of wood and watched it flare up.
Once the fire caught, it flared up incredibly fast and big.
"That's it!! Flare up!!"
Primitive people must have felt this kind of accomplishment too, right?
Thinking of them, I even did a little dance that they might have done next to it.
"Vien..! Look at this!!"
I shook my head and danced around the fire.
I wished Vien would come quickly and dance too.
But even after waiting for a long time, it seemed like I was the only one dancing.
I turned my head to look at Vien.
She was looking at me with her mouth slightly open.
".. Vien?"
I thought she was happy too.
Her gaze, staring at me frozen without any reaction, made me feel embarrassed for no reason.
I brought my shaking hand to my head and scratched it
My excited legs slowly lost strength.
I stopped the dance I was doing, leaving even my waist still.
"Ah... Did I get a little too excited?"
"Huh..? Oh. Ah... It's fine if you dance a little more..."
She acted like someone who had just come to their senses.
"Th... No. Let's just light the candles."
I picked up the candle I had put on the ground and brought it to my own small fire.
".... You're too cute...."
I heard Vien say something from behind.
"Huh? Vien, what did you just say?"
"Huh? Ah, ah, I didn't say anything, you know?"
There were a total of 5 candles. She took out the remaining candles from the basket one by one
lit them and placed them on the mat.
After arranging them all, it looked like something that would chant a spell.
But if I didn't have such silly thoughts, my honest impression was.
Yeah. It was definitely pretty.
Vien must have imagined this kind of scene.
I could understand why she insisted so much on lighting the candles because of the beauty created by the candles.
Vien sat on the mat with a smile in full bloom on her face.
She looked very satisfied.
"Th-thank you."
She expressed her gratitude while pulling her hat down deeply.
"You sit down quickly too, Stachys."
Feeling pleased by her thanks, I sat down as she said.
On the mat, a little away from her.
I sat and shook my tired arms a bit.
Maybe because it was after intense exercise for a while, it felt relatively quiet now.
Vien slowly approached and linked arms again.
'It's cold.' she said shortly.
While doing so, she also massaged my arm little by little.
She must know that I was tired.
"The atmosphere is nice."
She also gave her personal impression.
Words she would never say normally.
It had been a long time since she looked this happy too.
The candles brightly illuminating the surroundings.
The small pond with clear water.
The fireflies flying above it.
The moonlight shining on Vien and me.
Countless stars hung in the sky.
The cool breeze.
I also felt like my tired body was becoming a little lighter.
This kind of beautiful scenery would be good to see with a lover.
"I should definitely come here with my future lover later. Right, Vien?"
At my casual remark, Vien froze.
After staying still for a moment, she spoke.
"... You do that yourself. I'm satisfied with having come here once..?"
"... Geez. Got it."
She had such a satisfied expression earlier.
She never easily agrees with my words.
Is it that hard to just say 'Yeah, right'?
"Ah!"
She suddenly exclaimed.
Then she unlinked her arms and rummaged through the basket again.
I had a bad feeling.
"You worked hard lighting the fire, right...? Here. I made it."
Haha. Finally, this time had come.
She handed me a snack.
I had to work hard lighting the fire and eat this too.
It was like giving poison after medicine.
"Hmm... What is this?"
It looked like bread, but I couldn't tell anything else.
"It's a sandwich. There aren't many ingredients inside..."
"Ah, it's a sandwich?"
When I asked back, Vien flared up.
"Th-the shape got ruined because it was in the basket, you know?"
When I looked closely at the bread she gave me, there was filling between it.
I lifted it slightly.
Egg and... what is this. Sweet potato?
The bread was also the hard bread the kids ate earlier.
As she said, it was modest.
But thinking that I received food shared from the kids, it looked like a feast again.
"Th... Thanks, Vien."
"Hmph."
She spoke curtly, but she was fidgeting and looking at me.
She must be curious about my reaction.
I had eaten Vien's food several times before.
There were no particularly good memories.
Reluctantly, just like Vien was looking at me, I looked at the sandwich.
I opened my mouth and turned it this way and that, wondering where to bite.
After opening and closing my mouth for a while, gathering courage
I took a small bite.
A sour taste surged up strongly.
There shouldn't have been any sour taste rising up.
It wasn't that the food tasted bad, it was a different food.
Ah. Was she playing a prank? I stopped chewing and looked at Vien.
With an expression that said 'If you played a prank, tell me now', I smiled at her.
But instead of smiling along with me, Vien's expression brightened greatly.
She looked extremely happy.
"Does.. it taste good?"
She interpreted my smile that way?
But if so, that meant she didn't play a prank.
Even if it didn't taste good, it was made with sincerity.
I used my quick wit to chew the food that had entered my mouth.
"Ah, yeah. It's edible. Do you want some too?"
Vien eats the food she makes just fine.
She didn't notice that there was a problem.
In the past, to let her know that her food tasted bad,
I had returned it saying 'You try it too' but she just ate it well.
So if I shared it like this and reduced my portion, I could lessen the suffering.
"No. You didn't eat dinner, right. Eat it all."
But the lifeline didn't come down.
I looked at the remaining sandwich in my hand.
It felt bigger than before.
"Th-then... is it tastier than what Lily made?"
Vien asked cautiously.
Would it be tastier than what Lily noona made.
She really picked fights in unbelievable ways when I saw her.
But still, I couldn't say such words.
I didn't want the peaceful atmosphere coming out in front of this beautiful scenery to turn cold.
"Hmm... Both are tasty. Oh, look over there!"
I just stretched my hand forward.
Vien's gaze followed.
I called out whatever I saw.
"Wow, those fireflies are really pretty."
I struggled desperately to change the conversation topic.
Why was she trying to compete with Lily noona's cooking.
This time, I took a big bite.
It was better to get rid of this quickly and clean it up.
A long time had passed.
The candles had all melted and disappeared, but it was still dark.
Once I got used to the beauty of the pond, the drowsiness that had been hiding returned.
My stomach was full too, and with no conversation topics left, it was harder not to fall asleep.
It had been quite a while since we kept this silence.
Wouldn't Vien be sleepy by now too?
I looked at her, who was clinging to my arm saying it was cold.
She had also taken off her hat next to her, so her face was clearly visible.
She was blankly staring at the pond.
Now?
"Th... Vien."
Without answering, she looked up at me.
"Shall we go inside now...? We don't have anything else to talk about, and we're tired... Ah. It's cold too."
"Cold..?"
She didn't answer the other parts and only responded to the last word.
She unlinked her arms and moved her body to lean her back against me and hugged me.
"I was cold too, so it worked out well."
No, shouldn't we go inside.
Why did we have to be cold here together.
But because she did this, it was a little warm.
"Just... wouldn't it be better to go inside?"
"I don't want to."
"Why? There's nothing to talk about now and it's boring, right."
"I'm not bored."
Since she was sitting in my arms, I couldn't see her expression.
I couldn't tell what she was thinking when she said this.
"But I'm really tired now..."
"Then instead of going in, will you give me one more Wish Ticket?"
"...Huh?"
"If we go in, that means you won't stay up all night with me. That means you won't grant the wish."
My thoughts stopped dead at her words.
Give them something equivalent to this again?
My actions stopped too.
That absolutely couldn't happen.
"No. Okay, let's stay up all night."
.
.
.
After that, we silently and quietly watched the sunrise together with her.
My back hurt from enduring Vien who kept leaning on me.
When we returned to the orphanage, the kids were waking up.
From the moment the kids fell asleep until they woke up, I had been with Vien.
More than anything else, my eyes hurt so much.
A headache came along with it.
As soon as the kids woke up, they clung to my body, wanting to play with energetic movements.
In my dizzy head, hyung's advice...
It was spinning around more and more clearly.