"I am not cute!" Viora shouted with her eyes closed, and silence fell over the flower shop.

The old woman was looking at Viora with wide eyes and a bewildered expression. Even the people walking past slowed down and turned their heads toward us.

"..."

"..."

A second later, Viora seemed to realize what she had just done. Her body froze, and then slowly, very, very slowly, her face began turning red from neck to ears.

"Ah."

That was the only sound she made before immediately grabbing the fabric of my shirt tightly and burying her face in my chest.

"I want to leave."

Her voice was so quiet I almost didn’t hear it.

Watching Viora act like this, the flower vendor burst into laughter.

"See? Cute."

"Please stop talking," Viora muttered. Her voice was muffled because of my shirt.

At this point, even I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing, but the slight tremor of my body gave it all away.

She noticed that I was also trying to hold my laughter back, and with the same hand she was using to grab my shirt, she pinched me.

Then, she lifted her head and gave me a glare.

"Don’t."

"Alright, alright." I raised both hands in surrender. "Let’s go before you die from embarrassment."

Still hiding her face, Viora nodded.

I thanked the vendor, and we started moving away from the flower shop, still walking awkwardly side by side.

Even after leaving, Viora still refused to let go of my shirt.

"You know," I said while glancing down at her, "if you keep hiding like this, we’ll have to keep walking sideways, which is a bit difficult."

"...That sounds like your problem."

"Huh?"

For the first time, I heard a tiny hint of smugness in her tone.

Wait.

Did she just joke with me?

I grabbed her face with both of my hands and pulled her away. When her face came into view, I saw the corners of her lips lifted into a tiny smile, which vanished away in a second.

Progress.

Huge progress.

Not only was she walking, speaking normally, and outside with me, she was even joking now.

Honestly, if someone told me this was the same girl from a few days ago, I wouldn’t believe them.

"What are you doing?" Viora grabbed my hands and pushed them off her face.

"My cheeks aren’t something you can just grab whenever you want. Hmph!"

She pouted and crossed her arms.

"Then stop making expressions that make me want to grab them," I blurted out, and Viora’s brows furrowed in confusion.

"W-what does that even mean?"

She asked, and instead of answering, I just extended my hand and pinched her cheek.

"Here. This is what it means."

For a moment, Viora froze on the spot, and then her expression began to change from confusion to anger.

"I told you not to do that!" She huffed and reached for my face, but I just took a step back and dodged her hands.

"What? Do you want revenge? But for that, you have to catch me first."

Saying that, I let out a small laugh, and while doing so, I didn’t notice her taking a step forward and grabbing my arm.

"Now, what are you going to do?" she asked and pinched me back with twice the force.

"Ow! That’s assault."

"Now, we are even." She let go of my cheek and declared proudly.

Why does she sound so proud after pinching someone? Like she had won a battle against me.

"Whatever, now tell me where your home is."

"My house... it is right in front of the flower shop."

After confirming, we walked to the door right in front of the shop. The vendor was still watching us while we stood in front of Viora’s home.

The gate was locked, and a layer of dust covered it, making it look like a different shade of color than it actually was.

"Viora, it is locked. Do you have a key?"

I asked, and she began rubbing her chin as she thought about it.

"Hmmm... Break it."

"What?!"

My eyes widened at her response. She expected me to break the lock? Who does she think I am?

"Look, Viora, the flower vendor is still glancing at us, and I can’t just break locks with my bare hands."

"You can’t?" she let out and started thinking again.

"Wait! Check under the flower pot on the wall."

"Flower pot?"

I took a few steps forward, and after lifting the flower pot, I found the key.

"You told me to break in when the key was under the flower pot?"

"I forgot."

....

After opening the gate, we both stepped inside.

The first thing I saw was the yard, and at the end of it was a door which we pushed open with Viora’s fingerprint.

Inside, everything was covered in thick dust, and the furniture showed no signs of being used.

Even our feet left marks on the tiles as we walked forward.

There was also a showcase in which many trophies were placed.

There was only one name on all of them.

<1st Position, Viora Han.>

’Looks like she was the best at whatever she did.’

But there was also a faint smell that made me want to puke.

’This smell is unbearable.’

I just wanted to keep my distance from everything.

But that wasn’t the case for Viora.

She let go of my hand and took a step forward.

After reaching the middle where the sofa and table were, she stopped.

"I thought the next time I came here would be in a wheelchair or in someone’s arms as a dead body."

She grabbed the sofa and slowly sat down on it without caring much about the dust.

"But, It feels good to walk here by myself."

There was also a photo frame placed on the table in front of the sofa. Because of the dust, nothing was visible on it.

Viora grabbed it and wiped the dust off with her hand, revealing an old man and woman standing on either side of a girl wearing a high school uniform.

"Mom, Dad, I am back."

That...

That was the limit.

She hugged the frame and closed her eyes tightly; however, some tears still managed to escape from her eyes.