Published at 12th of December 2020 11:03:00 AM
Hi, Yuri unni . ”
The other person next to Anne-Marie followed along and greeted me too . Today, Hestia came together with her .
“Hello, Ms . Anne-Marie . Hestia as well, how are you?”
I greeted both of them in return .
Anne-Marie and Hestia were sisters who obviously looked very alike . On top of that, Anne-Marie was famous on Ferret when she worked in the clinic opposite the coffeehouse not too long ago . And so, there were many customers in the store who were stealing glances at the pair of sisters .
Right now, both of them were standing side by side, wearing the hats I gave them as a gift . It was a cream-colored hat with a wide brim suitable for going outside and there was a light purple ribbon with white polka dots around it, giving it a cute and refreshing feeling .
“The hat looks great on you . ”
When I complimented it, Anne-Marie gave a happy smile .
“Hestia and I went to the outskirts of town to get some air today .
“Is that so? That must have been nice, Hestia . ”
“Yes, it was fun . Yuri unni, you should come with us next time . ”
The three of us made some small talk .
Of course, it wasn’t difficult to see each other because we lived next door but still, meeting outside like this made it feel different .
Then Anne-Marie suddenly looked around the store and spoke like she was surprised .
“I know there are usually a lot of customers at this time, but it looks like more crowded today?”
“It’s been like that lately . Would you like to come inside?”
However, Hestia shook her head while pulling at Anne-Marie’s arm .
“I want to sit outside . ”
“Oh? Then we’ll go with what Hestia wants . ”
Anne-Marie and Hestia went to sit at a table outside . They both ordered lemonades . I brought a cheesecake too as a service on the house .
“Grandpa Bastia was here a little earlier . ”
Ah, the title of ‘Grandpa’ still felt awkward to say . But there wasn’t any other title I could use that made me go ‘this is it!’ .
“He did? Aww, if I came a little earlier, I might have seen him . ”
“When I saw him today, he definitely looked much healthier than before . It must be because Ms . Anne-Marie is his caretaker . ”
“Oh gosh, no . The people before me were all amazing, I’m just benefitting from it because I came after . ”
Anne-Marie blushed and waved her hand . Sure enough, she was the humble female lead .
“By the way, did grandpa say anything else?”
And at the next question that flowed from her mouth, I couldn’t help but tilt my head, feeling skeptical .
“What do you mean? He did tell me to be careful because things are quite dangerous outside . ”
Hearing that, Anne-Marie slowly nodded her head as though saying he was right . But it didn’t look like that was what she had in mind .
“Then I guess he wants to tell Ms . Yuri when you visit the mansion this week . Mm, then I won’t say anything either . ”
As she said that, Anne-Marie smiled and her expression was akin to a kid secretly playing pranks on an adult . From the looks of it, Anne-Marie already knew what Bastian planned on saying to me . Somehow, I was starting to have an idea about what Bastian wanted to tell me .
“Hello, Ms . Yuri!”
That very moment, a clear voice rang out from behind me .
As I turned my head, I was greeted with the sight of a sloppy man smiling at me with untidy bangs covering his eyes . Today again, he was dressed as Snow instead of Genos .
“Ah, the clinic’s silver angel is here too!”
He discovered Anne-Marie in front of me and greeted her boisterously . Then he saw Hestia sitting next to Anne-Marie and looked stunned like he was seeing her for the first time then he added:
“And the one beside you…don’t tell me, the clinic’s silver angel’s sister?!”
I felt my body growing a little cold .
The title was stupidly long…and cringy .
“Hello . It’s been a while . I see you’re still a regular at the coffeehouse . ”
The two had met once before so Anne-Marie responded to Genos’ greeting .
“But that title isn’t suitable for me . Besides, I don’t even work at the clinic anymore…”
But perhaps due to the title he said, the smile on her lips looked a little embarrassed .
Hestia was staring at him with a little wariness in her eyes, perhaps because she was seeing Snow for the first time . She had met Genos once at the festival before Hestia did not know that .
“What do you mean, there isn’t anyone who suits that title better than Ms . Anne-Marie . An angel never stops being an angel! Isn’t that right, Ms . Yuri?”
“The title does suit Ms . Anne-Marie . ”
Well, although it was a little cringy, like Genos said, Anne-Marie was truly like an angel so I calmly nodded in agreement .
At that, Anne-Marie’s cheeks flushed red .
“To, to me, Ms . Yuri is the one who looks like an angel!”
Her voice went up uncharacteristically as she exclaimed .
“Really? Thank you . ”
I knew Anne-Marie liked me but if she really thought that then I could only say her rose-colored glasses were amazing .
“Are you guys dating?”[1]
Hestia spat out after glancing at me and Anne-Marie while biting on the straw in her lemonade .
Eventually, Genos took a seat inside the store .
“I’d like a glass of lemonade too . ”
“We’ve changed our coffee beans starting today, would you still like to go with a lemonade?”
When he ordered a lemonade like usual, I casually informed him that our coffee beans had changed . After all, I could still remember that Genos started ordering lemonade after we changed the original coffee beans .
When he heard me, Genos paused for a moment .
His eyes, hidden under the shaggy brown hair, stared at me for a while . And a moment later, a voice quite lower than before rang in my ears .
“I see…I’ll have coffee instead then . ”
“Sure, please wait a moment . ”
Even as I walked to the kitchen, I could feel his gaze sticking to my back .
“Excuse me but can I hold for hand for a second?”
When I finally brought the coffee, Genos spoke .
“No . ”
I refused without batting an eye like I usually did when he played his tricks . And at that moment, I could feel a sense of embarrassment coming from Genos .
“Ah, it’s not because of that today…it’s because of what I said last time, I feel like I’ll be able to know more about it if I hold your hand . ”
He explained, looking a little flustered .
No wonder I felt his voice was serious just now . I guess he wasn’t joking around like other times but was saying that for a different reason .
I arranged the tray then I spoke like I was talking casually .
“You mean the palm reading you talked about when you came before?”
“That…I did say that but…this is different from that…”
I was just making a little joke, but Genos seemed more embarrassed . Apparently, it was only now he was getting embarrassed by all the nonsense he had been throwing my way .
That said, from what I remember when reading the novel, Genos’ foresight ability was stronger when he was in contact with the body involved . It was very similar to psychometry, but the difference was that Genos saw the future, not the past .
“I don’t know if it’s going to work but still, just in case . ”
I let my gaze fall on Genos .
Seeing him in front of me like this made me remember what I heard in the conversation between Genos and Kalian a few nights ago .
‘This incident seems to be related to your family and the Salvatores somehow . ’
I wanted to know more about what that meant but I couldn’t question the person in front of me directly . Of course, I could have infiltrated the Salvatore’s or the Crawford’s to investigate personally but I felt like this wasn’t the time to act rashly . So for now, I was thinking about it a little more and deciding the best time and method .
“It won’t take long, it’s really just a second . ”
“Alright then . ”
“Eh, huh?”
Drag . [2]
I pulled out the chair and sat down opposite Genos . Even though he was the one who brought it up, when I finally accepted, Genos looked very surprised .
He looked at me, stuttering like he was at loss for words .
“You said it will take a second . ”
I held out my hand over the table .
Starting from people sitting around us, the sound of people murmuring spread throughout the store . They seemed shocked by the fact that I saw down on a specific customer’s table because I had always defended with an iron wall no matter who made a pass at me .
When Genos, who was hesitating for some reason, carefully held my hand which was stretch over the table, the disturbance grew louder . I heard things like ‘No way’ and I even heard some forks and teacups falling to the ground .
I couldn’t help but frown slightly at all the various noises digging into my ears .
‘Agh, I’ll have to clean up all of that . ’
Whether I was sitting down with someone or holding hands with someone, it was none of their business so I couldn’t care less about them acting like that .
Either way, regardless of what other people thought, on the surface, Genos and I continued what we were doing without paying attention to the reactions around us .
Genos held my hand tight and focused on something as if his previous hesitation was just an illusion . I simply waited quietly without doing anything .
‘Come to think of it, I’m holding hands with my favorite character right now . ’
Of course, the circumstances weren’t fun at all . For some reason, it was almost certain I had a death flag or something similar soon and right now, Genos was trying to see if he could look into my future .
To be honest, he and I didn’t have any particular relationship . At best, we were a coffeehouse employee and customer to each other . Even then, we only talked when he was ordering and paying at the store, so maybe we saw each other for 5 minutes a day at the most?
Despite that, he wasn’t ignoring my plight instead he was seriously trying to help me . I was truly grateful for that .
As I stayed still with nothing to do, several thoughts began to float in my head .
‘Genos’ hand is pretty too . Of course, Lakis’ hand is the best . ’
Then I suddenly thought of that as I looked down at the hand holding mine .
Translator’s Corner:
[1] This is a sarcastic statement, but I don’t know if that is obvious .
[2] I think this is supposed to the sfx for pulling out the chair???