Kimi no Shiawase wo Negatteita 3 (I Wish You Happiness 3)

Part 21

Then, somehow, we were both silent and I was stroking Rica, who was sleeping on my lap.

It was a quiet, happy time. All I could hear was the occasional sound of a car engine passing in front of the apartment, the barking of a dog on a walk, and Rica's sleeping breath. The warmth of Ren's body against my back was gradually becoming familiar to my body, becoming the same temperature as mine.

I was thinking that I wanted to stay like this forever, when Ren's hand overlapped mine, which was stroking the back of Rica's neck to her butt, and our fingers intertwined.

Ren's thumb stroked my thumbnail. I had memorized the shape of Ren's thumbnail from looking at pictures so much, and I was so moved by the fact that the real thing was stroking mine that I wanted to imitate it.

In the manner of finger-wrestling, I quickly move and switch positions and try to stroke Ren's nail with my thumb. Ren's hands are bigger than mine, but his nails are bigger too. As I was admiring the slippery texture, he chuckled.

"Cute."

"???"

What was so cute about that? What part of it? I'd like to hear more about it. Something was desirable to Ren, wasn't it? If we find out and act the same way, maybe he'll find us more desirable. No, wait. I don't think I'm good enough to act, so I'll probably end up sounding pretentious. I want to ask him, but maybe I shouldn't. Oh, nails. Maybe Ren likes nails and thinks they're cute when he sees them.

"Oh, you like nails?"

In that case, I'll try my best to take care of my nails. My nails are soft and can chip at the slightest touch, so I cut them as soon as they grow long enough. It's always bothered me how ugly they are. When I'm in sales, my nails seem to catch people's eyes when I'm handing out documents to customers, and sometimes people even stare at them. I was embarrassed because I felt like a child who couldn't break the habit of biting her nails, so I used to curl my fingers to hide them.

"Yes, I also like nails."

And by "also," you mean... Oh, no. I'm going to read too much into it. The body temperature that I was accustomed to was popping only for me. Somehow, I couldn't stand it and I tried to pull my hand out of the overlap, but he wouldn't let me. Ren inhaled a breath of air at the back of my neck as he firmly caught the hand that was trying to escape.

"It's a shame that I'm so close to you and I can't smell you because of the medicine. I miss Suzunari's scent. I can't wait to live a life without the inhibitors."

Oh, you're thinking the same thing as me! What should I do? I'm so happy.

Ren is really good at making me happy, he can say things like this without hesitation and make me feel great. I'd like to say something to make Ren happy once in a while, but I wonder if he'll be happy.

I twisted my head and turned my head back, and Ren noticed and came over to me and said, "What?" I twisted my neck and turned around to look at him. I was so close to him that our cheeks almost touched, and I took a brave breath.

"I was thinking the same thing just now......"

Oh, that's pathetic. The last part was as small as a little bird's twitter. Even so, Ren's eyes widened in surprise, but a smile gradually spread across his face. I was so happy that he understood, that I naturally smiled too.

"Suzunari."

Ren's tilted face gently approached me. I wondered if this was a continuation of that day.

I also thought that at last, I pulled my lips together and closed my eyes tightly.

"......?"

When I opened one eye to the lips that didn't touch me, Ren was staring at my face. What is it? Did I make a strange face? I squeezed my eyes shut again when I felt him approaching me again, but once again, nothing landed on my lips. I wondered, did he not want to touch me?