Mine | LenaMiu (English Version)
Chap 36
The morning passed slowly, as if time itself were deliberately stretching so the two of them could look at each other a little longer. Miu sat across from Lena, trying to drink her smoothie without meeting her eyes.
But Lena was looking.
Not staring in a way that forced attention, but the kind of look that was calm, steady and soft enough to melt Miu's heart like marshmallows over heat.
Every time Miu glanced up, Lena accepted her gaze as if she had been waiting for it all along.
Miu couldn't take it anymore.
"Lena... don't look at me like that..."
Lena set her glass down, rested her elbow on the table, and tilted her head.
"Like what?"
"Like... like you're..." Miu waved her hands in the air, searching for words, "...trying to bully me."
A very faint smile appeared on Lena's face—the kind that only showed up when she was genuinely happy.
"I'm not doing anything to you."
"You're not blinking at all..."
"Because you keep turning your face away," Lena replied simply.
"So I have to look more to make up for it."
Miu wanted the ground to swallow her whole.
"You say things like that... I can't even lift my head..."
"Then lift it," Lena said, gentle but certain.
"Let me look properly."
Miu raised her straw to cover her face.
"I'm not looking..."
"That's fine." Lena's voice was unhurried.
"I can look at you."
Miu immediately dropped the straw.
"Don't look anymore! Every time you look, I get flustered."
Lena laughed softly, her expression unusually tender.
"A little flustered is worth it."
⸻
Suddenly, Lena's phone vibrated. She glanced at the screen, and her smile disappeared for a second.
Not angry.
Not tense.
Just... different.
Miu noticed.
"Is something wrong?" she asked right away.
Lena locked the screen.
"It's nothing."
The words were light, but her expression told Miu it wasn't something small.
"Lena..." Miu leaned slightly across the table, worry in her eyes.
"You don't have to tell me everything, but... are you okay?"
Lena looked at her.
One second.
Two.
Her gaze softened like warm water.
"With you here, I'm okay," Lena said slowly.
"Just some family matters."
Miu pressed her lips together just a little, but enough for Lena to see how much she cared.
"Do you need to go?"
"No." Lena answered immediately.
"I'm staying here with you."
"But if you're busy—"
Lena shook her head.
"There's nothing more important than you right now."
Miu fell silent. Her heart beat faster, but not with embarrassment anymore—this time it was warm, so warm it almost made her cry.
"When you say things like that... I don't know what to do..." Miu lowered her head, twisting her fingers together.
Lena watched her, then slowly moved her hand across the table.
She didn't take Miu's hand.
Didn't pull her closer.
She simply placed her palm on the table, close enough for Miu to touch if she wanted to.
"You don't have to do anything," Lena said.
"Just be here."
⸻
Miu stared at Lena's hand. Slender, long fingers, a shade lighter than her own skin. The same hand that had held her waist during the kiss. The same hand that made it hard for her to breathe with just its gentleness.
Miu bit her lip.
Then... she placed her hand on top of Lena's.
Lena paused for half a second.
Not in surprise but in something else, like she had just received something she wanted but hadn't dared to ask for.
Her fingers closed gently around Miu's hand. Her thumb brushed once across the back of it.
"Kiddo." Her voice was low and warm.
"Yes...?"
"Earlier you asked if I was okay," Lena said.
"Now let me ask you."
Miu looked up.
"I... I'm okay."
"No." Lena met her eyes.
"You're scared."
"...I'm not." Miu denied softly.
"Then why are you avoiding my eyes?"
"I..." Miu caught her breath.
"...I'm embarrassed."
Lena laughed quietly.
"Then look at me."
Slowly, Miu raised her head and met Lena's gaze.
They were silent. Only the sound of the coffee machine and their breathing filled the space.
Lena spoke softly.
"That's it. Like that."
Miu's face burned.
"If you keep talking like that... I—"
"What?" Lena asked.
"...I like you too much," Miu breathed, so quietly it could have drifted away with the slightest breeze.
Lena's eyes softened until they almost melted.
"I know."
⸻
When a server walked by and glanced a little too long at Miu because her T-shirt was cute—Lena flicked her gaze over.
Not sharp.
Not hostile.
Just enough.
The server looked away immediately.
Miu noticed.
"Did you just... look at them?" she asked.
"Yes." Lena didn't deny it.
"Why..."
"Because you're pretty," Lena replied calmly.
"So people look. I see that."
"But... you don't have to—" Miu murmured.
Lena tilted her head.
"I don't have to." A pause.
"But I want to."
Miu covered her face with both hands.
"Lenaaa..."
"Yes?" she answered, as if she had no idea who was causing Miu to fall apart.
"If you keep saying things like that... I won't survive..."
"Then I'll say less." Lena leaned in a little closer.
"But I'll still look."
⸻
When Lena paid the bill, Miu stood beside her. Lena opened her wallet, leaning slightly, her hair falling over her shoulder.
Miu looked.
One second.
Two.
Then she spoke very softly, like a sigh.
"...You're really beautiful."
Lena's hand froze.
For the briefest moment, something shifted in her expression—something only Miu could see.
"Miu..." Lena said slowly.
"...don't say things like that."
"Huh? Why...?"
"Because I'll..." Lena looked at her deeply,
"...lose control."
Miu froze, her face flushing like an alarm light.
"I–I'm sorry... I won't say it again..."
"No." Lena replied.
"It's not that you can't say it."
A pause.
"It's that you need to warn me first."
"Warn you... of what?"
Lena looked at her like she was holding herself back with everything she had.
"So I can be ready to kiss you one more time."
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