Even as I asked the question, I already knew the answer.
Or at least, I thought I did.
The answer felt painfully obvious. It was sitting right in front of , close enough that I could practically reach out and grab it, yet for so reason I still found myself asking anyway.
Maybe I was nervous.
Maybe I was apprehensive.
Maybe I simply didn’t want to be the one who said it out loud.
Whatever the reason was, the words just refused to leave my mouth. Every ti I thought about saying them, they seed to get stuck sowhere between my brain and my tongue.
Tris, anwhile, looked completely unbothered.
In fact, she looked like she already knew exactly what was going through my head.
She smiled knowingly.
"We’re the ones scheduled for tonight."
Then she winked.
Actually winked.
I almost couldn’t believe it.
The woman genuinely had no sha whatsoever.
Not even a little.
"Leon can handle an orgy with at least ten won at the sa ti," she said casually, as if she were discussing the weather. "I don’t think adding one or two more is going to bother him very much."
Then she tilted her head slightly.
"What do you think?"
So that was it.
I was being invited.
Not indirectly.
Not as a joke.
Not as so vague hypothetical situation that would never actually happen.
I was being genuinely invited.
To join them tonight.
For a few monts, I just sat there thinking about it.
And honestly...
I didn’t really mind.
If anything, the opposite was true.
The idea didn’t bother at all.
Actually, the more I thought about it, the less bothered I felt.
If I was being completely honest with myself, I thought I’d probably prefer that outco.
That realization alone made feel strangely self-conscious.
My eyes drifted toward Leon again.
This ti, I looked at him for a little longer than before.
He was still helping with the preparations, seemingly focused on what he was doing.
Nothing about his expression suggested he was paying attention to .
Still, I found myself watching him.
Then I kept watching.
A few seconds passed.
Then a few more.
I didn’t even realize how long I had been staring until it suddenly hit .
Only after what felt like nearly ten full seconds did I finally force myself to look away.
My heart was beating noticeably faster now.
And one particular thought kept repeating itself over and over inside my head.
...Am I really going to do it with him tonight?
The question kept coming back no matter how much I tried not to think about it.
While I was busy dealing with that particular crisis, the event itself had already started.
To be completely honest, I wasn’t even entirely sure what kind of event this was.
Tris had called it their scheduled night, but beyond that, I didn’t really know what to expect.
Still, everyone else seed perfectly comfortable.
Maybe I was the only one overthinking things.
That wouldn’t exactly be surprising.
"I sure am a little surprised that you’re here."
Leon looked at while smiling.
His expression was relaxed, completely natural.
"W-Well, I’m done with work, so..." I replied. "And Tris invited to co over. It would’ve been incredibly rude to reject her."
That was true.
At least, it was partially true.
"I see..." Leon said.
Then his smile widened slightly.
"Well, the more the rrier. This is going to be fun."
"Uh, what is?"
The question slipped out before I could stop it.
The mont I heard my own voice, I imdiately regretted it.
My face had suddenly started feeling warm.
Why did I say sothing like that?
Seriously.
Why?
"The drinking," he said.
Then he paused.
"Or are you thinking of sothing else?"
A smirk appeared on his face.
A very deliberate smirk.
For so reason, seeing that expression made feel strangely aware of myself.
It was irritating.
And embarrassing.
And sohow unfair.
"I-I don’t," I said quickly.
The response ca out a little too fast.
A little too defensive.
Which probably didn’t help my case at all.
"Well, if you say so."
The fact that he sounded so unconvinced made everything worse.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tris looking at .
When I turned toward her, she was wearing an incredibly smug expression.
It was the sort of expression that said she already knew everything.
The sort of expression that made want to imdiately look away.
She looked as though she was silently asking why I was still trying to deny sothing that was already obvious.
Not that I was denying anything in the first place.
At least, that’s what I told myself.
But...
Well.
Maybe I really was that weak.
I reached for my glass and took a sip of wine.
The mont the liquid touched my tongue, sothing imdiately stood out.
The taste felt different.
Not bad.
Just different.
I took another sip.
Then another.
The more I tasted it, the more obvious the difference beca.
"Is this a new brew, Leon?" I asked. "It kind of tastes a little richer compared to the ones your company has been selling before."
Leon nodded.
"Well, we’ve been trying so new formulas along with different fruits to create a better blend," he explained. "I think we managed to make sothing good, but it isn’t out for sale yet."
"Oh."
That actually made sense.
The difference wasn’t huge, but it was noticeable enough that I had picked up on it almost imdiately.
"Basically, Leon brought these out so we could try them and give our opinions," Tris said while looking at . "So, is it good to your taste, Hertrude?"
Well...
That was an easy question.
The taste was great.
Honestly, it was noticeably sweeter than the previous versions.
The older ones had always been good.
I had never disliked them.
But they didn’t have quite as much sweetness.
And since I generally preferred sweeter drinks, this version imdiately stood out to .
As far as my personal taste was concerned, this one definitely had the advantage.
"It’s good," I said honestly.
"Is that truly so?" Leon asked.
"Well, I think it’s very good. Honestly, after tasting it, I prefer this one over the previous version."
The mont the words left my mouth, I froze.
Wait.
Hold on.
That didn’t sound right.
I imdiately realized how that could be interpreted.
The way I had phrased it made it sound like I thought the previous version was bad.
Which wasn’t true at all.
My eyes widened slightly.
"N-Not that I’m saying the previous one is bad," I quickly added. "It’s just that compared to the previous one, I think this is a step better."
For a brief mont, I worried I had accidentally insulted his work.
Then Leon laughed.
Actually laughed.
"It’s not like I’m going to be mad," he said while chuckling.
The reaction imdiately made relax a little.
"In fact, criticism is valuable. Thanks."
His response was so casual that I felt a little silly for worrying in the first place.
Still, I couldn’t really help it.
Sotis my mouth moved faster than my brain.
And when that happened, I usually ended up spending several minutes worrying about sothing that turned out not to matter at all.
Fortunately, this seed to be one of those tis.
So I took another sip of wine and tried not to think too hard about the fact that tonight was only just getting started.
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