I Wish You Well In Your Next Love, My Love - Chapter 70
How many minutes passed like that?
The silence that had felt nothing but awkward slowly began, strangely, to dull.
And after a few more minutes passed, it became comfortable.
Was it because of the hand kneading my ankle with just the right amount of pressure, leaving it pleasantly cool?
Against my will, my eyelids began to droop.
“Should I bring you a pillow?”
At the quietly flowing voice, I lifted the head that had been nodding off.
“I need to learn how to wrap the bandage.”
I squeezed my blurred eyes shut, then opened them again.
There’s no training, and I’m getting plenty of sleep, so why am I this sleepy?
I guess people don’t say that the more you sleep, the sleepier you get for nothing.
“Learn tomorrow. I’ll do it for you tomorrow too.”
“If I’m sleepy today, does that mean I won’t be sleepy tomorrow?”
“Then I can do it the day after that too.”
At the casual tone he used to say it, I wanted to lean on him again.
“Stop taking care of me so much. I’m going to pick up strange habits.”
“What kind of habits.”
“The habit of using the second son of House Castion and a first-rank Awakened like a servant.”
“That’s an expensive habit.”
“It’s absurdly luxurious. It’s beyond what someone in my circumstances can afford. So hurry up and teach me.”
When I let out a long yawn, Gerard moved the medicinal compress aside.
Then he caught the end of the bandage and pressed the center of my sole with his fingertip.
As that firm fingertip dug in, all my toes curled at the unexpected ticklishness.
It was only a tiny flinch, but perhaps Gerard was startled, because he pulled his hand away.
“Does it hurt?”
“It tickles…”
When he touched the sole of my foot again, my toes twitched regardless of my will.
Gerard didn’t stop after once, but kept pressing and releasing the same spot over and over, watching my toes jump.
“Ah, stop. I’m sleepy.”
“Haha. The strangest things are entertaining.”
After marveling to himself, laughing, and finally muttering in a self-mocking way, Gerard finally began explaining how to wrap the bandage.
His large, neat hands held my foot as he layered the white bandage around it.
Firmly, but not enough to press on the blood vessels. Perfectly.
“Move your ankle. Is it okay?”
It was much more secure and comfortable than the way the doctor had wrapped it. It also looked neater.
“Yes.”
“Can you do it by yourself?”
Honestly, I couldn’t promise that.
At first, I had definitely been listening to the explanation with concentration, but at some point, I got lost simply enjoying the sound of his voice as he spoke gently to make it easier for me to understand.
By the time I came back to myself, the whole middle part had been skipped over, and Gerard was fastening the bandage.
“Of course.”
But I didn’t have enough shamelessness to ask him to explain it again, so I nodded for now.
He still looked unconvinced.
But he didn’t try to dig into what I really meant.
It wasn’t a bad thing for him to leave me be, even if I ended up doing it clumsily.
Not because he was neglecting me, but because, if I did do it poorly, then like today, he could simply do it for me.
Sometimes, when I could read the way his thoughts were moving, I was struck anew by the thought that seven years of dating had not, in fact, been a short time.
After tidying up around us, Gerard straightened the perfectly fine pillow back into place.
It was a habit he had always done unconsciously whenever he wanted me to lie down.
Whenever I discovered habits from the time we spent together still left in him, even though he had lost all of those memories with me, I never knew where to rest my gaze.
For no reason, I rubbed at the corner of my eye, then slipped under the blanket.
Only after seeing me lie down did Gerard get ready for bed too.
Now he seemed quite used to taking out the winter carpet and blanket and piling them thickly on the floor.
The bedroom lamp was turned off.
With my hearing sharpened by the darkness filling my vision, I listened to his calm footsteps.
It was just as my eyelids were closing, unable to overcome the drowsiness clinging damply to me.
“On Foundation Day.”
The voice spilling over my fading consciousness made me open my eyes.
“Do you have plans? Other than work?”
