Aftermath – 3

“Mikhaaaail, after all I shaid! How much washsh I hurting inshhide!”

Cordelia vented her frustration to me with a heavily slurred tongue. I wanted to somehow calm her down, but I couldn’t do anything because of Hestia, who was still burrowing into my arms and rubbing her face against me.

“Cordelia, please calm down first. Hestia, you too, stop this and get up for a moment. Okay? Oh, seriously. Seol-ah. Please do something about Cordelia!”

“Heheh. Mikhail smellsh good. Mine. Stay like thish.”

Seol-ah showed reluctance. She rolled up her sleeve and showed me her forearm.

“How am I supposed to stop Cordelia with these thin arms? Do you know how much she works out?”

Certainly, Cordelia possessed strength that would be challenging for a woman who doesn’t exercise at all to handle. It’s even more surprising because she doesn’t look like it from the outside. Practically compressed muscles?

“I don’t care if you don’t like me! But running away and telling Tia is too much!”

Cordelia pointed at me accusingly with her thoroughly tangled tongue.

“Who’s Tia?”

“Did shomeone call me?”

Hestia, still pressed against my chest, slightly raised her head to look up at me. Perhaps a nickname from childhood?

“I agree with that. You went too far.”

“Is this really the time for that?”

Seol-ah, who had been quietly observing the situation, agreed with Cordelia’s words. They say the mediating sister-in-law is more hateful than the hitting mother-in-law—she’s so annoying right now.

“You should have resolved it clearly then. Running away because you found it difficult to answer is a bit much.”

“No, Seol-ah, you should have seen that expression. I seriously thought I was going to be eaten alive. Ouch. Hestia, what are you doing?”

I frowned at the sharp pain I felt in my chest. Looking down, I saw Hestia biting my chest. It must be hard to bite something so firm. Hestia, who had dampened my chest with her saliva after chewing a few times, opened her mouth.

“Don’t talk to other women like that… not me…”

“Wow.”

Hestia’s words had tremendous impact. Yes, this is what I had been hoping for. I didn’t care at all about whatever look Seol-ah was giving me from the side. So this is what they call heart-fluttering.

Seeing Hestia nestling in my arms, Cordelia stood up from her seat.

“Me too, hug me too!”

She staggered toward my seat. Hestia, still seeming like she wanted to advertise that I belonged to her, clung to me without moving an inch.

“Lend him to me too.”

“What?”

“Mikhail.”

“No way. He’s mine.”

Of course she would react like that. People aren’t objects that can be easily borrowed or lent. Hestia tightened her arms around my neck, pressing herself even more firmly against me.

“But you said you didn’t like him before! You were always whining to me about it!”

“That was then! Now he’s mine! No!”

When Cordelia shouted loudly, Hestia shouted back.

Are these girls really 18? Judging by their conversation, they sound like kindergarteners from the rose class. It’s hard to tell if this is alcohol or a youth regression drug.

“Our little Mikhail, must be nice to be so popular.”

“What?”

“I’ll be the sunflower class teacher. When you watch kindergarteners, you often see girls fighting over one boy.”

She seemed to be thinking the same thing as me, and made a silly joke.

“Have you raised children?”

“Are you crazy? I used to babysit my niece as a part-time job. You know what? Young children fight more viciously because they have no inhibitions. I started believing in the theory of innate evil after I began babysitting my niece.”

While I was conversing with Seol-ah, Hestia suddenly stood up from my arms.

“Cordi… I’ve been feeling a bit off lately. You’re always flirting with Mikhail.”

Hestia stood facing Cordelia. She asked in a serious voice that belied her drunken state. Although her pronunciation was a bit slurred due to her loosened tongue.

“Cordi, tell me honestly. Do you like Mikhail?”

At that serious demeanor, Cordelia flinched and changed her attitude. She nodded while looking directly into Hestia’s eyes.

“Yes.”

“You bitch!”

Hestia’s response was quick and immediate. She lunged at Cordelia.

“How could you do that? Setting your eyes on your friend’s man?”

“But you said you didn’t like him before!”

“That was then! You bitch!”

I nearly dropped my jaw. To think that words like “bitch” would come out of Hestia’s mouth. And directed at her best friend Cordelia, no less. Have I turned her into this?

“You, you, what did you just call me!”

“He finally came to me after 10 years, and now you’re trying to steal him!”

Hestia’s hand moved toward Cordelia’s hair. I never thought I’d witness the scene of friends pulling each other’s hair over a man. I couldn’t let their relationship deteriorate because of me. I stepped between them. However, I quickly realized that wasn’t a very good choice.

“Both of you, calm down a bit.”

“What?”

Their voices overlapped. Both glared at me with quite dissatisfied expressions.

“Well, you’re both very drunk, so maybe after you sober up a bit…”

As soon as I tried to mediate, albeit ineffectively, Hestia turned her attack on me.

“You’re the worst! Why do you keep giving Cordi openings! Huh! Whispering in her ear! Always joking around!”

Hestia moved her hand to my head. She firmly grabbed my hair.

“That’s right, you’re the worst! Why did you make me misunderstand and act like a jerk!”

Cordelia also grabbed my hair. And then both started pulling my hair in different directions simultaneously.

Hestia’s hands are surprisingly strong, and Cordelia possesses physical abilities comparable to that of a decent man. I howled in pain, feeling like all my hair roots were being pulled out. What if I end up with a bald patch? I wonder if there’s any magic in this world that cures baldness.

“Aaah! Stop! Stop! It really hurts!”

“Why do you smile and joke and be nice to just anyone! You said there was only me!”

Cordelia wailed. I felt wronged. When did I ever treat other women so well? To begin with, there are only Seol-ah and Cordelia around me. If I stretch it a bit further, perhaps Seria is someone I’m merely acquainted with.

“Did I do that?”

“Yes, you did.”

Seol-ah, who had been quietly watching us, interjected.

“That’s why I fell for you too. Isn’t it unfair to heroically come to rescue a woman you were fighting with and not even speaking to?”

“Stop saying strange things and help me!”

“Why should I? Strictly speaking, I should also be standing there, grabbing your hair and asking why you were so nice to me.”

Even in this situation, Hestia seemed displeased by the friendly conversation between Seol-ah and me, and she tightened her grip even more.

“Aaah! Stop! Hestia! Stop!”

“You real jerk!”

Cordelia, who was pulling my hair from the side, also cried out in pent-up frustration.

“Right, you jerk! If you were going to be like this, why were you so nice! Why did you say I was pretty and kind!”

Hearing Cordelia’s words, Hestia spoke in a shocked voice. She let go of my hair and asked:

“Really, did you really say that?”

“No, I mean, I did say that, but…”

Hestia’s eyes welled up with tears, and she started sobbing while repeatedly hitting my chest. Fortunately, her chest blows weren’t as painful as Cordelia’s.

“Sob How long has it been since you said you liked me. Waaah…”

“No! That’s not it! I mean, I wasn’t insincere, but, no, that’s not what I meant, anyway!”

Hearing my words, Cordelia also let go of my hair and started crying along with Hestia.

“Sob What! So it was all lies? Sniff…”

Both of them started wailing loudly. It’s just like how when one child starts crying, others can’t control their emotions and start crying too, like an epidemic. I patted both of their shoulders simultaneously and spoke. I feel like total garbage doing this.

“What should I do?”

I’ve finally escaped from the two of them, so my body feels better, but my mind is troubled. First, I need to calm down the crying duo and clean up. The path ahead looks bleak. I rubbed my hair that had been pulled until just a moment ago. Fortunately, there’s no bald patch, but it does throb a bit.

Both were crying as if their lives depended on it. I looked up at the ceiling and sighed deeply as if the sky was falling.

Seol-ah offered a solution.

“Whichever one passes out from exhaustion first, you should carry her back to the dormitory, and then come back.”

“Me?”

“If you tell me to do it, I’ll cry alongside them?”

“I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll keep an eye on the remaining one.”

As she said, the combination of fatigue from the exam period, drunkenness, and the fact that they had cried until exhausted soon had them both nodding off. Cordelia was the first to zonk out. As if she had never been crying, she lay face down on the table, even snoring.

Hestia was still sniffling.

“Cordelia. I know you’re tired, but get up for a moment.”

She was completely knocked out, not moving at all with her face pressed against the table. In the end, I had to forcefully pull her upper body up. This time, she leaned her back against the backrest, tilted her head back sharply, and started snoring again.

“If you’re going to sleep, please sleep in the dormitory. Please.”

I went in front of her seat and crouched down. Seol-ah also got up from her seat and pushed Cordelia onto my back. Her body pressed against my back, and a strong smell of alcohol wafted over my head. I firmly grabbed her thighs and stood up.

“Me too! Me too! Carry me too!”

“Hestia. I’ll be right back. When I return, I’ll carry you until you ask me to put you down, so please wait a little.”

“Then a kiss!”

“Huh?”

“Give me a kiss.”

I was genuinely taken aback. But still, for our first kiss, in such a drunken state… Oh, it’s not actually our first. I recalled my first kiss that Cordelia had stolen. Though it’s not the first, I still don’t want to kiss in this situation where she won’t even remember it by tomorrow morning. I’m a Confucian boy after all.

“Hestia, you’re extremely drunk and not in your right mind right now. If you ask for it when you’re sober, I’ll give you as many kisses as you want until your lips swell up.”

“No! Do it now!”

“Wow. What should I do about this?”

“Just do it. People are most honest when they’re drunk, you know.”

Seol-ah said.

“But didn’t you just recently tell me that Hestia’s feelings are closer to obsession and possessiveness than genuine affection?”

“That’s exactly why she’s asking for a kiss now. It’s kind of like marking. Stamping ‘this is mine’ on you.”

“For someone she doesn’t even like?”

“Who said she doesn’t like you? She does have those fluttering, innocent feelings for you right now. But her possessiveness and desire for exclusivity are overwhelmingly stronger.”

Almost as soon as Seol-ah finished speaking, Hestia stood up abruptly. She approached me with staggering steps.

“I told you not to talk so friendly with other people.”

She stood on her tiptoes.

Smooch

Her lips touched mine. A moist and soft sensation. It’s a feeling on a completely different dimension compared to the jelly I bought out of curiosity back on Earth, wondering what a kiss feels like. Kissing jelly? More like pseudo-kissing jelly.

“Ah, I made a mistake.”

I couldn’t do anything, as if I had malfunctioned. A kiss? Lips to lips, mouth to mouth. Isn’t this not a peck but a kiss? Even a bird kiss is still a kiss. First kiss. With Hestia. My head felt like it was about to explode.

While I was frozen without any reaction, Hestia, who had been giggling, sat down in her seat and started sleeping with the table as her pillow. I could hear her gentle breathing. I raised one hand to touch my lips, where Hestia’s sensation still lingered.

My first kiss tasted of beer’s barley aroma.