“I wonder if they’ve reached the first destination yet…”

“Well, they probably have.”

Lucas responded nonchalantly as he flipped through his documents, seemingly indifferent. However, Aaron didn’t mind.

It was just another day, after all.

Casually ignoring Lucas, Aaron sighed deeply and murmured again.

“Did I send them on this trip for nothing… Are they doing alright?”

Aaron had been the first to support the trip. It had been a long time since his sister had shown such strong determination to do something. As an older brother, he felt compelled to support her.

Furthermore, his worry that Selena was spending too much time confined to the estate had also contributed to his support for her travel plans.

Still, he wondered why he felt so melancholic and regretful about it being a good thing. Maybe it was because she had decided to take only Aiden and Jane with her?

Of course, the family was busy during this season, and a sudden trip didn’t allow for everyone to join… But if only she had hinted even slightly at wanting everyone to come along…

“Ah.”

Such foolish thoughts, he chided himself.

Aaron ruffled his hair and shut his eyes tight. Lucas glanced briefly at his friend, looking a bit mad, and clicked his tongue.

“Anyone would think Selena is not twenty-two years old but twenty-two months old with the way you fuss.”

“To me, Selena will always be twenty-two months old.”

“Yes, soon you’ll be feeding her meals, too.”

Aaron shot his friend a wounded look, but Lucas continued his work unfazed by the glare.

As Aaron watched the cold profile of his friend, he sighed softly and turned his gaze out the window.

The outside was bathed in red. A mix between yellow and red, it looked like a beautiful flame burning brightly all around.

At this time, Aaron’s thoughts often drifted to the past. The image of Selena sleeping peacefully and Aiden, who had willingly risked his life for her.

During this twilight hour when the sun sets and the moon rises. The fine line between evening and night.

No matter how much time passes, the memories remain vividly etched in mind.

Lost in thought, Aaron muttered as if making excuses for his previous complaints.

“….I can’t help but worry. It’s only been about two years…”

For a brief moment, Lucas’ gaze shifted from his documents to Aaron and then away again.

In that brief moment, Lucas’ mind conjured the image of Selena, sleeping so peacefully. It seemed she was in an eternal slumber, just breathing rhythmically.

Lucas blinked slowly, shaking off the thought. In his imagination, Selena suddenly opened her eyes and rose from her bed. That was the reality now.

“That’s true. There’s nothing wrong with caring deeply, but just be careful that your concern doesn’t become a constraint. Concern and constraint are very different things. From what I see, you’re teetering on the edge.”

Aaron had been looking out the window and suddenly felt that Lucas was quite irritating.

He just made the right remarks so nonchalantly. People who are straightforwardly correct can be… irritating, right?

Shifting his gaze from the window back to Lucas, Aaron rolled his eyes at him. However, Lucas continued his work, unfazed.

Soon, cough, cough. A couple of deliberate coughs echoed through the room.

Clearly, it was a prelude to asserting his presence. The quick-witted Lucas noticed the intent behind the coughs but chose to ignore them, not bothering to look back.

‘How long will he ignore me…’

With a mischievous curl of his lips, Aaron coughed a few more times and composed his expression.

When the coughing subsided, the room fell silent. Only the sound of a page turning broke the quiet.

And breaking the silence was Aaron’s cautious voice. His eyebrows deeply furrowed as if he was about to disclose a significant secret.

The content was quite strange.

“By the way, Lucas… are you…okay?”

But there was one person accustomed to such odd conversations.

That person was… Lucas.

Lucas’ fingers, which had been busily shuffling papers, halted abruptly at Aaron’s question. Then, the corners of his usually indifferent mouth turned up into a wry smile.

‘Aha, I see where this is going.’

Maintaining his neat smile, Lucas responded,

“That is exactly the seventy-second time you’ve asked that question. You keep asking if I’m okay as if I have amnesia. Apart from that, I’m very, extremely, exceedingly okay.”

Aaron shivered slightly at Lucas’ deceptively gentle response. Even after so many years of friendship, Lucas’ laughter could still send a chill down his spine.

Or perhaps it was exactly because Lucas was a friend that he felt unsettled. He knew too well the kind of person Lucas was.

After a brief reflection, Aaron let his lips droop even more and opened his mouth again. No matter how creepy it was, he felt compelled to tease.

“So… really… okay?”

Lucas’ neatly arched eyebrows twitched slightly. Out of those seventy-two—and now seventy-three—times Aaron had asked ‘are you okay?’, exactly sixty-eight had that particular teasing tone. It was as if Aaron had finally found a perfect target to make fun of.

Indeed, after two years, the fact that Aaron still asked him this repeatedly said it all.

Embedded within those ‘are you okay’ questions was a reference to Lucas’ first love.

‘Are you okay after being rejected by Selena?’

Something along those lines…

Lucas shook his head and offered his friend another silent smile before turning the pages of his documents with more force than usual. His knuckles were white as he gripped the paper.

Noting his friend’s pained expression, Aaron slowly nodded and picked up a pen. Seeing Lucas visibly strain made him feel it was finally okay to focus on his own work.

They indeed had a uniquely troublesome friendship.

* * *

As Selena’s carriage slowly came to a stop in front of a quaint house with a red roof, the one Jane had been excitedly pointing out from afar, Jane looked back at Selena with excited eyes.

‘Just like a dog eagerly waiting at the door with its leash in its mouth.’

As Selena nodded in consent, Jane, as if she had been propelled, flung open the carriage door.

She opened it with such vigor that the coachman, who was approaching to assist, had to awkwardly step back.

At the same moment, inside Jane’s house, there was also a commotion. The rolling sound of a carriage had echoed through this small, quiet village, and that carriage had stopped right in front of their home.

Curious, they peered out the window only to see a large, white carriage imposingly parked in front of their house.

“What is…that? Go check it out.”

“You’re usually the one who deals with these things.”

The couple playfully jabbed each other’s arms with their elbows at the window. First the wife, then the husband, followed by the wife again… tap… tap… tap.

The small elbow fight at the window continued until the carriage door opened.

“My goodness!”

The wife, who had her elbow raised high, exclaimed and stood up abruptly. Her husband, who was still contemplating how to deflect her blows, fell backward.

Crash!

A loud noise echoed beside her, but it was irrelevant now.

Her entire attention was focused on the young girl…no, the daughter she had missed was now a young woman.

‘Jane…’

Tears welled up. It had been years… She gasped for breath, and she couldn’t walk properly.

‘She’s grown up so much…’

Unable to move or manage the surge of emotions, she stared blankly out the window until her eyes met with Jane’s.

Jane’s mother caught her breath.

It felt as if time was moving slowly. So slowly that even her breathing seemed to slow down with the pace of the dragging seconds.

Mother and daughter meeting after a long separation.

In the slowed time, cherished memories stirred deep within and washed over their bodies.

Jane emerged from her slowed time first. After a moment of blank expression, she blinked and beamed a broad smile.

The woman watching her also sighed.

‘Better than Mom.’

Laughing, Jane’s mother then headed toward the door. Her steps were slow but became quicker.

Her heart pounded and her pace quickened.

“Jane!”

When Jane was within reach, she threw her arms around her daughter in a tight embrace. It was so fierce it almost took her breath away. Nestled into the smaller frame of her mother, Jane buried her face in her shoulder.

“Mom…”

As Jane’s father awkwardly got up, rubbing his backside, an emotional mother-daughter reunion unfolded outside.

* * *

Held in her mother’s arms, Jane quickly began to sob like a child.

It was truly a touching scene.

I reached out subtly to Aiden. Watching such a moving scene, I too felt an urge to hold my partner’s hand.

When my hand touched Aiden’s, his gaze shifted from the mother and daughter to me. His initially blank expression soon softened into a round smile. He then slightly leaned in as if to whisper.

What could he possibly have to whisper about despite the touching moment?

“Thank you for holding my hand. I was just feeling a little lonely.”

Surprised, I turned my head with wide eyes. Still smiling warmly, Aiden continued to watch Jane and her mother.

Looking at his profile, I recalled Aiden’s stories.

His upbringing without his parent’s love. His face when he spoke of his alcoholic father and his mother who had abandoned him. I knew all too well that such scars were not easily soothed despite his calm demeanor.

As he watched this scene, did Aiden feel like a child again? Seeing Jane transformed into a childlike state, did he feel a tinge of loneliness?

I tightened my grip on Aiden’s hand. I hoped that the warmth in my grasp reached him, too.

I grasped Aiden’s hand firmly, then got on my toes again and brought my mouth close to his ear. Seeing me approach, Aiden kindly bent down a little.

Such a considerate partner.

“Perhaps you could hold Priest Ian’s hand as well.”

Aiden straightened up slightly, surprised.

He hadn’t expected me to say something like that.

But what can we do….It’s best to support those in similar situations. Priest Ian must be feeling quite lonely, too, being roped into this sudden trip… It’s up to us to take good care of him.

His bewildered eyes looked at me briefly before shifting toward Priest Ian’s unoccupied hand.

Yes, let’s extend a hand. It wouldn’t be kind to leave him out.

Nodding to myself, I smiled contentedly and turned my attention back to Jane.

Whether or not they ended up holding hands was up to them….I had done my part.

__