A Strange Request

After her outing to the art museum with Theron, Selene felt that her piano playing had improved more than usual.
It was thanks to her being able to imagine ‘The Age of Love and Romance,’ the original sonnet of the piece she was playing, a little more concretely.
Theron’s firm male body helped her to portray the narrator of the sonnet, whom she didn’t know well.
Selene thought it was a good thing she had touched Theron’s hand at the art museum.
If she hadn’t, the husband, the narrator of the sonnet, would still have been imagined as a stone with eyes, nose, and a mouth.
One summer afternoon, as she resolved to try to get other inspiration by fiddling with Theron’s hand or arm again the next time she met him, an incident occurred that completely changed that resolution.
The incident began when she went to the drawing room to get the sheet music she had left behind.
She had left it there after having a conversation with the piano tuner who had visited in the morning.
Creak.
But Selene, who had unintentionally opened the door, saw something she shouldn’t have.
“Ah.”
Her cousin Evelyn was clinging to her fiancé’s body like a cat in heat.
Her fiancé, Rupert, was groping the white thighs revealed through Evelyn’s raised skirt, and red lipstick was smudged messily on his lips.
“Selene!”
Evelyn, surprised, hurriedly pushed her fiancé Rupert away and straightened her clothes, but an image was already engraved on Selene’s retina that she wanted to take out and scrub clean.
The sight of her close cousin, like a sister, tangled up with a man and making out.
“Why don’t you go to a hotel?”
At Selene’s cold remark, Rupert shot up from his seat.
His face, above his disheveled shirt and tie, was flushed red.
“…S-sorry, Miss Selene! I was on a business trip for a month and saw Evelyn for the first time in a while…”
Right, that’s why Evelyn had suggested the three of them have a meal together.
Selene had been reluctant, but since Evelyn had been pestering her for a while, she had agreed, sparing her precious time.
But if she had known she would see such a disgraceful sight, she would never have agreed.
“…You go outside. I’ll talk to Selene.”
Evelyn sent Rupert out and stood in front of Selene.
“Selene…”
“Your lips.”
As Selene pointed it out, Evelyn was startled and wiped the smudged lipstick with her sleeve.
“Selene…! I know you hate this kind of thing, but this was really a mistake.”
‘Doesn’t a mistake usually refer to things like dropping and breaking a glass by accident, or misspelling a name?’
The two, who were fervently sucking each other’s lips as if they would die if they were separated, definitely didn’t seem to have done it by mistake.
“It’s not that I’m being peculiar, no one likes to see other people’s sexual intercourse.”
“Selene! It was just a kiss! It’s just that we were facing each other for the first time in a long time, and our lips just stuck together irresistibly.”
‘So, the reason Mr. Rupert was kneading her thigh like dough was because his hand had a magnet on it, I suppose?’
Selene, feeling resentful towards Evelyn for doing that in someone else’s house, thought about shooting a remark at her, but she gave up, feeling sorry for her cousin who was still rambling on as if flustered.
“Anyway… Selene. I mean, I’m really sorry about this… but a day will come when you’ll understand my feelings.”
Selene narrowed her eyes at the completely unconvincing excuse.
No matter how much she came to love someone so ardently, she would not do such a thing in her cousin’s house.
Because that was something no civilized person would do.
Yes, at first, she only thought that.
But as time passed, the image of the two clinging to each other like animals gradually faded, and Selene once again found herself focusing on the act of kissing.
Evelyn’s appearance that day had reignited a faint spark of curiosity and a desire for exploration in Selene.
What was so good about sucking each other’s lips, and how could they suck and bite so mindlessly as if they had put sugar water on them.
As it was, a kiss scene between the female and male protagonists had appeared in the classic romance novel she was forcing herself to read these days to empathize with the original sonnet, and her worries deepened as she imagined the scene as two goldfish pressing their mouths together.
Thud.
After deep thought, Selene closed the book, her eyes shining with a calm demeanor.
‘I don’t think I can do it this way.’
If you can’t understand it, you have no choice but to try it yourself.
Although Selene usually found the act of a man and a woman casually mating to be very disgusting, she was convinced that if she could understand that act even a little, she would be able to play ‘The Age of Love and Romance’ much better.
This was not an unfounded guess, but based on the experience she had gained with Theron Cox.
The fact that they had danced together and that she had touched his hand had brought about a slight change in her playing skills, so she believed that if she kissed him, there would be another area where her eyes would be opened.
She wasn’t unaware that it was a rather unconventional decision, but she couldn’t achieve a dramatic improvement by the time of the competition by just fiddling with his arm or hand.
So, Selene waited for the time when the flowers on the side table near the piano would wilt.
Because around that time, Theron Cox would visit the ducal estate with a new bouquet of flowers.
As expected, he appeared before Selene with a bouquet of summer flowers in his arms, just in time to empty the vase.
“Have you been well, Miss Selene?”
Theron Cox’s body, dressed more lightly than usual due to the warming weather, was prominent through the thin fabric.
“Do you work out regularly, Mr. Cox?”
Selene didn’t know Theron well, but she knew that his name often appeared in the newspapers.
For reasons such as being a promising businessman, or a representative figure of a self-made man.
But for someone who would be in and out of the financial district all day, it was questionable that his chest and forearms were clearly visible through a neat shirt, like soldiers who trained every day.
And Theron seemed to have noticed the intention of her question from her gaze.
“The place where I grew up was rough, so if you were small, you were likely to be bullied. So, exercises to bulk up my body were essential. I don’t need to do that anymore, but it’s become a habit.”
‘I see.’
“Your efforts have paid off. I read an article in the newspaper today about the second building your company is constructing, Mr. Cox.”
Still, since she had been calling his name frequently these days, she had spotted him at a glance in the newspaper filled with text.
Although Selene didn’t know much about things like investments or business, at a glance, the location of the building he was constructing was a prime lot even in Cantora.
When Selene mentioned the building first, Theron became rather proactive.
“Are you interested in real estate, Miss Selene?”
“No. If I were interested in such things, I wouldn’t be spending my days playing the piano all day.”
Her family’s assets were managed separately by a lawyer, an accountant, and a financial manager who had been in charge of the work for a long time.
“So, I just listen to the news that occasionally reaches my ears. Recently, the Rigus Coast property has been a hot topic.”
At the mention of the Rigus Coast, Theron’s eyes, which had been sparkling for a moment, immediately clouded over.
“Yes, well… it’s a piece of land that everyone would be interested in.”
“Are you interested in that area too, Mr. Cox?”
Theron’s lips parted for a moment before he answered.
“No…”
He seemed reluctant to discuss this topic.
Since Selene wasn’t particularly interested in his personal affairs anyway, she didn’t continue the question and led Theron into the mansion.
She had a lot to do, rather than spending time with such insignificant conversation at the entrance.
“Let’s go to the drawing room.”
Today, since it was hot, she had deliberately invited him at a time when the sun was not at its peak.
Around 4 p.m., when the sunlight would weaken.
For a moment, she recalled the first and second invitations when she had turned him away at the door at the ambiguous time of 4 p.m., but those were bygone days.
The only important thing today was to carry out her new resolution.
Selene stared at Theron with a cup of cooling tea in front of her.
Theron, who took a sip of his coffee with an uncomfortable expression at her gaze, opened his mouth.
“Are you observing me now too?”
“No.”
“Then do you want to touch my hand again like last time?”
At Theron’s question, Selene shook her head.
“No. It’s not that, but there’s something I’d like to ask of you, Mr. Cox.”