Chapter 46

Bang.

The 25-point target fell over.

"Damn…."

The longer the shots rang out, the longer the man's curses grew. The sniffling sounds from beside Leon had somehow turned into exclamations of admiration.

"Wow, that's really cool."

He never thought his honed shooting skills would shine here.

"Sometime when you have a girl you like, this will come in handy."

Leon suddenly remembered what his father had said while teaching him to shoot.

Not that he needed to hunt women or kill rivals to claim them. He wondered if this was what his father meant by "it will come in handy."

In the end, he scored 125 points and won a prize for the stuffed animal and candy stand.

"Here."

Leon took the dolphin stuffed animal from the grumbling owner and placed it in Daisy's arms.

"Really amazing! My brother and Jimmy never succeeded once."

The girl looked up at him in admiration, making him feel like a god.

At the candy stand, Daisy chose a candy apple. She held out the stick with the red sugar-coated apple.

"Have some."

"I don't really like sweet…."

"Ah…."

When Daisy brought the apple back to her mouth, Leon couldn't finish his sentence. The girl, with the bright red candy apple in her mouth, looked up at him with wide, round eyes. Enchanted by her, Leon leaned down.

Crunch. He bit into the opposite side of the candy apple. The fresh apple and sweet sugar swirled on his tongue.

Is this what a kiss tastes like?

Their eyes met, with the apple between them. Grace realized for the first time that the sky could be as hot as fire.

She wanted to pull away, embarrassed, but couldn't. Her lips were stuck together by the sticky syrup.

Perhaps it was a very transparent excuse.

Leon tilted his head. His gently closed eyelids lifted softly, and he looked at Grace again.

Forgetting about eating the apple, Grace stared blankly. Leon reached out and touched her cheek. The moment his hand, soft like silk, touched her, Grace's heart sank. Just touching the hair on her cheek made her feel like she might faint.

'It feels like a kiss.'

They shared the same thought as they ate the apple, their faces redder than the apple itself.

After that, they walked hand in hand, claiming they might get lost in the crowd. As they walked, they entered a quiet shopping street, and they didn't let go of each other's hands.

They both peeked into a jewelry store they usually wouldn't enter. The girl's eyes were fixed on a bracelet with glass beads in a cool sea color.

"It would suit you well."

When Leon took out his wallet, Daisy waved her hand.

"No, no."

"Why? If you don't like it, we can get something else…."

"My mother told me not to dress up."

Leon was puzzled. Where in the world would a mother tell her daughter not to dress up?

It didn't seem like a made-up excuse. Daisy really was plain, without any necklaces or hair ribbons. He thought it was because of poverty, but it was because she wasn't allowed to dress up?

"Why?"

"I don't know. But my mother is really, really beautiful."

"You are really beautiful too. Your eyes hold the sea."

Grace's heart thumped again.

"My eyes… have the sea in them?"

The handsome boy spoke beautifully. The first time she saw the sea, it was incredibly beautiful. But the beautiful scenery was in her eyes?

She couldn't help but smile foolishly.

"Am I… beautiful?"

The girl mumbled, pulling up her collar to hide her blushing face. Leon laughed, picking up a straw hat from the wall and placing it on Daisy's head.

"Then this will do."

He didn't want to part. Even though he knew it was polite to send her back to her accommodation before it got too late, Leon held Daisy's hand all day.

'I'll get a huge scolding when I get back to the villa.'

…But his eyes couldn't leave Daisy's lips, which were red from the sunset.

After watching the sunset at the beach, they had dinner at a seafood restaurant. The adults' disapproving gazes followed the two teenagers wandering without guardians, but the two of them didn't notice.

Jazz bars began to open, and jazz melodies mixed with the sound of the waves. They walked along the darkened sea and returned to the carnival.

The carnival was quiet as it approached closing time. The rides gradually stopped, their bright lights and music fading.

The time for them to part was also approaching. Not wanting to part, Leon led Daisy to the still-lit Ferris wheel.

"It's closed for today. Come back tomorrow."

When he offered five times the ticket price, the staff politely opened the Ferris wheel door for them.

The Ferris wheel, carrying only the two of them, started to move slowly.

"Wow…."

Grace marveled at the stark contrast of light and darkness below. The brightly lit shops and the dark beach were divided along the coastal road.

The black sea, dotted with moonlight and the lights of cruise ships, stretched endlessly. Just as they reached the top, the Ferris wheel stopped.

The jazz music, already faint, was drowned out by the sound of the sea wind. The wind made the windowless cabin sway, making Grace feel scared.

Taking her eyes off the night view, Grace clung to Leon's arm and looked up at him.

'Why is he looking at me like that?'

Leon was staring at her intently.

He had been doing this for hours. Since the sunset, he had been staring at Grace's face. At the restaurant, he barely touched the delicious lobster dish, just staring at Grace.

Feeling anxious, like when looking down from a great height, Grace unconsciously bit her lower lip.

"Daisy, you're bleeding."

"Ah…."

She had bitten her already thin, chapped lip too hard.

"Ah, a handkerchief…."

Leon looked troubled, searching his pockets. He had thrown away the strawberry-scented handkerchief earlier. He should have bought a new one.

"Hold on."

Just as Daisy stuck out her tongue to lick her lip, Leon grabbed her chin and lifted it. He leaned down under the tilted brim of the straw hat. Their noses touched. When he tilted his head slightly, their lips met.

He didn't even think about whether it was right or wrong before he did it.

He could say it was just like what the nanny used to do when he hurt his hand as a child. Of course, there was no excuse for doing it knowing it was a kiss.

He had been curious about what Daisy's lips felt like all day. Just like Daisy was curious about what his hair felt like.

They were soft and warm. He gently pressed his lips to the soft flesh and carefully licked the blood from the wound with the tip of his tongue. Daisy shivered.

He had done countless bad things that could get him in trouble if caught, but his heart had never raced like this.

After licking the wound and slightly parting their lips, Daisy whispered in surprise.

"This is a kiss. My first kiss…."

Leon was quite taken aback, thinking Daisy felt the same way.

"Do you dislike it…?"

"…I like it."

The honest words slipped out between her shyly smiling lips. Leon liked Daisy's innocent honesty.

"Shall we… do it again?"

As soon as Daisy nodded, their lips met again.

The saying that a kiss feels like flying is not wrong. Hanging high in the sky, sharing a secret kiss with the world below, was thrilling.

A strong wind blew. Leon held the straw hat with one hand to keep it from flying away and pulled Daisy's face closer.

The cabin swayed in the wind again. Afraid of falling, Daisy clung to Leon's arm even tighter. Her body pressed against his, making him feel hot.

The fresh scent of the candy apple, the sticky texture of the toffee, the soft taste of the milkshake. Blood seeped from her lips, which tasted of the carnival.

The blood was sweet.

Lost in the overwhelming sensations that clouded his mind, Leon thought he might start liking sweets from today.

Daisy's villa was in a secluded mountain.

It was a good thing he brought a bicycle with an oil lamp. In the dark mountain path, lit only by the dim lamp, Leon held Daisy with one hand and the bicycle with the other.

"Your villa is quite far from here."

Leon muttered, climbing the steep slope. The sound of rough waves crashing against the coastal cliffs was quite close.

"Did you walk here every day?"

Daisy nodded.

'I should have talked to her earlier…'

As regret and disappointment washed over him, Leon realized he hadn't asked the most important question yet.