Our Summer Isn't Over Yet - Chapter 36

Seeing Dylan’s slow movements, Mia keenly felt the cold touch of the necklace in her hand. He rolled the scented candle in his palm and asked softly, “Did you like the gift?”

Brushing aside the thoughts about the jingling necklace, Mia shifted her gaze to the candle. It was quite worn down, having been lit so often. It struck her that she hadn’t thanked him even once since receiving the gift, being so preoccupied with external events. Mia nodded and replied, “Yes.”

Perhaps her answer was too brief, as Dylan didn’t turn to look at her. Silence fell between them because of it. Mia, who had been focusing on the necklace tangled in her hand, broke the silence.

“…I liked it so much I wanted to see it in the dark.”

As soon as she said it, she regretted the unnecessary remark. It wasn’t something to say in a room filled with light as bright as day, even though it was a dark night.

Dylan slowly turned his head and met her eyes. He seemed surprised, as if he hadn’t expected her to say that. He must have realized how much meaning her answer held, given that Mia pathologically sought out only bright places.

Mia lowered her gaze again. The scented candle was still in his hand. It looked very small and petite in Dylan’s hand.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

Silence fell again.

At the end of it, Dylan asked again, “Why do you hate the dark?”

At his question, Mia slowly raised her eyes from his strong hand. It was the first time Dylan had directly expressed his curiosity. Because of that, Mia didn’t immediately grasp his question. Time flowed meaninglessly between them.

However, Dylan didn’t rush Mia. But it didn’t seem like he was planning to back down either. He was still holding the scented candle, maintaining his gaze on Mia. He seemed ready to wait patiently, just like the day she had fussed about not wanting to go down to the beach.

His bright blue eyes stared directly at Mia. Meeting his gaze, Mia calmly spoke of the moment she began to hate the dark.

“…My parents died in a very dark room.”

To be precise, she slightly veiled the truth. It felt a little pathetic to have everything laid bare before the perfect man in front of her.

“I could feel the pungent, fishy smell and the cold corpses, but that moment when I couldn’t see anything in the dark was when I felt most powerless.”

Mia’s eyelids slowly lowered and then rose. It was as if the moment she faced her cold parents was vividly returning. Her parents, whom she had seen after several days, were already in the middle of a pool of hardened blood. Mia had no way of knowing what her parents, who couldn’t even close their eyes in death, were thinking until the very end.

“I hate the dark.It was only clear that their once vibrant faces were no longer the appearance she remembered.

Yes, if it had only been up to this point, Mia might not have felt so guilty towards her parents. Unfortunately, the first thought that came to the mind of the seven-year-old girl was that it was disgusting. The next thought was that if she were in a dark place, she wouldn’t have to see that appearance. The thought she had upon seeing her parents, who had died because of her, was truly hideous.

“So…”

This was also self-loathing. A terrible hatred for herself for finding solace in the darkness that had even concealed her parents’ death.

“I hate it.”

Mia, who had been muttering quietly, recognized the somber atmosphere. She gave Dylan, who was silently looking at her, a crooked smile and asked in a toneless voice, “Even if that weren’t the case, it’s scary when it’s dark, isn’t it? Aren’t you?”

She ended up saying something even more unnecessary than she had thought. Mia got up from her seat and walked to the dressing table. She slowly opened the drawer and carefully placed the necklace inside. She didn’t think she would forget her parents even if she didn’t wear it around her neck for a while.

As she was thinking about the photo inside the necklace that Dylan had been curious about, he approached Mia. Mia quickly pushed the drawer in and turned around. As her body pressed close to Dylan’s, shadows naturally formed. She, who couldn’t tolerate even a little darkness, somehow became lenient when it came to Dylan.

Dylan, who had been scanning the docile Mia, touched her ear. “Next time, I’ll give you a scented candle that’s pretty even when you see it in a bright place.”

Mia’s lips loosened at his ticklish touch. Actually, it wasn’t the touch that was ticklish, but his words. It was a little funny to hear him say such things with such a serious and stern face.

“You’re not saying to see it in a dark place.”

“There’s no need to face what you hate, is there?”

His answer was also very Dylan-like.

Mia looked at him, shining with the light illuminating the room. There was a different feeling from sunlight, but he was still beautiful. After quietly meeting his eyes for a moment, she thought of his schedule and opened her mouth.

“Dylan, you should go to sleep now. You’ve been pushing yourself too hard.”

“It seems like you’re the one who’s been pushing yourself, not me.”

Mia glared at him and lightly ignored Dylan’s words. “You said you had to leave early tomorrow morning.”

“I’ve adjusted my schedule to leave in the afternoon.”

“Wasn’t it already a fixed schedule?”

“Mia, I don’t want to see you enter the banquet without a partner.”

“How kind of you.”

Dylan shrugged his shoulders once and picked Mia up. Surprised by his actions for a moment, she relaxed her body after confirming that she didn’t feel any heat in his eyes. It seemed like he was just going to put her to sleep today.

Dylan walked into the bathroom with large strides and brought Mia’s negligee. After confirming that it wasn’t something she could put on by herself, she shook her head.

“I can do this myself.”

“I want to do it for you.”

A chuckle escaped at his seemingly indifferent words. Mia didn’t stop the affectionate actions that followed. Before she knew it, Mia’s eyelids grew heavy, and Dylan picked her up as she blinked.

As she relaxed her body, Dylan laid Mia down on the bed. After carefully covering her with a thin blanket, he lay down next to her. And he buried his face in Mia’s shoulder. Without stopping Dylan’s actions, Mia murmured. Her voice was filled with sleepiness.

“I think I only talked about myself too much.”

“Is there anything you’re curious about regarding me?”

“I want to hear anything.”

“Anything?”

“Yeah, anything.”

As she closed her eyes, Dylan’s gentle voice began to fill the bedroom. He told her how pitch-black the sea was at night. He described the darkness where there was no light except for the moonlight when the ship’s lights were turned off.

“If you take a student who has just graduated from the academy out to sea, they often can’t stand the night and burst into tears.”

Mia was exhausted because she had been overworked by him all day. It was difficult for her to understand exactly what he was saying.

“The ship rolls with the movement of the sea, but since nothing is visible, they get scared.”

In the midst of it, a question suddenly arose. Had Dylan also been scared?

“For a while.”

She couldn’t be sure if he had answered her question. Mia, who had arbitrarily assumed that he had answered her question, tried to imagine Dylan being afraid of the dark. It felt somehow awkward, and Mia’s lips loosened.

“You’re not scared now, are you?”

Silence followed for a moment. When no answer came, Mia soon relaxed her body and closed her mouth. Just before she fell completely asleep, Dylan’s answer came.

“…Because I faced something scarier than that.”

Mia wanted to ask what it was, but her lips, which had become heavy with sleep, didn’t seem to want to part now.

“Because the days continued where the person lying next to you today would become a corpse and disappear tomorrow. There’s no time to be afraid of the darkness that can’t harm me.”

Because her eyes were closed, the battlefield where Dylan had stood was naturally drawn in her mind. Shells were exploding everywhere, causing casualties, and the sea was soaked with the blood they shed. How long had Dylan been in that terrible place?

“As time passed, I desperately needed the darkness, the night.”

Unlike on land, neither the enemy nor the ally could move easily on the sea where there wasn’t a single ray of light, so he said that was the only time when someone’s death didn’t continue. In addition, it was also because he didn’t have to witness the sight of torn comrades’ corpses being pushed into the sea during that time.

“…That’s why I like the darkness. That moment when I can forget, even if it’s just a fleeting oblivion.”

During a brief silence, Dylan hugged Mia tightly.

“I’m just insignificant and a bad person to be called a hero of Hippolyta and be revered, aren’t I?”

Before sleep completely took over her consciousness, Mia thought this. How bad am I to be comforted by hearing your story?

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