Chapter 56: In the Living Room

「Oii Toack, can you lend me a hand? I want to move the chest of drawers a little bit」

「What the heck? You want to make your guests work?」

Toack said as he stood up from the sofa with a grumpy expression on his face.

The way he complains but doesn’t refuse because he’s a good person is kind of adorable. He’ll sulk if I say that though so I won’t.

「Sorry. It’s because you’re the only guy around here. It would be a little tough for Flora」

It’s a pretty big dresser after all, it’s kind of hard for me to move it by myself even though I’m confident in my strength.

The dresser is too big for me to lift up in the first place.

「Sorry about this, Toack-san」

「Well, doing this much isn’t a problem when I had lunch here」

When Flora slightly bowed her head and apologized, Toack scratched the back of his head as he responded uncomfortably.

Maybe it’s because he’s only used to dealing with Aisha and other tomboyish village girls, he didn’t seem like he knows how to deal with modest, graceful girls like Flora.

He is a gentleman towards Flora, surprisingly.

「It’s fine, Flora. He’s a guy so it’s fine to make use of him」

Aisha said to Flora while putting honey in her tea.

「It’s offensive when you say that so stop it」

Aisha grimaced when Toack said that clearly to her, but she seemed to have recovered when she took a sip of her tea that had tons of honey in it.

Right now, she is drinking her tea with a relaxed expression.

「Alright then Toack, come over here」

I called Toack over before those two could start arguing again.

「…I thought your living room was stylish, but even your bedroom is quite stylish as well」

「Yeah, since Flora brought all kinds of things over」

The plain looking bedroom that only had a bed, a chest of drawers, a chair, and a table, became a little glamorous thanks to the things Flora brought over.

There’s now a wooden animal carving and a small flower vase on the table. Other than the white pillows on the bed, there were pink pillows that look like they were handmade as well.

The difference was nothing big but it’s still a bit different. It somehow makes me happy just from seeing this bedroom.

「I kind of feel like adjusting the dresser’s position here」

「Yeah. It’ll look worse if we move Flora’s dresser, so it’s better to move yours a little」

My chest of drawers is a little too big to be put by the wall, but if I don’t move it a little bit it won’t look nice with the one Flora brought over.

It’s not that we can’t use them without moving it, but if we’re going to be looking at them every day when we use them, why not make them look nicer?

Moreover, if our chests of drawers are nicely lined up, it would bring out even more of a married couple feel.

「What? You are grinning while looking at your dressers」

「Ah, sorry. Alright, shall we start moving it out?」

Toack’s surprised voice brought me back and I started to empty the insides of the drawers so it can be moved.

「Before we move it, wouldn’t it be better to clean it first with a cloth? There’s probably quite a bit of dust under the drawers, right?」

「You’re right. Hang on for a little bit, I’ll go prepare a cloth」

「Sure. I’ll make sure the chairs and bed that I made have no problems in the meantime」

I smiled bitterly at the way Toack works as I went out of the room to prepare a cloth.

I took a bucket from the storage room, then while I was on my way to the kitchen to get a cloth and some water, I heard Aisha’s voice.

「…Hey, did you and Aldo do it?」

「U-um, what do you mean by that?」

「What do I mean? Sex, of course, I’m talking about sex」

「Hey! Aisha!」

I heard the sound of a chair creaking. Even without seeing what’s happening, I can tell that Flora was panicking.

As I expected, Aisha was curious as Flora’s best friend since me and Flora started to live together. It’s a very common occurrence between friends no matter which country it is.

「Whatt? It’s fine to talk about it, isn’t it? The two guys are working in the back right now. They can’t hear us anyway」

Sorry. I’m listening in.

What should I do? When should I walk in the living room?

Shall I enter when a chance comes up and pretend I didn’t hear anything?

「…So? Did you guys have sex since that day?」

Aisha asked her again while Flora was worrying about how to reply.

「…」

「…Well?」

「…W-we did…」

「I knew it!」

When Flora’s voice faded, Aisha’s happy voice was heard.

Flora…you went and said it now, didn’t you?

While Aisha’s happy voice echoed, my face went red as I stood in the hallway near the living room.

Well, they’ve known each other since they were kids and Aisha is someone who knows Flora really well and knows about the thing nine years ago so I don’t really mind.

She encouraged Flora many times, gave her advice, and pushed her on.

There’s no doubt that she was the one who led us together.

After she gave Flora so much support for her love, I think she does have a right to know this much.

However, I hope Flora doesn’t tell her any more than that.

Since it’s Aisha, she’ll probably ask her “How did it feel?” and stuff.

I’ll feel awkward if I heard that, and I’ll also feel guilty for eavesdropping.

I should stop them before the conversation gets steered to an even weirder direction.

I deliberately made louder footstep noises as I entered the living room while pretending nothing happened.

「So how was it?」

Did they not notice me because they are too into the conversation? Aisha asked naturally without a care even though I was in the living room.

I’m interested in Flora’s answer as well but please spare me right now.

「How was what? …Did something happen?」

「「Ahh?!」」

When they heard my voice coming from the kitchen, both of their bodies shuddered.

「…Aldo-san, were you listening by any chance?」

「Dummy. If you say that, he’ll find out about our strange convo!」

When Flora asked me in a voice that was higher pitched than usual, Aisha yelled at her in a quiet voice.

Then, Flora’s eyes opened wide as if she thought she made a blunder.

Her expression was a mixture of embarrassment and shame, so I tilted my head and feigned ignorance.

「…Were you talking about something important?」

「N-no! We weren’t talking about anything important at all! Right? Aisha?」

「Yeah. We were just talking about what we should cook next time」

While Flora was looking frightened with her eyes wandering everywhere, Aisha lied with a straight smile.

Her expression was like an experienced liar’s where you can’t really tell that she was lying at all.

It was as if she was declaring firmly that they weren’t talking about anything that they should be feeling guilty about at all.

Flora who’s weak at handling emergency situations on the other hand, doesn’t seem to be good at telling lies. Well, if i was in her situation I’d definitely be shaken up as well.

「S-since we’ve been mainly cooking meat and vegetables, let’s cook some fish next time!」

「That sounds good! The salt grilled ayus from that time were delicious. I want to try catching some shiragis next and do something other than grilling with salt next time」

Their conversation changed to cooking and became a conversation full of smiles.

Feeling relieved, I poured water from a water jar into my bucket.

After confirming that I poured enough water in there, I walked back out through the living room. I felt like I heard a sigh of relief coming from behind as I left.