Faced with Elysia's sweet, coquettish assault and her sudden talk of "spending our days together," what could Durandal possibly say?
Of course she agreed—happily!
And then…
Durandal was holding a bag with a few cartons of yogurt inside—the sum total of their grocery haul from the supermarket.
Now, the two of them had moved up to the department store above the supermarket, browsing through clothes, assorted accessories, and skincare products.
"Does this look good on me?"
Elysia had put on an oversized pair of sunglasses that covered more than half of her already petite face.
With a helpless sigh, Durandal set the shopping bag aside, stepped closer, and gently lifted the sunglasses off with both hands.
She looked straight at Elysia and said earnestly, "I won't judge whether it looks good or not, but it's blocking my view of you."
"Mmm~"
Elysia gave Durandal's shoulder a light, bashful smack. "With so many people around, what are you even saying~"
Even though Elysia complained, Durandal could tell—she was definitely pleased.
Scratching her head, Durandal suddenly realized that dating and making your girlfriend happy might not be all that difficult after all?
After all, she'd only spoken the truth, and yet Elysia was already this delighted.
"How about this one? I quite like this shade~"
Setting the sunglasses down, Elysia picked up a lipstick from nearby.
She swiped it on the back of her hand, then held it up beside her cheek, as if asking Durandal to see whether the color suited her.
To be honest, Elysia had good taste—the shade really did complement her.
But Durandal's expression stiffened slightly at that moment.
She picked up a makeup remover pad from the side, dabbed it with some solution, and carefully wiped the lipstick mark from Elysia's hand.
"What's wrong? Don't you like it?"
Elysia didn't understand why Durandal seemed unhappy and grew uneasy.
Facing the one she loved most, she was just like any other girl—prone to overthinking, no longer the effortlessly composed person she usually appeared to be.
"No."
Durandal shook her head firmly.
"The color really does suit you, and I'm not the type who's against makeup or anything. It's just… I just…"
Durandal trailed off, unsure how to continue.
Was she supposed to say… that in her memories, there was another Elysia who had once put on full makeup and calmly walked toward her own end?
Elysia could sense the unease in Durandal at that moment.
She suddenly thought about Durandal's origins…
Or, more accurately, the mystery surrounding them.
Compared to Durandal, Elysia felt her own background wasn't all that mysterious.
Durandal seemed to know many things, and Elysia had never felt the need to pry, sensing that one day Durandal would open up to her on her own.
But now… Elysia suddenly wasn't so eager for that day to come.
She couldn't imagine what kind of experiences could make Durandal so emotional just from a simple reminder.
If Durandal knew what Elysia was thinking, she might have replied, 'Those experiences hurt so much because the real you is so wonderful.'
Elysia didn't press further. Instead, she placed the lipstick back on the display.
"Alrighty~ I've barely worn makeup my whole life anyway—can't help it when you're born this pretty, right?"
"I only wanted to try lipstick because I was worried you might get tired of me, so I thought of switching things up a bit~ Since you…"
Using 'don't like' here didn't feel quite right, but Elysia couldn't find a better word, so she simply skipped over it.
"Anyway, I won't buy any makeup. Let's just go check out and get the skincare products we picked earlier, okay?"
"Mm!"
Durandal nodded and promptly pulled out her credit card. "The PIN is six ones."
Hearing this, Elysia didn't refuse. Taking the card, she smiled and said, "Consider this payback for when we first met and you kept making me foot the bill."
Mentioning the past made Durandal blush slightly.
Come to think of it, Elysia had been pretty annoyed with her back then.
But Durandal also felt a bit wronged—after all, she really had been broke at the time, yet she needed to spend money. Who else could she rely on but Elysia?
A short while later, Elysia returned with the credit card and the purchased skincare products.
Handing the card back to Durandal, she asked with a smile, "By the way, that PIN of yours is just for convenience, right? No special meaning behind it?"
Durandal nodded. "Of course. Except for social account passwords—those have to be a bit more complicated to avoid getting hacked—for physical things like credit cards, I usually go with the easiest to remember: six ones."
"Well… Durandal, I remember the birthday on the ID Connie arranged for you was January 1st, and my birthday is November 11th. Put us together, and that's six ones. Don't you think that's quite a coincidence?"
Only after Elysia pointed it out did Durandal realize. "It really is quite a coincidence!"
"So, how did you like the birthday gift I gave you yesterday?"
Elysia leaned in, unable to resist asking.
Yesterday? A birthday gift?
Durandal paused, about to say she didn't recall receiving any birthday gift from Elysia yesterday.
But then it hit her—how could she say she hadn't received a gift?!
She'd received the best gift of her entire life!
As for her real birthday being December 7th or something… Durandal decided that the January 1st she'd casually filled in at the sanatorium was definitely her birthday now.
Seeing the dawning realization on Durandal's face, Elysia didn't wait for a response. She turned and walked out of the store first.
Durandal hurried after her, and from behind, she could see the tips of Elysia's ears tinged with pink.
Now Durandal fully understood why Elysia, who clearly remembered her birthday, hadn't wished her happy birthday yesterday or mentioned the gift directly.
After all, even Elysia would feel shy saying she'd given herself as a birthday present!
So Durandal quickened her pace, catching up to walk side by side with Elysia. Leaning in slightly, she murmured, "I was very pleased with it!"
--+--