Ah.
When she felt a soft pressure on her lips, her eyes fluttered shut. She savored the moment of her very first kiss.
I can’t even tell whose mana’s whose anymore.
Although their mana was the same color, Charles’s was usually brighter. But with each kiss Charles planted on her lips, their jade-green light mingled and merged until it became one huge, sparkling ocean.
“I love you. I love you so much, Lille.” With those words of adoration, kisses fell on her lips, cheeks, and collarbone like raindrops.
She smiled. “I love you too.”
They lost count of how many sweet kisses they shared, and each time they pulled away, they beamed at each other. Lille thought she wouldn’t mind if their strawberry tart-flavored kisses lasted forever. However…
“I do apologize for being late! I expect the farewell party’s over by now.”
The front door opened with a wham, and August came striding into the room, out of breath. Both Lille and Charles froze, their arms still around each other. August ogled at them briefly in astonishment before his face relaxed into a pleased smirk.
“A-Ahem! I just recalled I have some urgent business to attend to, so I shall be on my way. Enjoy yourselves,” August said stiffly, clapping his hands together in mock realization. He backed out of the house, and softly closed the front door behind him.
“Wait! Master August!” Charles shouted, stumbling after him as Lille rushed to keep up. Amidst her embarrassment, she was comforted by the thought that the moment would be something to laugh about later. With Charles, it always was.
I’ve been in love with him since the very first day we met.
And no matter what the future held, that love would never die.
✦ ✦ ✦
❁❁❁
“ARE you sure about changing the shop’s name, Master Charlie?”
Charles had created a new sign to replace the one hanging above the front door of the magic item shop.
“I’m sure,” he said confidently. “It took me about two seconds to think up the original name, anyway. If the new name makes you happy, then that’s all that matters to me.”
Charles used magic to levitate the new sign while Lille watched from off to the side, giving him directions until it was sitting in the right place above the shop door. As she used her left hand to gesture, a ring sparkled on her finger. Charles wore the same one.
“How long are you going to keep calling me that, incidentally?” Charles asked, brushing the dust off his robe after a job well done. “I’m not a teacher anymore, you know.”
“I know, but technically, you are still teaching me magic…”
“Then save it for class.” He pouted, walking away in a huff. Lille leapt forward to catch him by the sleeve.
“Wait! Ch— …Charles,” she called out to him, her cheeks turning crimson. When he turned back to look at her, his pout had been replaced by a grin.
“A gold star for effort,” he chuckled, rewarding her with a sweet, gentle kiss.
✦ ✦ ✦
❁❁❁
WITH the new sign hanging above the door, they opened for business that day. Every customer who noticed the name change congratulated them, and Lille and Charles joked that they would be saying “thank you” for the next few weeks more than they’d ever said it in their entire lives.
Many people with various issues came to them for advice that day. It was a taste of what life would be like from that point on. Alongside Charles, she would try to help every single person that visited the shop, whether they came the following day, or years later.
At Lille & Charles’s Magic Item Shop, the promise of a happy future shone brighter than ever.