“Is coffee all right with you, Rex?”
“It is, thanks.”
After Phillip and I participated in the palace’s garden party together, I had him pass the time before my next errand with me in a café.
“Say ‘ahh,’” a man said next to me.
“Oh, you! It’s too embarrassing to do that in public,” the woman with him said.
“Don’t worry about it. I want to do everything for you, sweetcheeks.”
“Hee hee, oh, Johnny. Ahh.”
“Ha ha, you’re so cute.”
The couple next to us was flirting like crazy. It’s enough to give a guy heartburn, I thought as I sipped my black coffee. As I did so, I noticed Phillip, who was sitting across from me, staring at the two of them.
“What, you wanna do that with Viola, Phillip?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
I’d only been joking, but he nodded with such a serious expression on his face that I almost spat my drink out all over the table. I barely managed to stop myself, but I still spluttered.
Upon seeing that, Phillip commented, “The way you cough is similar to how Viola does. Is this because you two are cousins?”
What a bizarre thing to say.
I wiped at my mouth with a handkerchief and then looked back up at Phillip. “Well, I figured you’d be interested in that sort of stuff. Though, Viola isn’t the type to do that.”
Since Phillip loved Viola (a little too much), he probably wanted to pass the time with her in a more romantic way. But I couldn’t imagine Viola acting sappy with Phillip at all.
“How about when it’s just the two of you?” I asked.
“It’s not much different than when we’re with you.”
“Yeah? By the way, how many times have you two kissed?”
“Three times...”
“Wow. I never knew chastity could wear clothes and drink coffee.”
It’d already been a few months since the two of them became a real couple, and yet, they’d only kissed three times? How wholesome. Too wholesome, in fact. In my opinion, it was because Viola had a rather frank personality and she’d only recently started to like Phil. Even so, three kisses was far too little. Since I knew how long Phillip loved Viola for, I couldn’t help but feel bad for the guy.
If Phillip wanted to kiss, I was sure that Viola would welcome it. But the most important issue was that Phillip was absolutely hopeless when it came to matters of romance. He could never give voice to what he wanted. In fact, the main reason behind why they couldn’t kiss was probably Phillip himself.
“Well, this is probably a problem that will resolve itself with time, since you two will start to get used to each other and being in a proper relationship. Is there anything else you’re concerned with?”
“What...should I do so that Viola would like me even more?”
Since I hadn’t been able to give Phillip any proper advice, I asked him for anything else I could help him with. Then, that was what Phillip muttered after thinking for a while.
“I think Viola likes you in her own way.”
“I know that. But I want her to like me even more. I never thought that I was such a selfish person. And here I’d been thinking that it was a miracle Viola even returned my feelings.”
“I see. I think it’s a very natural thought to have. Actually, it’s probably better to feel that way.”
I knew for a fact that Viola liked Phillip. However, thanks to Phillip’s long and intense years of one-sidedly loving Viola, and how complicated those emotions became the more time passed, there was an imbalance between Phillip’s feelings for Viola and Viola’s feelings for him. Phillip was definitely able to feel that discrepancy as well. It was a given that he’d feel antsy about it.
“Hmm, I wonder what we can do about that. Maybe we can show her some of your good qualities, or you can try doing something to make her happy?”
“My good qualities...what makes Viola happy...”
“I’m sure that it’ll make Viola like you more if she knows how you’ve been doing things for her because you thought it’d make her happy.”
Phillip nodded and said, “I see.” Then, he took out a notebook for his pockets and started to jot something down in it.
Even though we were both guys, he was incredibly cute to me. I felt like simply showing Viola this sweet side would be more than enough. I wanted to be of even greater help to him though, so I started to rack my brain.
“Oh, that reminds me,” I said. “The other day, when I met with Viola, she told me that a new volume for her favorite series came out. She was going on and on about a proposal that happened in the story.”
“You’re talking about Volume 34, page 214 of A Prince Just for Me ♡?”
“It’s terrifying how precise your memory is. Well, anyway, judging by how she was acting, it looked to me like she’s interested in proposals. I know you two have been engaged since you were born, but it’s almost time for your wedding, isn’t it? I think Viola would like it if you properly proposed to her.”
“A proposal... I think you might be onto something.”
Phillip’s eyes widened and he grabbed the notebook again. I felt like I managed to give some proper advice for once. For all my teasing, I sincerely wanted this adorable couple, whom I thought of as my younger siblings, to be happy.
“Apparently, girls dream of the perfect proposal, where they’d receive the perfect ring,” I added.
“I see,” Phillip said. He finished writing in his notebook after some time and raised his head, staring at me with a serious expression on his face. “You gave me a lot to think about. Thank you. I’m going to do my best.”
“Mm-hm. I’m rooting for you.”
I wanted Phillip to do his best and succeed. But as I stared at Phillip and how gung-ho he was about whatever idea he had, I couldn’t help but look forward to an exciting and interesting turn of events. I could practically taste it in the air.
That did make me feel a little bad though. So I made sure to apologize to Phillip several times in my heart.