Chapter 65: The Younger Sister
Do you mean that Shiho? Night’s younger sister? I looked at her and my mouth gaped. ’Oh god, she’s so pretty!’ Her skin sparkles like porcelain and her monolid eyes cause me to stare at them as I find them stunning.
"Did I disturb your time, lady Noelle?" She asked in a gentle tone. This must how angels sound like. ’Are these people sure this girl is Night’s younger sister? They bear no resemblance at all!’ I thought as I shook my head.
"Shall I prepare tea for the ladies?" Himari asked with a smile and I nodded. Rika helped prepare the table and I sat in front of Shiho. She’s smiling while staring at me causing me to feel awkward. ’Does she hate me too because I’m forcing her brother to marry me?’ I can’t remove those thoughts from my head as I started biting my finger.
Even though she’s smiling, Shiho’s literally just staring at my face. She’s really pretty and I feel like I’m being judged by her. The way her wavy hair sparkle with the help of the light makes me distracted. ’I know that I might not be as pretty as her, but people also call me pretty sometimes.’ I thought as I stopped myself from biting my fingers more since Shiho looks like she’ll be disgusted by it.
When the tea and snacks arrived, Himari and Rika stayed by our side but they didn’t say anything. ’Am I the only one who’s weirded out by being stared at all the time?’
"Uhm, is there a problem with my face?"
"Pardon?"
I scratched my cheek. ’I really can’t stop my mouth from running off. I mean, it’s uncomfortable.’ "You’ve been staring at my face for a while now so..."
"Ah!" Rika suddenly screamed causing me to look at her. "I-I apologize Shiho-sama. I haven’t told the miss about Shiho-sama’s condition." Condition? Oh no, I remember Rika saying that Shiho is a fragile girl and maybe what I did might hurt her feelings.
But it wasn’t like that.
Shiho started laughing causing me to blink thousands of times. ’What is going on right now?’ I glanced at Rika but she looks like she was also confused about the situation. "I apologize if it looked like I’m staring at you, lady Noelle." She’s being too formal with me and it’s uncomfortable. Although it’ll still be uncomfortable if she acts like we’re all close and friendly.
"Let’s leave the two of them shall we?" Himari suddenly pulled Rika out of the room, and Rika even took one last glance at me. I can see how worried she is about me, but Rika can’t do anything about it since Himari is Night’s cousin.
"Uhm, I apologize for asking something like that," I said as soon as Himari and Rika got out of the room. ’Maybe I should try being sensitive with other people’s feelings next time and not always focus on what I feel.’
Shiho giggled. "It’s fine, lady Noelle." She said. The way she calls me like that makes me think that she doesn’t want to get closer to me even though it’s our first time meeting each other. "It must have been hard for Rika to talk about my condition that’s why the lady doesn’t know of it."
"C-Condition? Uhm, are you sick?"
Shiho shook her head. "I am blind." My eyes widened after hearing that. Her beautiful brown round eyes can’t see anything? That means she’s not staring at my face, it’s just a coincidence that my face was right in front of her eyes. ’Oh my god. I’m so stupid.’ Someone, please take me away! I can’t stay here after embarrassing myself like that. How will I continue talking to this innocent girl after I asked her something rude and insensitive?
"My eyes might look normal, but I really can’t see anything that’s why I apologize if that made you uncomfortable."
I quickly shook both of my hands. "N-No please don’t apologize." It was my insensitiveness that brought me into this situation. "It was me who thought that you might hate me because I’m getting married to your brother."
Shiho was silent after hearing that. ’Did I hit a nerve?’ But then she started giggling. "Now I’m very curious. I wonder what you look like." She said. "May I call you Noelle?"
I nodded, but then I remembered that she can’t see my gesture. "Y-Yes."
"Then you can call me Shiho." She said as she was about to sip on her cup of tea, but I noticed that it was too far from her so I picked it up for her. ’Wait! Was that something rude to do? Doesn’t disable people get offended when others treat them like this?’ I-I should probably learn about the ethics of being with blind people. I don’t want to offend Shiho.
"Thank you, Noelle," Shiho said as she drank her tea.
Well, this is still awkward.
"I’m so happy that my brother finally found someone he loves." Sorry to say this younger sister, but your brother hates me. No, he despises me. "That’s why I feel curious about Noelle. My older brother’s not the type to bring girls home, he doesn’t have any interest in them either. Did Noelle fall for my brother first, or did he fall for Noelle first?"
It feels like she wants to learn more about her brother. ’I guess he doesn’t open up to his sister either.’ Such a cold brother, huh? "It was me who chased after him." I should probably just use my past actions since it was really me who fell for that handsome face. ’I’m such a sucker for beautiful things.’
"R-Really? That’s amazing." Shiho said which made me smile. Indeed, it was amazing. "How did Noelle approach my brother? Wasn’t he mean to you?" Oh, he was mean alright. The meanest person I have ever met.
"Nope. Night wasn’t mean." Lies. "He was just ignoring me every time I try to catch his attention. I’m not proud of it but they call me Night’s stalker." I heard Shiho giggling. It won’t hurt to at least tell her about my experience with chasing after her brother.
"What’s with that?" Shiho asked while giggling.
"It’s the truth. Night’s famous for being good at everything and he’s even handsome." I said. He’s really handsome that he might get forgiven no matter how mean he is. "Even though I’ve been stalking him for a while, I never dared to talk to him so I always watch him from afar."
Reminiscing about it makes me feel good. It was good because I did everything I could, and I put all my efforts into stalking him. ’That didn’t sound good but it is what it is.’ I thought while chuckling. Wait, actually maybe I didn’t put everything. I stalked him but I know nothing about him. It’s weird.
"Then how did Noelle end up with my older brother?" Shiho asked.
"It’s because your grandfather forced him to marry me for my own safety."
’There’s no way I could say something like that.’ I thought as I removed that from my head. "Maybe he got tired and just wanted to accept me." Lies. All I do is lie.
"What? My older brother is not someone like that." Shiho said. "He must really like Noelle for him to marry you. My brother doesn’t care about other people. But that’s not what I think of him." I saw how Shiho’s grip on her cup tightened.
"My brother loved painting and drawing. He was really good with it, but because he became the heir to the yakuza group, he can’t do it anymore. He chose not to." Is it fine for me to hear all of this information? And that’s the first time I heard about Night loving painting. "He didn’t want to become the heir, but he didn’t have a choice. It was because he wants to protect our father and me." Shiho said. Protect? From whom?
"He said that he cannot afford to love but I know it’s only because he’s afraid—"
"That’s enough." The door opened suddenly and Night came into my room making Shiho unable to continue what she was saying. "It’s getting late, eat your dinner." He told Shiho in Japanese and Shiho stood up from her seat.
"I guess that’ll be for today. I had fun chatting with you, older sister." Shiho said and Himari helped her get out of my room. Night didn’t follow them causing me to feel awkward. ’Now what? Why is he still inside my room? Can’t he leave already? I’ve been dying to go to sleep.’ I thought.
"What Shiho said."
I turned to Night after hearing him say something. "What?"
"Nothing." He turned his back on me and left the room after that. ’What was that?’
Rika soon came inside the room and she keeps apologizing for not being able to inform me about Shiho’s condition. It’s not that it was Rika’s fault. It should be me who should be careful with the things I say. ’Can I stop learning things in a hard way?’
"Right, miss I prepared the warm bath." Oh, yeah. I should take a warm bath first before going to sleep. Since Rika said she’ll prepare my dinner for me in the room, I didn’t have to meet the other relatives. But tomorrow, I think it’ll be different. I feel nervous already.
Tomoe didn’t teach me anything useful, and I don’t even know who are Night’s relatives. ’I guess I’ll figure it all out tomorrow. Good luck, tomorrow me.’
