Want to be human, but cube-like

Her eyes held confusion, longing, and anticipation.

"Can you tell me?"

Confused by the emotions in my heart.

"What on earth am I..."

Yearning for a response to love.

"Why..."

We eagerly await the answer to the truth.

"...I like you that much?"

…………

Volume 1: Chapter 114 She hugged him.

Never before had Alex so carefully considered her words as she did now.

She tried to completely lay bare her heart to Aine, letting him explore and interpret it, no longer keeping even the slightest bit of privacy for her emotions, and no longer leaving herself even the slightest way out.

Ai Yin's pupils trembled, and her face, illuminated by the streetlights, was as red as a ripe apple.

Her lips were slightly parted, but she couldn't utter a single word.

He just stood there, stunned, listening to Alex's heartfelt and emotional confession.

Perhaps even Alex herself didn't understand the confession she was making.

You said it was the affection between friends.

Stepping forward, Alex looked down at Aine, who had just involuntarily taken a small step back.

"But are there many different kinds of liking someone as a friend?"

As she gently bit her lip, the confusion in Alex's eyes deepened.

"I do not understand……"

Since this afternoon, when Aine explained to her what the word "like" and the person she likes really mean.

Alex had been pondering this question for a long time.

She told Aine that she liked not only her mother, but also Aine, Xiangzi, and even Lena, and that she liked them all.

However, Aine simply and bluntly divided her affection for her mother and her affection for the three of them into two different types.

The affection for family members and the affection for friends.

Alex thought so too.

But it was precisely during that one time, by the roadside, that she pulled Aine back from danger and held her in her arms.

She felt a feeling in her heart that was completely different from any other time.

The tension I felt when I saw Aine in danger was even greater than when I saw Xiangzi injured.

Alex recalled once again the inexplicable sense of familiarity she felt when they first met.

He inexplicably let his guard down around Aine and inexplicably wanted to get close to her.

Only after comparing her feelings when facing Aine with her feelings when facing Shoko did Alex finally realize that they were completely different.

She accepted and embraced everything about Aine almost without reason.

Even Xiangzi sometimes has the urge to tease someone a little, to put them in an awkward situation, and to see their cute reaction.

Not to mention Lena, who had repeatedly expressed impatience and wanted to physically eliminate him.

But only love.

From the very first moment they met, Alex never had a single bad thought about her, not even a small joke.

Only now has Alex finally realized the difference in her attitude towards Aine.

But she couldn't understand what this feeling she had was.

"From the very first moment I met her, I felt that Aine was so kind."

I can only slowly, word by word, lay bare my heart to Aine.

"Even though we've only just met, I feel like I already know you very well, Aine."

Trying to organize her thoughts, Alex lowered her eyes and looked at Aine with gentle eyes.

"Xiangzi told me that day not to pay attention to anyone who tries to talk to me, but I couldn't resist wanting to respond to you."

A faint light began to flicker in her light red pupils, as if she were recalling memories etched in her heart.

"I would want to touch you, and I always feel that it would make me more easily satisfied."

For example, that day I was standing behind Ai Yin, watching her help me with my phone.

“I enjoy listening to you talk, but I don’t understand if it’s because your voice sounds like your mother’s.”

A slight chilly breeze blew by, making their bangs look messy.

“But Mingming, your voice is even more beautiful than your mother’s.”

Her sparkling eyes were blurred by the fluttering strands of hair.

Sometimes, I still want to hug you.

So she raised her little hand and gently smoothed Ai Yin's disheveled hair.

"I feel very safe because of Aine's aura."

Slender fingertips, tracing the soft strands of hair, brushed across Aine's forehead, tucking her hair behind her ear, and gently touching her lovely deep red earlobe.

Aine stared blankly, her eyes wide open, as if she had forgotten to blink.

She had lost track of time and no longer knew where she was.

The ground beneath her feet no longer seemed stable, but it felt like floating clouds, yet she was still able to stand and listen to Alex's words.

Her heart pounded like a drum beneath her chest, and the accelerated blood flow made Ai Yin's whole body uncontrollably hot.

She could barely hear anything from the outside world, but Alex's voice kept penetrating her ears, sinking into her heart, and shattering her defenses.

"This feeling, this impulse, is different from Xiangzi's and Le Nai's... I don't understand it."

Even after tidying up the hair behind her ear, Alex didn't put her hand down; she gently pressed her palm against Aine's cheek.

"When I'm bored or lonely, I want to see you."

Feeling the burning heat in her palm, Alex said softly.

"I want to touch you like this."

She kept telling her all her emotions and all the impulses she had had for Aiyin.

Alex hoped that she could tell herself how all of this happened.

"Is this also a feeling of liking a friend?"

Because she didn't understand why she had become so strange.

"Do you like it the same way as Xiangzi and the others?"

As I lowered my hand, the warmth in my palm vanished, and the touch of my skin returned to the cold air.

"If not, then what kind of feeling is this?"

A sense of loss welled up in her eyes, and Alex lowered her gaze in distress.

"No matter how I think about it, I can't find the answer."

Her voice was soft, yet it was filled with deep emotions that even she herself couldn't be sure of.

"What kind of feeling is this, exactly?"

Alex pursed her lips slightly and repeated the question.

What exactly is "liking"?

A barrage of words struck Aine's heart like a heavy hammer, leaving her speechless.

"I……"

He hesitated, unable to utter a single word for a long time.

"I'm so confused, do I like you?"

But Alex kept asking.

"I...I...don't know either..."

With her mind in a daze, Aine could only hesitate and utter such meaningless words. She avoided Alex's gaze, her thoughts so chaotic that she could hardly think straight.

"...Even Aine doesn't understand?"

After a moment of silence, Alex smiled slightly and moved closer again.

"That Ai-yin, when she was holding me..."

Then, she gently hugged Aine.

"Will you feel as at ease as I do?"

She closed her eyes slightly, feeling their heartbeats gradually quickening and aligning.

Alex understood the answer.

…………

P.S. Actually, I struggled for a long time about how to end this part, and in the end, I deleted a few overly radical ideas.

Volume 1: Chapter 115 Entanglement and Frustration

Aine no longer remembers how she said goodbye to Alex.

I don't remember how I opened the front door, whether I said I was home, or how I changed my shoes.

"Welcome back...Aine?"

When she walked into the entryway, her mother had just finished washing the dishes and was tidying up the things on the cupboard, while her father was sitting on the sofa watching the news on TV.

He didn't even respond to his parents' greetings.

Clutching several bags of clothes, Ai Yin, her face flushed, lowered her head and stomped along the stairs like a gust of wind, running back to her bedroom.

"Ok?"

Putting down the bowls and plates, Ai-yin's mother tilted her head in confusion and looked at her husband.

"What's wrong with Aine today?"

In return, he received the same puzzled look from the latter.

"Click!"

At that moment, a door slammed shut more urgently than usual, and then there was no further sound from upstairs.

Back in the bedroom, Ai-yin sat down slowly on the floor, close to the door.

Her pupils trembled, she was panting heavily, her cheeks were still flushed, and she bit her lower lip hard with her teeth, her lips were already a little white. A slight stinging pain kept transmitting to her mind, but it could not calm the girl down.

Her heart was pounding like a deer's, and every cell in her body seemed to be excited by the stimulation. The accelerated flow of blood made Ai Yin's body feel extremely hot.

She wanted to deceive herself into thinking it was because she had just run home, but Aine, who was physically fit, knew that she would not be out of breath just because she had run a distance of only a hundred or two hundred meters.

Looking up at the dimly lit room, she stared blankly for a while before remembering that she needed to turn on the light.

Struggling, he got up from the floor and turned on the bedroom light with a snap.

Mechanically, I sat down, mechanically put the thing I had been holding onto the sofa, then leaned back, staring blankly at the ceiling, my mind a complete blank.

Does she like me?