Chapter LXXXIII – Under The Moonlight

“Are you ready?” Irene looked at Arthur as she held his hand, standing in front of the vast sea illuminated by moonlight.

Arthur nodded with a beaming smile on his face which she returned before the two stepped into the water. It was cold to touch but felt refreshing as it was warm outside despite it being night. Irene walked past him as he stopped when the water reached a little over his knees. She looked at him confused for a second and dived right in, submerging herself entirely. After letting out a sigh the only thing he could do was follow along.

Once his head was out of the water, he pushed his hair back before stretching his arms out as they were still in shallow water. Irene took advantage of his defenselessness and splashed water on his face which took him by surprise and almost made him tumble backward. Seeing his stunned expression, she burst into laughter and continued to attack him with the all-mighty water.

“You minx!” he yelled out protecting his face while averting his gaze before suddenly retaliating by charging forward.

He grabbed her by the waist and dove down into the water. Once they emerged, they both burst into hysterical laughter while Irene clung around his neck. Arthur couldn’t even begin to imagine what Iseul and Sophie were thinking while watching the whole thing from the towels that they laid down on the beach. The rest of the gang was in the house, either asleep or getting ready to join them.

After sharing a tender kiss, Irene pulled away and stared into Arthur’s gleaming grey eyes. With one hand she pushed her fingers through his hair while the other cupped his face. Irene always found it striking how much Arthur lacked facial hair. He did make sure to shave it whenever it would grow, but it hardly grew at all. Luckily, she preferred it that way.

“Want to swim to the buoy?” Irene asked.

“Only if you promise to stick close to me and not dive under.”

“You worry too much, don’t you think?” she chuckled, kissing him on the nose.

“I mean. . .” he sighed, feeling her push away.

“If you wanna stick close to me, guess you better hurry up and catch me,” she teased, swimming away from him.

He shook his head in disbelief but couldn’t resist her playful taunts. Taking a few steps closer, he pushed himself against the bottom and began swimming toward her.

There was always something magical about the water blessed by moonlight. However, it was at the same time frightening as the ability to see under was impaired by the reflective surface. The further they went from shore, the colder it got and the idea of something being underneath them was a terrifying thought yet at the same time exhilarating. It certainly wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea and Arthur felt the most vulnerable in the water which limited his capability significantly.

Irene slowed down just enough for Arthur to catch up as they swam side by side. It was hard to notice incoming waves and buoys often disappeared out of view. Still, they managed to reach it and Arthur took the first chance he had to grab on while allowing Irene to wrap herself around him similarly to how they did the first time they swam out there.

“Comfortable?” Arthur asked as the waves bounced them up and down from time to time.

“Yeah. . .” Irene smilingly rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and whispering into his neck. “It feels safe like home does. By far my favorite spot.”

He knew exactly what she meant by that as her touch made him feel a warmth that affected both his heart and soul. It was a feeling he could never put into words apart from what she already said.

Arthur pulled closer to her neck, planting a tender kiss before whispering into her ear. “Thank you for choosing me.”

“With eyes like yours it was hard to resist,” she whispered back.

He never thought about his eyes as particularly captivating, but considering he liked how they looked on Sophie it was safe to assume he’d find the appeal. However, each time they shared a glance her bewildering eyes would enthrall him, leaving him outright speechless at times.

“How differently did you look before you reincarnated?” Irene asked.

“Let’s see. . .” he smiled, kissing her neck. “Surprisingly when I looked into the mirror, I noticed that the similarities were uncanny. Before, whenever I’d reincarnate my body would look different unlike now.”

“So you were handsome back then too,” she commented, taking a deep breath through her nose before exhaling meditatively.

He kissed her neck again before speaking up. “If you say so then it must be true,” he chuckled, showing her neck love for the third time which made her giggle. He kept doing so between each of his sentences. “However, how come you’re always the one asking all the questions?”

“Oh?” she opened her eyes and looked at his stunningly gorgeous profile. “I just enjoy asking questions, but you’re free to ask me whatever.”

While he knew a lot about Irene already from their countless conversations, she kept most of the stuff about her private. Arthur wasn’t the type to pry but now that they were together his curiosity significantly grew. He always tried to figure things out by simply observing her, but someone’s past is hard to understand without context or details. Similar to how she figured out that escalators make him for some unknown reason feel mellow, he learned that she loved nothing more than to eat strawberry ice cream while binging romance anime.

Irene was always an easy-going person and very energetic, leaving little room for her to be bored despite the group she found herself in. It was part of the reason why she was so popular despite not seeking it out. Her looks also played a huge part, but the people that got to know her always found her stunning. She was a hard worker that never bothered showing it to others and the only reason he knew was that he caught her on more than one occasion overworking herself just to achieve her goals. Proof of that was also the final exams they took before summer began. She was a night owl that loved to stay up late and preferred sleeping in for as long as humanly possible. Once asleep, she was difficult to wake up making it shocking when he didn’t see her in bed early in the morning. However, at the same time, Irene was punctual, despising being late when a set time was decided upon. She preferred waiting for someone for half an hour rather than having them wait even five minutes. There were exceptions of course.

What Arthur found extremely charming to her was her desire to be independent while at the same time knowing how to balance it out by leaning on others when she can. The ability to do so stemmed from her confidence to be okay even if the pillar she leaned on for support suddenly disappeared. Her caring nature made her a loveable person, not to mention her unwavering loyalty to her friends and family. Irene was also strong-willed, able to do what others might struggle to attempt simply because she believed that she could. From what she told him that wasn’t always the case. At some point in life, she decided to never hold herself back and aim for whatever she believed would make her happiest, never allowing herself to put a limit simply by doubting her choices. Arthur often shared her belief that life was too short to regret not trying something, even if it burns you as it is just a part of life.

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There were negatives as well, but Arthur had already taken a liking to her quirks. She would also never admit it, but there were plenty of times she looked at him jealously. The whole mess with Yeona made that apparent, but he couldn’t really blame her. She was afraid of losing him to someone else and he would’ve felt the same. The relief she felt when finding out that he never truly had something with Yeona lifted a huge boulder off her chest, allowing her to even dismiss any worry she might’ve had if the two decided to stay friends despite her being his ex.

One thing that was often overlooked was Irene’s sadistic side that would show off. There were times she outright joyously bullied Tjay which he too found funny. She’d also act like a guard dog around her friends and family, not allowing them to be touched, and would even be willing to resort to violence if it called for it. She does however temper it the best she can. Sometimes she’d look a bit bitchy to others as she outright refused to socialize with people that annoyed her, never caring for public opinion.

“Art?” she whispered as he stared at her for a while without saying a word.

“Sorry. . .” he mumbled, giving her a warm smile. “I was just thinking about you.”

“And?” she chuckled.

“I was just thinking how you’re secretly a bully.”

“Me?” she looked shocked for a second before playfully biting him.

“Ouch! See. . .” he sighed, not allowing himself to let her go.

“So now I bully you?” she kept laughing, repeatedly munching on his neck. “Would you like me to stop?”

“No,” he tilted his head, trying to defend his exposed neck.

“Well, you’re a bit salty right now so I’ll stop anyway,” she stopped, licking her lips. “Besides, why else would you call me a bully?”

“When we first met in the classroom, you kinda just started bullying Tjay and never stopped. Not saying it’s not funny to watch you, but nobody ever talked about it.”

“That’s cuz it’s Tjay,” she leaned back on his shoulder. “Want me to stop?”

She seemed worried that he disliked that side of her to which Arthur exhaled deeply.

“What are you worried about all of a sudden? It’s not like I was complaining, more so I was just thinking about it.”

“Whatever. . .” she sighed. “I thought you were gonna ask me something.”

“I was,” he pecked her forehead. “I wanted to know more about you. It doesn’t matter if it’s silly or serious. Stuff like why you keep your hair blonde or if you ever had a pet before. Do you like going to school? What were your parents like? How many relationships did you have? You know. . . That kind of stuff.”

“I love my hair and would never dye it,” she chuckled, closing her eyes. “I’m an open book if you ask me things, but I don’t tend to blab about myself a lot, especially not the past. If you want I could change that, it’s not that hard.”

“If you wouldn’t mind, I’d love to know all about you.”

She hummed for a moment before a coy smirk appeared. ”Let’s see. . . I never had a pet before but I always wanted a dog. As for school, I have a love-hate relationship with it. On one hand, it allowed me to build strong friendships and find an amazing boyfriend-”

“Hope you’re talking about me,” he teased grinningly.

To most, it would sound like insecurity, but Arthur felt no need to feel like that when he was with her.

“Dork,” she sighed, nudging him with her head. “Yes, you. . . Anyway, as I was saying. It’s annoying having to wake up so early each day, but I do respect pursuing education. At least in Korea, it’s taken seriously compared to some other places out there.”

“Is there anything after college?” he asked, never prying about it.

“You could dedicate more time to it and chase a higher degree but typically a college diploma will do.”

“I see.”

“By the way, did I never talk about my parents?” she looked at him confused.

“You mentioned them a few times, but never in detail.”

“Well, I guess you’ll just have to meet them one day,” she chuckled. “My mom is lovely. She’s the reason why Amelia is as caring as she is.”

“You talk as if you’re not,” Arthur interrupted her.

“I have my moments but I’ll admit to not being as sympathetic to others.”

“You cried when you heard about an accident that happened on TV,” Arthur pointed out, looking at how critical she was of herself. “It’s not that you’re not sympathetic, it’s just that people who annoy you don’t get the same amount of compassion as everybody else. Those that you care about obviously get your full support, so it’s not that you’re not as caring or kind, it’s just that you know your value and don’t allow yourself to become a pushover.”

“I guess you’re right. . .”

“No need to guess. I am right.”

“Fine, fine. But yeah. My mom means the world to me and honestly, I don’t know where I’d be today without her.”

“I can imagine,” he smiled. “How come you never talked about her?”

“Well,” she sighed. “It’s just that I know what Sophie and you went through and it never felt right. I didn’t want to seem insensitive.”

“Nonsense,” he said, looking up at the sky. “If anything, I’m sure that Sophie feels the same as I do when it comes to the topic and that’s that we’re both glad you and everyone have loving families. I might be an orphan but that doesn’t mean I’m envious or jealous of somebody having parental love. If anything, I’m overjoyed to know you have such a strong bond with her. Honestly, I can’t wait to meet her. What about your dad?”

She was ecstatic to hear him say that, but the mention of her father had her go quiet for a moment.

“My dad is a bit. . . How would I put it, overprotective?” she placed her hand on his shoulder, splashing a bit of water over it as they floated. She was starting to feel a bit cold. “He sees us as his little princesses and will go through heaven and hell to help us out. He’s extremely successful and values stability and security.”

“So I’ll need to seriously impress him, huh?”

Irene didn’t want to say it, but doing so was harder than he could imagine. Amelia also warned her about it, but she was going to deal with it when it came down to them meeting. Until then, she refused to worry over her father’s protectiveness.

“Something like that,” she hugged him tightly. “But don’t stress over it, okay?”

“I won’t.” He said confidently. “What else can you tell me about him?”

“He’s quite big and strong and has trained boxing.”

“Is that the one where they fight only using their hands?”

“Yeah. He still trains from time to time, but not as intensely. I’m sure that compared to you everyone must look a bit silly doing so, but it’s still impressive.”

“Nah, I respect everyone who worked on themselves.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’m aware that an orphan kid with no background, degree, and stability stands no chance of winning him over. Some things I can’t change no matter how hard I tried while I’m unsure if I even want to pursue the rest. However, I’d never allow myself to be unable to secure a bright future for both of us. It might take some time, but I’ll figure things out and make things work.”

“I told you not to stress about it,” she sighed, gripping his hair. “As long as you care about me I won’t allow anyone to dictate who I’ll be with or not. Besides, I’m sure that he’ll see what I see and won’t care about something as superficial.”

“You and I both know that we care about your family’s approval. I won’t deny you the right to be proud of who you’re with just because I didn’t try hard enough.”

“We could always tell them the truth about you. Who could be against me dating a hero?” she joked.

“I’m still shocked at times just how trusting you are.”

“You never give me a reason to doubt. Anyway, what was your last question?”

“About your past relationships.”

“Oh, right. Well, you know about it already. Jun is my only ex and it wasn’t anything serious. Besides that I’ve only kissed two other people once.”

“Who were they?”

“Both were at parties. One was a guy I met in the UK during a friend’s birthday, and the other was actually a girl but it was more like a peck between two drunk girls with loads of encouragement. Quite common from what I saw.”

“You kissed a girl?” he looked surprised.

“It was just a friendly kiss, nothing else,” she defended herself, pulling away from the hug and looking into his eyes.

“Hey, I’m not judging,” he sounded suspicious.

“Did the idea of me kissing another girl turn you on?” She smirked, making him blush. “My god, it totally did.” She started to laugh while he rolled his eyes. “That reminds me, was it common to marry more than one woman where you came from?”

“It was if you looked at nobility, but commoners tended to stay monogamous.”

“Did you ever dream of being with more than one woman?” she asked intrigued.

“Not really,” he said while glancing to the side. “I’ve only ever wanted to meet one person for whom I’d care for.”

Irene blushed, leaning in for a kiss.

“It’s getting cold,” she said, pressing her forehead against his. “Maybe we could continue our conversations inside.”

“Gladly.”

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading!