"···."
Is this right?
I lay on one side of the newly purchased bed, pressing my hand against my pounding chest to calm it down.
A pleasant sensation traveled up my arm, but my heart still raced wildly.
I felt like screaming.
If Yu Siwoo hadn’t been asleep beside me, I would’ve kicked off the blankets.
···He *is* asleep, right?
I cautiously turned my head to look at him.
It was the same bed we’d first shared when we started living together. And there he was, fast asleep.
"Huuu···."
As I sighed, some of the heat building in my chest seemed to escape.
But maybe it was because my heart was still pounding—
a strange sensation surged through me, making it hard to stay still.
Did he notice? Or didn’t he?
The fifteen minutes I’d been away from Yu Siwoo.
In that moment, I’d impulsively taken his clothes.
And they were still in my arms.
"What do I do with these···."
Fidgeting, I pulled out the item I’d hidden from Yu Siwoo’s sight.
It was his shirt. The kind he often wore at home.
He wore it when training alone. Maybe because he had to wash it every day? I remembered there had been a bunch of similar ones.
Perhaps because they got dirty or torn easily, he’d bought a bunch at once and just added more whenever he ran low.
"···."
Without thinking, I pulled out the T-shirt I’d taken.
If I put it back now while he was asleep, would that be okay?
No matter how sharp his intuition was, he wouldn’t notice something this trivial.
If he *had* known I’d taken his clothes, he would’ve said something by now.
All day, Yu Siwoo hadn’t shown any sign of suspicion.
Even when I’d accidentally spilled something and told him, he’d just laughed it off, saying it was fine. He hadn’t seemed particularly interested in what was inside.
I didn’t know why, but··· maybe he really *hadn’t* noticed?
Yeah, that had to be it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have acted so normal.
Right. If I put it back, it’ll be fine.
I carefully got up, keeping an eye on Yu Siwoo.
Would his intuition pick up on me? Or would he just let it slide?
Hoping desperately that he hadn’t noticed, I quietly slipped out of bed.
"Mmm···."
"···!"
I froze in place when Yu Siwoo stirred in his sleep.
After watching him shift again, I let out a relieved sigh.
···He’s still asleep. That scared me.
Annoyance flared up—I resented him a little.
It’s not like I was trying to steal anything.
I was just putting it back, so why did I have to be so startled?
Leaving the still-sleeping Yu Siwoo behind, I stepped out into the living room again.
"Huuu···. Thank goodness."
I didn’t even close the door, afraid the sound might wake him, and hurried to the laundry room.
"Let’s see, it should be here···."
After returning to the living room, Yu Siwoo had said he’d handle it later and taken the basket.
Sure enough, the washing machine was humming softly in the middle of the night.
Compared to the old world, even small things like this had developed in strange ways.
Was it because of mana? I wasn’t sure.
No, now wasn’t the time to marvel at the washing machine’s performance.
I need to put this back quickly.
Since the laundry’s still running, it should be fine if I toss it in now.
Just as I was about to shove the clothes in my hand into the washing machine—
my eyes suddenly landed on the clock.
“Now that I think about it…”
Today, even though we were fifteen minutes apart, nothing happened.
Was that the reason I ended up taking his clothes without thinking?
Maybe, just maybe…
If I took Yu Siwoo’s clothes, would it be okay even if we were apart for a little while?
That’s why I’d considered taking them, and before I knew it, I’d grabbed them.
When I almost got caught, I hid them without realizing it, didn’t I?
As fast as hiding the fact that I was watching *that kind* of video from my parents.
I never thought I’d react that quickly.
In an instant, I extracted the threads from the clothes, thinning them down until they were nearly invisible to Yu Siwoo’s eyes, then rolled them up tight and pressed them against my back. He didn’t notice a thing.
Of course, I had to act a little unnaturally to avoid showing my back.
…No, that’s not the important part right now.
Yu Siwoo’s clothes. Could they really have the effect I was hoping for?
“Since it’s come to this… maybe I should test it.”
Yu Siwoo was asleep, after all.
Even if my breathing got a little heavy, I could just go back to my room right away.
With that thought, I decided to take my time.
With the washing machine’s quiet white noise as background, I spent nearly twenty minutes pulling out threads and weaving them.
Then, with slightly trembling hands, I touched Yu Siwoo’s clothes.
“…Why?”
Why was this actually working?
Unable to hide my shock, I fiddled with the clothes, and the trembling in my hands subsided a little.
“No, this can’t be…”
I’d only thought *maybe* it would work.
I never actually believed it would.
But now that my hypothesis was proven true, I was even more flustered.
It really worked. I could last a long time even without Yu Siwoo nearby.
A flood of emotions swirled in my mind.
Relief—maybe I wouldn’t have to rely on him anymore.
Joy—that maybe I could finally ease some of the guilt I’d been carrying.
I hugged Yu Siwoo’s clothes to my chest.
It felt like warmth was embracing my entire body.
Had a lot of time passed already?
A soft chime from the washing machine signaled the cycle was done.
“…Ah.”
As if in a daze, I reached into the washing machine and pulled out a random piece of clothing.
“It’s cold…”
There was no warmth at all.
Even though the drying cycle was finished, it should’ve been warm.
Instead, it felt as cold as the night breeze.
I put the clothes back in the washing machine and hugged the ones in my hands again.
They were still warm.
“…I guess I have no choice.”
Yeah.
No choice.
There’s no way I could tell Yu Siwoo about this.
Even if I said I needed his clothes, he’d probably lend them to me without question, assuming there was some reason.
But on the other hand, there’s no way he’d give me unwashed clothes, no matter how much I needed them.
So this… this is unavoidable.
It’s unavoidable.
I stared at the clothes in my hands, then glanced at the clock one more time.
Before I knew it, an hour had passed.
I clutched Siwoo’s clothes tightly.
A shirt far too big for my body.
The oversized garment felt like it was wrapping around and embracing me.
Lying on the bed in Siwoo’s room, my hands held nothing at all.
"......"
Arte returned to the bed, and soon, the sound of her steady breathing filled the room.
She must have fallen asleep.
I didn’t need to look to know—Siwoo had the ability to tell.
When I checked the clock, I realized over an hour had already slipped by.
Careful not to wake Arte, Siwoo tiptoed out to the living room, then glanced back at her once more.
She was still fast asleep.
"This is strange."
Just what had happened for Arte to be walking around like that, completely fine?
What had she been doing for over an hour?
Siwoo recalled the way Arte had acted today.
Something had felt off ever since she asked me what I’d been up to lately.
"She doesn’t seem to have noticed."
When she suddenly asked if I was a woman, I’d instinctively averted my eyes, worried she’d found out.
Amelia had said that these things worked best when the person had no idea.
Arte’s information network was pretty solid, though.
Still, I’d thought it would be better for her to find out this way rather than suffer in anxiety, but in the end, I’d chickened out and glossed over it.
And then, out of nowhere, she’d said she was going to do laundry and left.
That was when Arte’s behavior had started to seem a little off.
"She’s definitely hiding something..."
Siwoo usually picked up on Arte’s danger by instinct.
That was how he always found her within ten minutes—his gut told him she was in trouble.
So today, too, he’d assumed she’d be back soon and waited.
It wasn’t until he happened to check the time that he realized ten minutes had already passed.
"Why didn’t I notice...?"
Had he relied too much on his instinct for sensing danger?
As he berated himself, Siwoo had rushed to Arte in a panic—only to be shocked to find her perfectly fine.
That was when he realized: his instinct hadn’t triggered because it thought Arte was okay.
"...Hmm."
Siwoo understood now. There had to be a connection between Arte’s sudden improvement and the way she’d acted today.
Her unusual behavior was definitely tied to it.
He headed toward the laundry room where Arte had spent most of her time.
She’d been there for nearly an hour—what on earth had she been trying to do?
Siwoo scanned the laundry room thoroughly.
No matter how hard he looked, nothing seemed out of place, and his instinct stayed silent.
There had to be something here.
Then, his eyes landed on the washing machine—its cycle finished.
There were signs someone had touched it.
Since only one other person lived in this house besides me, it had to be Arte.
What had she done in here?
After circling the washing machine for a long time, Siwoo even checked all the clothes inside before muttering,
"...Why is one piece missing?"