City of Witches
chapter-189

༺ Twin Rush (3) ༻

1.

“Siwoo, come here for a second.”

With a blanket and pillow in his hands, Siwoo was getting ready to sleep on the couch.

Suddenly, Sharon poked her head out of her room and motioned for him to come in.

He already figured that she’d call him eventually, so he entered her room without any contemplation.

Already in her pajamas, Sharon was looking at him, puzzled.

The clasped hands in front of her chest showed that she was feeling anxious.

“What the hell is going on…?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know either. They were supposed to come here five years later…”

“So, they’re the apprentices you mentioned before, right? The ones you saved so heroically a while ago?”

“Not sure if I’d call it heroic, but yeah, I guess…”

Sharon stole glances toward Siwoo’s room, where the twins were sleeping.

The three of them looked incredibly close.

It was clear that they had a deeper relationship than what she currently had with him.

The twins were even trying to keep her in check (this was purely her assumption) when she called his name by accident.

She didn’t know the full story behind their relationship and it brought her the feeling of uncertainty that messed with her heart a little.

The way those twins openly showed their affection for him, acting all protective without holding anything back, only deepened her worry.

She found it hard to control this anxiety.

It felt as if he’d just vanish out of the blue, an irrational fear, almost like a delusion.

She knew that she had no right in claiming him as hers, but since she had always been relying on him for a lot of things, she couldn’t help but feel a little down about it.

Even she herself didn’t know what she wanted to say to him, or why she pulled him into her room in the first place. She just followed her mixed emotion and went with the flow.

“You must be surprised, huh? Well, they’ll be here for four days, so sorry for the inconvenience in advance.”

“N-No, it’s not like that…wait, if you put it that way, it feels like you taking me in is also a burden for you…”

“I told you you shouldn’t say something like—”

In the midst of their conversation, Sharon suddenly let herself fall into his arms.

He could feel her feminine curves without doing anything special.

Her soft body embraced him completely.

For a brief time there, he stood there, surprised, but in no time at all, a smile appeared on his face as he gently stroked her hair.

Thinking that her inner turmoil was due to the sudden appearance of her creditor, Deneb, he continued to comfort her.

“What’s wrong?”

“I-It’s just…”

Their thoughts were slightly mismatched, nevertheless they didn’t know that and it didn’t stop a lump from rising in Sharon’s throat.

Her eyes became warm with tears.

She had noticed this somehow, but she had been acting strangely lately.

Unlike before, she wasn’t this much of a crybaby.

No matter how tough and complicated things got, she had always stayed strong and resilient.

But, ever since she met him, she felt like she had been turned into a fool.

She’d easily cry, found herself wanting to seek comfort in his embrace, yearning for his soothing words.

‘Did I develop a bad habit of being too dependent on someone now that I have someone to lean on?’

“W-What happened? Why are you crying? Did the twins say something weird to you?”

He sensed the tremor in her voice as she unexpectedly hugged him, showing his genuine concern, he asked her.

She quickly wiped her tears away before shaking her head.

However, she didn’t release her grip on his waist.

“N-Nothing…I-I just…feel strange, I guess…”

Sharon wanted to let go of her and ask him what had happened between him and the twins in the past, but she couldn’t bring herself to let go of his waist.

“Seriously, what’s wrong? You can speak to me.”

“I…don’t know…seriously, I don’t…also, this isn’t because they had said anything to me…”

At first, Siwoo thought that the twins were teasing her about her debt or what, but in the first place it was doubtful that they knew about the matter. Despite everything, they were still merely apprentice witches. Besides, they wouldn’t be that mean, Siwoo knew that.

With Sharon refusing to properly explain the situation, he found himself confused.

“Sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize. If it’s rough for you, just remember that I’m always here for you, so don’t bottle all your problems just like what you did last time.”

“I’m really fine, I promise.”

“That’s a relief then.”

Siwoo tried to reassure her with a calm voice.

She buried her head in his chest, listening to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

It was a strange thing to do, but it brought her an unexpected sense of comfort.

“…Can I ask for a favor?”

“What is it?”

“Kiss me…just once is enough…not a kiss as a lover, just a kiss to comfort a friend…you don’t need to do it if it makes you feel uncomfortable though…”

Kiss itself was an act between lovers. There was no such thing as a kiss to comfort a friend.

Sharon was well aware of this fact.

This was just her clumsy attempt to convey her desire for a kiss in a way that she found reasonable.

Of course her request wasn’t too much for Siwoo to handle. After all, they had been doing all sorts of things with each other for a while despite their status as friends.

He didn’t know what was wrong with her, but she was making a tearful plea to him.

So, he figured that he should do this for her.

Sharon leaned in and their lips met.

It had been a while since she had initiated a kiss, something that Siwoo had never done all this while.

“Mmm…mmhh…”

Her wet, fleshy tongue gently brushed against his teeth before slipping into his mouth.

He felt a refreshing taste of mouthwash, mixed with her sticky saliva, leaving a tingling sensation on his tongue.

Their kiss didn’t last long.

But it was long enough for the temperature of their lips to equalize.

After that, they quickly parted their lips.

“…”

“Are you going to bed now?”

“Yes…thank you, Siwoo…”

Sharon, who had looked as anxious as a dog that hadn’t seen its owner for a long time, looked much calmer.

Siwoo decided to not pry too much about the reason behind her sudden request for a kiss for the moment, giving her the time she needed to calm her anxious heart down.

2.

“Sis, are you sleeping?”

“No, what about you, Odette?”

“How do I even ask you if I were asleep?”

The twins, confined to their beds by Siwoo’s firm resolve, laid side by side on the bed.

At first, they were intoxicated by the scent of their assistant, which wafted from all directions.

But, too bad for them, any kind of smells faded away faster than anything else one could sense.

Before long, they could no longer feel his scent, and all that remained was the disappointment of having to part ways so soon after meeting.

“Mr. Assistant is being too strict!”

“But, he’s right, if Master returns, it could be a problem. Let’s just go to sleep quickly so we can have fun with him tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah, but…shouldn’t we do some things we couldn’t do before while Master is still away…?”

“There’s always next time, Sis! If we get caught by Little Master, she might not let us go to the modern world again until we become proper witches!”

Odile glanced at Odette, who spoke as if she was an adult.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“I’ve always been like this, mature. You’re the one who always acts like a child.”

“Ugh, whatever!”

Normally, she’d be more than ready to argue with Odette, but not this time.

She had to get ready for the trip to the modern world at dawn, and she had also been exhausted because of all the unfamiliar sights and hustle bustle of the modern world.

So, even though Odette tried to start things with her, Odile only felt peace due to the fatigue that washed over her.

“Tomorrow…let’s have fun with Mr. Assistant…yawn…good night, Odette.”

“Yeah, good night, Sis.”

Snuggling together, the twins closed their eyes.

3.

Rain poured all night, like a heavy curtain hiding the city from the moonlight.

As a result, the living room was shrouded in a charcoal-black dimness.

“Hmm…”

Siwoo laid his back on the sofa, looking at his tablet.

On the screen were the notes he jotted down during his magic study.

‘The world has gotten better these days…’

Nowadays he didn’t even need to turn on a lamp or hold up a few sheets of paper to study like this.

Whenever he felt this kind of advancement of scientific technologies, he realized that the five years he had spent in Gehenna had not been short.

For example, the air dresser that was sitting in front of the entrance of his apartment.

Not only did it sterilize and dehumidified the clothes hanging on it, it also smoothed out all the wrinkles.

Such things didn’t exist in Gehenna.

‘This must be what they call the fruits of civilization.’

-Click!

At that moment, he heard the faint sound of a door opening.

He briefly lifted his head, thinking it might be Sharon who came out of her room.

But when he saw the small figure and silhouette, he quickly found out that it was one of the twins.

So, he turned off his tablet for a moment and sat up.

“Aren’t you going to sleep, Mr. Assistant?”

“Well, it doesn’t matter if I were to sleep or not.”

“True, you’re also a witch now, huh?”

Maybe because she had just woken up, her voice was slightly groggy.

But, since both of the twins naturally had higher-pitched voices, even her whispers sounded like birds chirping.

Carefully closing the door, fearing that the other person inside might wake up, Odile snuggled into Siwoo’s arms with quick, light steps.

“Jeez, you should go back to sleep now. Tomorrow you can have fun to your heart’s content.”

“But, I missed you a lot, Mr. Assistant… How can I just stay lying down when I know you’re here?”

“What about Odette?”

“She’s sleeping. I can hear her snores even.”

Siwoo adjusted the blanket for Odile to nestle in his arms.

As soon as she got inside the blanket, she deeply breathed in his scent.

“Mmm…I’ve been missing this~”

“Don’t put your hands under my armpit.”

Siwoo chuckled as he tried to stop Odile from tickling him. Though, he couldn’t do much against her hair that was tickling his neck.

Normally, she’d say something like, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that! Who are you, my mother-in-law?!’

But today she just quietly hugged him without saying much.

After a long time, she asked in a very soft voice.

“Mr. Assistant, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“What do you think of Odette?”

“Odette? She’s nice, and cute too.”

“That’s it?”

“Is there anything I need to say about her? Well, she isn’t as skilled in magic as you, but she’s a kind-hearted person. So, Ms. Odile, please don’t fight too much with her.”

Actually, he added those words to make himself look good.

While yes, they bickered sometimes, but he already knew that the twins always had a great relationship with each other.

“Very well…what about me? What are your thoughts on me?”

“My thoughts on you, Ms. Odile?”

“Yeah, me.”

Because Odette wasn’t here, he didn’t have much thought about it when he was asked of his impression of her.

But this time, Odile was the one who asked the question herself, so he felt a slight unease about it.

His words came out somewhat hesitant.

“You are…also cute…”

He replied, making it clear that both of them were cute.

“Is that all? Do you not think that I’m special compared to Odette?”

“That’s a tricky question to answer, since both of you have been treating me well.”

He chuckled, continuing to stroke her head that was still nestled against his chest.

The satisfied sound she made and her warm breath created a cozy atmosphere around them.

Sometimes, her body would twitch a little, making him feel comfortable.

‘Time to send her off to bed, I guess.’

“You should head in and get some rest. I’ll bring you to some good restaurant for breakfast tomorrow morning. We’ve got plenty of time.”

“No…”

Odile shook her head.

Instead, she clung to him like a magnet, as if she didn’t want to let him go.

“You like me better than Odette, right, Mr. Assistant?”

“Huh?”

“That’s why you took your last night stroll together with me, not with Odette, right?”

“Um, that’s…”

In fact, it wasn’t like he preferred one twin over the other.

He found Odette just as cute as Odile.

The only reason why the night stroll happened was because Odile came out to provide him comfort, and they ended up going together because of that.

Odile out of all people should know this, but for some reason, she asked such a question…

“Is Odette upset about that?”

“Yes, she does. She’s really upset about that.”

After she murmured those words, she moved her hand, which had been exploring his chest gently, downward.

The touch carried a mischievous undertone.

“H-Hey!”

“Shh…you’ll wake someone up!”

“What are you doing all of a sudden—?!”

With a swift movement, Odile grasped his manhood.

She slipped her hand into his boxers before she started moving it around.

Her slender and delicate fingers coiled around his member.

In response to her familiar touch, his member eagerly greeted her, showing signs of growing bigger in her hand.

“I-If the two of us want to spend some time together, now might be the last— huh? Mr. Assistant?”

“We can’t. Like I said, we need to be careful today. Lady Deneb might show up tonight.”

“Please, just once? It’ll be quick, so everything should be fine…”

Siwoo grabbed her wrist and tried to remove her hand from his manhood.

He didn’t want to betray the trust that Deneb had towards him overnight, and he didn’t want to bear the guilt for doing so.

But, Odile didn’t give in easily.

She persisted, refusing to release his member from her grip, even went further and bent her waist down, trying to use her mouth to pleasure him.

“Ms. Odile, stop!”

Seeing her reckless attitude, Siwoo raised his voice in frustration.

He quickly pulled up the blanket and faced her directly.

Then he quickly realized.

“Sis is so mean to me…and you’re also mean, Mr. Assistant…”

Due to the darkness, and her attempt to change her tone, Siwoo failed to notice it earlier.

But, when he saw the tears welling up in her eyes, and her trembling face, he finally understood what was going on.

The girl who had been nestling down in his embrace was actually Odette, who had pretended to be Odile.

“She bullies me every day…it’s so unfair…”