Love Burned, She Rose Unscathed

"Hey, what's with the daydreaming? Hand me the water glass."

All was well until Leda spoke, and just like that-crash! The perfect harmony shattered.

York's mouth twitched, "Can I make a suggestion?"

"...Go ahead." Leda took a sip of her ice water, instantly feeling refreshed.

"Could you maybe soften your tone when talking to me? We're a couple, not enemies. You know, my mom would worry." "Worry about what?"

"Worry about her son being bullied by you!"

Leda was speechless.

"Should I speak like this then, honey? ~Do you think your mom would like this dress I picked out? It took me forever to choose~"

York felt numb all over: "Actually... maybe keep the edge. It's better that way."

The edge felt more normal.

Whenever Leda's voice went soft, he felt like he was a second away from being choked to death.

"Say 'edge' one more time, I dare you?"

York: "Not edgy, not at all."

But the word 'edge' was still there, wasn't it?!

applied a

"Alright, let's go."

was stunned:

natural? I'll have you know, this is called the no-makeup makeup look. It's designed to fool guys like you into

like every word was a jab at

the time they arrived at the Gibson Mansion, it was

Gibson stood at the doorway, peering out until she finally saw her son's car. She

got out of the car,

come in. It's too hot out here." She warmly

was like, "WTF?" What about

sorry. I had to work late last night, overslept this morning, then took forever choosing an outfit and doing my makeup. We're

barely stepped

the

with sugar, a stark

en

was doing this on

Hmph!

that's no trouble at all. You must be exhausted from staying up late. You need

Ma'am, what can I do

ove

serve Leda some warm soup? Oh, and could you also call the spa for us? We'll need an aromatherapy SPA session, hmm... with an anti-aging treatment. Have them come over around 3

work for you,

have no problem with

had been ages since her last spa day, and she hadn't expected a