小嫂子的味道

"No! That\'s not what I thought!" she said hurriedly, trying to clear the misunderstanding.

"Then what?"

"It\'s just…it was unexpected, you can say. I\'d never thought you\'d go out of your way to care about the contract, and not because I think you\'re using me but because you are confident in yourself and believe that there won\'t be any need for you to act."

Actually, she was just repeating what she said a few seconds ago but right now I was willing to let it slide.

"Sigh. Whatever. Are you coming or not? Cuz I\'ll have to make preparations according to that," I said.

She was quiet for a while as she thought over what she should respond. During this, my eyes wandered and I saw that the night had completely covered the sky and there was a slight snowfall going on. But what caught my attention was the reception girl behind the bar.

She had changed, the girl I saw when I entered the cafeteria was no longer there. Rather there was a girl with strawberry blond hair. Can\'t say I didn\'t know that one.

"I don\'t think I can go," Ellyn said, directing my attention back to her. "It\'d be weird, plus I\'ve already promised Leon and I have some things to do with him since both of us will be staying in the dorms."

"I see. Well, I just wanted to ask. And if Leon\'s staying with you then there\'s no need to worry about your father as well," I stated.

"I\'m sorry."

"Why are you sorry? You didn\'t reject me for a date, did you? I would\'ve squeezed a sorry out of you if that were the case, but since it\'s not, you don\'t have any need to be sorry," I said.

She chuckled a bit at this.

"What?"

"Nothing. I never knew you had a thing for lame jokes in you," saying that, she stood up, paid for the tea, and left.

\'Was that a lame joke?\' I wondered to myself.

After I was sure that she\'d left this area, I got up from my seat and moved toward the bar. Going there I sat on one of the wooden stools that\'d just been placed a few moments ago and tapped the table to get the girl\'s attention.

Her brows lifted a bit when she saw me. "Now, now, we sure have an unusual customer today," she chanted as she came and stood in front of me on the other side of the bar.

"Yeah. I couldn\'t really help it. After all, the apple cider you gave me last time was so wonderful that I got drunk on my way back," I replied.

"Well, I did say that it was something new we had. You would have come back sooner or later."

\'Did she say that back then?\'

[She did.]

\'Okay, she did.\'

"So, would you be so kind to provide me again with some of that beer—oh sorry, apple cider I mean. Can I get one shot of that?" I asked, kindly.

"Of course, you can," she said with a neat smile, and then moved back to the wooden shelf where a large number of bottles were kept.

She picked up a familiar bottle and walked back to me, then she opened up the cap and decanted some of the liquid in a glass. The color of the liquid was familiar too; brownish gold.

"There you go," she slid the glass toward me.

"Thank you, kindly."

I gripped the glass, it was cold. Bringing it close to my lips I took a sip.

\'Fuck it\'s bitter as hell!\'

[This time it\'s real alcohol and a low-quality one over that.]

\'There\'s no need for you to tell, even I can guess that.\'

[Be careful. It\'s your first time drinking, isn\'t it? When I drank for the first time I woke up the next day, half covered in mud by the side of a road.]

\'I know. But I appreciate the advice either way. Now to get back…\'

"As I\'ve said, this is truly the best cider I\'ve ever tasted. A wonder indeed," I said as I took another sip.

Despite the shitty taste it had, my expression didn\'t flinch. I smiled as if I were drinking an immortality serum.

"Ahhh! That was sure some good shit!" After finishing the drink I slammed the empty glass on the bar and wiped my mouth.

"You liked it?" She asked while wiping a bottle with a linen cloth.

"I loved it!"

"I\'m glad to know that."

"Yeah, and the next time I come I\'d like to get some real alcohol instead of cider," I said.

"Of course, we have many drinks you can choose from," she replied.

I got up from the stool, pulled out my transaction card, paid for the drink, and left the cafeteria.

"Take care~ And try not to fall in the gutters on your way back," she said as I stepped out of the building.

\'Bullshit. There are no open gutters on the campus, at least say something believable,\' I spat in my mind while I walked.

The outsides were cold. A thin layer of snow had piled up on the ground and it was increasing over time as new flakes rained from the sky. There were the regular gusts of wind that sent a chill down my spine.

I put my hands inside the pockets of the jacket I was wearing, and now I realize how big of a mistake it was to not wear gloves. Leave wearing, I never bought any, in the first place.

I\'d spent the last years of my former life being locked up in a tiny apartment room, and that had caused me to forget what being out in the cold was like. And I didn\'t know if it was just my imagination, but I felt like the winters in this world were harsher than the ones I was experienced in.

"Well, I know one thing now. What she\'s doing is just for fun, to mess with me," I mumbled.

It was true. After all, if she wanted to swindle some money out of me by providing me with the wrong drinks, then she should have charged more for the apple cider, but she charged the value of what that drink was worth—which was less than the cider\'s cost.

I was thinking if there could be a specific reason for her doing all this when suddenly I felt dizzy.

\'Here we go,\' I thought. It was time the alcohol was starting to kick in.