A Kiss That Might Be Our Last
Adeline nodded. The sound she had just heard was welcome. Yet she pushed Noah’s hand away. “I want to go alone.”
She could not bear to meet Noah’s eyes. The play had stirred up forbidden images in her mind. Her throat felt dry. She needed cold water to clear her thoughts. “I’m hot too. Let’s go together.”
Whether by luck or misfortune, Noah rose from his seat. Adeline followed him and glanced back once.
The curtain of the play had not yet fallen. The actors seemed lost in their performance, as if the audience leaving did not matter to them.
Adeline fled the room as though running from something.
The corridor echoed only with their footsteps. The obscene sounds of the theater had vanished, leaving only footsteps to ring out. She stared fixedly at the plain floor and quickened her pace.
“Shall we go back to the room?” “To the room?”
“Yeah. We can walk after. I just want to lie down for a bit. My head hurts from sitting so long……”
Watching that play alone in a room a moment ago. Adeline hesitated slightly.
‘Because I don’t look like a woman.’
In the end, Adeline walked toward the room with Noah. First she had to get him to lie down. She would sort out her own chaotic mind alone.
Once inside the room, Noah released her hand. Adeline wiped the sweat from her palms on her dress. Noah could not have missed it. If he had seen how much she had immersed herself in the play, his face would be cracking with amusement.
Now what excuse could she give to leave?
Noah was sitting on the bed when Adeline opened her lips to say something. But Noah was quicker. He caught her wrist lightly. There was no strength in his grip.
“The play was boring. Right?” “Ah… the content was a little explicit, so…”
“That’s exactly why you chose it, isn’t it?” Adeline licked her parched lips. She avoided his gaze and shifted her eyes everywhere.
Noah found her reaction both unfamiliar and amusing. The women he had touched before had mostly pulled away. An Adeline who acted so demurely was something else entirely. It felt like seeing someone he knew only in secret, and a thrill shot straight to his chest.
She seemed to be carrying a secret only he knew.
How wonderful it would be if this woman collapsed before him. To see this stiff, haughty woman fall apart in pleasure and cry out as she reached climax—it would be worth watching.
Noah had found new entertainment. Touching random women was starting to lose its appeal.
“By the way……” Noah deliberately drew out his words. Pretending to hesitate, he gently pulled her hand closer.
“After watching the play earlier…” “
“…….”
“I’ve been wondering too.” “Wondering about what?”
Noah’s carefully extended hand came to rest on her lips. He gently rubbed his thumb across her lower lip.
Adeline lifted her eyes that had been fixed on his lips. Her gaze locked with his and trembled. Noah tilted his head slightly.
“Have you ever kissed someone?” “
“…….”
“I haven’t.” The moment the question left his lips, Adeline’s mind went blank. The words that followed were shockingly direct, and she blinked rapidly.
Her father’s advice—“Be careful when holding hands before marriage”—had kept Adeline’s conduct impeccable. Holding hands with Noah had already been outside the bounds of propriety.
Therefore, she had never gone any further.
‘Surprising……’
She knew that being conservative in one’s thinking did not mean the other person would be the same. She had also known that many enjoyed light touches before marriage and that love and marriage were separate things.
She had not thought deeply about it, but she had vaguely assumed Noah had probably dated someone.
“Adeline, have you?” “
“Ah, no……”
The moment their eyes met, the tongue betrayed her. Hesitation had made the mistake worse. She should have stayed silent. Adeline closed her eyes in regret.
“That’s fortunate.” Noah nodded lightly and pulled her hand closer again. They were getting nearer. Adeline braced her legs, fearing she might topple over onto him.
No words passed between them. The air itself seemed frozen as they stared at each other. Her cheeks flushed under his persistent gaze. Yet Adeline herself did not notice.
Her mind was in chaos. She lowered her eyes, then lifted them again after a brief hesitation.
“Then…….” Noah’s voice, which had been quietly watching her, grew a little thicker.
“Shall we try?” “Try?”
Adeline mulled it over for a moment. It took her no time at all to understand what Noah meant by “shall we try.”
“If I die without even kissing you, it would be so disappointing…….” Noah let his voice trail off, watching her reaction carefully. He pretended to droop his eyebrows in a sad expression that almost looked pitiful.
Yet it was not that simple. Adeline tightened her resolve and slipped her hand free.
“But we’re not even married yet……” “
“You were going to say ‘because we’re not married’?”
Noah finished her sentence as if it were obvious. Adeline closed her lips and fell silent. The silence was affirmative. Noah’s shoulders sagged lower in disappointment.
He sighed deeply. His face was filled with despair. Adeline wondered if she had caused him such pain.
“Adeline doesn’t seem to want to do it with me.” “
“What?”
“You don’t want to do it with me…….” Because Noah’s reason for disappointment was not what Adeline had expected, her eyes widened.
“That’s not it.” Adeline hurriedly explained. She did not fully understand why she needed to explain, yet she was seized by the need to comfort the disappointed Noah she was facing.
“It’s not that I don’t want to do it with you……” “
“You don’t want to do it with me?”
Noah latched on, refusing to let go. The corners of his mouth curved upward in delight.
Adeline felt something was off, but the next words cleared her confusion.
“So you do want to do it with me?” “Not exactly……! I-I mean, kissing is something lovers do……”
Adeline spoke timidly and firmly. Noah stretched his lips in imitation, humming “Hmm-” as if considering. Soon his brows furrowed.
“We are engaged, aren’t we?” “
“But……”
“Because I asked for a breakup? But we haven’t actually broken up yet, and we’ve made promises for the future together.” Noah presented the situation gently. Adeline did not deny it. That was right. If Noah had not fallen ill, they would have held the wedding. Of course she had no intention of abandoning him just because he was sick.
“I want to. With you.” The moment Noah’s words landed in Adeline’s chest, her emotions surged like a storm. She trembled among all the conflicting feelings.
With you. That single word dominated her mind.
“Shouldn’t we?” Adeline bit her lip. She almost tossed her convictions aside and blurted out “We should—completely should.” Had she become so weak to temptation?
“No.” Adeline barely held onto her sanity and turned her head away. To keep her heart from weakening, she deliberately turned her face from Noah. His hand suddenly cupped her lips, pressing the center of her mouth as if measuring something.
“Don’t bite.” Her bitten lip recoiled.
“It’s hard to hold back.” “
“……”
“I would die without ever kissing you…… but if that’s what you want, I won’t.” Adeline could not say it so casually. She would have to kiss someone else. Just thinking about it made her furious.
After sighing, she realized she might be being selfish.
Noah had requested a breakup for her happiness, yet she would not accept the condition that he die before she could grant his wish. If that was the case, it would be better to let him meet someone else……
‘No. Dying without kissing isn’t even death.’ Adeline grabbed Noah’s wrist and lowered it. What mattered was not the skinship. Noah’s judgment had surely been clouded by the approach of death.
What mattered to them was the illness.
“Even if a single kiss makes your lips chapped, if you hate it that much, I’ll give up.”