Early morning, sunlight had just cleared the wooden fence of the cabin.
The sound of slippers dragging lazily across the wooden floor echoed as Ryan rubbed his eyes and headed toward the kitchen. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Nami sitting with her back to the doorway at the dining table, her signature orange hair slightly tousled like a bristling cat.
He paid her no mind, going straight for his water glass. As the cool water slid down his throat, he finally noticed the faint rustle of fabric behind him.
Nami turned around, arms crossed, glaring at him. Her beautiful eyes seemed to hold two flickering flames.
"You—" Nami's voice suddenly cut through the silence, deliberately low and heavy, yet the tail end of her words strained like a fully drawn bowstring. "You broke your promise."
Ryan took another sip from his glass without looking up. "What did I do?"
"Don't play dumb!" Nami slammed the table, the wood emitting a soft thud. She quickly covered her mouth and glanced around, her eyes sweeping past the closed wooden door of the adjacent room. Confirming no one was stirring, she abruptly stood and strode over to Ryan, her canvas shoes tapping urgently against the floor with an undeniable force.
Rising slightly on her toes to get closer, she practically hissed through gritted teeth, "You promised to let me take Nojiko's place, and what happened? Last night, you went and bothered her again!"
The thought of the noises coming from Ryan's room last night made her blood boil. She had gone to such lengths to protect her sister, yet this guy didn't take it seriously at all.
"Oh?" Ryan finally looked up at Nami slowly, his eyes carrying a hint of casual mockery. "I broke my promise?"
"Obviously!" Nami clenched her fists, knuckles turning white. "You know perfectly well that I—"
"Know what?" Ryan suddenly cut her off, leaning his elbow on the counter and abruptly leaning forward until his nose nearly touched her forehead, exuding an oppressive aura.
His voice, still rough from sleep, pierced right to the core of the matter: "That you said you were going to help pick oranges yesterday, but you dawdled in the orchard until sunset? Or that when I mentioned it was time to fulfill our agreement last night, you didn't even bat an eye and said you were too tired to move?"
"I was just..." Nami frowned, taking a step back, her cheeks instantly flushing bright red as if struck where it hurt. Having her little schemes exposed so blatantly left her both embarrassed and furious.
"Just what?" Ryan raised an eyebrow, his tone tinged with amusement. Seeing her so flustered only made it more entertaining.
"Did you forget our agreement yesterday about you taking Nojiko's place? Or did you think I'm easy to push around, that you could keep making excuses?"
He leaned in closer, his gaze suddenly sharpening, the earlier teasing gone, replaced by seriousness. "Little Nami, I'm not the kind of person who waits around for others to spare me their time. If you're unwilling to do something, there are plenty of others who will. Nojiko is gentle and obedient—far better than some cat who only knows how to play clever tricks."
That's right, he and Nami had reached an agreement, but did she really think she could weasel out of it with excuses and clever maneuvering?
No way. He wasn't as easily fooled as that Straw Hat kid and his crew. Since Nami wanted to play games, she shouldn't blame him for not keeping his word. If Nami wasn't willing, there were certainly others who were.
"You!" Nami was so angry she couldn't speak, her chest heaving violently. Furious and anxious, she couldn't find the words to retort.
She was indeed deliberately dodging him. Who told this brute to be so rough and heavy-handed? She didn't dare face him head-on. But she never expected Ryan to go straight to Nojiko and speak so bluntly, leaving no room for courtesy.
Ryan watched her puffed-up, angry expression and suddenly chuckled. Reaching out, he ruffled her short orange hair, his tone carrying a hint of coaxing a child. "Alright, don't be mad. You broke the agreement first, so you can't blame me."
Nami slapped his hand away, gritting her teeth. "You bastard."
Though she knew deep down she was in the wrong—having avoided him all day yesterday under the pretense of harvesting oranges and feigning sleep at night—being exposed so directly still made her chest feel tight with anger, burning her ears red.
Ryan let out a light laugh and suddenly grabbed Nami's wrist. His thumb pressed against the delicate skin of her wrist, and with a slight tug, he pulled her close to him.
Caught off guard, Nami stumbled into his embrace, her nose bumping against his firm chest. She grunted in pain. "What are you doing!"
Struggling to push him away, her fingers pressed against his chest as if against a reef. The blush on her face spread from her cheeks down to her neck.
Ignoring her protests, Ryan looked down at the bristling little creature in his arms, whose glaring eyes reminded him of a cat whose tail had been stepped on. A playful smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Perfect timing. I haven't done my morning exercises yet. Consider this a warm-up."
With his Artificial Dragon Fruit ability, his stamina had always been astonishingly abundant. The little energy he had expended yesterday had long since recovered, and he felt even more energetic than before.
He even felt that, if he wanted to, he could keep going tirelessly like a perpetual motion machine.
"Who wants to do morning exercises with you? Let me go!" Nami struggled to pry his fingers away, her nails nearly digging into the flesh of his hand. Her voice was both frantic and furious.
What nonsense morning exercises—did he think she didn't know what he was really after? This bastard's stamina was downright inhuman.
Instead of releasing her, Ryan tightened his grip, leaning close to her ear and lowering his voice to a teasing whisper. "Quiet. You don't want Nojiko to see us like this, do you?"
Nami froze, her eyes flickering uncertainly. A faint light already seeped through the cracks of the wooden door to the next room, and she could almost imagine Nojiko's worried expression if she were to push the door open.
Nojiko was always too gentle. If she saw Nami and Ryan tangled up like this...
Biting her lip until her teeth nearly pierced the skin, Nami glared at Ryan's mocking face, cursing him a thousand times in her heart. Reluctantly, she stilled her struggles.
Seeing her settle down, Ryan raised an eyebrow in satisfaction. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the wooden door, casting mottled shadows over the two of them. A new "contest" seemed to have just begun.
.......
The sun had already climbed above the eastern treetops, its warm rays slanting into the kitchen and casting a bright patch of light by the stove.
The wooden door to the inner room creaked open, revealing Nojiko's plain face still carrying the drowsiness of someone just awakened.
Her gaze swept across the kitchen, pausing when she saw Ryan and Nami standing unusually close by the stove. She blinked in surprise and asked softly, "What are you two doing?"
The blush on Nami's face hadn't fully faded, lingering like the faint flush of lingering intoxication.
She hastily turned aside to create distance, but Ryan subtly tugged at her, leaving her no choice but to calmly brush aside the stray hairs by her ear. Her fingertips trembled slightly as she evasively replied, "N-nothing, really. It's just... I was chatting with this... Mr. Ryan."
Her eyes darted around as she spoke, unable to meet Nojiko's gaze.
Nojiko blinked, her gaze shifting between the two of them. She furrowed her brows slightly, a hint of suspicion in her expression.
She couldn't help but feel that Nami was acting strangely today. Usually straightforward and lively, Nami now seemed somewhat awkward and hesitant. Moreover, the way Ryan looked at Nami carried an indescribable, ambiguous undertone.
Just as the tension was mounting, Nami suddenly felt a light pinch, causing her to stiffen.
Suppressing her anger, she abruptly raised her voice to change the subject: "By the way, Nojiko, I've already found the baskets for picking oranges. Shall we go after lunch?"
Nojiko was pulled back to reality by the sudden question and nodded with a smile. "Sure, I was just thinking about checking how ripe the oranges are."
As she spoke, she turned and headed toward the yard to hang the laundry, completely unaware of the undercurrents swirling between the two behind her.
Once Nojiko's figure disappeared beyond the yard gate, Nami immediately exploded like a firecracker. She swatted Ryan's hand away and hissed in a low, furious voice, "Enough!"
Her chest heaved with anger. The memory of that light pinch made her skin crawl. This jerk actually dared to lay hands on her—how utterly shameless!
Ryan's smile widened. "No one noticed, did they?"
He found Nami's puffed-up, furious expression utterly amusing. Teasing her like this felt like playing a little game only the two of them knew about.
"You're still laughing!" Nami glared at him, gritting her teeth, her hands on her hips like a bristling little animal.
It suddenly struck her that she and Nojiko, the two sisters, seemed completely at this jerk's mercy. Yet, there was nothing they could do but hope he would leave soon so their lives could return to normal.
Seeing the mix of anger and helplessness in her eyes, Ryan reached out to ruffle her hair, but Nami slapped his hand away.
He raised an eyebrow but didn't push further, turning toward the door instead. "Let's go. Aren't we preparing lunch? I'll help with the fire."
Nami stared at his retreating back, stomping her foot in frustration before reluctantly following.
Sunlight streamed through the wooden window, casting their long shadows intertwined on the ground, as if foretelling that their entangled days were far from over.