The Reason I Keep Avoiding My Childhood Friend - Chapter 204

As I reached out to open the closet door, the puzzling conversation I had with Kir earlier came to mind unavoidably.

“Kir!”

Instead of just yelling in my room, I opened the door and went out to look for Kir. My room was directly opposite Kir’s. Hearing my call, Kir peeked through his door with a puzzled face.

“Come here. Quick!”

Despite my urgency, Kir approached slowly. I grabbed his arm and pulled him in front of the closet, then pointed as if to say, ‘see for yourself’.

“What’s this?”

Kir looked where I was pointing and then back at me blankly, his handsome face showing no sign of confusion.

“Clothes.”

“No, do you think I don’t know they’re clothes? Don’t tell me these are supposed to be my clothes?”

I asked with anxiety, even though I knew the answer, hoping it wasn’t what I thought. Kir appeared annoyed.

“This is your room, isn’t it? Of course, they are your clothes.”

I wanted to scream.

It wasn’t that receiving clothes from Kir was burdensome. Yes, it was indeed a bit burdensome, but gifts from Kir weren’t so extravagant that I couldn’t accept them without comment. I usually accepted them graciously.

However, I was cautious about becoming too accustomed to receiving things from Kir. His gifts were acts of kindness towards me. I feared taking them for granted, becoming complacent in receiving. Nothing could be more dreadful than becoming complacent.

But setting all those considerations aside, my body shook with the immediate issue at hand.

“I said earlier I had prepared clothes for you.”

This was not a situation to be discussed leisurely. The problem wasn’t that Kir’ gave a gift’ but rather ‘what the gift was’.

“Are you asking me to wear this? Are you insane?”

“Why can’t you wear it?”

“This is a dress fit for noble ladies at a ball! If you’re going to give me something, it should be practical. I can’t wear this!”

The dress was beautiful, adorned with fancy decorations and fluttering lace, as sophisticated as the dresses worn by the Crown Princess I had seen at the palace.

That meant it was utterly impractical.

Should I wear this to study? Or to meet someone? No matter how I thought about it, there was no occasion for me to wear such a lavish dress.

Had he prepared my usual attire instead, I wouldn’t have felt this sense of waste. It must have been expensive. The cost of that dress could probably buy me ten sets of my regular clothes!

“Why can’t you wear it?”

Why can’t I wear it? Is he telling me to wear it to the Sage’s Study? What kind of embarrassing play is that?

“There’s no occasion for me to wear it. It would just be decorative. I can’t wear it casually. I’d look ridiculous.”

“Try it on. It’ll surely look pretty.”

“That’s absurd.”

Just the thought of wearing it made me cringe with embarrassment. Was this dress a joke to mock me? Kir’s face hardened at my glare. He looked at me with a serious gaze, without any trace of playfulness.

I belatedly realized my mistake. Kir had intended it as a kind gesture, and here I was, pouring out complaints. I understood that there’s nothing more displeasing to the giver than the reaction I had just shown.

I pressed my fingers to my temples, trying to organize my embarrassed thoughts. Then Kir reached out to take the dress. Surprised, I reflexively clung to his arm.

“Why, why? I gave it.”

Despite his calm handling, I anticipated his next move would be to throw it, saying I don’t need it anyway.

Even though I complained, I didn’t want to see the dress treated that way. It wasn’t the dress’s fault I couldn’t wear it.

But instead of throwing the dress away, Kir pulled me closer. Suddenly, I found myself standing in front of a mirror with the dress held up against me.

I naturally imagine myself wearing it.

I never had a particular fantasy about dresses. I always preferred comfortable clothes and never even considered wanting to try on a dress like this. But once it was draped over me, the sensation was different.

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