And so, she wavered. The silence was suffocating, and the breath was sticky. Christoph looked at her with feverish eyes like a feverish young boy.

In that moment, Marianne thought it felt like a swift arrow in the air. Tension hung in the air as if it could burst at any moment.

The hand that had been stroking her hair slowly moved down to her cheek. Christoph did not take his eyes off her, and he gently brushed her cheek after tracing his lower eyelid.

His thumb, this time, moved lightly and touched her lips. It was as if it were an accidental touch, but both Marianne and Christoph knew it wasn’t.

“Marianne.”

He called her name in the deep, resonant voice she had so loved.

At first, her heart trembled, and her toes tensed. His intense gaze was not lost on Marianne, innocent as she was. His black irises brimmed with overt desire.

His thumb still rested on her lips. He moved it slowly. His finger, delving into her lips, steadfastly explored her fervor. It was almost like a kiss, even though it was his finger, not his lips.

Though it was his finger and not his lips, it was a kiss. Marianne thought she might be swallowed up just like that.

“Have a good dream in my place, Marianne. I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

With that, he lightly kissed her forehead and got up from the seat. It was tender and kind, like giving a goodnight kiss to a young daughter.
“It doesn’t make sense. Without a doubt, someone wearing Christoph’s mask.”

She couldn’t figure out which face to see him with. Marianne descended the stairs, gently brushing her flushed cheek.

“Who did what?”

A voice suddenly interjected, and she raised her head in surprise. Christoph was waiting for her in front of the front door, looking just as composed as usual, without a single hint of disarray.

Marianne put extra effort into her lips to hide her embarrassment. Vivid memories resurfaced – the times she had cried until breathless in his embrace, and the tension she had felt as if her heart would burst at his touch.

The back of her neck turned red, and she suddenly furrowed her brows.

“Since when have you been there? When do you ever sleep early?”

Marianne’s voice carried a faint trace of concern.

“Christoph, don’t overdo it. You can handle going to work by yourself. You’re not a lost child.”

To that, Christoph responded with a quiet chuckle, but said nothing more.

Overdo it.

He slowly tilted his head and gazed at her. His gaze lingered.

Even thinking for himself, it felt strange. Memories of living together with Marianne seemed so distant. The everyday routine of having breakfast together, engaging in conversation, bidding farewell, and welcoming each other.
Christoph realized how great a happiness it had been to see her regularly coming and going from the same house. He regretted foolishly throwing away that happiness.

As he lay down and looked at the ceiling, her face appeared before him. The sensation and warmth he had felt at the tips of his fingers resurfaced vividly. Christoph probably thought he was going crazy.

No, looking back at his memories, there had been only one other instance when something similar had happened before. Normally, his mind functioned quite efficiently, and there was no room for unnecessary thoughts.

However, a woman named Marianne Close would unexpectedly invade his mind. She confronted Michael Hindenburg without a hint of hesitation.

The reason was unknown. There was no clear cause. It didn’t seem to be triggered by a specific event. Yet she would infiltrate Christoph’s mind without warning.

In the end, he had to go find Marianne. Christoph asked a colleague he wasn’t particularly close to about her class schedule and coincidentally met Marianne as she was leaving the classroom.

And in that moment, he realized one very important fact: he had no reason to be there.

There was nothing to say between them. With an enigmatic gleam in her flickering azure eyes, she let out a cryptic response.

“Since then, hasn’t Michael bothered you?”

“Ah…”

As if asking if that was what he meant, Marianne laughed, folding her round eyes. Christoph watched her intently, plagued by an ominous premonition.
A foreboding sense that her smiling face would occasionally come to mind in the future. Unfortunately, that premonition turned out to be correct.

“It seems like you have a kind personality contrary to the rumors. If you’re coming to see me out of concern for your junior.”

“Rumors?”

Christoph responded with a dubious expression. Only now did she realize her mistake and let out an awkward laugh. Her azure eyes displayed an embarrassed gleam as they flickered.

In reminiscing about the past, Christoph quietly tugged at the corners of his mouth. Mariann, who had sighed briefly at his silence, began to walk.

She took the lead, and Christoph walked alongside her. They didn’t engage in particularly meaningful conversation. They exchanged occasional phrases like, “The weather is nice,” “Watch your step,” and “It’s not that way.”