Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 107

After finishing their hamburger meal, the three of them moved towards the flower garden Lilliana had mentioned. Damian narrowed his eyes, observing Lilliana, who had seemed unusually cheerful throughout the meal, now walking closely beside Casey.

Compared to just an hour ago, Lilliana’s attitude had shifted, and he was puzzled not knowing the reason. Watching the siblings walking side-by-side across from him, Damian tilted his head in confusion.

“Lilliana, are you alright?”

“With what?”

“….It’s nothing.”

Whatever it was, Lilliana seemed to have stopped keeping her distance from Casey as she had before.

It was better than her trembling in fear, but for some reason, he felt a petty resentment seeing her pay more attention to Casey than to herself.

The path to the flower garden was also crowded with people, making the displayed attractions less visible than the throngs of visitors.

“Who was the idiot who suggested going to an amusement park on the weekend? I’m about to get trampled to death by these people.”

Casey said jokingly, and Lilliana retorted with puffed cheeks.

“This was the only place that came to mind, so what else could I do? And if we can’t see everything properly today, we can just come back another time, right? I have plenty of time.”

At Lilliana’s words, Casey stroked her hair, and Lilliana flinched for a fleeting moment but didn’t stop him.

Damian, observing the two, harbored a slight suspicion. However, seeing Lilliana’s bright expression, it seemed that Casey hadn’t done anything strange.

The sweet and cozy fragrance of flowers grew stronger. Damian, who had been constantly glancing back to check if the other two were following, unknowingly stopped in his tracks.

“Wow, it’s really beautiful.”

Lilliana stood beside Damian and exclaimed in admiration. In front of them was a giant deer sculpture made of flowers, branches, and vines. It boasted the majesty of a king of the forest. Casey whistled and remarked,

“It’s more impressive than I thought.”

“Right?”

Lilliana, who loved flowers, peered around curiously, wanting to see other sculptures as well.

Casey and Damian walked in the direction Lilliana was heading, matching her pace so she could look around freely.

A sculpture shaped like a bird, another with flowers cascading like a fountain…

It seemed like they had done everything possible with flowers, and Lilliana had a look of rapture on her face. While wandering around, she spotted a photographer and said to the two,

“Let’s take a picture! There’s a photographer over there! I forgot to bring my camera today.”

To be honest, when she left the house, Lilliana hadn’t been in the mood to take pictures, knowing she had to be with Casey. But now, she wanted to capture this time spent with Casey in a photograph.

Casey, as expected, responded positively, and surprisingly, Damian also accepted the offer, although his expression seemed a bit displeased.

The three handed money to the photographer and posed against a suitable backdrop. Lilliana stood in the middle, flanked by Damian and Casey. The photographer, looking through the camera, asked them,

“Are you three a family?”

“This is my friend, and this is my brother,” Lilliana replied brightly.

The photographer chuckled and said,

“Well then, try to stand closer together. You look like strangers who just met.”

Lilliana promptly linked arms with Damian, who was standing awkwardly. Then, she glanced up at Casey.

Casey, also looking at Lilliana, put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her towards him. As a result, Lilliana ended up separated from Damian by a rather awkward distance.

“Smile, Lily!”

Casey grabbed Lilliana’s cheek with his free hand and stretched it. Lilliana was startled at first, but then burst into an incredulous laugh and retaliated by grabbing and stretching his cheek.

“What are you doing!”

Click!

The sound of the camera shutter echoed along with their laughter.

Damian, still standing at an awkward distance beside Lilliana, wore a truly bewildered expression.

Just this morning, Lilliana had been clinging to Damian’s hand, afraid of Casey. He wondered what had caused her to suddenly act so casually with Casey.

Even if there had been a trigger for Lilliana to open up to Casey, Damian wasn’t sure if it was possible to become close so abruptly.

However, considering Lilliana’s friendly nature, it seemed plausible that once the barrier between the siblings crumbled, she would leap across that boundary and sprint towards Casey with full force.

It was a situation difficult for Damian to comprehend. But he dismissed it, thinking, well, that’s Lilliana for you.

“The picture came out funny because of you, brother!” Lilliana protested.

Casey grinned and said, “Should we take another one then?”

“But don’t touch me!”

Lilliana added various conditions, then posed again, linking arms with Damian and putting her arm around Casey’s shoulder.

Damian looked at the two with renewed interest. He didn’t know Casey’s true intention behind suggesting the outing, but if it was a strategy to get closer to Lilliana, it seemed to be somewhat successful.

After taking a few more pictures, they left the photographer behind and entered a garden filled with various flowers. They couldn’t help but marvel at the sight of the ground embroidered with colorful blossoms. Damian, who didn’t know much about flowers, saw many varieties for the first time.

As they were walking, Lilliana suddenly stopped. When Casey and Damian looked back at her, she tilted her head slightly and spoke.

“Seeing these flowers makes me miss it.”

“Miss what?” Casey asked, and Lilliana mumbled with a dazed expression,

“That field…”

Lilliana trailed off, her eyes crinkling. Then, she shook her head, returning to her usual expression and tone,

“No… It’s nothing. I just suddenly remembered a painting of a field that I drew.”

“Did something come to mind? Like a place you used to live…”

At Damian’s words, Casey reacted with slight sensitivity.

“Should we go back if you have a headache?”

“I don’t know. It’s just…”

Lilliana frowned, lost in thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“I really don’t know. I don’t even know what I was thinking.”

“Then it’s probably nothing. There’s no reason to go back if you’re not feeling sick.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m not sick, brother. I think I just felt a bit dazed, maybe because there are so many people.”

Casey had a somewhat disapproving look on his face. Lilliana, ignoring him, started walking again and said to the two,

“Let’s explore the amusement park, have dinner, and then ride the Ferris wheel. I heard the night view is amazing. And they also have a night parade on weekends. It’ll be fun to watch.”

Damian and Casey watched Lilliana with warmth as she excitedly laid out her plans.

“Sure.”

“That sounds good.”

“Then where should we have dinner?”

At Casey’s question, Damian looked at the map and said,

“There are restaurants all over the place according to the map, so we can just pop into any place nearby.”

“That’s true.”

“Or, is there anything you want to eat?”

“Hmm… something sweet?”

Now that she thought about it, she had eaten even Damian’s share of the sweet apple pie earlier. ‘We must be alike in our love for sweets.’

For some reason, Lilliana felt a bit shy. If there were memories like this, shared with Casey, hidden within the two years she had lost, she wanted to regain them as soon as possible.

“Lilliana.”

At Damian’s call, Lilliana snapped out of her thoughts and replied,

“Yes?”

“Hold my hand… no, I think it would be good to hold hands.”

Damian was extending his hand towards her. Now that she noticed, the crowd had grown even larger than before, and it seemed like it would be easy to lose sight of each other if they walked separately.

So, without any suspicion, Lilliana took Damian’s hand as she had done earlier, completely unaware that Damian had intentionally left Casey behind.

“Hey~ Lily~ Damian~”

Casey, who was some distance away from them, called out, but Damian said to him with a feigned regret,

“Oh, there are so many people, I can’t reach you. You come over here.”

“Then wait for me~”

While Casey struggled to make his way towards them, Damian fiddled with Lilliana’s hand and carefully asked,

“Lilliana, would it be possible for you to hold my other hand?”

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