𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚊 𝙵𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝙺𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝙻𝚒𝚔𝚎?
Summary :
Books promised sweetness. Movies promised fireworks.
MC simply wants to know if any of it is true.
Harlequin immediately regrets getting involved.
In movies and dramas, a first kiss was always painted in shades of pink, with imaginary bells ringing somewhere in the distance.
Books described it as sweet, intoxicating, almost euphoric.
But a kiss was really nothing more than skin brushing against skin, wasn't it?
Could it truly feel that wonderful?
The reason I kept wondering about things like this was simple.
The man standing before me.
The man who had suddenly appeared one day, turned the entire town upside down, and somehow managed to do the same thing to my heart.
The clown outfit that had looked bizarre when I first met him now seemed strangely cute. His snake-like eyes and dark curly hair had become handsome in my eyes.
And every time he spoke, the movement of his throat, the sharp teeth glimpsed between those beautiful lips—
It was enough to make me dizzy.
So, to be clear, this wasn't because I was some kind of pervert.
Harlequin was simply far too attractive.
"Do you have something you'd like to say to me?"
I flinched.
"'You've been staring at my lips all day,' was the unspoken part of his sentence.
Oh no. Was it really that obvious?
"Perhaps you'd like to kiss me~?"
A kiss.
My first kiss.
The word alone made my head feel light.
"…If I said I wanted to kiss you, would you actually do it?"
"…?"
For the first time, the confident, composed expression he always wore twisted into something strange.
"Well… if you insist."
"Really? Then do it! I want to know what a first kiss feels like."
"A first kiss…?"
A first kiss?
A grown woman claiming she'd never kissed anyone before.
Ordinarily, Harlequin would have dismissed it as an obvious lie.
Yet the look on her face was entirely sincere.
Had she really gone her whole life without kissing anyone?
Was that even possible?
Perhaps there was something wrong with her head…
Then again, she was a woman who willingly followed around a monster like him.
Maybe being a little strange wasn't surprising.
"Then I'll do it… if you ask me properly."
It was clearly meant as teasing.
Yet her eyes sparkled instantly as she clasped her hands together and looked up at him.
"I want my first kiss from Harlequin. Tell me whether it's really soft and sweet and pink like everyone says!"
How was he supposed to explain that a kiss was merely flesh brushing together, a meaningless act born of instinct?
More importantly—
Why did he suddenly care about not disappointing her?
Why?
Why did the thought of seeing those shining eyes lose their light bother him so much?
She was a woman who would disappear without a trace the moment he decided to swallow her whole.
So why…
A sudden wave of irritation rose from somewhere deep inside him.
Before he could think better of it, he pressed a finger against the woman's lips, silencing the chatter that had been filling the room.
"If you want a kiss, you'll have to be quiet first."
He would start with those lips.
Chew them apart. Melt them away until not a trace remained.
Yet contrary to his intentions, the closer he leaned toward her, the harder his heart pounded.
His palms grew damp with sweat.
A strange tingling crawled across his back, like insects skittering beneath his skin.
Their breaths mingled.
And when their lips finally met, a soft sigh escaped from between them.
He brushed his lips against hers, soft and sweet, trying to adjust their awkward angle. Just as he reached up to cradle her delicate chin—
She pulled away.
"Wow!"
She stared at him with wide, astonished eyes.
Then she touched his lips once with her fingertips, pressed a hand against her chest, and looked back at him.
"Wow!!"
She shouted again before bouncing around the room.
"Wow!! This is weird…!"
Her face was completely flushed.
After running around for a while, she finally seemed to calm down and hurried back in front of him, words spilling out faster than she could stop them.
"It wasn't sweet, but my heart is beating really fast, and I feel happy."
"I want to try it again. Can we do it again?"
The expression on her face was so unbelievably foolish that the unpleasant feeling from before vanished without a trace.
At the same time, all his strength seemed to leave him.
What exactly was he supposed to do with a woman like this?
Letting out a weary sigh, he draped an arm across his forehead.
Only then did he notice the heat radiating from his skin.
Had he been nervous?
Now that he thought about it, warmth flooded his face all at once.
His cheeks burned.
"Harlequin, your face is red."
"…Don't look."
He hurriedly pressed a hand over her small face.
But once the heat had risen, it showed no signs of fading.
If anything, even the tips of his ears had begun to burn.
"Harlequin… I want to kiss you again. Let's do it again, okay?"
"…Hah."
When would this idiot realize that hadn't even been a proper kiss?
It had only been a peck.
And if something as innocent as that could make her this happy…
When, exactly, was he supposed to teach her what came next?
Faced with a future that seemed impossibly distant, he could only let out a long, weary sigh.