A Date? Really?

"Y-yes… I'm s-shy… last night…"

Juliana clamped her mouth shut like she'd just confessed to a murder.

Artis grinned like a man who had just found his new favorite toy.

Before she could backpedal or throw herself out the nearest window, he tilted her chin up and planted a soft, almost too innocent kiss on her lips.

"Hmm?"

She let out a tiny, helpless hum, biting her lip as if that would stop her from combusting.

"You're adorable."

Juliana made a noise that could only be described as an extremely flustered choking sound. Her hands shot up to his chest, half as a push, half as a desperate attempt to ground herself.

"Y-you… don't say stuff like that!"

She whined, squirming in place like a woman on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Artis, meanwhile, looked annoyingly unbothered.

"Why not? Is it wrong?"

He kissed her again, this time lingering, tasting, pressing just enough to make her tremble.