"N-No Kafka, what you said still doesn't make any sense at all..." Nina clutched her head like she had a headache and struggled to process what I said. "...No matter how much I think about it, you liking me is simply a nonsensical story that I simply can't believe."
"I mean, just look at the age gap between us...How could you even find a hag who's as old as me attractive...Not to mention my looks, that are-"
"Wait...Let me speak first before you come to your own assumptions, Nina." I interrupted Nina, who looked like she was going to go on an entire rant as to why there was no way I had a thing for her.
I then continued saying, after confirming that she was calm enough to listen to my words,
"Just like how you listened to my previous stories, do you want to know the short story of when and why I started to feel something for you?"
Nina nodded her frantically as she was desperate to know what made me say such crazy things about her and wished to point out to me where I went wrong to put me on the correct route, like the older sister she was trying to be.
"Don't be upset since it's actually a really short story since it literally happened an hour ago..." I warned her, to which she nodded her head once again and gestured to me to go on since she couldn't handle the tension.
"...But if you want to know when and where I first started to get interested in you, Nina, then it's probably when Mrs Keller told me that there was a lady, who was also the owner of this hot spring who beat up a bunch of unruly men who messed with the peace of this place."
"The moment I heard that there was such a righteous and courageous woman out there who didn't care about the risks of fighting with a group of men who both outnumbered her and were physically stronger than her, she immediately piqued my curiosity, and I wanted to know her name at all costs at the moment."
I said in an enthusiastic manner, like I would've given anything to see the sight of Nina beating up those men, which made Nina stare at me with a dumbfounded look on her face, like she was looking at a weirdo.
"What nonsense are you talking about, Kakfa?!...What kind of man out there would be interested in a woman who's so clearly so violent and dangerous to the extent that she can effortlessly deal with three men at the same time?!" Nina exclaimed and looked at me as if I were crazy to suggest an absurd thing, while also praising herself at the same time.
Nina suddenly shrieked when she got scared out of her dreamy state after hearing the sound of my hand slamming against the cushion and unconsciously followed along with what I was saying.
"It wasn't what I felt, Nina!...It was what my heart felt at that moment since it was beating like crazy, as if I had just met the love of my life!" I exclaimed in a rather dramatic manner, like I was in a 17th-century play, which enamoured Nina even more, who was caught up in the energetic and lively mood around me as I told my story.
And to add more emotion to this little play I was putting on, I grabbed Nina's hand, which was free to hold since she was too into what I was telling her to care about her hand, and folded her fingers up to form a fist.
I then put both my hands over hers until they fully covered her soft little hand and started to compress her hand with a certain rhythm, as if I were pumping her hand that was balled up, and then said to Nina, who had just found out that her hand was hijacked by me,
"Do you feel this, Nina?...Do you feel how your fist continuously feels like it's being compressed and released to the extent that it even hurts a little?"
"That's exactly how my heart felt the moment I saw the example you made of those three in the lobby, and it made me realise that the love of my life wasn't so far away and was actually the owner of this quaint little place." I tightly held onto Nina's hand, which I could actually feel warming up, along with her face, which was turning even more flushed.
"S-Stop joking, Kafka! There's no way you felt that way after witnessing the brutality I had made in the lobby!" Nina pulled her hand away from mine in a frantic manner with a flustered look on her face, which was rare to see from someone as fearless as her, and she looked like she refused to believe my words.
She then continued saying, while staring at her hands like she could still feel the coldness from holding mine, "...And if you actually did feel that way after seeing such a scene, then that simply means that you're someone who needs to get his head checked immediately."
"Well, I guess on your orders, I'm going to have to get to visit the psychiatrist tomorrow...Do you know any places nearby?" I said with my lips curled up, which made Nina harumph and glare at me for joking around in this mess of a situation.
"But before I go to the hospital, let me finish telling you my story first, if that's fine with you..." I said, to which Nina hesitantly nodded her head since, even though she found every word I said to be ridiculous and impossible to believe, she also couldn't help but want to hear all of what I had to say and was avidly looking forward to what I was going to say about her next.
Even though she was quite reluctant to let me continue since everything I said sounded quite delusional to her, she had to admit that my previous bunch of sweet whispers really did make her feel good about herself and made her lips unconscious curl up, so after going back and forth in her head, she agreed to my request and was full of curiosity to know what other crazy stuff I was going to say.