“Wha— B-But— Huh?!”

Her voice cracked, and she stammered incoherently. She could hardly hear herself over the pounding of her own heart.

Wh-What in the moons am I getting so flustered for? This is just a hug. I’m simply being hugged by Prince Abel, that’s all. There’s no reason to get all worked up. Besides, this isn’t even the first time. I’m experienced in being hugged. I was hugged at the dance. I’m a master of being hugged... thought Mia to herself in a desperate attempt to calm the wild throbbing in her chest. A-And, not to mention, Prince Abel is just a kid. That’s right. He’s eight years younger than me—

“Are you okay, Princess Mia? Did you hurt anything?”

She glanced up to find him looking at her, expression full of concern. Their eyes met. The intensity of his gaze bore through her chest and pierced her heart.

N-No! Don’t look at me like that! Not with those eyes!

Mia quickly looked away, but not before her cheeks filled with color.

“I-I’m fine, Prince Abel. Quite fine, actually, so if you don’t mind... Could you, um, let me go?”

“U-Uh, right. Of course. My apologies.”

He hastily pulled away from her, his expression unmistakably crestfallen.

“Ah, please don’t get the wrong idea,” said Mia in a hurry. “I didn’t mind being held by you or anything. It’s not that.”

“Yes, of course. I know...”

Contrary to his words, Abel’s face did not brighten. He looked disappointed... almost desolate. Something about his expression made Mia feel uneasy.

Oh I see now. This is how the cookie crumbles, isn’t it? He stops liking me, and when I need reinforcements from him in the future, he won’t send them anymore...

There was just a shadow of a doubt in the back of her mind — a whisper asking if something like this could possibly cause him to despise her. She decided to dismiss the thought and focus on how to remedy the situation.

What can I do to... Ah-hah! I know!

She stepped closer to him and took his hands in hers.

“Huh? What?”

“Thank you very much for saving me earlier, Prince Abel!” she said before bringing her face right up against his. Then, she turned her head up and looked him right in the eye.

When someone gets too close, the natural reaction is to back away. I just have to make him experience that process for himself. My, how terribly clever I am!

“A-Ah, hey, um... Okay, I get it already, so could you just... not get so close?”

Unable to hold her gaze, he blushed and turned away.

“See? You looked away too, didn’t you? Would you care to explain why you did so, hm?”

Mia put on a victorious grin.

“Why...?”

“How you feel now, Prince Abel, is the same as how I felt earlier.”

“Wha—?!”

You see, as a person of very delicate sensibilities, I get nervous when people come too close. That’s all it is.

“B-But, I think... I probably feel that way more strongly than you do.”

“My, is that a sore loser I hear?”

There was an endearing, child-like quality to the way Abel got so competitive over something so trivial, and she couldn’t resist a giggle.

I do wonder if he’s trying to say he’s even more delicate than I am?

What Mia didn’t realize was that they had slightly different interpretations of how they felt. Whereas she assumed it was a reaction to “having someone get too close to you,” he took it to mean “being approached by the girl you like.”

What she also didn’t realize was that there was another layer to her own reaction that, unbeknownst to her, was rather similar to Abel’s.