It was the first time Ruby and Adrian were ever this close—physically and emotionally. Until now, there had always been a quiet distance between them. Not out of coldness, but something else... like a careful respect, an unspoken boundary neither of them had dared to cross.
They rarely talked one-on-one. Whenever the others were around. But now, as Adrian sat beside her on the sofa, their shoulders almost brushing, Ruby could feel the stillness between them humming with something new. Something warm. Unfamiliar, but not unwelcome.
Adrian kept stealing glances at the screen and then at her hands, watching how she used the laptop. Ruby noticed the way he leaned forward just slightly, genuinely curious but also a little clumsy with the unfamiliar device. His fingers hesitated over the keyboard.
"Here," she said softly, shifting closer and guiding his hands with her own. "This key opens the search window, and this one scrolls the page. Don’t press too hard—you’ll get used to the sensitivity."
Adrian nodded seriously, trying his best to follow her instructions. He fumbled a little, accidentally clicking the wrong app, and the screen flickered into a music player that started playing soft harp sounds.
"Oh," he mumbled, flustered. "I didn’t mean to do that..."
Ruby chuckled. "It’s okay. That happens. You’re still faster than I expected."
He looked at her, slightly surprised. "Really?"
She nodded, brushing a strand of her white hair behind her ear. "You’re a fast learner, Adi. Just a bit clumsy but that’s kind of good."
He smiled, just a little. It reached his eyes.
And Ruby noticed for the first time how soft his smile was when he wasn’t trying to hide it, how the lines of worry he usually wore seemed to ease when he was focused on learning something. He wasn’t like the others, and Ruby realized... maybe that’s what made this moment feel so gentle.
As the screen glowed quietly in front of them, and Adrian cautiously typed a few words into the search bar, Ruby leaned back a bit, letting him explore. But her gaze stayed on him for a moment longer.
And the more she observed him, the more Ruby realized just how good-looking Adrian really was.
Not in the obvious, loud way Karl carried his charm, or the innocent brightness of Milo’s smile but in that quiet, cold, male god kind of way. The kind of beauty that didn’t need to be spoken about to be felt. It was in his profile, sharp and clean. In the way his dark lashes cast soft shadows under his eyes when he looked down. In the calm, composed way he held himself—even when he was confused by a button or two on the laptop.
His focus was sharp. When he wanted to learn something, he gave it his full attention—fully present, like the world around him disappeared until he understood it. Ruby found herself holding her breath watching him. His brows furrowed slightly in concentration, lips parted just enough as he followed her explanation, and when she paused to let him try, his fingers hesitated for a moment before moving with a cautious kind of precision.
He was clumsy, yes. But he didn’t panic. He didn’t laugh to cover his mistakes. He simply absorbed. Like a sponge that soaked in everything.
Ruby tilted her head as she studied him, chin resting on her hand. There was something quiet yet intense about Adrian—something magnetic. She could already tell: if he wanted something, he would get it. No matter how long it took. He had that kind of energy. Calm, patient, but unshakable. Like a glacier moving—slow, but unstoppable.
She blinked and looked away quickly when he turned toward her with a question, not wanting him to catch the look in her eyes.
But her heart had already skipped.
And it echoed for a while.
The soft, slow moment between Ruby and Adrian shattered like thin glass under Karl’s voice echoing down the hallway.
"Wife~~ Stingy wife~ Pretty wife... look! I wrote essay!" he sang, skipping into the living room like he owned the world, a notebook clutched proudly in his hands.
Ruby’s expression immediately shifted from warm curiosity to cold steel. Her eyes narrowed with deadly calm, and the air around her seemed to drop ten degrees.
Karl felt it. That chilling wind of danger. He stopped mid-skip, one foot still half-raised in the air as his eyes widened. "Uh..."
But what truly startled him wasn’t the glare.
It was seeing Adrian.
Sitting right next to Ruby.
Their shoulders almost touching.
"What..." Karl blinked. "Wait. What’s brother adi doing there?"
Adrian raised an eyebrow in his usual calm way, as if daring him to speak further. Ruby didn’t even bother answering Karl’s question—she just tilted her head and asked, Coldy, "What did you write?"
Karl’s expression brightened again, as if nothing happened. He grinned and jogged over to her other side, slipping the notebook into her hands. "Tada! Essay! For you!"
Ruby flipped open the notebook and found the title scrawled in Karl’s messy, emotional handwriting:
"My Wife: The Most Beautiful, Scary, and Kindest witch Ever Born (In My Heart)."
"Did you copy this from somewhere?" she asked, deadpan.
Karl gasped. "No! I wrote this with real feelings! Look—here—’Her hair is like cloud but she will hit you like granny if you touch her things.’ See? That’s original!"
Ruby raised an eyebrow, biting back a laugh as she flipped another page of the notebook. The handwriting was large, a little chaotic, and definitely emotional. It had Karl’s personality all over it:
[ My Wife is dangerous but also gentle like a fire that won’t burn you if you don’t touch it~~
One day, wife will come home with Soulstream in her hands. I can already see it. In my dreams, in the clouds, and also in brochure I kept under my pillow.
Wife is soft when she hugs, scary when she glares, and heartless when she says ’no’ to Soulstream.]
By now, Ruby couldn’t hold her laughter. She covered her mouth, shoulders shaking.
Ruby wiped a tear from her eye, finally speaking between laughs, "So this entire essay is just a trap to guilt me into buying you that thing?"
Karl gave her the biggest innocent eyes he could manage. "Noooo... But if it works, I’ll write part two."
She gave him a deadpan look.
—To be continued...🪄