ALL NOVEL Chapter 326: Why Would You Do Such A Thing?
Nina's eyes also let out a hopeful shimmer, thinking that I might have actually liked the drink I had after seeing that I was silently trying to figure out the flavour while swerving the bottle around. But unfortunately for her, I didn't give the response she was expecting as I looked at her hopeful face and said with a wry smile on my face,
"I'm sorry to say this, Nina, but this drink isn't for me...It's a little too bitter for my taste...Honestly a little too bitter to the extent that I had to struggle to keep the liquid in my mouth since I felt my body rejecting it from its system when I tasted how bitter this Safra juice actually was."
"...I wanted to immediately like it and say that I absolutely love this drink, but that would be the same as lying to you over something you really love, which I really don't want to do." I said with a reluctant smile on my face, which made Nina give out a smile of her own, like she was already expecting such an outcome.
"It's fine, Kafka...I know that it's not a drink for everyone, and it will only satisfy people with acquired tastes like me, so it's really fine if you don't like it." Even though Nina had a smile on her face, it was still apparent that she was a little sad that she didn't manage to find a kindred spirit in me.
It wasn't the first time that she was disappointed that someone she was close to didn't relate to her tastes, just like how her father also didn't really like the taste of the juice, unlike her and her mother, who absolutely loved it.
But this time it especially affected her and made her lips quiver a bit for some reason that she couldn't really understand, since she didn't even react this way when her husband rejected her suggestion of having a sip.
She quickly hid what she was feeling with a forced smile, and she berated herself for feeling all down in the dumps just because a random boy didn't like what she liked, acting like a teenage girl who was going through a flurry of hormones that made her have unstable emotions.
But it was clearly apparent with how tightly she was clutching her own bottle, how badly she was affected, and also how desperate she was to find someone who actually understood what she felt.
This wasn't simply because I didn't like something that she liked; it actually stemmed from a problem that was so much more deeper, which was how alone she felt in life at the moment, thinking that there was no one out there in the world left after her parents passed away who loved and understood her the same way they did.
She herself wasn't aware of the matter, and she simply thought she was going through some unwanted emotions that made her seem weak, which was unfortunate to think about.
"Honestly, the fact that you didn't spit out the juice the moment you took a sip and actually took the effort to drink it for my sake is more than enough for me...With the amount of times I've almost been sprayed in the face when offering others a taste, I'm more than grateful that you didn't paint my face in Sasfra juice, since as much as I like it, I wouldn't really enjoy it all over my face." Nina laughed as she thought she was mentioning a funny moment in her life, but in actuality, it wasn't funny at all and quite concerning in nature.
She then chuckled as she said while holding out her hands towards me, "You also don't have to throw the remaining juice into the dustbin, as I'm more than happy to swipe it off your hands and have it all to myself since, unlike the rest of you, I'm a weirdo who actually likes this drink for some reason."
"...Well, only if you're willing to give the bottle to me and you aren't too shy knowing that your big sister here will drink from the same bottle you put your lips on."
Even though Nina said such words to tease me and make me feel embarrassed, she was the one who ended up blushing in the end when she thought of how she would be sharing the same bottle as me, like an innocent little girl, and immediately regretted saying it in the first place.
But when she was expecting me to hand over the bottle so that she could chug it down in one go right in front of me and prove to me and herself that indirect kisses didn't matter to her since she was a fully grown adult and not an ignorant little kid, she unexpectedly saw me lifting the bottle up and forcing it all down my throat with a determined look on my face, which flabbergasted her to the extreme.
Glug~ Glug~ Glug~
She had no idea why I was drinking the juice that I clearly disliked and was panicking, praying that I didn't choke on it because of how bitter it tasted.
"W-What are you doing, Kafka?! Why are you forcing yourself to drink the rest of the bottle?!...You don't have to do such a thing!" Nina exclaimed while trying to pull the bottle away from me, to which she failed since, as tall as she was, she was still shorter than me.
"If you're doing it because of what I told you earlier about forcing you to drink it, then you really don't have to since I was really joking...You really don't have to force yourself to drink it!"
"Ahh~...But I'm not forcing myself to drink it, Nina." I let out a loud gasp after downing the entire bottle, as if it wasn't the easiest task to drink so much of something that actually burned my tongue because of how bitter it was. I then looked at Nina, who had a worried look on her face, and said, "...I'm finishing this bottle off because I want to."
"W-Why would you do something like that?" Nina asked in an exasperated manner as she looked at my bottle, which didn't even have a drop of juice left in it, in shock, not expecting that I would actually finish the entire bottle.
"You just said that you found it too bitter and that you struggled to keep it in your mouth...But even after having such strong feelings against it, why would you go out of your way to drink it again?"
Nina looked up at me with her wide eyes, which were desperately looking at me for an answer to my bizarre actions.
"Well, like I said earlier, I really do find it hard to drink this juice since I prefer to drink beverages that are sweet, rather than this Sasfra juice that tastes a lot more like medicine than a refreshing drink." I agreed to what she said.
But before she could say anything, I looked at her nervous face and said with a little grin, "...But you forgot about one thing, Nina...You forgot that you also didn't like the flavour of Safra juice when you first tasted it when you were young...It was only after your mother made you drink it for the sake of valuing your culture did you slowly grow to like it's taste, like you mentioned earlier."
"So, just like what you did when you were a child, I thought that if I started today and drank a bottle of Safra juice every day from here on forth, I'd get used to the taste just like you and would eventually start enjoying it's bitter flavour." I explained my plan, which made Nina look at me in a daze with her lips parted, not exactly knowing what she was thinking about at the moment.
I then continued saying, "Sure, it will be hard to down something that tastes so bitter everyday...But I'm pretty sure with a little determination and sheer will I can brute force myself to grow accustomed to the taste and savour the drink just like you do."
"B-But why, Kafka?....Why would you go out of your way to do something that you don't like for absolutely no reason?" Nina took a step forward and asked in a trembling tone, already having a hint as to why I was doing what I was doing, but she was unable to believe that it was actually true. Continue your saga on m|v-l'e m,p| y- r
She then looked up at me and asked with eyes that were full of concern and unneasiness about what I was doing to myself, "...Why would you torture yourself for something as insignificant as liking some old beverage that was made in the boonies?...W-Why would you do such a useless thing?"