Just Hold My Hand

g a first love would feel like, but to think that her client’s wish right before his death was to confess at least once to his first love.
Sonidor was a woman herself, so she didn’t know what having a first love would be like for a man, but she couldn’t understand him at all.
She was doing the job for money, after all.

Besides that-

‘Why can’t he just say ‘I like you’!,’ Sonidor thought frustratedly.

‘Because the man couldn’t confess properly, he never held a woman’s hand properly until right before he died.’ [t/n: the way she’s cussing him out pls he’s an old man]

Sonidor’s mental exhaustion reached the limit, and she let out a rant inwardly.
However, she wanted to try one last thing before waking up, even if it turned out to be a waste of all the effort she had put in thus far.

‘Think, brain! Think of words that can elicit a confession from a man!’

“I came here because you said you had something urgent to say to me,” Sonidor said with a visibly disappointed expression.

“H-hey, Lila, it’s not…-“

The man in the dream, named Leponse, was not an old man in his 70s but a 22 year old young man who had met Lila for the first time.
Lila was the girl Leponse secretly had a crush on when he was young.
She was the daughter of an old countess, a woman who had employed Leponse as a gardener and a young lady whom he would not have dared to dream of.
Sonidor was now in the form of Lila.

The reason why she was able to take on the appearance of a young lady who she had never seen before was because in the world of dreams, Sonidor changed into the appearance of the person the client most desperately wanted to see.
There was no such strict rule that this appearance must be that of a human, but there was never a time Sonidor didn’t take the form of a human in a client’s dream.

“Is that really all you have to say to me? Leponse.
Even if this meeting is the last?,” she said, fiddling with her fingertips.

“What do you mean by the last time, Miss Lila?”

Sonidor lowered her eyelashes with tears in her eyes pitifully.
She was sure that if Terry saw her, he’d think she looked crazy, but here, she was in a dream where no one could interfere but herself and her client.

’

“…I-I…L-Leponse…you-“

Leponse’s pupils were shaking crazily in all manner of directions.
He couldn’t help but be embarrassed when Miss Lila, whom he always watched from a distance, acted as if she were about to confess to him.
He had the same feeling as her, but why couldn’t he say the words despite having everything laid out for him? He was going crazy and jumping inwardly.

“Leponse.
Are you going to make me say it first?”

Sonidor hugged the bouquet she received from the client earlier and looked up at him, deliberately fluttering her eyelashes.
It was a very blatant method of seduction, but Leponse’s face started to turn red, and he pursed his lips.

‘Come on, confess already!,’ Sonidor thought urgently.
She peered up at the sky with a slightly uneasy gaze.
Dark clouds parted in the sky, and cracks were visible between in the gaps.
More cracks started to appear, and the world began to blacken at the edges.
As if he had read Sonidor’s mind, Leponse said, closing his eyes tightly-

“Lila, I love you! I’ve always loved you.
From the first time I saw you for so many years, always…all the time…-“

She let out a sigh of relief.

Finally, the request was completed.
The client’s request was that he wanted to confess to his first love, and so that was her role – somehow, she had managed to get the timing right.
Before the sky completely blackened, Sonidor held Leponse’s hand affectionately.

Normally, there would’ve been no need to do this, but it was a reward for showing such a beautiful world of colour.
The garden in Leponse’s dream showed a pleasing harmony of flowers and vibrant, yet warm colours.
As expected, a garden created by a former gardener’s consciousness was on a different level.
There was even a time when a famous painter in the Empire had commissioned Sonidor for a request, and the setting of his dream was very spectacular.
It was to the extent that she wanted to place it onto a canvas and frame it if she could.

“Thank you.
I have never forgotten you even for a moment.”

A garden full of beautiful flowers, and a confession of first love towards an unforgettable first love.
When Sonidor was convinced she had completed the request perfectly, a smile naturally spread across her lips.

Finally, her field of view gradually narrowed into darkness.

’

Consciousness slowly began to be regained.
As her sense of reality slowly returned, Sonidor suffered a tremendous headache and muscle pain.
It felt like death.
If she had ended up doing this three times today, she would have fallen asleep for two days.

She wiggled her trembling toes and slowly opened her eyes.
Her own hand was gripping her client’s sweaty hand.
Sonidor was always reluctant to hold the hand of someone she didn’t know very well, but she had no choice because she couldn’t enter their consciousness without having physical contact with them.
She let out a deep sigh and waited until she could move her body without pain.
But then suddenly, she began to contort her whole body as if she had cramps all over.

Sonidor let out a groaning sound and sighed.

“Oi, Terry! Oh, I’m dying!”

The boy, who had been dozing off in his chair, jumped up in surprise at the sudden scream.
Terry staggered in a daze, then tripped and fell face-first.

Bang!

Hearing Terry’s shout of pain, Sonidor murmured to herself, “What is up today? First with the client and now this guy.”

Terry stood up and grinned in front of Sonidor, clutching his red nose.

“Are you completely finished this time? Do I have to work overtime today again?”

“Can’t you see me suffering? Is that the only thing that matters?”

“That is the most important thing.
You sound fine, though.”

“Wake me up quickly next time! If you don’t do your job properly, your allowance will be cut.”

“Huh, weird.
You can’t move your body, right? But your mouth moves just fine.”

“….”

When Sonidor’s temper tantrum ended, Terry began to massage her arm without a word.