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...
6：00
Summer is always so hard.
Because heat and noise are everywhere.
Sage put down the kettle and is satisfied to see her green forest. It's actually a balcony, but occupied by the huge flowers and plants that she took care of. The smell of damp earth enveloped the small area.
She take a deep breath, and before the moring sun began to melt everything, the cicadas had already chant endlessly, and even the birdsong had lost its place in its owner.
She lives alone in this apartment, and the breath of life outside the window is warm and crazy.
Until the sound of the bottom of the glass hitting the table pulled her out of this world.
Sage looked back and saw the short-haired woman, dressed only in a black tank top and shorts, casually sitting on a small stool on the balcony, with two black drinks on the folding table.
"Chilled?"
"Hmm."
"I didn't expect you to really like iced coffee so much, how many cups is this week?" Sage also pulled a stool to sit down, she wore a palareal short-sleeved dress today with a flaxen-colored kitten printed in the middle, and the therapist knew that Viper liked it because the latter's green eyes stayed on that little print for more than a minute.
"Jett gave me an iced Americano at the bar last week, and I never knew coffee could be served cold."
Viper muttered, taking a sip of her drink, "It's my third day of making iced coffee, and honestly, I don't want to drink it hot all the time in the summer." She continued to drink, the ice cubes in her cup gurgling against each other, the clear glass and ice glistening in the sunlight.
Sage stared at her throat rolling and swallowed, realizing that she was really thirsty too.
A little numb, unlike yesterday, she added mint.
"How?" Viper lowered her glass and paid attention to Sage's expression.
"Mint is great, how did you come up with the idea?"
"Who knows, maybe it's a habits as a chemist, and I want to try everything."
The therapist couldn't help but stick out her tongue, and the chemist gave a not-so-kind smirk.
Her dark green eyes were really different from what they used to be, they were always filled with ice and glass, sometimes with hatred, sometimes with tears.
And now inside is pure happiness and laughter.
"If we're still in Valorant, I'm really going to think about whether I'm poisoned." Sage frowned and sighed. "Green leaves, who knows if that's from your lab, huh?"
"You know, the war has been over for a long time, it's all in the past." Viper's gaze involuntarily skimmed the bumpy scars on her arms, with scalds and chemical burns, or the cross-shaped bumps left by bullets, and more scratches on the outside of her forearm. Sage once said she could eliminate these, but she refused.
They lived together, and they don't know when the turtleneck appeared less frequently on her, and the viper no longer tried to cover the scars on her body, as it is now, almost naked.
Sage's breath trembled for some reason when Viper mentioned the war, and the former smiled helplessly.
"I'm going to make breakfast."
The slippers creaked against the wooden floor.
…
8：00
Sage stared at the two empty plates, and a plate of bread and omelette that that was not enjoyed, Viper had already cleaned up the two of them, and bent over to put the full breakfast in the insulated box like an autopilot, which was something that couldn't be helped, and Reyna stayed in bed as always.
The chemist is beautiful when she focuses on brushing the dishes, even if only a busy back is left for Sage.
Her vest was thin and comfortable.
Viper suddenly said, "Sometimes I feel like I have a dog at home. ”
As Sage leaned unreservedly against her back, her hands restlessly wrapped around the chemist's waist, and her lips could kiss just over that bulging shoulder blade, she could feel the skin on Viper's neck twitch with satisfaction, but she didn't shake off the sticky creature on her back because of the itch.
"Do you want a dog?" Sage smiled.
"That's probably going to be jealous."
"So... What about cats? We should have one. ”
"It's true that cats are lazier, but we already have one, and she's still sleeping."
Sage giggled on her back, "You're right," she whispered in her ear.
"Hey, girls, I heard a couple slandering me."
A Mexico with messy hair crawled out of the room, and she looked like she had just fought with the quilt and narrowly won.
"Wake up so early?" The chemist raised an eyebrow.
Reyna rolled her eyes.
Tick sound rang out in the kitchen, and they both knew that Reyna had opened the Tick sound and taken her share of food.
...
15：00
The rich aroma of bread wakes up sage.
They had a barbecue for lunch, a few beers, and the Chinese woman made a few fruit salads, and she remembers Viper accidentally got the sauce on her face while eating the fruit salad. After that, the therapist fell asleep in a comfortable drunken state.
She grunted, wriggled out of her sleepy bedding, and saw that Sabine was still sitting at her desk, not knowing which pen she was playing with.
While they were still communicating in the lab, Sage discovered a habit of playing with the pen when Viper didn't know what to write. Sage wanted to laugh because Sabine said she had a lot to do before she fell asleep, which didn't seem to be the case.
"Your employees would be happy to have a hard-working boss like you."
The therapist taunted her as she sat up, her legs dangling under the bed looking for slippers.
"Maybe?" Viper heard the sound of fabric squirming behind her, stood up and began to stare at Sage, those eyes always strained, as if they were going to nail her to the curtain behind her.
Clear but not cloudy.
Sage shook her messy hair and thoughts, and before she could react, she got a comb, and from another person in the room, she always did a lot of things quietly.
"Do I bother you?" Ryna walked in suddenly, with a fat, thick glove wrapped around her hand, which was apparently used for insulation, a large piece of fruit bread on the plate in her hand, with a little charred crispy crust on it, but more brown of cooked flour, and dark red fruit decorations.
The duelist found a table and put it down casually.
she pushed open several documents of unknown content, causing the chemist to frown, but when the aroma of bread flew into everyone's nose, everything was not too important. "I tried to do this." Reyna explains, "A recipe for cranberry bread that I promise is better than last time. ”
Did Reyna perhaps learn to cook during this peaceful time?
Sage took a deep breath and didn't want to miss it.
…
21：00
Reyna is putting on her shoes.
She wore a long-hemped leather coat, which was a bit out of season.
"Where are you going?"
Sage heard the door lock being opened.
"You know where I'm going."
"I don't know."
"But you know I'm going out, don't you?"
The door opened, and the hot wind outside blew their long hair, and Sage could clearly see Reyna's slick hair fluttering in the air, and a scar behind her ear was also revealed.
It was a trail from the knife, very long, cutting from the base of her ear to the trachea. The cut was surrounded by skin that had once been charred, and the weapon was a high-energy knife that flew over.
She shouldn't have known so well, as if she had seen her die.
So, with such an injury, she should have died a long time ago, and she should not have stood here.
But the corners of Sage's mouth twitched, and she still asked, "Will you ever come back?" ”
The purple-haired duelist smiled softly, not like her.
Without answering, she just looked at the therapist and without even saying goodbye, walked away with her boots on the floor
Soon, Sage couldn't hear the footsteps either.
…
23：40
The bathroom lights are a bit too blue, but that's a good thing, at least it's not that hot.
Behind the curtain there were shaking figures and sporadic dripping sounds, with the occasional water pouring down into the pool.
The ground wasn't very cold, and Sage tossed their clothes into the dirty laundry basket and pulled back the translucent curtain barefoot.
Viper's skin was reflects a faint glow of water.
She saw that the short black hair was wet, like a seaweed freshly fished out of the water, soft and obedient compared to the dry sharpness.
The smell of tea shampoo writhed in the air, and Sage followed her hunchback to see pale knees and shoulders exposed above the water.
The pink scar became more three-dimensional under the water film and light.
"Are you sure?" Viper saw Sage's bare thighs step into the white porcelain tub, her hands on the slippery edges, and his body falling into the warm water.
Sage lowered her head and didn't answer, stroking her knees, feeling the new chill on her back, today is going to end again.
Viper let go of the arm that was in front of her knees, leaned back, propped herself up on her elbows, leaned her weight on the tub, straightened her waist, and opened her stiff shoulders.
The turbulent waves of water slowly calmed down, and a deadly bullet hole abruptly appeared on the chemist's chest, impartially, as if the muzzle of a gun had pressed her heart against the heart of a man who was a capable warrior, but at the same time the most merciful doctor, who had all the vital points.
It turned out that the wound was like this after healing, Sage leaned over, put her hands on the sides of Viper's buttocks, pressed her lips to the star-shaped scar, closed her eyes, and listened to the thumping organ.
Warm. Her warm breath quickly burned the small area under her nose as Viper's chest tightened and Sage felt a pair of dangling hands on her back, and even though Viper wasn't really touching her, they were almost hugging.
"You've got to go, you know."
Viper's voice came, and Sage reluctantly opened her eyes.
In front of her were just empty gray tiles.
She knew.
She knew Viper would be quiet, but never so tranquil, tranquilly taking the time to make a cold cup of coffee and tranquilly accepting her kiss.
Viper should be insane. Sage leaned back, using the edge of the tub as a pillow, her exaggerated black hair spilling into the water, and she wondered how to describe this madness.
Abandoned factories at three o'clock in the morning, dead yellow street lamps surrounded by bugs, empty forgotten wine bottles poured under benches, and destitute addicts laughing and spitting smoke around the campfire, writhing their shriveled bodies and partying, enjoying the hot wind blowing their shirts wet and sticky.
That's not true.
She is a self-disciplined woman, with enough money to squander, enough ideals to pursue, and enough dignity to stand in the conference hall. Her anger and hysteria never hide, laughing contentedly as she rips open the throats of her enemies on the battlefield, and even admires their masterpieces with the same blood geniuses as Reyna.
The war was over, and she obviously deserved this comfort, but it was impossible for such warm eyes to appear in Sabine's eyes.
Sage is aware that this is not possible.
When she got out of the water, she squeezed the towel she used to dry herself, which was green and used to serve Viper.
…
00：00
Sage went back to that balcony, where the beer was gone.
Alcohol made her feel good.
She fumbled in her pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, picked one at random that wasn't too deformed, and clicked on the lighter.
No Viper's frown, no reyna's fuss.
Because they can't.
The thought completely pulled Sage back to the real world.
She took a deep breath and let the toxic smoke slowly emerge from her lips, covering her face.
The plants around her were still lush and verdant, but there was never iced coffee on the table, and cranberry bread never on the iron plate of the oven.
The only thing left was the cold fruit salad.
Since this oversized apartment was rented, only one person has lived here.
She couldn't forget those cloudy, unfocused eyes.
The gun slipped from the healer's hand, the smell of blood and sulfur erupted from near the viper's penetrating wound, the red liquid gurgling and spreading, the chemist who tended to slide like a snake, but now could only curl up in convulsions, blood spilling from between her teeth, and slowly stiffening and drying. Sage – There's no way, if she doesn't, she'll be killed by the other side, and it all doesn't make sense.
Maybe she made it up, or maybe she simply forgot that Viper didn't really try to kill herself. In fact, this memory is almost an opaque mass of slime, and Sage remembers the moment many times, but she can't remember exactly what happened.
She didn't dare remember.
The damn communicator let out a piercing scream, she knew that if Reyna lived, she would soon come to her aid, but just a few minutes earlier, she had seen the duelist have had her throat slitted with a probe dagger by the familiar robot, and bright red lightning enveloped them, no one could wield their magical powers.
She ran away.
Now she regrets not taking another look at the body of her lover she killed.
Viper was right, the war was long over, and she should no longer fantasize about the people who existed before the war, and it had been a few years since she got used to the fact that they didn't even have graves.
But the insects outside the window were so hot and crazy, and there was a grand concert under the bushes and blades of grass, and she lit another cigarette, leaned her back closer to the stool, and looked up at the moon that was surrounded by the clamor of mosquitoes.
Summer is always so hard.