“Uncle… I can’t breathe…” I mumbled, and Zachary had to let me go.
He nuzzled his nose against mine and whispered, “Do you know who I really like now?”
I was in a daze from the kiss and nodded. “Uncle… do you like me?”

“What do you think?”
“But you tore up my love letter and yelled at me to not have feelings for you. What’s with this now?”
He flicked my nose. “Don’t you remember how old you were when you confessed, and how old I was back then? If I harbored feelings for you when you were seventeen, I’d be a monster.”
Oh.
I suddenly understood why Zachary yelled at my seventeen-year-old self so fiercely.
“I was worried that you couldn’t grasp what you really felt toward me, and I was worried that I’d hurt you. At that time, you were really young. You didn’t understand anything. But I can’t not understand it.”

Zachary’s tone made it clear that he had been holding back for years.
“Whenever I dreamed of you, I felt like I was committing a crime. I’ve already tried my best to avoid you, but you…” He kissed the center of my brows. “You always barged into my dreams unexpectedly.”
Zachary did not know that he and I shared the same worries.
Since he had said that he did not like me, I had hidden my love for him deep within the corners of my heart.

“What about Melody?”
Zachary laughed when we started talking about her. “How could I possibly like Melody? She’s just my friend and strategist.”
I did not understand.
“I couldn’t come to terms with my love for you. She was the one who talked me round it and told me how to win your heart. To think that you’d end up being jealous of her instead.”
Then, he showed me his phone.
His chats with Melody were truly just within the boundaries of friends.
I saw no flirtatious comments.
Suddenly, I felt wronged.
Due to my misunderstanding, I had been jealous for no reason.
I even wanted to move out.
“I knew that you were trying to make me angry using Avalon. But I was really scared that you’d fall in love with him. Ultimately, I’m ten years older than you, while he’s the same age as you are.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I wouldn’t fall in love with anyone else. Once I fell in love with you at seventeen, my love for you never changed.”
Zachary pinched my cheek. “Don’t look at me like that. My self-restraint isn’t that great.”
Suddenly, I noticed something different about him, and red colored my cheeks.
“Uncle, I have to tell you something. I had a dream, and in it, you kissed me just like this. You even…”
…Did unspeakable things to my dress.
I did not dare finish the sentence.
Zachary smirked. “What if I told you that wasn’t a dream?”
I looked at him in shock.
“You were drunk that night and entered my room by mistake.
“I brought you back to your room later on.
“I’m sorry. Did I scare you?”
Honestly, he did not. It was actually an unforgettable dream for me.
Zachary had a pair of gorgeous eyes.
When he looked at me, they sparkled brilliantly.
I wanted those eyes to be full of my reflection.
“Uncle, you don’t need that dress anymore.” I looked into his eyes. “Don’t do that to my dress. Do those things to me, okay?”
Zachary kissed me.
That night, we embraced each other and melted into one another’s arms.
It was a gentle and lingering embrace.