Chapter 3: Flirting lessons
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
A pleasant, velvety voice woke the boy. He wanted to open his eyes, but immediately closed them and hid his face with his hand. The bright morning sun warmed his face, but blinded the eyes.
"Mmm, you have a nice voice." The boy muttered, not yet seeing who he was talking to.
"Thank you." The girl blushed, then pulled herself together. "Answer the question."
The sternness of her question, combined with the softness of her velvety voice, made the boy want to see her face. He made a salute with the palm of his hand and finally opened his eyes.
A beautiful red-haired girl with a round, freckled face towered over him. She was standing in a simple white calico dress with a blue apron, holding a heavy jug. On the face of the beauty froze discontent mixed with something new.
She would have liked to know what she was feeling now, because everything inside her was in motion as soon as she saw the stranger in the middle of the scattered hay. In theory, she should have been angry and desperate, after collecting this haystack for several days completely alone. However, as soon as she saw the stranger's face, her heart filled with warmth, and something tickled pleasantly in the lower part of her stomach.
"Mmm, I think my name is Jun." The boy said. "You're even more beautiful than your velvety voice." Jun added immediately, smiling an innocent smile.
The girl flushed, which only made the freckles on her face appear more pronounced, making her even more embarrassed. She hated her freckles more than anything else in the world.
"Do you have a name, beauty?" Jun asked, taking a more comfortable position. He leaned on one elbow, turning slightly on his side so that the sun wouldn't glare in his eyes, so that he could take a closer look at the girl standing in front of him.
"Stop complimenting me!" The girl shouted and quickly turned away. "My name is Lucy. And you still haven't told me what you're doing here."
She glared at him over her shoulder and turned away again. The boy Jun experienced a new, hot feeling, and the word "excitement" came to his mind. He tried to remember who he was and what he was doing here, but all he could remember was his name. However, the excitement from this only increased.
"To be honest, I don't remember." He said quite honestly. "All I remember is the name Jun. I'm not even sure if it's mine, though."
"You're lying." The girl said over her shoulder.
Lucy couldn't believe her luck. For several years now, she had kept house all by herself, barely managing to take care of three goats and a dozen fowls when it was necessary to mow hay and bring water, and not forget to drink evening tea.
She thought that a young man who didn't remember anything would be very useful, especially since he had broken her haystack himself, which meaned he had now to pay for the damage.
What Lucy didn't know was how to communicate with young men. After her father's death, she hadn't had any contact with men in several years, and her mother had left them when she was only six. So, as much as she wanted to persuade the stranger to help her with the housework, she had no idea how to do it.
"No, I really don't remember anything." Jun said. "I don't even know how I got here. What am I lying on, anyway? Dry grass? Why do you need dry grass?"
High in the sky, a mighty eagle circled and smiled with its curved beak. 'Curiosity.' The eagle thought. 'It always leads to the most unexpected consequences.'
"Hmm, you must be a city person if you don't understand what it is" The girl moved around and, after turning up her nose, turned back. By the way, the button nose especially fascinated Jun, but he decided to postpone the comment about the nose for later. "It's hay. It is necessary to feed my goats in the winter. You can also use it to lay bedding."
"Interesting." Jun nodded. "Will you show me your goats?"
Lucy still had her back to him, and Jun didn't see her smile triumphantly. Was she really so lucky that she wouldn't even have to persuade him to stay?
She caught herself immediately, a sense of shame and fear flashing across her face. If this boy stayed to help her, where would he sleep? Lucy shook her head and turned back with confidence.
"Get up." She ordered in her velvety voice. "I'll show you the goats on one condition."
"Interesting." Jun said, curiosity in his eyes. He stood up, brushing off the hay, and winced at the state of his clothes. "I'm a little embarrassed to ask," he began," but do you have a change of shirt for me?"
"What?" Lucy blushed, blinding Jun with the brightness of her freckles. "You broke my haystack first, and now you're asking me for clothes? Do you even have a conscience!?"
Jun shrugged guiltily, not sure yet if he had a conscience. What he was sure of was that walking around in a dirty shirt stained with spots... 'is it blood!?' and smelling like... 'ew! pee!' he definitely didn't want to.
Jun sighed and pretended to lower his head.
"Look, I'm sorry I smashed your stack" He said in a drawling tone of voice and secretly smiled. "And I'm sorry if my request offended you."
Lucy watched him hang his head guiltily, and felt sorry for this strange boy who had fallen out of nowhere in her backyard. She thought she must have overreacted to his request, but it was really hard for Lucy to imagine talking to guys at all.
"All right." She said condescendingly. "You are forgiven and can raise your head."
"Thank you." Jun smiled, giving Lucy a smile so dazzling that the warmth in the pit of her stomach turned to heat, and her heart began to pound like a quail that had eaten too many coffee beans. "So what's the condition?"
"You will help me put this hay back in the haystack, especially since you broke it yourself." Lucy said, instantly recovering herself. "And then you will help me prepare for the harvest. We need to weed that field over there."
Lucy grabbed the jug with one hand, clutching it to her ample bosom in her white dress, and with the other hand pointed toward the distant horizon. Just beyond the low fence, the plowed land stretched away into the unknown distance. It took Jun a moment to realize that the entire open space in front of them was the field.
"Uh." Jun drawled. "Isn't that too much for one person?"
"I've managed somehow all this time." Lucy said. "So what? Do you agree?"
Jun shrugged.
"Fine."
After all, he'd never done anything like this, or even if he did, he couldn't remember it. Consequently, Lucy had offered him a new experience in life, and the excitement inside the boy could not resist such a temptation.
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