Aria finally reached her room before finishing her nighttime routine.
"Walter-san! Please, help me out a little." The woman called for the butler.
The man quickly stumbled to reach her in time to help her.
"What may I help you with, Aria-san?" He asked, not meeting her eyes with respect.
"I need all the books on date etiquette! Do we have those in our library?" She frantically asked, nervous to mess up tomorrow for Yuri and herself. She started to bite the skin around her nails in anxiousness.
"Desmond-sama, we haven't placed an order to buy such books in the first place, so I believe there aren't any. However, I think that you wouldn't need it anyways." He reassured the girl who was sitting in the middle of her bed, hands buried in her hair now.
"Then how would I know how to act around him? I am so lost every time I talk to Yuri-san. I keep stumbling over my words and forgetting what I want to say, Walter-san! I am 20 already! Not a kid, so why am I like this?!" She messed her own hair up in frustration.
That scene made the old man crack a smile.
"If I may give you an advice... this seems like you have developed strong feelings for the boy." He said, caressing his beard and smiling at the clueless looking girl.
"What do you mean, Walter-san?feelings or no feelings, I am not a kid anymore to be like a teenager with a crush, so why?... this awkwardness and nervousness that I feel around him... I don't understand..." She buried her flaming cheeks in her forearms, as she crossed her arms on her knees in embarrassment.
"It doesn't have anything to do with your age, Desmond-sama. You just developed feelings and whether it happens at 10 years of 20, it would feel the same way. You are never too old for love. The awkwardness might be due to your not being able to muster words up, since you probably want that person to think of you in a positive light, whereas the nervousness is probably because you are uncertain of his feelings and want to earn his favour in some sort of way. It differs with everyone. Just come clean to yourself about your feelings first, Desmond-sama." The man's eyes turned crescent, as a soft smile adorned on his face.
"Then that means that I just have to go with the flow tomorrow?" She started to imagine their date tomorrow. An audible hum, agreeing with her point could be heard, as the man waited for her to dismiss him.
"Thank you, Walter-san." She nodded at him, giving him permission to leave the room.
She never felt these emotions to this extent before, so she was lost if she was actually overreacting or not. Her thoughts were all over the place and she was a total wreck at that moment.
To calm herself down, she decided to scream into her pillow and proceeded to hug it very tight until she squeezed out every bit of her uncertainty and anxiousness. If it was a person instead of the pillow, she might have broken a rib or two.
After calming herself down, she quickly fell asleep in the same position, a dreamt smile adorning her face.
The woman woke up as soon as the knocks could be heard, since she was hypersensitive. She has slept for only 3 hours. It wasn't enough for her, but she will have to make do with that.
Her bathrobe lied right next to the bed, she slept in. It was on her drawer, ready for her to be worn.
The woman was fully ready, dressed in her long peach coloured skirt and a white blouse. Her type of clothing usually consisted of muted tones and pastel colours, though all of her three piece suits are indeed only in black or white, her casual clothing had more varieties to it.
Her typical outwear were long skirts. In her opinion, they made her look more sophisticated, elegant, yet immensely feminine all at the same time.
Aria loved wearing them, especially when she had off-work appointments. Her preference didn't just stop there, but the dresses made her usually feel more exposed. She had no idea why, but it felt like they showed her raw emotions a lot more than skirts. With skirts, she can wear a blouse, that may look professional, but the dresses mostly weren't all that professional looking back then. Her work life and private one were completely separate from each other. Aria made sure of that fact.
There she stood, carefully putting on her favourite pairs of low, thick heeled shoes that matched her skirt. Her hair was done in a simple manner, more modest way per say. Maria braided her hair and put it in a neat bun, securing it with bunch of Bobby pins, careful not to make it so that her head would hurt after a few hours of wearing the hairstyle.
Throughout six years of Maria serving her, she knew Aria's taste in both clothes and hair perfectly and prided herself in that. She was one of the most devoted people of hers, which made the girl feel incredibly grateful towards the older woman.
In the whole entirety of Aria's life, she was raised by grownups, not really interacting with people of her age, which made her mature a little earlier than other children. Instead of a genuine connection amongst her peers, she usually sought after sexual pleasure from both men and women, the former more often than the latter though, due to the world still being quite prejudiced towards people with unusual preferences.
She took the little white clutch into her hands, thanking the woman, who handed it to her.
"Thank you, Maria-san... do I look okay?" She asked for the thirtieth time in the past hour, making the older woman straight up annoyed at that point.
"Desmond-sama, you look absolutely stunning, so stop doubting yourself, it isn't like you." She rolled her eyes playfully, amused at the younger girl's infatuation with the boy she was going on a date with.
"He will definitely notice you putting a little more effort in your looks than usual. You are practically shining brighter than a diamond, Desmond-sama." She smiled at the girl, reassuring her easily.
"Thank you, Maria-san." She smiled at her and tried to get herself ready to go out of the door, since Walter notified her of Yuri's arrival.
Her steps were confident, finding brief solace in her appearance, before finally coming face to face with the man she came to have feelings for.
Walter opened the door for the woman, as she stepped into the drawing room. Her bright blue eyes met red ones that widened in a brief shock.
The corners of her lips turned upwards, as she noticed slight blush on the man's cheeks, as he silently admired her beauty, before snapping out of his daze and greeting her with his usual salutation accidentally, which just cracked the woman up.
"Officer Yuri Briar, I appreciate your respectful salute, but we are far past that stage in our relationship." She noted, barely holding in her laughter, covering her mouth with her gloved hand.
He was flustered once more, muttering a quick apology in a cute manner. Instead of answering him, she just interlaced her arm with his and lead him out of her mansion, after Walter reminded her of taking a hat with her, so her porcelain skin would be sheltered from the blazing sun.
"Thank you, Walter-san. I will probably take a while today, so no need to prepare lunch or dinner for me today, thank you, have fun!" She smirked and quickly vanished with Yuri, knowing fully well that Walter will take things well and slow today, since he wouldn't have to serve her the entire day.
Taking a closer look at Yuri, she noticed that he was wearing very modest clothes, mirroring hers quite unexpectedly. A white button up shirt under a peach coloured sweater with black dress pants and a similar coloured trench coat. He looked neat and good in her opinion.
He felt Aria's burning stare, as she checked him out, making him a little self conscious of his outfit suddenly. He thought that the thought of matching with him discomforted his superior.
Aria recognised the body language of his, easily identifying it as lack of confidence, so she just smiled and complemented him on his good choice of an outfit, as well as poiting out that they managed to coincidentally match their clothing with a cute, lovely smile.
"You know Yuri-san, you are beautiful no matter what you wear to me." She flirted, putting him closer by his forearm and kissing his soft lips, almost instinctually.
"Not in public, Aria-san!" He looked around, nervous of being caught by strangers and being scolded by them afterwards.
"Who cares, Yuri-san. I only care what you feel like. If you are genuinely uncomfortable by my presence and actions, you are more than free to push me away anytime." She just cupped his cheeks, kissing him once more, but the old, stiff Yuri is no more. Suddenly, his hands were placed on her waist, as he tilted his head, deepening the kiss, surprising the woman, making her pull out after losing her breath first.
"You can never make me uncomfortable, Aria-san." He just gently held her right cheek, caressing it with his thumb. The facial expression on his face just screamed of adoration. His actions surprised her. It was as if he completely switched into a different person.
"I got interested in you thanks to your cute mannerisms, but you pleasantly surprise me every time, so my only wish for you to show me wider variety of your expression in the future." She genuinely smiled at his simp-like behaviour, which was more than welcome in her opinion.
"I will try my hardest for you, Aria-san." He just brought her closer to himself, hugging her with his left hand by the woman's waist, his right hand embracing her by her neck.
After their brief moment of PDA came to an abrupt end, as they just continued their leisurely walk on foot.
"So... where are we going?" Aria asked out of curiosity.
"Somewhere pretty quiet and special to me." He said and help ignoring the woman's interrogation. Yuri had to give her that, she was incredibly good at interrogating people, making them slip up easily, but he already was more or less acquaintanced with those tactics, so he didn't crack before they arrived. He watched her for a long time, he knew how good she was at manipulation.
Aria was shocked at the cute display in front of her.
The small picnic place surrounded by hundreds of different coloured flowers.
The mat was prepared beforehand and the woman just rushed onto it, making the man next to her a moment before marvel at her.
"This was the place my Onee-san and I visited back when we were children." She shyly put his hand behind his head, awaiting the reposnse from Aria. He hadn't done anything romantic for any woman before, so he was nervous that maybe she won't like it. However, much to his surprise, she loved every single bit of it.
The smile was apparent on her face.
"I love it, Yuri-san!" She flopped onto the mat, waiting for the man to join her. "Come on, are you going to stand there for an eternity or something?" She gestured him to join her by tapping the seat next to her. Shortly, he did join her and they looked at the blue sky above, looking at the clouds and finding shapes of animals, things and people's faces in them. Afterwards, just when Yuri's stomach made some noise, they decided to set up and eat something.
Both of them conversed for hours and hours, before briefly taking a nap and waking up under a beautifully moonlit sky.
In those mere 5 hours they spent together, they got to know each other very well. At that point they knew all there is to know about each other.
"Aria-san, it might be insolent of me to ask, but... what are we?" He looked st the stars with his glossy eyes. He was confused. Both of them were intimate Both physically and mentally, but they didn't have any label except for a senior and her subordinate.
"Well... not going to lie, I wanted to ask you the same question, but since you asked first... Yuri-san, would you do the honor of being my boyfriend?" She just looked up at him and put a small flower ring onto his ring finger. "I promise to cherish you and take care of you. I will give you anything you ever wish for. The only thing I ask of you is your love and loyalty." She earnestly looked for the answers in his crimson eyes, but instead, she got her lips enveloped in a very rushed way. The kiss was the most delicate and loving. She couldn't stop, as the man embraced her tightly, not letting her go.
"I promise to love you and be loyal to you, Aria-san." He said, breathless.
"That's good to hear. I hope you're not someone to go back on your promise, Yuri-san. Now I will be telling you what will be our future steps." She cupped his face, gently caressing his rosy cheeks, lightly illuminated by the soft light shining upon them both.
"I will be getting promoted to a second captain soon, since Matari-san and I worked together to find the evidence of the previous one embezzling money from the SSS. We suspected him a long time ago, but the sly fucker never left any evidence. He started getting kind of old lately and sloppy, so we found some documents as well as his bank account transfers, some of which did not make sense. I was also able to find some pictures of him meeting up with some of the accountants from SSS behind his back, so I am sure this is more than sufficient to arrest him. Then, since I am the next in line, there is a high chance that I will fill his shoes, but there is one problem right now, this is where you come in, Yuri-san. I am going to open my own business soon, since the people I am renting my diamond mine to are becoming shameless and want to lower the percentage that I get from their profits, while taking more from me themselves. So I decided upon opening my own diamond jewellery store. I have the mine already, am finding the right investors and finding workforce that is ready to work for me. The business is already in its final stages, where I just have to buy out a building and set up the store. At the same time I am managing to another bigger project that might change the course of Cosmetics Industry as a whole. So, I am planning on making two different makeup production. A cheaper version that is factory mass produced, while the other will be a bit more on the expensive side, but personalised. Basically, people will be able to buy normal cosmetic products or something they personally came to us to find for them. I partnered up with someone, who will be able to help me with that medical side of makeup. But isn't it coo!" Aria beamed as she talked on and on about her plans in detail. Apart from Walter, she wasn't able to share anything with anyone, since she was always alone.
"I find that idea really amazing, but what do you need my help with?" He asked curiosity laced in his gentle voice.
"You will become the new Second Lieutenant." She confidently said, putting her hands on both sides of his shoulders. The man on the other hand was a little shocked.
"What do you mean Aria-san? I haven't worked there for as long as you did. And also the subordinates will not take that well." He looked down nervously, thinking of all the things that might go wrong.
Her hand reached his face, making his look at her.
"Yuri-san, I wouldn't have said this if I didn't have a plan. I am quite disappointed that you still don't know what kind of a person I am. I think I was clear and transparent with my actions." She pecked his lips and continued explaining everything to him. "My plan was quite outdated, but foolproof. As you know, if you're simply my boyfriend, no one will take you seriously. The favours I would ask my colleagues and some close subordinates will be too excessive, so I plan on doing something grand." She booped his nose and smirked at his confused expression. "It might be a little bit rushed... but... Become my husband, Yuri-san." Aria's eyes sparkled as she looked up at the slightly older male.
"Are you proposing to me right now?" He questioned the woman, making her chuckle lightly.
"Not right now, Yuri-san." She just moved forward and connected their lips once more. Their nervousness and awkwardness around each other completely disappeared afterwards. They felt peaceful, as if everything will go just as they planned.
This kiss somehow was different from the one they had before. It was just as calm as the water in the bottle near their basket, it was just as gentle as the wind that slightly swayed the countless flowers. It was filled with so much love, if not more that the previous ones all combined.
And that was the start of the Operation: Red Lipstick.