Muir half-knelt next to Irina and embraced her tightly. He was so forceful that there wasn’t any gap between the two of them at all, as if he wanted to merge her into his body. “I’ve finally…” Muir’s voice choked as if a ball of cotton was stuck in his throat. He rubbed his head against Irina’s. “I really love you a lot… Thank you.”

Irina felt perplexed. “I didn’t do anything, so why do you like me so much?” “Haven’t you done enough? Everything that you do makes me feel very warm inside. Makes me infatuated.” Muir recalled all the things from the past and broke into a blissful...