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As Weronika left the ballroom holding hands with Haruna, she took a big sigh of relief. She just couldn’t relax at this sort of supper class party, but since she was serious about Haruna, she supposed that she should get used to it. It was a good thing Haruna was patient about explaining all the rules and etiquette Weronika needed to know again and again despite Weronika having ignored her girlfriend’s lessons in the past.
“Thanks for behaving so politely,” Haruna said as they left the hotel, “And sorry for making you put up with all that.”
Weronika could understand her girlfriend’s sentiment. Even ignoring all the strange rules Weronika had done her best to remember and follow, she’d also had to mingle with the sorts of people that Miyu’s parents would typically invite to a party, which was pretty different from the sorts of people Weronika was used to dealing with. Most of them had been almost as polite as Miyu, at least. A few of them were even interesting, like the guy who was studying the Imperial family’s ancient burial tombs and had all kinds of secrets and gossip about them.
But there was also one particularly awful woman who had been very patronizing towards Weronika. She gave tons of complements to the normally rough girl’s manners but made clear that Weronika’s efforts were only incredible for a poor person, and worse, an American. Then, she’d started talking about Haruna’s spirit of generosity for taking Weronika as a girlfriend even though it would send her to hell. Thankfully, Miyu’s and Haruna’s parents had showed up shortly after that and promptly kicked the woman out.
But despite all that, and how boring the last three hours had been, Weronika didn’t regret going one bit.
“Don’t say sorry. Honestly, I’m glad you gave me this chance. I can’t say this is my kind of scene, but I’ll come with you to the next one of these, too, if you’ll take me,” said Weronika.
“Really?” Haruna replied.
“Yeah. Look, uh, I told you I had a kind of rich girlfriend before, right? Back when I was still living in America?” Weronika said.
“I recall you mentioning it. Did she take you to these kinds of parties, too?” Haruna asked.
“Nah, she’d never. A party like this was the last kind of place she’d let me go, especially with her. I guess I was her dirty little secret. She always did her best to make sure that her parents never saw us together at all. Compared to that, I’d much rather deal with a little boredom and one or two annoying people. Even the worst sorts of rich people are hardly worse that that girlfriend and how Elsie used to be, anyway,” Weronika said.
“That’s terrible. Well, you already have my parent’s approval, and Lyrical Lily’s, at least,” said Haruna, “Though I still wish you didn’t have to put up so much of an act around some of our family friends.”
“What happened to never giving up until I finally learned manners?” Weronika teased.
“Being truly well-mannered needs to come from within. It’s not just about following some rules to satisfy some judgmental people – if so, even that terrible woman could claim to know her manners. Character is how you act when no one else is around to look, so you need to want to follow proper etiquette for your own sake,” Haruna said.
“I’ll be honest, I’m pretty sure you’re the only person I’ve ever seen who’s bothered making all those weird cutlery signals when you’re just eating by yourself and you’ll be doing your own dishes. You’ll just have to satisfy yourself that I found a good reason to try and behave once in a while,” said Weronika.
“What reason is that?” Haruna asked.
“You. Duh,” Weronika answered.
Haruna blushed. As the couple continued walking hand in hand, Haruna’s mind turned to something she’d been thinking about for some time.
“Say, um, you did me a big favor today, no matter how you feel about it, so I want to do something for you, too. You sometimes give me… very crass complements. I always complain about them, but assuming you’re being genuine with those… would you like to, um, make love?” Haruna asked.
“Sex shouldn’t be a transaction, you know,” Weronika said.
“I know that! But, going to this party, meeting my parents… that shows you’re pretty committed to me. And, I’m committed to you, too. I’m not the sort of girl to do these things casually, but because of that commitment, I’m ready to take the next step with you. As long as you want to, of course,” said Haruna.
“I do want to. And I’m not going to put any more effort into saying no to banging my hot girlfriend, so I hope this isn’t one of those things where I’m supposed to say no three times,” Weronika joked.
“I’d never make an offer that was less than genuine, and especially not to you!” Haruna protested.
“No, you wouldn’t. I love you, Haruna,” Weronika said.
“I love you, too, Weronika,” said Haruna.
Haruna and Weronika shared a kiss, then continued walking to their apartment just a little bit faster.