Chapter 16
The Great Fall and the Tickle Trap
Mia instinctively took a step back as the door swung open, but it was too late.
Susan, who had been leaning her entire weight against the wood, didn't expect the sudden lack of resistance and went down hard falling flat on her face. A sharp cry escaped her lips.
"Aish! It hurts, it hurts so bad!" Susan sobbed, actual tears starting to bead in the corners of her eyes.
"That's what you get for snooping around like a total creep," Mia said, raising an eyebrow.
She crossed her arms, a small smirk playing on her lips. She thought Susan was just being extra.
Susan looked up, her face all puffed out and red from a mix of genuine pain and the second-hand embarrassment of getting caught.
When she tried to push herself up, a sharp sting shot through her leg, and she collapsed back down. "Hul! Ouchesssss!" she wailed, tears now flowing like a literal waterfall.
Mia's smirk vanished instantly. Seeing the genuine distress on Susan's face, she felt a wave of shock.
She reached out to help her up, her voice laced with worry. "Gwenchana(are you alright)?"
Susan swiped her hand away, looking totally pressed. "It's all your fault! Why did you have to open the door like that?
Now look, you've actually injured me!" she cried, her voice cracking.
"I wouldn't have opened the door like that if you weren't lurking outside my room like a thief in the night, you know," Mia countered, though the guilt was already starting to eat at her.
"Hmph! I wasn't snooping, okay? You came back from your morning run in such a flop mood and stayed in your room all day without saying a word or eating anything.
I got worried! I just put my head against the door to check for signs of life, but I didn't hear a single thing. I never knew this house was so soundproof!" Susan sniffled, refusing Mia's hand and struggling to stand on her own.
She kept sniffing, silent tears tracing paths down her cheeks.
Hearing that, Mia's guilt multiplied by a hundred. She let out a nervous, awkward laugh. "I am so, so, so sorry.
I didn't know you were actually being a supportive bestie. I finished my work and heard this weird whispering.
I honestly thought the house was haunted! I traced the sound to the door and realized someone was there.
I couldn't hear everything, just bits and pieces of your delulu theories."
Susan shot her a heated glare and began limping out of the room. She used the wall for support, clutching onto anything she could find as she made her way to the parlor.
She pointedly ignored Mia's attempts to help, determined to show her just how salty she was.
Mia followed her like a lost puppy, apologizing non-stop. "I heard almost everything, but since you were whispering, it was hard to catch it all. I didn't mean for you to faceplant! I just wanted you to realize you were caught... I'm really sorry, okay?" Mia said, literally holding her ears in a gesture of sincere apology.
Susan just turned her head away, pulling the "I don't know her" card.
"I'm really sorry... Humm…... Come on now, smile for me?" Mia tried, turning on the aegyo (cuteness). She blinked her watery eyes, acting as adorable as possible.
When she caught a tiny, microscopic twitch of a smile on Susan's face, she knew she was winning. It was time for the final boss move: The Tickle Attack.
As Mia started tickling her, Susan lost it. She started laughing so hard that more tears fell, creating a chaotic mix of crying and wheezing.
She tried to push Mia away, but Mia was in full "beast mode." Susan laughed until she couldn't breathe, begging, "Jebal (please), stop! Let me go!"
Mia wasn't backing down. She paused for a split second, hovering over her. "I'll only stop if you say you forgive me. So, do you?"
When Susan stubbornly refused to answer, Mia climbed right on top of her and resumed the tickle torture.
Susan was momentarily relieved when Mia stopped to ask, but she spent those seconds trying to catch her breath instead of answering. When the tickling started again, she was totally defenseless.
Honestly, if anyone had walked into the apartment at that moment, seeing Mia pinned on top of Susan in such a compromising position, they would have had some seriously perverted thoughts.
"I could do this all day, you know," Mia teased. "Better give in and forgive me."
"Okay, okay! Arasso (I get it)! I give up! I forgive you... but on one condition," Susan gasped out.
Mia stopped immediately, thanking the heavens. She had claimed she could go all day, but that was a total cap her arms were already tired. "What condition?" she asked breathlessly.
"Condition? Did I say condition? I meant conditions, plural," Susan said, regaining her composure and pushing Mia off so she could sit up.
"But you literally just said condition!" Mia cried, looking betrayed.
"I changed my mind. I'm the victim here, can't I?" Susan said, acting totally arrogant now that the tickling had ceased.
"But that's not fair! I can handle one task, but 'conditions' could mean like three or four! No way," Mia said, shaking her head.
Susan pulled a sad face, her inner actress emerging. "Do you even want my forgiveness, or was that all a lie?
I am in so much pain! My leg is throbbing. it's probably a sprain or a break. My hand feels broken too... and yet you refuse to fulfill my wishes."
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