After closing the door and taking a few steps back—lost in thought over why that young maid had acted so strangely—Sophia slowly turned around, still immersed in her own musings. With the clothes the maid had brought in her hands, she felt embarrassed once again; she didn't want to face Noah's nearly bare body.
Timidly glancing at Noah, Sophia stared at her own hands for a moment and thought,
'No, I'm really going to have to...'
before quickly turning away.
She wavered between dressing him herself or asking for help, and all that echoed in her mind was:
'...Will I really have to dress him in these clothes?'
As time passed, her embarrassment only grew.
'...No, it's better if I ask someone to do it...' she reflected after several minutes of hesitation.
Standing near the door, she considered,
'But if I ask for help, whoever comes will also...'
She paused, clenched her left fist, and moved a little further from the door.
Minutes ticked by as she remained indecisive:
'Should I dress him all by myself or call someone for help?' she wondered again, uncertain.
Meanwhile, from the other side of the door, a voice remarked,
"Ready, are you now?"
As Sophia listened more closely, she realized—those voices were her parents. She knew that if her father discovered she was inside with that naked boy, not even her mother would be able to defend her—let alone protect Noah. This left her with two impossible choices: prevent her father from entering or...
She peered around the corner, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Clutching the clothes tightly, Sophia quickly dressed Noah—starting with his pants, hoping to spare some of the embarrassment when she eventually dressed him in a shirt.
When putting on the pants, she carefully positioned them just above Noah's ankles and, with her eyes closed, gently tugged them up. With Noah unconscious, he wouldn't feel a thing; she couldn't afford any ceremony. Once she realized the pants wouldn't go any higher, she opened her eyes and checked—everything fit perfectly. Surprised, she smiled in relief—the pants were neither too loose nor too tight, neither too long nor too short.
After admiring the fit for a few seconds, Sophia tied the white band around Noah's waist to keep the pants from falling when she let go. Next, she dressed him in his shirt—which turned out to be much easier and quicker than she'd imagined—and carefully tucked it under the band.
Shortly afterward, she heard:
"Knock! Knock! Knock!"
"Why are you knocking?"
"What do you mean, 'why'? Isn't this still our daughter's room?"
"Alright, alright, no need to get nervous."
Sophia walked over to the door, laughing as she heard her parents bickering over something so trivial.
"...Why are you laughing?" Mr. Radiance asked when he saw her smiling after opening the door.
"No, it's nothing..." she replied, still chuckling.
Her father entered the room and, after looking her up and down, muttered under his breath:
— You women are so complicated: one minute you cry, the next you laugh; sometimes you're calm, other times you're anxious... Who in their right mind invented such a puzzling creature? (sigh)
Upon hearing that, Sophia—still smiling—grabbed her mother's arm and asked,
(laughs) "Mom, what did you do to him?"
"Me? Oh, nothing much—I just made him change his clothes about three times," her mother replied, laughing along.
"See? One minute you're crying, the next you're laughing... What did I do to deserve this? I really need an instruction manual!" her father joked with a light smile as he looked at both of them.