Chapter 5: Glasses

"Hey Rosie, I've been curious about your glasses for a while," Clara started the conversation while sitting beside Rosie.

"These?" Rosie pointed at her glasses. "What about them?"

"Are they prescription glasses?" Clara asked curiously.

"What do you think?" Rosie replied with an open response.

"Can I try them for a bit," Clara reached for Rosie's glasses and immediately put them on.

Rosie smirked, knowing Clara would be surprised by how strong her prescription was. “Sure.”

"Ow! What's this?!" Clara reacted as expected, squinting her eyes in frustration. "How strong are these prescription glasses?" she asked.

"It's actually 1.75," Rosie replied then laughed afterwards.

“Ah figures.” Clara was about to give the glasses back when she noticed Leon glancing at them.

"Leon, can you come closer for a sec?" Clara requested. She immediately had an idea in her mind.

"Nope," he replied, anticipating Clara's intentions.

"Please, just this once," she pleaded, trying to make her eyes look cute to convince him, but he refused again.

"Nope nope." 

"Ugh, fine. I'll treat you to some takoyaki later," Clara conceded, making a deal with him. She knew that she had no choice but to do that for him to agree. And as she expected, he immediately nodded, agreeing to the deal.

"Now c’mere," Clara said as she gently put the glasses on Leon, who stayed still.

With the glasses on, Leon looked more intelligent and cool as before. He even looked like a different person because of the glasses.

"Wow! It suits you! Right, Rosie?" Clara exclaimed.

Rosie raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, it does look good on him." Agreeing to what Clara said.

"Really?" Leon was a bit confused as he imagined his face on his current look.

"Of course! Take a look in the mirror," Clara said, providing her makeup mirror that she always had in her bag.

Leon thought it felt weird, but he didn't see any improvement as he looked at the mirror. He looked unfazed.

"See?" Clara was proud, like a mother recommending fashion to her son.

Because of the strong prescription, Leon had to take the glasses off immediately. "Yeah, but I think this suits you better than me. It looks good on you," he said, shaking his head from dizziness.

Silence was there for a moment as he said that. It was an unusual word from him, most especially as he complimented Clara in that way.

Both girls were surprised, trying to avoid awkwardness.

"Y-yeah, I think so too. They really suit her," Rosie said to diffuse the tension on Clara, who was lost in thought for a moment when Leon complimented her.

Clara was still surprised, looking at the glasses in her hand. "H-hey Rosie, mind if I borrow your glasses for a while?"

"Sure, no problem," Rosie replied, letting her do what she wants. It was an awkward situation anyway, so she agreed.

Time passed as their classes finally ended, and as usual, both Leon and Clara were walking on the road together.

“Ugh, I can’t feel my head anymore," she complained while holding her own head with both of her hands. She really had the guts to wear Rosie’s eyeglasses until the last subject of their class.

“Ahhh I can’t really look straight too” she added

“That’s what you get wearing those prescription glasses.” Leon mumbled lightly, but Clara had an already feeling that he would say that so she responded.

“I know, but as you said, it looks good on me, duh.  And I rarely receive praise from you these days anymore," she pouted.

While on the street, they found themselves walking near a fashion store that's popular for selling clothes, dresses, and even non-prescription eyewear. 

Clara stopped as she turned around to stare at Leon. While he averts his gaze away, as he knows what is about to happen next.

“Not right no–” he did not finish his sentence yet when he realized that he was dragged by her pushy best friend inside that store.

The fashion store was filled with bright, shimmering clothes that caught his eye right from the entrance. It felt lively inside, with each section offering something new to explore.

“Hey Leon! Over here!" she exclaimed, darting straight to the eyewear section to try on different pairs of glasses.

Leon felt a bit embarrassed by her energy. It seemed like she didn't care whether the shop was fancy or not, and that was just the way she was.

"This girl was always into fashion. I remembered how she used to carry a hair comb, hairband, and lots of pins everywhere back in elementary days. So it wasn't surprising that she paid so much attention to her appearance." Leon pondered.

"How do I look?" she turned to him, posing as if he were her mirror. She wore an ordinary pair of black-framed glasses.

"Dunno," Leon shrugged, not particularly interested in such things like that.

She made a face, then swiftly changed to another pair - rectangular with sharp edges on the lenses.

"How about this? Do I look like a valedictorian candidate now?" she joked, striking another pose.

"You don’t need glasses to look smart," he replied flatly.

"Ugh! Fine, how about these?" she tried on a pair of cute, rimless round glasses.

This time, Leon's reaction was different. He raised his eyebrows, impressed by her looks. He tried to hide his reaction, but Clara had already noticed. "Looks like these suit me, huh?"

"What do you mean? I haven't even commented yet," he protested.

Clara tilted her head, teasing him. "Your facial expression says it all. Do you think these suit me?"

"No chance."

"Oh, come on, with the long pause I can tell you like them. Do they suit me?" she smirked, knowing she had him cornered.

Leon felt pressured by Clara's teasing. He knew if he admitted the glasses suited her, she'd never let him hear the end of it.

So he swiftly took Clara's glasses and put them on himself. "I, uh, actually like this style for myself that's why I had that reaction earlier," he said, adjusting them to fit his face.

Clara was taken aback by his sudden action. "Really?"

"Yeah," he replied, a bit sheepishly.

"Excuse me, ma'am and sir, is there any issue here?" The saleswoman approached them politely with a warm smile.

Leon and Clara exchanged panicked glances before Leon responded, "Uhm sorry, there's no problem."

The saleswoman's gaze lingered on Leon's glasses, and she somewhat came to a conclusion just by looking at them, "Well, actually, we have a few sets of couple glasses that resemble those. Would you like to try them, sir and ma'am?" she offered.

Leon and Clara exchanged a hesitant glance at each other, realizing that they were mistaken as a couple. It seemed the saleswoman mistook their interaction earlier for fighting over the glasses as a couple.

“Uh–” before Leon could speak, Clara immediately clarified to the saleswoman with a smile "We're not actually a couple," 

"Oh, I see. My apologies, I assumed incorrectly," the saleswoman apologized with a polite bow,  returning to the counter.

Feeling a bit awkward after the encounter, Leon and Clara decided to just head home.

"I didn't know you were interested in those glasses," Clara remarked, attempting to break the silence as they walked side by side along the street.

"Yeah," Leon replied, also feeling the awkwardness of the situation.

They walked in silence until they reached the point where they had to part ways, both feeling shy and awkward because of the incident earlier from the store.