Love at First Hiss

Because of that, Miles and I ended up in a huge blowout fight.

"Miles, are you even a man? If you are, then touch me!"

Miles clenched his fists. A long silence passed before he finally said, "I just want to wait a little longer…until you're ready to accept it."

Accept it? Accept what? What was there to hesitate about?

I might be a little old-fashioned, but Miles and I had been together for four years. We were already talking about getting married.

I didn't care if some things happened sooner than planned.

I tried to stay calm and told Miles, "I want this. Whatever it is, I accept it."

But Miles just held his head and crouched. "Just wait a little more."

I had waited four years. That day, I didn't want to wait anymore.

I told him, "Either you give me an answer today, or we're done!"

Miles didn't, so we broke up.

Now, the livestream chat was telling me Miles turned into a snake because he missed me too much and came to see me.

It felt kind of unreal.

I reached out and touched the snake's head. It nuzzled against my hand and went right back to sleep.

The chat started gossiping.

[I can tell that Miles really wants to…with Olivia, but snake-men have a different anatomy. After all, they have… He's just afraid he'll scare her.]

Huh? What was that?

Why was the chat getting censored now?

But from the half-glitched messages, I pieced together the truth.

I pulled the sleeping black snake out of my arms and, following what I had read online, found its cloaca.

I took a closer look and froze in shock.

The chat wasn't lying.

Maybe my movements were clumsy, or maybe I sucked in air too loudly.

I woke the snake up.

The snake looked down, and saw my hand and its completely exposed cloaca…

Then, it lifted its head and locked eyes with me. Its gorgeous green vertical pupils widened instantly.

I swear I saw shock, shyness, panic, embarrassment, and despair all at once in a snake's eyes.

It scrambled away in a panic.

The chat went wild.

[I'm losing it. Who checks their partner's private parts the moment they meet?]

[Typical female-lead move, honestly.]

[I bet Miles's whole world just fell apart. He went to sleep fine and woke up with his biggest secret exposed to his girlfriend!]

I wanted to comfort the black snake, but it hid in the corner of the room, quietly crying.

I decided to just pretend I didn't know the snake was Miles.

I pretended I had just picked up a stray snake as a pet, while Miles pretended he really was just a pet.

The snake, thinking I didn't know its real identity, started causing trouble.

Every day, it kept asking to cuddle.

As soon as I woke up, I would always find it wrapped around some part of me.

When I used my phone, the snake would curl up on my chest and stick its head out to watch with me.

If a video with a ripped guy showed up, it would shove the screen away with its head.

If a video about "husband goals" popped up, and if any point matched Miles, the snake would turn and look at me with pitiful eyes.

Sometimes it would even flick its little tongue to lick my forehead, my cheek, my lips, or my fingers…

[Straight from a mess to a miracle. Miles really hit the jackpot.]

[Look at him opening his eyes every day to his girlfriend. He's living better as a snake than he ever did as a human.]

[I know, right? Dude's so happy that he doesn't even care about his company anymore.]

I peeled the snake off my chest.

"I'm gonna take a shower."

The black snake sulked.

Then, right before I closed the bathroom door, it squeezed in anyway.

I picked the snake up.

"Fine. We'll shower together."

Right when I started taking my clothes off, the snake whooshed straight into the corner, too shy to look.

[That's Miles for you. Desperate and scared at the same time.]