Almost Kissed

18th of Adun, year 991

Bellena, Kingdom of Tarask

When the innkeeper's daughter opened the door at first light, she squealed in shock to see a very young man fall to the floor on his back.

She immediately took a few steps back in case the person was a thug or a crazed madman.

However, the other person didn't move. He even started snoring, drool coming out of his mouth.

Unsure what to do, the young lady went into the servant's quarters to call for help. In a short while, two of their male servants came back to the inn's entrance to take care of the problem. A cousin of the young lady also came along. She was a sixteen-year old girl who works for them as a chambermaid.

"Is this the guy?" the cousin asked upon arriving at the entrance.

"Yes, I opened the door this morning and he just fell back first into the floor," the innkeeper's daughter said. "He must have slept behind the door. Thank goodness, he didn't smash his head."

The cousin peered closer. "Except for the drool coming out of his mouth, he looks prettier than us," she said. "And that hair… The gods are most unfair, giving shiny black hair to a boy and giving me this auburn scandal that even a mare wouldn't want."

"Favrilla, my dear cousin, your hair is not a scandal. It's an atrocity that had ruined so many combs, some of which are mine."

"You're one to talk! I do all the work around here, so you could live the life of a princess yet you think a few ruined combs isn't worth the favor? I'm ashamed to call you my cousin."

"Favrilla, my dear, the way you're looking at the guy like you want to eat him makes me cringe to be called your cousin. I'd consider it a favor if you disown our relationship whenever you behave like a purring feline before a good-looking guy."

"Cousin Carmilla, you think a guy, especially a good-looking one, would ever make a move on me if I just waited? No! And I suggest you follow my lead. You're twenty-two now. That's close to being an old maid already."

Carmilla, the innkeeper's daughter, couldn't find words to refute her cousin's point. Meanwhile, her cousin was looking at the sleeping young man with a hint of a naughty smile on her lips.

"I think I wanna kiss him," Favrilla declared. "Don't try to stop me, cousin. I haven't been kissed yet, and wouldn't it be something that my first kiss is with a boy so pretty he crushes my self-esteem?"

"Favrilla, how shameless!"

"Miss, I think that might be a little dangerous," said one of the male servants. "It would be better if we move him out now."

Several people were gathered outside the inn looking at a sleeping figure on the floor of the entrance to the only inn in town.

"You don't want to be seen by those people doing something inappropriate," the servant added. Favrilla had no choice but to relent.

"Hmph!" Favrilla exclaimed. She looked at her cousin peevishly. "It figures how you ended up reaching a very ripe age without ever knowing how it feels like to have a man hold you in his arms. If I stay around you some more, I'm afraid I'd end up a spinster."

"You!" Carmilla's eyes flashed in anger. She raised a fist and was about to pound it to her cousin's head like a hammer. However, Favrilla quickly hid behind the other male servant, and the very conservative Carmilla suddenly stood face-to-face with the male servant, one of the better looking ones in their household.

Carmilla was frozen on the spot. She had a startled look on her face. Favrilla smiled in triumph and pushed the servant towards her cousin. The servant totally didn't expect the shove and ended up having to embrace his master's daughter.

The servant apologized profusely. He gave Favrilla a hard disapproving look.

Even after the male servant had taken his hand off her, Carmilla still stood there motionlessly, her mouth still agape in shock.

At this time, the other male servant signalled for his companion to help him carry Blink outside the inn. As they knelt down to pick him up, Blink's hand suddenly moved and slapped away the hand of the nice-looking servant who was trying to grab at his armpits. Meanwhile Blink's left foot retracted then kicked at the other servant who was trying to grab his legs.

The servant was sent flying out the door by the kick. Then, in one swift motion, Blink knelt and grabbed the other servant by the throat.

Blink had been sleeping under the sky for many days by this time. He was always on high alert lest a wild animal came to make dinner of him while he slept.

When he opened his eyes, Blink was half-expecting to stare at the ferocious glare of a wild animal. Instead, he was staring at the horrified face of another guy.

The two ladies screamed in terror. When Blink looked at them, he realized that he was inside a considerably large building. That was when he remembered that he was knocking at an inn before dawn the previous night and fell asleep by the door.

Blink quickly took off his hand from the man's throat and quickly apologized. He also bowed to the ladies and repeated his apology.

"I was knocking at your door for about half an hour before dawn, but nobody came out so I could have checked in," Blink explained. "I had travelled all the way from Ragha through the desert and could use some warm bed to sleep in. How much for a room?"

A few moments had passed, yet none of the persons around Blink didn't say anything. He noticed that the man whom he choked was looking at one of the girls, apparently their boss. She wore a fancy looking dress quite like those worn by the ladies of the big clans and old nobilities of Ragha.

"Cousin!" the younger girl called the attention of the well-dressed girl. While the older girl was only slightly pretty, the younger girl was a bit homely with a hint of naughtiness, especially around men.

"Carmilla!" the younger girl shouted the name of the other girl this time. "The gentleman is asking for a room."

The sound of her name shouted out loud startled the young lady, but she was able to quickly regain her composure. With a customer before her, Carmilla fell into her routine.

"We have two types of accommodations, sir. We have ordinary and special. Ordinary accommodation caters to those who only want a place to sleep while special accommodation includes meals at the inn's restaurant."

She looked at Blink with an expectant gaze. "So which will it be, sir?"

"It doesn't really matter to me for as long as it has a bed I can sleep in," Blink said.

"Sir?" the young lady said looking very much confused.

Blink almost said ordinary but thought about it and said he'd take the special accommodation.

The young lady was quite happy with his choice. "Sir, that will be two silver coins for a night. How many days do you intend to stay as a guest to the Bellena Happy Travellers' Inn, sir?"

Blink wanted to ask the young lady to stop addressing him as sir. It made him feel like one of those arrogant and conceited young men from noble families. However, he was too sleepy to bother with how he was addressed at the moment.

He paid for two days' stay. The young lady rewarded him with a smile that made her look prettier than she was.

She handed a key to the male servant instructing him to prepare the room.

Blink really wanted to sleep right away and requested if he could go up right away, but the young lady was adamant that he should wait until his room was prepared for the guest's ultimate comfort. Blink replied that anything with a bed would be quite a comfort for him considering where he had been sleeping for several days on the road.

Favrilla grabbed the key from the male servant and said she'd take care of it. "This way, sir," she said and walked up the stairs with Blink closely following. She was already carrying a few sheets of linen on her hands.

–"Nice ass." –

Blink slapped his forehead almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind.

Inside the room, Favrilla, who gave Blink a swaying hand-on-her well-endowed front introduction, made Blink sit on a bench while she cleaned up the room.

Blink was really quite sleepy but couldn't help glancing at her bountiful behind while she swept the floor and then tucked the sheets.

She knew she had a really nice back view. Men surely must have wanted to grab at her with her back turned to them.

Until she turned around. And that's when Blink berated himself for being a pervert.

As soon as Favrilla announced that the bed was ready, Blink lunged into it and slept right away. He was totally out in dreamland that he didn't notice that the girl didn't move out of the room and actually even moved close to one side of the bed. She looked at Blink with a naughty smile on her face.

Seeing the drool dried up on Blink's face, Favrilla wiped it off with the hem of her dress. She giggled a little as she ran her finger over his face. She was about to give Blink a kiss, when a hand suddenly held one of ears.

"What are you doing, you naughty little flirt?" Carmilla said as she twisted her younger cousin's ear.

"Ouch! Cousin that hurts!" Favrilla could only protest meekly, but her cousin did take her hand off her ear immediately.

Carmilla put her hands on her hips and glared at the younger girl. "I really ought to keep an eye on you. I'd be damned if you'd get pregnant here, and we won't even know who's the father. I'd never be able to face your parents."

"It was just one kiss, cousin," Favrilla whimpered like a dog that knew it was at fault.

"Where do you get off giving kisses to strangers in their sleep? For all you know this one is a pervert. Or, worse, a killer who had taken a dozen lives already."

"You couldn't possibly believe that, cousin. I mean look at him! Is that the face of a killer?"

"Silly Favrilla. You think good looks breed a good heart in men? Even the devil could appear to us with the face of an angel."

Favrilla was about to retort but her older cousin dragged her out of the room and closed the door, locking it on the inside.