Chapter 203 - Rynold and Neana 2

Each step Rynold took, the more uneasy he felt.

For the most part, he hated this feeling. And, whenever he felt this way, Rynold always overthought his problems.

What would happen? How will things go down? Will we be safe? Do we need to fight our way through? How shitty would things end up?

It was during these times of uncertainty that Rynold planned his contingency plans. And, at the same time, it was during these times that left Rynold stressed out of his mind. Ironically, Rynold himself felt that doing so was ridiculous. But, ultimately, he couldn't help it.

"Who goes there?"

A voice Rynold didn't recognize suddenly called out.

Rynold refocused himself as he looked at where the voice came from, ready to do what he needed to if the guy tried to pull something.

But, before anything could happen, the man revealed himself to the three of them. It was a soldier, dressed in full camo with a rifle holstered. It was already a good sign that the guy didn't point his gun at them. At the very least, the soldier didn't see them as a threat.

"Citizens?" the soldier assumed as he looked at the three of them.

It was actually quite the fair assumption, especially considering their appearances. Rynold looked a hell of a lot worse than any citizen would've been. So, being branded as a citizen was more than good enough.

"You shouldn't be here," the soldier then added without giving Rynold and the rest to respond, "Do you know how dangerous this place is? It's no place for citizens to walk about, especially not children."

The soldier eyed the kid with a somewhat threatening gaze, making the child inch back ever so slightly. Rynold didn't know what the soldier was trying to achieve then. But Rynold was sure that he didn't like it. As he said before, soldiers were really nothing but arrogant blowhards.

"Okay," Neana spoke first before Rynold could start psychologically seizing the guy up. "We would leave if we could. But we're actually lost, and my boyfriend here accidentally got himself in a bit of a mess. Is there any way we can ask for help? Soldiers are supposed to help citizens in need, right?"

'I'm sorry. WHAT?'

Rynold was, well, surprised. He was okay with Neana talking to the soldier first. She had better people skills than Rynold had, after all. If anything, Rynold would have most likely made the situation worse.

But, what the hell was that excuse? Out of everything that she could've said, what the hell was that?

Even though Rynold agreed that they had to lie their way to get into their base, but this seemed unnecessary. There wasn't any need to go that far into selling this whole act. All in all, Rynold thought this was a bit much.

With Rynold stunned, Neana took this opportunity to get close to Rynold and wrap her arms around his. She quickly whispered for Rynold to play along and then pulled him forward.

"Isn't that right, honey?" Neana lovingly asked Rynold, much to his confusion.

"Y-yeah," Rynold answered in a weak voice.

He wasn't trying to act at this point. Rynold was sure that he didn't even need to because his bloodied look was more than enough to sell the act. The real reason his voice became strained was Neana, who was pulling on his arm with more force than he was comfortable with handling.

"That's a bit of an understatement," the soldier noted as he raised a brow. He clearly doubted Neana's story, then turned to the kid and asked, "What about him?"

"He's the reason why we left in the first place. He ran off all on his own, so his mother asked us to go look for him," Neana answered without batting an eye. It was as if she had prepared for this to happen all along.

"Hmm...," the soldier let out a low mumble as he became deep in thought. The silence made Rynold slightly worried as he looked at Neana, who was still tugging on his arm. It would've helped if she had actually let go, but that didn't seem very likely.

"Hey, babe," Rynold suddenly spoke to Neana, causing her to tighten her grip in response, "Can we talk in private for a sec?"

"O-of course!" Neana worriedly answered and turned to the soldier, "Excuse us. Hehe."

Neana pulled Rynold to the side and looked at him with a damned cute pout. She still hasn't let go of Rynold's arm, making Rynold slightly more uncomfortable than he'd like.

"What?" she asked without missing a beat. Neana didn't seem to let go of his arm any time soon as she looked deep into Rynold's eyes.

'Damn it, this is cute,' Rynold admitted to himself as he looked back at Neana. He almost forgot what he needed to say. Almost.

"Why did you have to say all that?" Rynold whispered in a somewhat frustrated tone. "I appreciate the effort. Really, I do. I just — j-just...! Why?"

Rynold felt like he was making a big deal out of nothing. He literally became flustered by the most unimportant thing out of all of this. Which, coincidentally, was the reason why Neana did it.

"I did it to see the look on your face right now," Neana answered, then chuckled. She was teasing Rynold, and, to her surprise, it actually worked. "Although, I didn't expect for you to play along so well, calling me babe and all that. Besides, since you didn't want to make a move, I thought I'd -"

Cutting herself off, Neana immediately became embarrassed and looked away. Rynold, on the other hand, became less tense. He then scoffed and shook his head.

"Hey, Nea," Rynold whispered with a slight smile, "Even though I haven't done anything yet, that doesn't mean that I won't do anything in the future. Now's really not the time or place for it, you know? And besides, considering what you've done for me until now, I'm pretty sure we're way past any conventional relationship."

Neana turned back to Rynold. The grip she had on his arm loosed significantly, but she still hasn't let go. This time, however, the playful expression on her face turned sincere.

"By the way, this isn't how I imagined my first time calling you something like that," Rynold quickly changed the subject and looked away as soon as he saw the look on Neana's face.

"Yeah," Neana answered with a weak chuckle, "I don't like babe, by the way. It's a bit out of place."

"O-oh," Rynold awkwardly responded.

"Hey!" Neana called out in a whisper, not minding the awkward turn of the conversation.

"What?" Rynold answered, concerned.

"Kiss me."

"Wha- I'm not kissing you. There's a time and place for every-"

"The guy's watching us. So, kiss me already!"

"And your only solution to make this convincing is for me to kiss you?" Rynold expressed his disagreement. That said, it didn't mean that Rynold didn't want to do it. He was just reluctant to do something like that when dried-up blood still covered most of his face.

"Shut up and do it already, before the guy starts to get suspicious," Neana seemed determined to get what she wanted at this point.

'Wasn't that already the case?' Rynold thought to himself as asking that out loud would only lead to a fight. Although, at the same time, he agreed that, in order to convince the soldier, they at least needed to do something couple-like.

That said, sharing a kiss under these circumstances was far from what Rynold thought how their first kiss would go.

'Oh, fuck it.'

Rynold decided to stop overthinking and actually do something. For the most part, standing still and sharing whispered conversations were already pretty damned suspicious.

With that in mind, Rynold gently wrapped his free hand around the back of Neana's neck. The action surprised Neana, but it was quite pleasant all the same. Instead of kissing her on the lips, though, Rynold willfully decided to give her a peck on her forehead.

It was basically Rynold's way of a compromise.

On the other hand, though, Neana didn't seem to like what Rynold had just done. It appeared that she didn't want to be teased like that at all. She was amused but not at all satisfied.

"Are you lovebirds done?" the soldier called out before Neana could elaborate her dissatisfaction. It seemed as though the soldier was frustratingly convinced.

That said, Neana pulled at Rynold's arm once more with somehow even more force than before. She pulled Rynold to meet with the soldier and soon listened to what he had to say.

"Alright. I reported the situation to my superiors, and you'll be happy to know that they're willing to help you out. Please, follow me to the camp."

Without waiting for a response, the soldier turned around and walked towards a thick part of the woods. He pushed the overgrown plants with force and expected the other three to follow suit.

"I didn't know you meant that much to each other," the kid shot a glance at both Rynold and Neana before leaving to follow the soldier.

"Me too, kid," Rynold whispered underneath his breath. Then, he turned to Neana and smiled, "You can let go now. He's not looking at us anymore."

"What if he suddenly looks back then, huh?" Neana snarked as she answered, "Besides, I need to hold on to you in case you get into any more trouble. You're still injured, remember? And, we need to stick together if we want to sell the act."

For the most part, Rynold couldn't argue with that logic. And, as it stands, Rynold couldn't really say anything that would've convinced Neana to calm down.

"Well," Rynold reluctantly said, "If that's the case, let's hold hands. That way, we won't get in each other's way walking through that." Rynold pointed at the thick foliage in front of them.

"...," Neana became silent as she contemplated for a brief moment. She then turned back to Rynold with a somewhat annoyed look, saying, "Fine," with a flat, disappointed tone.

"Okay," Rynold calmly said as Neana let go of his arm. He then took the initiative and gently held Neana's hand, interlocking fingers. Rynold smiled cheerfully to show how much he appreciated something like this. Then, he took the first step forward with Neana not falling behind.

"Hey," Rynold then spoke as they maneuvered through this thick part of the woods. The path below them was stable; it was just that the overgrown plants were the trouble. "I, uh..., I don't know how to tell you this. But, this isn't what I thought our first interaction as a 'couple' would be."

"Mhmm," Neana answered, clearly displeased.

"Kind of thought it would've been someplace better than this," Rynold added as he walked ahead of Neana by a small margin, "Definitely a lot less bloody, too. Certainly didn't think I'd cover you with my own dried blood in our first interaction as a would-be couple."

The lines of the relationship were getting blurrier by the second.

Were they a couple now? Are they dating? Should Rynold consider himself as someone in a relationship? Were they even exclusive at this point?

Rynold didn't have an answer to these questions, neither did he want to ask them. For now, Rynold knew it was neither time nor place for any of that. But, he was sure that they'd eventually be with each other — one way or another.

"Then, make it up to me," Neana's mood visibly brightened as she caught up to Rynold. The two were now walking side by side as Neana added, "That's the least you could do, right?"

"Oh, I'll do a lot more than that," Rynold answered as he smiled, "I'll pull out all the stops. Take it as thanks for putting up with me for this long. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate you?"

"Yeah, repeatedly," Neana smiled back as they continued on the path and soon reached the entrance of the tunnel.