Chapter 211 - Well-Deserved Rest

Neana gulped down the ice cream in her mouth and looked at Rynold dead in the eye.

"Dessert. Need I say more?"

"Fair enough," Rynold answered as he scooped up a spoonful of ice cream. As he ate, Rynold kept looking at Neana and wondered why she looked so cute eating spoonful after spoonful.

"What?" Neana innocently asked as she stuffed another spoon down. Her tub of ice cream was bigger than Rynold's own. Whether she was hungry or just stress-eating, Rynold couldn't tell which.

"Nothing," Rynold dismissed and shook his head, much to Neana's suspicions.

"I'm hungry, okay? We didn't eat anything before now. And, who am I to say no to free ice cream?"

"Right, right," Rynold chuckled and pleasantly nodded. "It's a good call."

As the two kept eating, Rynold and Neana also conversed leisurely. They talked about nothing in particular, bonding and getting to know each other better. It was clear that the two were more comfortable around each other, with the whole nearly dying thing not too long ago.

Soon enough, Rynold finished his pint. He placed the plastic cup on the table as he leaned back on his chair, exhaustion clear on his face.

"What's wrong?" Neana took notice and asked. She was still eating her portion, which was a lot more than Rynold's.

"It's nothing," Rynold answered as he stood up from his chair. He slowly shifted his way towards the bed and sat down. It was clear that he was tired, but, at the same time, Rynold didn't want to sleep just yet. There was, well, the elephant in the room that they needed to discuss.

"You know, whatever's bothering you, you could just tell me, right?" Neana gave Rynold a look of gentle support.

"I know," Rynold chuckled, "Just thinking that I should take the floor and you take the bed."

It was casual, unusually so. But, for the most part, Rynold had thought things through. He wanted to give Neana the appropriate space for comfort without going too far and leaving the room. It was considerate, but Neana's reaction was nothing that Rynold expected.

"No," Neana wiped her mouth with a napkin and stood up from her chair, simultaneously throwing the tub of ice cream on the table. "What are you talking about, weirdo? We're both sleeping on the bed. It's big enough for the two of us."

"B-but..."

"But what? Get your ass to the bathroom and clean up first before you sleep," Neana reprimanded, much to Rynold's confusion. "I don't want to sleep next to stinky breath."

Before Rynold could coherently say something, Neana pushed him to the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Rynold, standing in the pristine and white bathroom, was still stunned. He couldn't make out what had just happened and only recovered a few moments later.

'The hell?'

That was the one thought Rynold could make out as he turned to the sink and opened the faucet. With water rushing filling the silence in the room, Rynold washed his face and brushed his teeth.

'Okay,' Rynold thought to himself, 'Whatever happens, make sure that you control yourself. It doesn't matter what she wants to do. Take responsibility and stop things from going too far.'

In other words, Rynold was psyching himself up. He was about to venture into potentially scandalous territory. It was up to him to stop that from happening. There was a time and place for everything, and this was definitely not it.

With that, Rynold stood before the door. He took several deep breaths before opening the door and exiting the bathroom. And, as soon as he did, Neana suddenly stood up from the bedside.

"Okay," Neana said as she approached Rynold, "I'll take the right side of the bed, okay? I gotta go freshen up."

Rynold let Neana pass without saying another word. He moved to the left side of the bed and lay down comfortably. The tension that he felt was in his shoulders. But his gut was telling him nothing out of order was going to happen. Either way, Rynold didn't let his guard down.

As he lay there quietly, Rynold looked around the room. There wasn't anything much here aside from the furniture and the flat screen in front of him.

'Hm. Might as well.'

Grabbing the remote from the bedside table, Rynold scoured through the contents of what he could watch. There wasn't anything from a live feed, no news or anything that would've let Rynold catch up with the times. But, there was a wide selection of films and such there.

Mindlessly scrolling and trying to find something to watch, Rynold felt the time get away from him. And, soon enough, Neana left the bathroom with nothing much changed. She still looked the same, aside from the minty fresh breath and clean face.

"What're you watching?" she asked, catching Rynold's attention.

"Nothing," Rynold casually answered as his eyes stayed locked to the television. "I actually can't decide. But, hey, I don't really have to watch anything. What do you want to do?"

"Me?" Neana confirmed as she moved to her side of the bed and lay next to Rynold. "I don't know. I can watch whatever you want to watch. It's really not that big of a deal."

Rynold felt himself calm down as soon as Neana said that. As it turns out, they really weren't going to do anything inappropriate. That said, though, Rynold's calmness soon washed away as Neana leaned over and laid her head gently on Rynold's chest. She was snuggling up to Rynold.

'This is insane!'

Pretending that nothing changed, Rynold flipped through one film after the next. But, despite that, he could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

Even after numerous encounters and challenges, nothing made him feel more paranoid than right now. Rynold had gone up against monsters that pushed him to the brink of death, stood his grounds against gods and spiritual beings.

But, for some odd, peculiar reason, Rynold's heart was beating its fastest at this very moment. It was insane for it to do something like that. Rynold was a seasoned fighter who had faced countless situations where his life was on the line. So, why was it acting up now?

"Hey, what about that one?"

Neana's voice snapped Rynold out of his panic as his thumb hovered over the remote. Rynold stopped pressing the button as soon as Neana said something. And, for some reason, it had stopped at a cheesy romantic move, no less.

Rynold didn't have a problem with that genre of movies. It didn't really bother him to watch stuff like this. He had even found it endearing. But, this particular movie struck him as traumatic, for the sole reason that he had watched this movie before — with Elle.

"Sure, why not," Rynold ignored his trouble past and proceeded to press play. He thought that this was a chance to overwrite his previous scarring memory with a more pleasant one. Or, so he hoped.

Regardless, Rynold pressed play and set down the remote on the bedside table. The familiar scenes unfolded, with each one more cheesy than the last.

It's been quite some time since Rynold had last seen this film. And, even then, the memories of which were still fresh in his mind. But, as the movie went on, Rynold soon felt his heart at ease. He had eventually gotten comfortable with Neana, who was resting her head on his chest.

As the film went on, Rynold and Neana snuggled up quite comfortably. They watched the movie without any discomfort at all and treated each other quite well. It was a pleasant, calming experience between the two love birds, even if they weren't speaking to each other in the slightest.

"Nea?" Rynold whispered, making sure the girl was awake. He could tell that Neana hadn't moved in a while, thinking that she had fallen asleep with her head on top of him.

And, as expected, there was no response. Neana fell asleep in such a peculiar spot, no less. Neana had fallen asleep in such a comfortable spot. It would be a shame to wake her up now.

As the movie played in the background, Rynold moved slowly and guided Neana to her side of the bed. Soon enough, Rynold managed to rest Neana's head on the pillow and, on his way back, caught a glimpse of Neana's sleeping face.

'Damn, that's cute.'

Rynold smiled gleefully and shook his head. At the back of his mind, Rynold wanted things to be this way for a long time. He wanted every night to be like this — peaceful and quiet. But, he knew that it was wishful thinking all the same. Rynold knew just how hard these moments were to come by.

Taking to heart this pleasant memory, Rynold then turned to the bedside table, grabbed the remote, and turned the television off. Following this, Rynold laid his back on his side of the bed. He then closed his eyes which, for some reason, felt heavier than before.

It seemed as though the exhaustion had caught up to him. And, just like that, Rynold fell asleep.

"Get up!"

Neana's voice echoed in Rynold's eardrums as he awoke to the girl's calls. He didn't know what time it was, but he sure as hell knew that it was still dark outside. As for whatever reason Neana had to wake him up in this ungodly hour, it better be a good one.

"What?" Rynold groaned in reply.

"Time to get up and get a move on," Neana declared, much to Rynold's annoyance. "It's about that time that we need to leave. Besides, breakfast is here."

"What time is it anyway?" Rynold sat up and looked at Neana, who had already changed clothes. It seems as though that she had been ready for quite some time now.

"It's six in the morning," Neana casually answered as she headed towards the table. She grabbed a neatly wrapped sandwich and opened it.

"What?" Rynold rubbed one of his eyes and turned to Neana with a doubtful look on his face. "Why did you wake me up so early? No. Wait. Why the hell are YOU up so early?"

"It's my body clock," Neana answered as she took a bite of her breakfast. Then, she spoke while eating, "I used to run a lot of errands back home, you know. It takes a lot of time to check on people and do things. Besides, someone called earlier that a soldier's supposed to come to get us in the next half hour or so."

Facing away from Neana and looking down at the sheets, Rynold shook his head. It appears as though that there was no time for him to rest.

It was back to work the very moment that he woke up.

"Okay, okay," Rynold frustratingly stood from his bed and headed to the bathroom to wash his face. From there, he took the next few minutes to get ready.

"Here."

Neana handed Rynold a small, unopened sandwich as he stepped out of the bathroom. It was a bit smaller than Rynold would care to admit, but it was food nonetheless.

"Did you check up on the kid?" Rynold asked as he sat down in his chair, "We can't really leave without him, you know."

"You kidding?" Neana mocked, "He woke up a lot earlier than you did. Funny how a kid was a lot more adjusted to waking up early than you are."

Hearing Neana say that, Rynold playfully shook his head. He wasn't going to argue with what she said, as Rynold's exhaustion was the reason why he woke up so groggily. It would've been quite a pointless argument if he were to say something.

"Can't believe that it's morning already," Rynold exhaled a deep breath, "But, hey, at least we can finally get on with the mission. We don't have to run around like a headless chicken anymore."