“It’s late. You should go to bed soon,” Reiner said sternly as he offered me his hand.
Always acting like a gentleman even when he’s always messing with my head and my heart. I wanted to hit him. Hard.
“Stay the night,” I demanded.
After placing my hand in his, Reiner helped pull me up from my seat. He stared down at me, and our eyes met. I wasn’t willing to back down and I didn’t look away from his blue gaze.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
My eyes widened at his clueless question. I knew that he was asking because he was concerned but shouldn’t it be obvious that I wasn’t, ok? Doesn’t he have any idea why I’m not supposed to be fine?
“I’m not ok. I feel so insecure right now and I don’t want you to leave my side tonight. Actually, I don’t ever want you to leave my side,” I replied bluntly.
Reiner looked down at me with a slightly confused look but in the end, he nodded in agreement. I looked up to see him smiling down at me. Although I didn’t fully understand what he was thinking, I was still happy that he had agreed to stay with me for the night.
“Let’s go inside,” I said as I pulled on his hand.
I could feel Reiner’s eyes on me as I semi-dragged him after me into the apartment building. What I told Reiner was true. I felt extremely insecure about our relationship, and I was truly scared that I would lose him. Immediately after arriving in my room, I closed the door behind us and locked it. Before I could think anything else through, I threw myself in Reiner’s arms and hugged his body tightly.
“Natalia?” Reiner said my name softly and questioningly.
I hugged him tighter to me and I felt slightly better when he wrapped his arms around me and held me. His familiar warmth and smell helped to calm me down. If nothing else, it reminded me that he was still by my side. Even if it was just for now, he was still with me.
“What is your relationship with Rachael? You’re not in love with her, right?” I asked directly as I looked up at his face.
Reiner stared down at me before he smiled. I had a strange feeling like he was teasing me, and I had to say that this surely wasn’t the time for that. Without saying anything, Reiner scooped me up in his arms and carried me to the bed with ease. I let him do what he wanted; however, I would never forget that he still owed me some answers.
“Answer my question…” I demanded like spoiled girl.
“About Rachael?” he asked with a smile.
Who else?
“Yes, about Rachael…” I muttered as I frowned at him in my annoyance.
Reiner sat next to me on my bed as I turned to look straight at him. Give me my answers!
Instead of answering my question, he reached out a large hand towards my face and began stroking his fingers along the side of my cheek. Then his face approached mine and his soft warm lips were on mine. He kissed me gently as if I was made of fragile glass. His lips were playful and teasing as he planted small kisses on my lips.
“Don’t distract me. I want my answers…” I said stubbornly after I turned my head away from him to break our kiss.
Reiner chuckled softly and I hated how much fun he seemed to be having at my expense. I narrowed my eyes at him and swore silently to myself that I would hit him if he didn’t give me my answer soon.
“What’s so funny? I asked you a question and you still haven’t answered it,” I said as my frustration took over.
“Sorry. I couldn’t stop myself from teasing you a little. You look very cute when you’re jealous,” Reiner replied as he tried his best to hold in his laughter.
What did he just say?
“So is this expression that you have on now,” he said before smiling sheepishly at me.
I loved his smile and it tugged at my heart, but I hated the fact that he wasn’t taking my concern seriously. Why did he have to tease me right now?
“Just answer my question!” I cried out loudly.
“Alright. Well, simply put, Rachael is like a little sister to me. We grew up together and she was younger, so somehow, I always ended up playing with her and taking care of her. She’s a very good kid. Always has been and still is. I really love her, and she really is like family to me. If I had to put it…then she probably feels like my own little sister even though we’re not blood related at all,” Reiner explained while choosing his words carefully.
He thinks of her as his…younger sister?
“Are you going to marry your ‘little sister’?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at him.
Reiner did not reply to me immediately and I could tell that he was considering things. For him, this must be an extremely delicate situation. If I understood this correctly, then Reiner and Rachael had been engaged before. All this time, did Reiner always see her as just his younger sister? As for Rachael, she probably never saw him at just her older brother. She’s in love with him and probably has always been.
How touching and how unfortunately sad.
“I’m not sure…” he replied.
“Huh? You’re not sure? What do you even mean by that? She’s like a sister to you. You can’t marry her! I won’t let you marry her…” I cried out in shock and disbelief.
How can he tell me with a straight face that he’s still considering marrying her? That’s crazy!
“You don’t have to be so loud…” Reiner said calmly as he put a finger to my lips to silence me.
“You were just teasing me, weren’t you?” I asked as it suddenly hit me.
–To be continued…