Slight breeze hit her chest as she made her way towards the open window. A dark figure was standing in the balcony. Gazing at the stars, Chris hardly noticed Jill standing behind him.
"Chris?!"
No reply…..
"Chris!" she shouted.
"Huh? Wha-" Chris said as he turned around. Obviously surprised by the sound.
"Chris what are you doing?"
"Jill?"Chris asked, he narrowed his eyes in hopes that the dim light of the moon would reveal the figure standing in front of him.
"What are you doing up so late?" Jill said as she made her way to the balcony and stood next to Chris.
"I couldn't sleep and the moon tonight is just so beautiful" Chris said as he again started gazing at the moon.
"Something bugging you?" Jill asked calmly as she also started to gaze at the moon.
"Nah I was just recalling my encounters in the mission"
"Anything out of the ordinary?" Jill asked now looking at Chris.
As much Chris wanted to lie, Jill always had a way to make him tell the truth. So he replied honestly to her question.
"Two days ago, when we were evacuating the civilians from the village, which the rebels had took hold on."
He paused.
"An old woman was staring at me for quite awhile, then she came up to me and said Unleash the beast you are. I spent the next days figuring out what she had meant by that. I asked the other civilians about the old woman and they said she was one of the village's elders and she had a strange power of mind reading."
"Hmmmm"
"But then again they are just village folks."
"That depends what were you thinking at that time"
"Just some stuff I did before Africa"
"Maybe she was referring to your sex life by that" Jill laughing and punching Chris.
And she was right. It had been ages since the last time Chris was in an intimate relationship with a woman.
Chris had always focused on his career with the BSAA. Dating and relationships weren't for Chris Redfield.
"Neither you or that old hag knows about-"
Chris again paused.
"Never mind" He said and went inside to lay down on the couch.
Jill came inside and closed the door of the balcony behind her. As she again looked at Chris, he was again lost in his thought. She silently came up to him and placed her hand on his head and made her way through the brown hair. Then she went into the bedroom and quickly fell asleep.
After the events in Africa, Jill had a hard time recovering from her experiences. She usually had nightmares and silently cried everyday. But Chris was with her all the way and really helped her in her recovery. He convinced her to move in with him because someone had to keep an eye on her. Now she had almost fully recovered and would return to her job in the BSAA.
The next day, Jill woke up to the sound of the TV. She looked at the clock it was almost 12 o'clock. She took a quick shower and got dressed. When she came out of the bedroom she found breakfast on the table and Chris watching the news.
"Good morning!"She greeted.
"Morning" Chris replied still focused on the news.
"No office today?"
"I just got back yesterday after a big operation against bio terrorist. I think I deserve to rest for a few days"
He was right, the BSAA had engaged bio terrorist in a southern village Edonia, they were there for two weeks and had completely neutralized all B. and terrorist. But that came with a heavy price, hundreds of soldiers were lost and 5 or 6 BSAA helicopters were shot down, the small village turned into a slaughterhouse . Only Chris's team had suffered no casualties thus further cementing his reputation as BSAA's finest soldier. Although the BSAA were successful in completing all objectives but the number of loss of personnel frightened them. If only they had more capable men like Chris such losses would have been avoided.
Jill finished her breakfast and started to do her daily chores, but she was surprised when she saw that they were already done. Her clothes were cleaned, the apartment was cleaned, the dishes were done. All of her work that occupied her daily schedule was done and now she was completely free.
"Who did all this?"
"Who else Sherlock!"
"You're joking right?"
"Why? Don't think I can clean my apartment?"
"Let me see… NO!" She said as she made her way to the couch and sat next to Chris.
Noticing this Chris immediately got up and went to the kitchen and the excuse he made was to get him some juice.
This action greatly surprised Jill. Never had Chris Redfield try to avoid Jill. She was the reason he came to Africa and had a duel with death just to bring her back. But now he was ignoring her?
"I need to get something from the store, I'll be back after awhile"
"OK" Chris screamed from the kitchen.
Jill came outside and started to walk towards the central park. She was very confused about Chris ignoring her, she got more curious after she realized he didn't ignore her before their late night talk yesterday. She sat on a bench and took out her cell phone and called Claire, who she guessed should know what was going on.
"Hey Jill!"
"Hi Claire"
"How are you long time"
"Yea I was just … you know ….. recovering as you can put it"
"Yes so I have heard, how the big guy?"
"That's what I want to ask you about"
She explained all of his behavior and their little talk at mid night.
"I don't know. He was fine when I called him after he came back from Europe"
"Claire do you remember any of Chris's activity after I disappeared"
"Yea, he started drinking A LOT and smoking. He got completely cut off from the outer world, he even stopped calling me. When I asked about BSAA HQ about him they said that Chris started to volunteer on each and every mission that came by and they said he would disobey direct orders and whenever the mission started he would cut off from the team and would come back when the mission was over. Then report started to come in that he would torture the terrorists and the mercenaries for unknown reasons and some people even saw him taking terrorists and tying them up and unloading on them and-"
"Ok ok enough, oh my god Chris" she said slowly.
"Yea your presumed death really took a toll on him and what made him more guilty was the fact that you died saving him, making HIM the reason of your death"
"Shut up! Why are you blaming me? If I didn't took Wesker out of that window he could have killed us both. And I chose to save him because he had a family to come back to…. Claire he had you" she said as she sobbed.
"While on the other hand I had no one to come back to … no family NOTHING" she said wiping the tears.
"Sorry Jill, I didn't want to make you accountable for the actions he took, I just want to tell you that the guy was completely lost without you and you should have seen him when he received an intel that you were alive. After a whole year he finally called me and he sounded so excited. He took the next flight straight to Africa."
"But all of this doesn't give the answer that why is he ignoring me" Jill reminded
"May be he wants to show feelings towards you but is having a hard time doing it or he is afraid that you will reject him"
"No that's not the case, Chris never has a hard time expressing something, he tends to say whatever pops up in his mind."
"He says whatever that pops up in his mind but not what pops up in his heart."
"Ok I am hanging up now Bye"
"Jill wait think about it-"
"Pfffff" she wondered. Chris Redfield in love with Jill Valentine. Sounds nice she thought but it has been more than 8 months since her rescue from Africa and he hasn't made a move yet. May be its because he wants her to recover, Jill's eyes widened on that very thought. The doctors did say that she has completely recovered from her traumatic experience.
May be Claire was right, what if Chris is trying to express his feelings towards her.
"Oh My God" she screamed. More happy than surprised or worried. But she quickly got a hold on herself and reminded herself that its just a theory.
After awhile she finally gets the courage to go back to the apartment knowing whatever happens her world will change forever.
TO BE CONTINUED