Chapter 3

Rey is a morning person. She wakes up at 4 am, cooks breakfast, tidy the place up a bit, have a shower and by 5 am, she's out the door.

Kylo Ren hears the engine and looks at his watch. It's five in the morning. He usually wakes up at six, and six is early by his standard.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he wonders where she went. The hospital doesn't allow visitors this early.

Once he's awake Kylo can't go back to sleep no matter how tired he is. Yesterday, he returned the Silencer to his base and traveled back by car after he tied some business so he could stay here indefinitely. Putting on a shirt, he may as well see what changes his uncle has done to the place.

He can smell bacon and eggs wafting from the kitchen. He'd only been able to grab a bite of sandwich last night, not really having an appetite.

Rey could have eaten already but he's not sure since there are no used plates and utensils on the sink. The amount of food cooked is good for two so he leaves Rey's portion. The bread is a little stale but it is easily remedied with the toaster.

Kylo closes his eyes, and tries to remember how this room looked like ten years ago. It has not changed much, but the toaster is new.

Kylo tours the rest of the house. Except for a few appliances and paintings, not much has changed. Luke still has their pictures hanging on his walls. He looks so much younger in the pictures, taken before the accident. He doesn't look that gangly anymore. It must have been his ears that Rey recognized so she was able to identify him yesterday. Sometimes...he hates his ears.

Next, he visits the studio. It has changed the most. Luke and him used to share this room before. Now, there's a new cabinet with a lock in his old side of the studio. The room has gotten smaller because of this addition and hence much more cluttered. There are more paintings of landscape and still life scattered on any available surfaces. They were all obviously done by his uncle. The style is unmistakable.

The room is filled with Luke's work. Kylo wonders where his uncle had put his stuffs...His uncle probably burned them all when his uncle learned from his mother that he'd taken the name Kylo Ren and changed his art style to something as far away as that of Luke's.

There are also no paintings done by Rey. If he doesn't doubt before that she paints, he would now that he's seen the studio. Her clothes he's seen so doesn't even have smudges on them, and she doesn't smell of paint. In fact, she smells...like flowers and femininity.

Maybe Luke has felt lonely with the life he's chosen barely speaking to his mom and dad and him, never that's why Rey's here. Afterall, Luke has never married. But there was someone, his mother revealed once. His uncle was once engaged to a woman named Mara. Or was it Mari? He's not sure but he's sure his uncle had carried a torch for someone.

To love like that and to lose her...Kylo will never be stupid to do that.

—oOo—

The next time Kylo Ren sees Rey, it's in the hospital at almost noon. He was expecting to see her earlier, way earlier than twelve.

"Where have you been?" Kylo demands an answer.

"Did something happen?" Rey asks. The hateful man wouldn't appear to be waiting for her arrival unless Luke is looking for her. "Did hewake up?"

"No."

Rey sighs, deflated. The bouquet of wild flowers clutched but forgotten in her hands.

She looks so sad...like her light just diminishes, Kylo thinks suddenly.

Shaking the unbidden thought away, "You can't bring those in," Kylo says, seizing the flowers and dumping them to the nearby biodegradable trashcan.

While Rey gasps at Ben's abruptness, her arm is grasped and she is propelled to go in inside the ICU. "I could have spent a fortune on those."

"No, you didn't. You took them from Luke's back garden."

—oOo—

They come out of the ICU after several minutes. Rey looks at the trash. Her flowers are gone. She hopes someone has picked them up and made use of their beauty.

Kylo following her gaze, asks, "Why'd you bring that anyway?"

"Well, I was hoping they'll transfer Luke to his own room today. Hospital rooms are so drab, they need cheering up."

"I bet just seeing your face would have cheered him up."

Rey tilts her head up, and tries to catch Kylo's gaze. "Did you mean that in a nice way or in a disgusting way?"

"Nice way."

"Okay."

Kylo has arrived at the hospital two hours ago. And before he left the house, he checked on Rey's breakfast, it remained untouched. She has not returned after leaving at five in the morning. "Did you eat? I'm starving."

Rey grins. The diner provides free breakfast but not lunch. "Starving."

They walk together towards the hospital cafeteria. Kylo touches the small of her back to usher her ahead of him in the line to order then he tries to pay for her generously amassed meal.

Ben is already giving the money to the cashier when Rey realizes his intent. Rey puts her own hand on top of his outstretched hand to the cashier to press it down. "I can pay. Thank you."

Kylo retracts his hand as if burned. "I'm sure you can. You work hard to earn your keep, don't you?"

Rey, lulled into thinking that Ben has changed his opinion about her, looks up sharply. The man is the worst. "Yes, I do," she scowls, knowing they both mean different things.

"You know, I won't bait you so much if you're not so touchy," Kylo says as he slides into a chair in front of Rey with his tray. "And being touchy is a sure sign of guilt."

"We don't have to share a table, you know."

"I know." Kylo tucks in into his food. "But where's the entertainment in that."

"Oh so I provide you with entertainment, Mr. Solo? How lucky am I to be of some use to you."

"I'm not using you. My uncle did though." Kylo says between mouthfuls. "And you can call me Kylo. You're flaunting your so called closeness to each other if you keep calling me Mr. Solo and my uncle, who is both our senior, just plain Luke, don't you think?"

Rey grabs her still full glass of water and just throws the content into Ben's face.

"What the hell!" Kylo shouts, wiping the water from his face with his open hand only to see the tears gathering in Rey's beautiful hazel eyes. "I—"

"You're not gonna believe me even when I deny it a million times!"

Kylo snaps, "There are evidences—"

"What evidences?"

Kylo glances around. There are about six other people in the cafeteria. They can't talk here.

Rey follows Kylo's gaze appalled to realize that they are now the cynosure of attention. Even if she doesn't know these people, they're bound to know someone that knows Luke or maybe they even know Luke. What is she doing, arguing publicly with his stupid nephew!

—oOo—

Rey avoids Kylo in his uncle's home and at the hospital. She still cooks his breakfast though and leaves him dinner just because she used to do that for Luke. However, with Luke before, she ate the food with him at the same time on the table.

There's always leftover after Kylo eats. On the third day, she finally realizes why. Kylo thinks she hasn't eaten yet. Or maybe she's cooking a bit much. Kylo has a bigger frame than Luke so she kind of cooks a bigger portion for him. Tomorrow, she'll cut the amount.

On the fourth day, Rey reduces the amount of breakfast she prepares, but the amount of leftover remains the same. She frowns. Since she cooked a smaller portion, the remaining food is more than half of what she prepared for the day.

So Ben, who calls himself Kylo for whatever reason she doesn't want to know, noticed the amount of food she piled up on her plate at the hospital cafeteria. Well, she was starving at the time, having missed the meals of the day before...He doesn't really think she eats that much all the time, does he?

On the fifth day, she leaves a note. It says: I've already eaten. The note has taken her atleast five minutes to write because she has inwardly debated whether to put Rey or not...but since it's obvious it came from her, she has decided not to sign it. She then wonders the whole day if her message sounds too friendly for being less formal.

Kylo notices the note propped up on the table beside the dish of sausages and french toast. She has a beautiful penmanship but she should have waited for him to wake up and said those three measly words to his face. She's still avoiding him and somehow that irks him. She wasn't the one who went home with wet clothes. He did.

He goes to the hospital much later than his usual time of visiting—during the time he knows Rey will be in to visit his uncle.

He arrives just in time to see Rey chatting with a female nurse. Someone must have said a lame joke because they both are laughing. He can see Rey's profile and the artist in him notices how the laughter changes her face. She becomes more beautiful with her lips wreathe with an upward curve, her eyes dancing with merriment and her nose twitching. She has a cute nose. He thinks his favorite part of her face aside from her lips and eyes is her nose. Her eyebrows are pretty expressive too. He likes looking at her face—strictly from an artist point of view, of course. And then there's her voice. He can't decide whether he prefers to hear her simply talking or arguing. At the moment, he thinks he prefers anything so long as he hears it.

He hasn't heard it for five, long days.

He hasn't seen her even when they're both staying at the same house. How she was able to do that...he has an idea...She goes out early and comes home and stays in her room doing God knows what.

"You appear to be cheerful," Kylo says in greeting, approaching Rey just as the female nurse leaves.

Rey's lips flatline.

"Don't let me stop you from smiling. If you do, you admit I'm winning," taunts Kylo.

Rey frowns. "You're late."

"What do you mean, I'm late. My uncl—"

"I didn't mean you're too late. Luke is the same as yesterday. Still in a coma. I mean you're late for your usual time in coming here."

"I'm not late for anything, Rey..." Kylo comes closer, so much closer as he gazes down into her eyes. "Not when I want to see you."

—oOo—

~ 2 13 18 AF/P~