"Refraction"

Refraction n: the bending of a ray when it passes slantwise from one medium into another in which its speed is different.

Chapter 03

Side A

I passed by Welkin's door on my way to the kitchen and slowed to a stop. I glanced down at the ring on my finger and blushed; I still couldn't believe what had happened last night. As always, Welkin was mysterious in his way of knowing things; I didn't remember being brave enough to bring up my worries about the issue... I suddenly shivered from the cold and realized that it was getting harder and harder to keep warm. Winter was coming to Gallia after all.

I continued on to the kitchen to carry on my morning routine of preparing bread dough. I stifled a yawn when I switched the light on and shuffled to the oven to turn it on. It would be nice and warm as soon as the oven heated up. It was dark outside because it was still very early. No one else would be awake at this hour unless they were returning home from the bar or something after a long night. I carried on and set to work preparing dough for the day.

The hours went by and before I knew it, it was creeping into the earlier hours of morning. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that it was approaching half past six. I let out a sigh; practicing getting up early in the morning to bake was tiring after months of not doing it. I set aside some portions of unbaked dough for later and moved on to make breakfast. Since I still felt a little giddy from Welkin's reiterated proposal last night, I decided to be a little more ambitious with the meal.

I set to work and made omelets, toasted some freshly baked bread, fried some sausage (I made a note to apologize to poor Hans later), and even made some pancakes. I wiped the sweat from my brow after inspecting my handiwork that was today's breakfast. The coffee was still brewing, but it was almost done. I let a big smile break out across my face; I felt so unstoppable today! I removed my apron and nearly skipped to Welkin's room to wake him up. I let myself in without hesitation this time.

"Welkin!" I walked to the side of his bed and tried to rouse him from his sleep. A moment passed in silence. "Welkin, if you don't get up, breakfast will get cold." I let out a weary sigh. It was the same every morning; I'd walk into his room to wake him up and say practically the same thing every time.

He mumbled something incoherent and rolled away from me. I felt my irritation at this pattern flare up. "Welkin! Come on!" I moved to shake him awake like I would on tougher mornings but stopped. That just felt too platonic now, for some reason; we were engaged after all! I let a wicked grin grace my face when I came up with an idea and inched closer to him. The closer I came to him, the more my face burned at my intentions.

"Welkin," I cooed in a softer voice than earlier. He seemed to respond more to my new tone of voice and rolled back to face me. I wouldn't let his actions deter me, though. I dove at and nibbled on his exposed neck. I wrapped my arms around him when Welkin writhed underneath me.

"A-ah!" Welkin groaned and suddenly sat up. I fell from his chest and onto his lap in a precarious position. I looked down and realized I was now straddling him. "Alicia?"

I felt my face burn even more than before and quickly moved to get off him. When I tried to swing my leg away from him, I heard a muffled groan and turned to face Welkin in alarm. Did I accidentally hurt him? His gaze was directed downward with an arm in front of his face, but when he looked up at my face, the intensity in his eyes held me in place. I opened my mouth to speak, but it just hung open stupidly. I felt like I was cornered.

Welkin inched forward slowly but hesitated inches away from me. I blinked in confusion at his actions when he turned away abruptly. "Breakfast, right?"

It took a moment for the fog to clear from my mind and his question to register in my mind. "O-oh! Yeah. Um…" I hurriedly climbed off of him and retreated to the kitchen. Once I was in my sanctuary, I couldn't help but notice it felt colder in there than Welkin's room even though the thermometer suggested otherwise.

Breakfast wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be. In fact, it seemed as though our encounter in his room hadn't happened. After Welkin left for his classes, I set out to town for a change of pace. In the marketplace, I saw Rosie browsing the shops, and when she saw me, she excitedly dragged me off with her to do some shopping.

An hour or so went by before Rosie noticed the ring on my finger. Once she saw it, she forced me to sit down with her at a nearby café. She seemed genuinely curious about something. She turned to me once we got the drinks we ordered and gave me a mischievous grin. I tried to ignore the crisp, late-autumn air that was stinging my lungs.

"So how far have you two gone?"

I almost spit out the water I was drinking. "W-what?"

Rosie frowned at my reaction. "Come on! You guys can't be that old fashioned, can you? I mean, really! You guys aren't kids, you know?"

I felt my cheeks burn at her words; they were so true. Rosie's expression seemed to soften at that moment. "Look, just answer this: do you guys at least sleep in the same bed?"

It felt like she hit the bull's eye with her question. She realized it as well and let out an exasperated sigh. We sat there in silence for a couple tense minutes and just drank our drinks. Before I could ask what was on her mind, Rosie stood up abruptly and took my arm.

"We're going shopping!" she declared and dragged me back off to the shops. I couldn't help but get a bad feeling in my gut about it…

When I finally got back home a couple tiring hours later, I collapsed on the floor in front of the door and dropped all my bags around me. Rosie's words still resounded in my ears; just thinking about what she proposed I should do made my face overheat. I gathered my strength and collected my bags to put them away. Just when I stood up, I heard the door open and close behind me.

"Alicia? Did you just come back from shopping? What'd you get?" I froze at his questions. He wasn't supposed to see any of this!

"I-it's nothing!" I tightened my grip on my bags and made a mad dash for my room without bothering to look back at him. I shut the door behind me with an unintentional slam and slumped down against it. That was way too close… I stared at the bags beside me and sighed.

"Maybe you should try seducing him. He's so dense that maybe you need to make the first move."

S-seduce him!? My face was on fire at the thought of doing such a thing. I peeked into one of the bags and felt my face burn even more. The lingerie was so sheer and revealing… I didn't even realize they made things like this! Then again, if there were swimsuits like the one I wore for Welkin at the beach…

"Alicia?" I could hear Welkin's voice on the other side of my door. "Is something wrong? You weren't back to make lunch earlier either… Are you hungry?"

I jumped at Welkin's words. I wasn't able to make lunch for him today because I was with Rosie! Before I could stand, open the door, and apologize, Welkin was gone. There were sounds of preparation in the kitchen…

"Huh?" I jogged down the hall and into the kitchen and saw Welkin pulling things out of the cabinet. "W-what are you doing?"

He glanced over at me and smiled. "I was going to start cooking dinner…"

I scoffed at his casual remark and placed my hands on my hips. "And just what do you plan to make?"

"Hm? Soup. It'd go really nice with some of your bread. I was just checking to see what we had first… Is there a problem?"

I felt my face heat up again. Since when was Welkin this self-sufficient? "A-ah, um, n-no! That's just fine then." I joined him in the kitchen and helped him pick out ingredients for our dinner, and I set to work boiling the water when we came to an agreement. Welkin put a hand on my shoulder and guided me away from the stove as soon as the water was in place. I gave him a curious look.

"You go ahead and bake the bread. I'll take care of the soup." I gave him a skeptical look to which he replied, "Don't worry, I promise I won't burn it."

Welkin surprised me by keeping true to his word and paying close attention to our dinner. All through dinner, I couldn't help but wonder at his behavior. Was he always like this? Or maybe… I just wasn't aware of it before.

After we cleaned up, Welkin went to his room to study. I was left to myself to ponder what to do. Should I do what Rosie suggested? Or should I chicken out? At the thought of "chickening out," I clenched my fists. I wasn't a coward! I stormed into my room and rummaged through the bags. More of Rosie's words rang in my mind.

"I remember some of the guys at the bar talking about what they liked once. One thing guys really liked was when their girls wore their shirts with seductive underwear underneath. I don't really get it, but you never know. It might just work…"

I picked a random set from the bags of lingerie Rosie had gotten for me and hurriedly changed into it. I shivered when my bare skin made contact with the cool air, but I ignored it and headed for the laundry room for the next part of my ensemble. Several of Welkin's shirts hung there innocently, and I slid into one of them nervously.

I somehow dispelled the tension and giggled when I realized just how big Welkin's shirt was on me. My fingers were lost in the long sleeves, and the bottom of the shirt went to the middle of my thighs. Once I got over the bliss of actually wearing something of Welkin's, I went back into my room to inspect my look in the mirror. I frowned at how off my ponytails seemed to throw everything off and let my hair down. I tousled my hair a bit and smiled at the results; I had to admit, I looked pretty sexy.

I spent some time in my room trying to perfect my look until I realized that Welkin would be heading to bed soon. I crept out of my room and into his. The lights were already out! I pouted but sneaked to his bed anyway. As quietly as I could, I slipped under the covers with him. He was already asleep… I let out a yawn and soon joined him in his slumber. The hours ticked by pretty fast, and before I knew it, I had somewhat gained consciousness again.

"A-Alicia? What are you doing in here?" That voice sounded so hazy and distant… I shivered and clung to the nearest source of warmth. "H-hey, Alicia?"

I could feel the warmth moving away and frowned. It was so cold… I tried to tighten my grip, but my fingers seemed so feeble. Just then, something cold swooped down and touched my forehead, much to my displeasure. "D-don't…"

"You're burning up! H-hold on, let me get you something!" The warmth was trying to move away again!

"No!" I protested desperately. Eventually, the warmth settled and stayed still. I smiled; now it wasn't so cold. Everything went dark again after that. It felt like an eternity had passed before I regained consciousness again. I cracked my eyes open but immediately shut them at the brightness. I tried to sit up, but my body wouldn't budge. "Ugh."

I squinted at my surroundings and realized that I was still in Welkin's room… in Welkin's bed. I couldn't remember what had happened after coming into his room to sleep. Everything was a blur… My train of thought was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and closing.

"You're awake…" I turned my head in the direction of the voice and saw Welkin with a tray. "You have a fever, you know?" He gave me a reassuring smile, set the tray down on his desk, and pulled his chair up to side of the bed.

"So," he started again. "Why were you in my bed, uh… hardly wearing anything?"

I couldn't tell if my face was on fire from embarrassment or from my fever. I tried to open my mouth to speak, but all I could manage were a couple of dry coughs. Welkin leaned forward, helped me sit up, and pat my back to ease my coughing fit.

"Hey, take it easy." Welkin kept a firm hand on my back to keep me sitting up and grabbed a mug off the tray. I glanced up at him questioningly. "It's tea. It should help you a bit."

Instead of trusting me to hold it, Welkin scooped a spoonful of it out and blew on the hot liquid before he offered it to me. I accepted it gratefully, but I almost spit it out immediately.

"Ew, what is that? It's so bitter."

"It's ginger tea. My mother used to make it for me when I was younger." He scooped up another spoonful and offered it to me. I obediently continued sipping the spoonfuls of tea until I had finished all of it. Welkin gave me a satisfied smile. "How do you feel now?"

"A little better," I answered and fell back on his pillows. He put the dishes back on the tray before he turned back to me. I began to feel uneasy underneath his gaze.

"Why? Why did you do that?"

I hid my face under his blanket and replied with a muffled, "It was Rosie's idea."

"Huh?"

"We're engaged, and you don't even want to sleep with me…" I poked my face out of the blanket to gauge his reaction but was surprised at what I saw. Welkin looked… pained.

"It's not that I don't want to sleep with you, Alicia." Welkin looked away from me for a moment, and I swore I saw his face turn a brilliant shade of red. "I'm just worried."

"What? What could you possibly be worried about?"

"Our future. What if I give in to my primal desires and… lose control?" He seemed to be struggling with the possibilities. "I don't want to hinder your dream in any way."

It took a moment for what he was saying to sink in. "W-wait! You're saying that if I get too close, you could lose control of yourself and…" I paused and gulped nervously. "… and get me pregnant?"

Welkin ducked his face out of view and nodded. I sighed and let my head roll to the side. Now his distance made a little more sense… I let my eyes roam around his room until they settled on the clock. My eyes widened.

"Welkin! Didn't you go to class today?"

"Hmm?" Welkin looked at the clock, which read a quarter past five and shook his head. "No, you were more important to me than my classes."

I wanted to be angry at him for being hypocritical but settled with a sigh. I was flattered that he thought that way, but… A thought suddenly occurred to me. I caught a glimpse of the faraway look on Welkin's face and decided that this would be the perfect time to catch him off guard. I decided I would give this plan a try. "Welkin, did you like what you saw?" I took pleasure from seeing him visibly tense up.

"W-well, that is, uh…" He seemed to be at a loss for words, not to mention immensely flustered. I giggled slightly and let an uncharacteristically devilish grin spread across my face when I saw the chance to bring up my solution to everything.

"How about a compromise then?" Welkin turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "I won't pester you for an answer to that question if you'll let me sleep with you from now on."

"Alicia, I –" I cut him off a sharp glare. He should've known better; I had complete trust in his abilities to control himself. I guess I had to remind him.

"I believe in you Welkin. Remember: I'm not scared when I'm with you."

Welkin seemed to consider it for a moment before he finally relented with a sigh. "I guess that's fine then. Now concentrate on getting better, okay?"

I snuggled into his sheets and let out a contented sigh. Everything went according to plan! "Yes, Doctor Nature."


Side B

Winter was almost here, so the weather had become increasingly colder each day. The morning air was especially crisp and unforgiving. That just made huddling in bed even better. I had been enjoying my sleep for a good while under my warm sheets and waited for Alicia to rouse me from sleep. This morning had a different feeling to it, however.

"Welkin! Come on!" There was a pause before Alicia's voice called me again but more seductively. "Welkin." I rolled over to face the source of the mellifluous voice but was met with something even more surprising. Something or someone grabbed me and started biting at my neck! I thrashed about, now suddenly awake and groaned at the sensation.

"A-ah!" I sat up abruptly and saw Alicia sitting in my lap. I felt my face burn at the sight. "Alicia?"

She appeared to be flustered as well and moved to get off me, but she brushed against me in a certain spot… I shielded my face with my arm and tried to stifle the resulting groan. I looked down and away from Alicia and hoped she wouldn't notice my reaction. When I felt her staring, however, I looked back at her. Her mouth fell open and glistened tantalizingly in front of me.

I moved forward to close the distance between us but stopped when I saw the look in her eyes. Alicia looked cornered and intimidated… I broke away from her and cleared my throat. "Breakfast, right?" I asked lamely. There was a momentary pause before she answered.

"O-oh! Yeah. Um…" Alicia quickly climbed off of me and practically ran to the door. I let out a relieved sigh. I wasn't sure what I would've done if that had gone further than it did.

I stood up and went about getting dressed for the day. I went to the kitchen for breakfast with the intention of acting like all that hadn't happened earlier. Alicia surprisingly didn't question me, and we ate breakfast in relative peace. Once it was time for my classes, I left the warmth of our small home and entered the cold streets of Randgriz.

The walk to the university was uneventful and most of the conversations I could catch consisted of the progress of the political reform in the Empire and Gallia. The Federation was surprisingly in the middle of a political revolution as well. I felt that most of those matters didn't concern me so much anymore, though, and continued on my way.

My lessons once again were done in a flash, and I was excited to get back home for lunch. When I got back home, I found it empty, save for Hans. Alicia wasn't around, so there wasn't any fresh bread. I sighed. I would just eat some leftovers and head back to the university for the rest of my classes. I grabbed a quick bite and went back for the rest of my classes. I couldn't really focus, though, so I was glad when the professor dismissed us.

I closed my coat tighter around myself and walked back home quietly. There was only occasional chatter about the Randgriz royal family conspiracy here and there the entire way back home. Other than that, there wasn't really any interesting news on the streets. When I walked in through the door, I saw Alicia sitting on the floor with a plethora of bags at her sides. I raised an eyebrow at the sight.

"Alicia? Did you just come back from shopping? What'd you get?"

"I-it's nothing!" She clenched her fists around the bags' handles and ran to her room with all the bags. I froze in shock. What was in those bags? I shrugged it off after a moment and followed her to her door.

"Alicia? Is something wrong? You weren't back to make lunch earlier either… Are you hungry?" I paused and waited for a response. When I didn't get one, I sighed and walked into the kitchen. I guess soup wouldn't be too bad for dinner today… After rummaging through the cabinets for a couple minutes, I heard Alicia come out of her room and stop in the doorway.

"W-what are you doing?"

I glanced over at Alicia's alarmed face with a smile. "I was going to start cooking dinner…"

She put her hands on her hips. "And just what do you plan to make?"

"Hm? Soup. It'd go really nice with some of your bread. I was just checking to see what we had first… Is there a problem?"

"A-ah, um, n-no! That's just fine then." She came into the kitchen to help pick out the ingredients and went to boil the water after that. I remembered that the bread would go nicely with the meal and tried to guide Alicia away from the pot.

"You go ahead and bake the bread. I'll take care of the soup." She gave me a skeptical look, and I quickly had to counter, "Don't worry, I promise I won't burn it."

I somehow managed to keep the soup from burning to the bottom of the pot, and true to my word, the fresh bread Alicia had baked went very well with the soup. We ate in comfortable silence, and after we cleaned up, I went to my room to study.

I sat at my desk and examined my class notes carefully. The professor had emphasized certain points during his lecture, so I was sure that those things were definitely going to be on the final… I yawned and stretched after a couple hours of thorough studying. I realized that I had taken more time going over my notes than I had originally intended. When I stood up and started cleaning up my notes, I heard footsteps out in the hall.

"Hmm? Alicia wouldn't be up this late… Hans maybe?" I muttered to myself. I eventually shrugged it off and headed to bed.

I woke up feeling warmer than usual and enjoyed every moment of it. When I looked down at the source of the extra warmth, my face almost blanched. "A-Alicia? What are you doing in here?" I peeled the sheet away from her and saw that she was only wearing one of my shirts. My face flushed at the sight. I tried to rouse her before my body could do something I'd regret. "H-hey, Alicia?"

I tried to move away from her to alleviate the arousal her proximity caused, but she tried to tighten her grip on me in response. I let out a weary sigh and brushed her fringe away from her face. I gasped at her high temperature, and Alicia whined against my touch. "D-don't…"

"You're burning up! H-hold on, let me get you something!" I attempted to climb out of bed to get her a cool compress, but she refused to let go of me.

"No!" she cried desperately and tried to keep a tight hold on me. I gave in a moment later and settled back down. I'd get some medicine for her later. In the meantime, I'd keep her unconscious form company. I blushed when the feeling of excitement came back. Alicia's chest was pressed right up against me… Her warm, sweaty skin was touching me, too.

I gulped and tried to keep my hands in appropriate places, but Alicia kept positioning herself in precarious arrangements. It took all of my willpower to not take advantage of her in her weakened state. I stayed with her for a couple dangerous hours, and I let out a sigh of relief when her grip on me slackened enough for me to get out of bed.

By that point, my morning classes had already ended, but I didn't care. Alicia was a higher priority anyway. I got dressed and went into the kitchen to feed myself and Hans. After we ate some leftover bread, I dug through the cabinet for some ginger. Alicia had made a point the other day to stock up on some for the coming season, so she could experiment with cakes and cookies. Once I found what I was looking for, I boiled some water in the tea kettle. While waiting for the water to heat up, I peeled and chopped up the ginger. As soon as the water was ready, I sweetened it and added the chopped ginger.

I took a seat at the table to think while the tea steeped. Why was Alicia in my bed… dressed like that? I felt my face burn in remembrance; she looked so… attractive. My thoughts were interrupted by Hans's oinking. I looked in his direction and saw that he was pointing his nose at the tea.

"Okay, okay. I got it Hans. I'll take it to Alicia right away." I grabbed a tray and loaded it with the kettle, a spoon, and a filled mug. Hans seemed satisfied with my actions and went off to tend to his own business. I shook my head good naturedly at his behavior and carried the tray to my room. When I opened my door, I saw that Alicia's eyes were cracked open.

"You're awake… You have a fever, you know?" I tried to give her a reassuring smile and set the tray carefully down on the table. With that taken care of, I pulled my chair up to the side of the bed and took a seat.

"So, why were you in my bed, uh… hardly wearing anything?"

I realized at that moment that I had asked the completely wrong question because Alicia broke into a fit of coughs. I sat her up and placed a hand soothingly on her back to ease her coughing. Her face seemed to have become a brighter shade of red.

"Hey, take it easy." I kept one hand on Alicia's back when I reached over for the mug and spoon. Alicia gave me an odd look, and I had to resist the urge to chuckle. "It's tea. It should help you a bit."

I stirred the honey-colored liquid, scooped a spoonful of it out, and blew on it before I offered it to her. I knew there was no way she'd be able to hold the mug and drink it herself. She hesitantly took a sip and immediately made a disgusted face. I once again had to resist the urge to laugh.

"Ew, what is that? It's so bitter."

"It's ginger tea." I paused for a moment when I remembered how I used to drink it in my youth. I hesitated a moment before I continued, "My mother used to make it for me when I was younger." I continued spoon feeding the bitter tea to her until it was all gone. I smiled; she somehow managed to finish it all despite the taste. "How do you feel now?"

"A little better," she answered. I gave a brief nod and put the dishes on the tray again. I looked back at her and decided that I still needed her answer to my earlier question.

"Why?" I tried to intensify my gaze. "Why did you do that?"

Alicia hid under my blanket. "… Rofie's ider..."

"Huh?" I cocked my head to the side. What did she say?

She poked her face out of the blanket before she answered again. "We're engaged, and you don't even want to sleep with me…" Alicia's voice was tight with emotion. I wanted to look away but found that I couldn't. I felt guilty that I had been trying to avoid that, but I had my reasons.

"It's not that I don't want to sleep with you, Alicia." I finally found the strength to look away, but I felt my face warm up because of what I needed to say. "I'm just worried."

"What? What could you possibly be worried about?"

"Our future. What if I give in to my primal desires and… lose control?" I braced myself. That was the last thing I wanted to tell her. I continued, "I don't want to hinder your dream in any way."

There was a moment of silence before it seemed to click in Alicia's dazed mind. "W-wait! You're saying that if I get too close, you could lose control of yourself and…" She gulped shakily. "… and get me pregnant?"

I ducked my face out of her view and nodded. I really didn't want to embarrass myself any further. We sat in silence once again for a couple minutes, but it was interrupted by Alicia's gasp.

"Welkin! Didn't you go to class today?"

"Hmm?" I glanced at the clock uninterestedly and shook my head. I wouldn't have bothered to go even if Alicia hadn't kept a firm hold on me this morning. "No, you were more important to me than my classes." We went quiet again for another minute or so. I definitely didn't expect the random question that Alicia chose to break the silence with.

"Welkin, did you like what you saw?" I tensed up at her sudden, spontaneous question. Why did she have to ask me that of all things?

"W-well, that is, uh…" I fumbled for the right words but found that I really couldn't compose myself. No words could accurately describe how I thought she looked… Alicia giggled at my reaction and smiled. I couldn't help tug at my shirt collar nervously; her expression made no effort to belie the intentions of her next words.

"How about a compromise then? I won't pester you for an answer to that question if you'll let me sleep with you from now on."

"Alicia, I –" She cut me off with a look that could kill and seemed to consider her next words carefully. I gulped in apprehension.

"I believe in you Welkin. Remember: I'm not scared when I'm with you."

I relented and hung my head. There was no way I could fight back when she put that much faith in my abilities. It wasn't like I stood much of a chance against her with such a strong argument. "I guess that's fine then. Now concentrate on getting better, okay?"

"Yes, Doctor Nature."

I stood up and took the tray from the top of my desk. "I'll be right back; I just need to take care of these."

I didn't even wait for an answer. I left my room and headed to the kitchen to wash the dishes. While I was scrubbing the mug and kettle, thoughts of Alicia once again flooded my mind. I guess even someone like Alicia could get sick every now and then… I glimpsed out the window and saw snowflakes fall to the ground in a flurry. It was the first snow of the winter. I smiled at the significance of this event.

It was the beginning of an important part of our relationship just as it was the beginning of a new season. Things were bound to become more intense from this point on…


A/N: This chapter took forever because I kept getting distracted… It was also pretty hard for me to "heat" things up, so to speak. I'm not totally used to writing that kind of romance material yet. I'm sure I get the hang of it later, though.

And thank you, everyone, for reading and reviewing my story. All of your comments and encouragement are very helpful in improving my writing. If there's anything you'd like to see happen in this story, I'd be happy to consider your ideas and see if they'd work.