Chapter 7

Discovery

"I'm fine Solomon, it's just that… well, I can't seem to fall asleep, and I was just wondering if I could… umm… maybe… sleep in your bed…" She blushed as the words fell out of her mouth and she quickly looked down at the floor, red as a tomato.

"Absolutely. Anything you need, Saya. Please, come in." He opened the door all the way, and she stepped in as he closed the door behind her.

Saya wasted no time, as she was completely exhausted. She could see only by the light of the lamp on his bedside table, which she assumed he had kept on because he never slept.

'He must have been reading a book or something,' she thought to herself.

She climbed into the right side of the bed which was undisturbed, and her head hit the pillow almost instantly. She then closed her eyes, ready for sleep. Solomon watched as she comfortably situated herself in his bed. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was, and revel in the fact that she trusted him enough after what had happened to her to get into his bed.

He walked over to his side, and got under the covers as well, staring at her. He instinctively reached his hand over and brushed a few hairs from her peaceful face. As he touched her skin, she cringed and her eyes flew open. She calmed down the next second, and she apologized for her reaction. Solomon just shook his head and she smiled, lids half-drooped yet again as she closed them completely.

Solomon tried to control his urges to touch her. He just wanted to hold her, to make her feel okay again. She had had her heart broken twice in the past 24 hours, and he knew she was hurting worse than she let on. He wanted to do anything he could to help her.

After a while of restraining himself, he slid slightly closer to her. And he kept inching himself closer until he was touching her arm, and her arms wrapped around him instinctively in her sleep. She pulled him to her and he gently took her in his arms, stroking her hair as he held her protectively.

"Saya, I will never let them hurt you again. I will be all you need, and you will come to realize that you love me just as much as I love you. One day you will understand, if I can show you how much I care for you. They don't deserve you anymore."

And with that, he silently held her through the night. He could never get bored of watching her sleep in his arms. In fact, it made him the happiest he had been in 10 long years without her.

As the sun began to rise, Solomon watched as it filled the room with a warm, glowing orange light through the sheer white curtains on his bedroom window. He gently removed Saya's grasp on him, and carefully slid out of bed, making absolutely sure not to wake her. He made his way down to the kitchen, and rummaged through his fridge to see what he had to make for her. He hadn't been expecting her, and since he didn't really need to eat, he didn't keep much around.

He sighed softly as he realized there was nothing suitable to make her for breakfast. He glanced quickly at the time and realized it was only 6:30am, so he should be able to run out to the market and get some eggs, bacon and pancake mix before she awoke. He ran to his room and got dressed in his favorite white suit with a purple tie, being extremely quiet so that he would not wake Saya as he dressed. When he was done, he left a note for her in case she woke up early. He the grabbed his card key and wallet and headed out of his room and out the door of his apartment, figuring he could be back in about a half hour and her breakfast would be ready just in time for her to wake up.

Just after Solomon left, Saya began to stir. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times, wiping them with her hands to get the blurriness to dissipate. She sat up slowly, looking around her, and remembering last night when she had come into Solomon's room.

"Solomon?" She asked, looking around the room again. She got up, and saw the note he had written her on the bedside table closest to her side of the bed. She opened it up and read it.

Saya,

I went to get you some breakfast food.

I'll be back very soon.

Please make yourself at home.

Solomon

Saya smiled and placed the note back down on the nightstand, shaking her head.

"You didn't have to go to all that trouble…"

Her stomach growled, interrupting her thought, as if it were highly disagreeing with her. She giggled slightly and made her way to "her" room, to grab some fresh clothes. She reached into a drawer and pulled out a magenta t-shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. She also saw a pair of black sneakers which she put on with some black ankle socks. When she finished getting dressed, she made her way back to Solomon's room and into the bathroom. She looked for a hairbrush, finding one in a drawer, along with a brand new toothbrush and some toothpaste. She proceeded to brush her long hair back into a ponytail and brush her teeth. She still hadn't decided if she liked the way her hair looked or not. But she decided she would give it another day.

She made her way down the hall, figuring that she would take this time to look around the apartment and get to know the place a little better, since she would be staying here a while. She walked out into the living room and smiled at the flat screen TV that hung on the wall opposite her. She glanced at the two navy blue couches which sat on the hardwood floor just in front of the TV, an area rug between them of the same color. On top of the rug was a glass coffee table with two marble statues on the ends and a remote control in the center. She assumed that was for the TV.

She next noticed the paintings on the wall to her right, and she walked over to more closely study them. They were abstract paintings, and she smiled a bit. 'I didn't think he was into these kinds of things,' she thought to herself.

She turned around and walked to the other side of the room where there were a few pedestals lining the wall with expensive-looking vases, also with abstract designs on them. There were 4 of them, each one with a unique color palette. She stared at them a while before she finally sat down on the larger of the two couches and grabbed the remote from the table.

She flipped on the TV and scrolled through the channels, not knowing what she wanted to put on. She glanced at the time on the bottom of the screen. It was a little after seven, so she thought the news would be on.

'I have to catch up on what I've been missing these days.' She said to herself as she pressed the correct numbers for the news channel on the remote.

She heard much about a war currently being fought overseas, and a large amount of violence breaking out in cities across Japan because of it. She shook her head, thinking not much had changed about this world since she had gone into her sleep. People were still killing each other. Was peace not possible after all?

She sighed and turned off the TV after watching for 15 minutes or so. She figured Solomon would be back soon anyway, so she just sat there, playing with the remote in her hands.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Saya jumped a bit at the sudden sound in the quiet room, but she got up quickly, laughing a little.

"Solomon, did you forget your key?" She said as she opened the door.

She froze in place as her eyes met those on the other side of the door. She blinked to make sure she was indeed seeing correctly.

Haji stared back at her, now unsure of what he should say. He had been practicing over and over on the way up to the apartment, but now his mind was blank. He just stood there, and they stared at one another.

"Saya," He finally broke their silence. "We should talk."