Chapter 6: Breakfast in Bed

Rayner's eyes emerged from the narrow slits of sleep. It took a while before the warmth of the sun coming from the uncurtained part of the west end window of his room to hit his cheeks with prickly effect. For some reason, everything felt off that morning, much to his wonder at first. At least, until he remembered last night.

He found himself in his bed, blanketed and in dry clothes. Last thing he remembered was that he had accidentally assaulted a strange girl inside the cafe and had carried her here. What happened afterwards, he couldn't remember. And speaking of the girl...

Rayner quickly looked around and found a silhouette outlined by the morning rays by the bench just beside the main window. He rose from bed halfway and sat propped by the headboard. He patiently waited for his eyes to adjust.

As his vision cleared an image of a girl appeared. He could only make out parts of her face, she bore rosy white complexion and full red lips, contrasted by flowing black wavy hair that glistened with the morning light. From a distance she almost looked like a movie star in a photo op as she slouched in the bench with one leg folded up and crossed with the other with only long sleeves and short boxers to cover her up.

Rayner swallowed what saliva he had in his dry mouth. Those garments, they were his boxers and long sleeves. But never mind that. There's a very beautiful woman in his apartment!

The bed stirred as Rayner moved away from bed. This caught the attention of his visitor and met him with her full hazel eyes.

"You're awake," said the lady in a mellow voice that sounded suited for singing.

The visitor stood up and walked towards his makeshift kitchen not too far from the living quarters. Rayner could only watch in bewilderment.

"I've made breakfast. Tricky cookery gadgets, you have around here," she said as she got a plate Rayner had not noticed moments ago. "You were feverish from the cold rain when I woke up so I had to heal and dry you up. Anyway, you have to eat up to replenish strength."

The lady approached Rayner and placed the plate on the nearby table. He couldn't remember how long it has been since he's had a complete breakfast before, sausages cooked to golden brown and perfectly round eggs with buttered toast. Seeing this gave him a bit of embarrassment as he tried to squirm out a reply, "Erm, thanks... uh..."

The visitor smiled back, "My name is Celestine. High Priestess Celestine Edencourt. Call me Celeste or Cel or whatever. Thanks for saving my life yesterday, though everything is still a blur to me. I blacked out on duty and when I woke up, somebody assaulted me from behind. I thought I was done for."

Rayner's heart began to beat faster. Save? Wasn't he the one who had almost killed her? He looked at Celestine's nape, it was still black and blue from his metallic notebook. How do I tell her, he thought. This girl had a weird aura about her, and it wasn't just the helluva long name and her weird looks.

"Anyway, eat up."

Sweatdrops formed along Rayner's forehead as he watched Celestine excitedly observe how he put the buttered toast in his mouth. He bit the toast with a frantic crunching sound.

Immediately Rayner spit out the whole thing back into the plate with his tongue hanging out as though it was being cured on the spot with battery acid. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU PUT IN THIS? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?"

Celeste scratched her head. A faint blush permeated across her cheeks, "I'm not exactly too good with the kitchen. I only copied what our house help does. Sorry about the salt, the shaker kinda burst open when I was cooking that."

Rayner felt incensed, forgetting for a while everything that happened. With an indignant voice he bantered on, "This thing tastes more like rocksalt than toast."

"Hey, I'm trying!" replied Celestine in a snobbish overtone.

"If I knew better I swear I'd think you're trying to get back at me for hitting you last ni..."

He didn't even get to finish his sentence. Celestine's eyes mutated from gentle and angelic to fiery devilish.

"You did what?" Cel asked in an interrogating undertone as she lunged towards Rayner, grabbed both of his shoulders and pinned him down the bed.

"Bad move, Rayn," Rayner whispered to himself. Removed from it all, he could not help but stare at the generous fronts that lay a few inches above his chest. His heart beat even faster.

"If this is all you're doing, I'm going to hit you so hard, you'll be begging for Niffleheim!"

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I SWEAR!" beggingly shouted Rayner as he tried to wiggle out of her hold.

"Yeah, as if I haven't heard that one before!" said Celestine as she raised her closed right fist on top of Rayn's horrified face.

Then, a hurried voice shot through from behind the front door followed by intense knocking caught Celestine's attention. It was a most familiar voice.

"Rayn? Is your butt still there? Zamora will kill us again if we're late for his class!"