Chapter 25
As expected, Rani sighed when she turns off her phone. It was filled with articles on her social media about the skeletal guy's secret stash and the heated debate about his sentence in prison. On the other hand, rumours spread like wildfire throughout her social media and her family's WhatsApp groups.
Apparently, her mother not only ranted out about her publicly, but she immediately banned her from all of the chats. Rani decided not to look at her phone and leaned back into her hospital bed. By now, most of the gang, the chief and governor had left to attend other matters. Only Mr. Snake remained, coiling himself on a seat while flipping through the channels of the hospital's television.
Most were news about the sick stalker and Mr. Snake's surprising superb streak of heroic deed.
"Look who's becoming a celebrity," Rani commented, making the serpent smirked. He slithered over to the side of her bed, resting his head "Hey, at least it's not Marmalade. That guy's a yellow rat, lemme tell you. So, how are you feeling?"
Rani sat up reaching out her hand to stroke Mr. Snake on the head. His eyes were half-closed, tongue flickering out. "A little better, although I do feel guilty about telling off my mother. I just have to accept the fact that I'm no longer part of the family. Snake, I hope I'm not keeping you away from your gang or-"
"Rani," Mr. Snake tilted her chin up to look into his eyes that held such tender expression. "You're not keeping me away from anything! If you were, then I wouldn't be here, right? I'm sorry about what happened between you and your mom. At least you have us and the chief. I can't believe I'm saying that..."
Rani shook her head, bringing herself into Mr. Snake for a hug. For a cold-blooded reptile, he felt warm to the touch. When the Eastern brown snake squeezed around her waist, Rani couldn't help but giggle at the thought of something. Mr. Snake flickered his tongue out.
"What's on your mind, sugar dumpling?"
"Am I your main squeeze?"
Mr. Snake let out a small laugh, coiling himself around her. Rani wished she would stay in this hospital ward forever than to go back. She rested her chin on Mr. Snake's smooth neck. "Of course you are! Though, you looked troubled. Is it the creep or something else?"
"Well, now that the cat's out of the bag," sighed Rani, stroking her lover's scaled body absentmindedly. "I'm more concern on what's going to happen to Polar Corner. I would LOVE to see the place get exposed but then again I have to keep my job. No other place is hiring me anytime soon. Let's not forget that the creep who stalked me happened to be an ex-coworker before me. So yeah, a lot's on my mind..."
Mr. Snake hissed softly. "Hey, at least you managed to do something. You led us to him, get the guy behind bars and let's not forget that if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gotten that Good Person Award."
"Technically, you did it on your own, Snake."
He shocked his head, bringing her close so that they could see eye-to-eye. "Rani, I've lived long on this planet and you're the first to open up to me and accept me after I was released from prison with the gang. I want to say thank you for all of this. So for now, forget about Polar Corner or the aftermath of your family. Stay in the present with me."
"Will you be here?"
"Always, Rani," Mr. Snake pecked her on the lips before laying by her side. "Trust in me."
However, something was nagging at the back of her mind. "I just realised that my hospital bill is going to be through the roof! I'm not sure if my current salary can cover-"
"That won't be a problem," the Eastern brown snake assured her. He coughed up a small beaker with a rubber that covers the surface. "You don't know how many people would kill to have a drop of my venom. My venom will be turned into anti-venom and in exchange, I get the dough. Heh, I should have done that years ago if I want to make some quick cash."
"So my hospital bill is covered through your venom?"
"Yep. Now come here, Rani," Mr. Snake hissed lowly, letting the young woman rest in his coiled embrace.
Rani's body slowly relaxed. He was right to say that she needs to rest if she wants her mind and body to heal. She mentally noted to herself to come up with an excuse to tell her manager that she might not be back until next week for work. There were a lot of things to do but for now, she wanted to rest with the serpent by her side.
"Hey, shall we go to the zoo tomorrow?" Rani suggested, earning an interested Mr. Snake to nod. "Might want to check on Misty for updates on the guy."
Mr. Snake flipped on the television to show a live footage of what was going on at the station. Just like at the animal testing lab, a few people were protesting for the guy to be released. Rani felt sick to the stomach before reaching over to switched to another channel that showed the movie Johnny English.
"Snake?"
"Yes, sugar dumpling?"
Rani pushed a bit of her hair behind her ears. "Do you want to know why I hate my birthday as I grow older?" When he wrapped his tail around her hand, he encouraged her to continue. Rani stroked his tail with her thumb before she continued, "I have a lot on my shoulders as I grow older. As the eldest in my family, I was raised to be the replacement parents for my siblings when both of my parents are busy with their things. Mama would be like: 'Have children. Get married! Be the rolemodel. Be the older sibling. Cook, clean, you're the girl, after all.'"
She sucked a deep breath, trying not to show oncoming tears. But the serpent rests his head against hers. "It's alright Rani. They're not here...You can cry, scream, cuss out if you want. They don't control you anymore. You're alive and kicking the hell out of those that doubted you."
With that, Rani let out a mixture of sobs and laughter. She wanted to let it all out because now she has someone where she doesn't have to hide anything and be herself without any filtering anything. For now, she was going to focus on the present instead of looking at the past.
"Hey, I just got an idea," said Rani, wiping her tears away. Mr. Snake arched a brow. "Oh?"
"Once I am out of the hospital, can we try and recreate some of the musics we listened to on our phones? Or maybe some karaoke?"
"Of course, Rani. In return, can I use your kitchen? There's something that I want to try."
Rani nodded as he placed his tail under her chin, leaning forward so that their foreheads touched before capturing her into a kiss. When they parted, Rani noticed that his smile was a soft, genuine one. She returned the kiss with much equal love and passion where she felt his forked tongue inside of her mouth.
Breathing softly, Rani had one hand cupping his cheek while the other was tracing down the partially opened button of his shirt. He responded by nuzzling into the crook of her neck. When looking back at him, his face was flushed.
God, she loved this snake so much!
Things were starting to get heated up until a nursed arrived with a tray of her meal and medicine. Rani and Mr. Snake stared at her with frozen expressions. The nurse only laughed.
"If you wanted me to come back later, do not hesitate to push that button by your bed."
...
"I'm glad you two are alright," the keeper told them. Both Rani and Mr. Snake were now back at the zoo after Rani's discharge from the hospital. This time, they had Mr. Piranha because he wanted to see the rescued snakes as well.
"No kidding! Snake has never been so hyped about anything," Mr. Piranha added, being awed at the number of visitors in the reptile exhibition. He gave Mr. Snake a cheeky grin. "Don't tell me you're a secret influencer as well!"
"Don't be ridiculous! You do know everyone's here after that viral video on the news?"
Ah, yes. The video of the rescued snakes from the skeletal guy's home. It was the worst thing he could've imagined. Then again, the creep tried to bite him in the butt when he and Mr. Shark dragged him to prison. All his life before coming to America, he never knew there were people who could be as vicious as that creep.
The keeper laughed and showed them the baby snakes. Mr. Piranha covered his mouth, trying his best to not laugh at Mr. Snake showing hints of affection that was rarely shown during his time with the gang.
From how the baby snake was slithering on top of him, Rani taking some photos and gushing at how cute the scene was, the freshwater fish was now convinced that Mr. Snake DOES have some good in him.
'Hah! Wolf's gonna love this,' he thought to himself with a mischievous grin. 'Snake lowkey wants to be a Papa, huh? I wonder how he and Rani would- Is it possible?'
Shaking his head, Mr. Piranha decided to leave the both of them alone. Maybe the snack bar might have something new...
...
"Are you done in there? It feels kinda awkward that I'm guarding you outside of the changing room."
Rani giggled inside the changing room. "You promised that you'd accompany me to my favourite clothing store after I went through your obstacle course at the gym. I think I can barely feel my legs after the plank."
Chief Luggins huffed, crossing her arms. "A two minute plank ain't that hard after three rounds of shoulder pressed weights and leg press. So are you done or not?"
When Rani came out of the changing room, the chief's jaws dropped.
Sorry for the late update. I had some mental issues to take care of and planning a Halloween event with a few friends. Don't worry, I can't wait to write the gala chapter and the aftermath
The song "Good Tonight" is gonna be different than in the movie!