[…]
2
They say that there isn't a bad situation that can't become worse. It had all started when she, Syn, decided that making a pact with the devil would be a good idea. She had paid her share, and Kenny promised her freedom, which she now had; however, at what cost? She was living with Levi, a thug from the underground who, after a lot of insistence – and her breaking into his home -, agreed to let her live in his place. At that moment, when he finally said "yes" after three days of her sleeping outside his house, Syn felt bliss; true, genuine bliss.
On the back of her mind, the only thing she was thinking was that she would have a place to sleep, unpolluted water, and a bathroom to shower. She never once thought about the fact that she was doing a pact with another devil. Well, after one week with Levi breathing down her neck, she already wanted to run away to another place. It wasn't that she felt ungrateful towards the man, after all he helped her without asking much and despite the fact she was a complete stranger. However, the little man – who was still taller than her, for her disgrace -, had a very unique way of pestering people.
It all started the second she asked him where she would sleep. He looked at her with those gray, empty eyes and said, "You can sleep on the floor,"
She stared dumbly at him, not really processing what he had just said. A minute later, she finally caught up.
"What? But there's a couch there," she motioned for the green couch, which was big enough for her small frame to sleep in a very comfortable position.
"The couch isn't a place to sleep." He told her, stroking his damn knife like it was a dog he was petting. "Didn't you have one in the little palace you come from?" and he had the audacity of being ironic.
"Of course we did but-"
"Did you use it to sleep?"
"No, bu-"
"So no sleeping on the couch,"
He didn't change his mind; so yes, Syn had to sleep on the floor of one of the spare rooms in the house. She didn't fight him, deciding it would be better to keep it cool for the moment, so he wouldn't kick her out again. The next day, though, when she woke up with a strained neck and her back stiff as a floorboard, she decided that wouldn't do. She went to the living room, where Levi was already drinking her precious tea and ready for another day, and decided to confront him. He looked at her through his mug, though, and she could swear she saw a little smirk there.
"Slept well?" he asked, making her heart pound with the rush of angriness that came to her.
How dare you? She thought, imagining her fist connecting with his perfect stoic face. She didn't do anything, though. Only smiled the best she could, which at that moment came up as a grimace, and sat down next to him.
"You floor is gracious," she complimented, extending her hand towards the pot of fresh, hot tea. Levi didn't think twice before slapping her hand away. "What?" she brought her hand to her chest, rubbing on it.
"That's my tea. If you want some, you buy some."
Her mouth fell open. "But I gave this tea to you!"
"Exactly. It belongs to me now. Hands off,"
She was indignant, not believing he would be so petty like that. "Can't you share?"
"No."
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, again Syn smiled. "Fine." She went to the sink and took a cup of water, clinging to it to prevent her foot of hitting the back of his head.
He continued drinking his tea as if he was the king of the world while she glared at him; he had a weird way of grabbing the mug, holding it by the brim instead of the handle, like a normal person would do. Soon enough, he stood up and turned around.
"Oi, what's with the glare?" one of his eyebrows rose when he stared at her, making her Syn bit her lip when she was caught in the middle of her "killer" look.
"I'm not glaring." She lied, taking a sip of water.
"Tch," he left his mug in the sink before turning around to her again. "I want the house clean spotless when I come back."
Then he went to the door, leaving Syn behind. "When are you coming back?"
"None of your fucking business."
As soon as he closed the door, she swore all the bad words she could think of, which she never used because they were very unlady like, but now she wasn't exactly a lady, so whatever. She was mad.
"That little asshole," she muttered under her breath, afraid that he was behind the door listening to her and as soon as he heard her, he would barge into the house and kick her out for good. "I hope you choke on the damn tea,"
Speaking of which, she eyed the tea-pot full of the sacred liquid she enjoyed so much drinking, and smiled mischievously. Levi wasn't there anymore, and the tea was just sitting there, still hot and basically calling her name. She drank almost everything, feeling the sweet flavor calm down her nerves. That was the best damn tea in the whole kingdom, and it was worth the risk of Levi finding out she had drank it.
After that, she put some water inside so he wouldn't figure out she had touched her own tea, and decided to start her day. The first thing she did was go to her new bedroom – which didn't have a bed - to arrange some of her things. The previous day she had been so excited that she had forgotten to do that. The room was clean, but since Levi was annoying as hell with the cleanliness of his house she decided to clean it more. With a broom, a bucket full of water and an old cloth she started cleaning it the best she could.
Syn had never once cleaned anything in her life. She had had servants to do it back home, so she never had the need of doing anything of the sort. Only once she remembered arranging her mother's dressing table because she had done a mess with her jewelry and make up while playing dress up with it. It hadn't gone too well, and her mother eventually found out what she had been doing.
She had no idea where to start, but decided that the sweeping would be a good idea. There wasn't anything in the room besides a few boxes; she opened them up, curious to see what was inside, and was surprised when she saw a bunch of old things – books, some vases and other random objects. Shrugging, and a bit frustrated because she expected something more interesting inside them, she continued to arrange the things. It didn't take long before she finished. The room was well cleaned, in her opinion, but it was so empty that it felt wrong. She decided, then, that she would go find a bed and a wardrobe – she couldn't stand sleeping on the floor for too long either.
After she cleaned that room, she went to the rest of the house, starting in the bedrooms, bathroom and following until the kitchen and living room. She did the best she could, sweeping and cleaning the floor with the cloth until it was good for her. In the end, the house was clean and fresh. Syn felt pretty good about herself, and for the first time in years she felt like she was useful for something. It was around eleven in the morning when her stomach grumbled and she had no idea what to make to eat.
Another thing she had lied about was the fact that she could cook anything; she had never done anything remotely close to food in her old life, again because there were people that were paid to do that for her. Now she was completely clueless about how the process of making food went. She decided she would at least try, after all, how hard could it be?
"Ok, let's see what Mr. grumpy pants has to cook," she went to Levi's cabinet, opening it and seeing a few packages of food. There was a piece of old bread, which was as hard as a stone, some equally old potatoes and a few spices – or was it tea? She had no clue. Sighing, she decided to try and make some soup with the potatoes. "How do I do that?"
She washed the potatoes, and cut them into several mismatched pieces; then, finding a big, shiny pan she filled it with water and put the potatoes in it, carrying it all over the wood burning stove. Then she stared at it for minutes, thinking about how she would light the damn thing.
It was right at that moment that the front door opened, and Levi entered with his usual stoic face; he had a bag with him, and Syn looked at it with curiosity.
"What's that?" she wondered, seeing him put the bag over the table. He ignored her, coming closer to drink some water and see what she was doing.
"The fuck is that?" he asked, eyeing the pan full of several pieces of potato.
"I'm making a soup." Syn shrugged. "You don't have much to cook here, so I had to be creative."
"You call that being creative?" he looked with disgust at the potatoes, shaking his head. "And you need to light it if you want to cook,"
Syn rolled her eyes, annoyed that he thought she was so dumb that she didn't know that. "I know, but I have no idea where you put the matches."
He went around her, bumping on her shoulder in the process purposefully and taking a box of matches from the cabinet. He threw it in her direction, but since she wasn't expecting it the box hit her full on the face, falling to the ground after. Levi raised one eyebrow, obviously amused while Syn stared at him stupidly.
"That hurt!" she gritted her teeth, bending to take the box from the floor while Levi crossed his arms with a smirk on his face.
"When someone throws something at your face, you have to fucking dodge it, dumbass." He commented as if she didn't know that, and it irritated her to no ends. Gosh, he was so freaking annoying.
"I know that," she snapped, taking one match from the box and going to the stove. There were a bunch of wood there already, and she lit the match throwing it in the fire. The flame evidently went out, and Syn stared at the wood wondering what she did wrong.
Levi stared at it, too, but he didn't offer any help. Syn tried once again, and the same thing happened. Then she tried over and over until there were at least ten burned out matches lying uselessly on the wood.
"You're shitty at this," Levi pointed out, sounding bored as hell. Syn decided to ignore him and took another match, this time mentally praying to Sina that it would work.
She was going to do the same she did before had Levi not gotten annoyed by it and taken the match from her hands, lighting it and, with a piece of paper that he took from god knows where he lit the paper on fire and threw it on the wood. After a couple of minutes the wood started burning.
"Oh," Syn looked at it in complete awe, as if Levi had just performed some sort of magic right in front of her eyes.
"Tch, you don't even know how to light a fucking stove," Levi sighed, turning around and going in the bag's direction. Syn bit her lip, getting a bit flushed by her evident lack of abilities.
"The one I had was different," she lied straight through her teeth, and Levi sent her an annoyed look that told her he knew that was bullshit.
He opened the bag and took several things from it; there was some food – another piece of bread, some vegetables like potatoes, carrots and one that Syn didn't recognize, and a nice piece of bacon. He also took a box of what looked like tea leaves, and a couple of bottles of a dark drink – maybe it was wine? Syn wondered, getting excited with the prospect of having some. The last items he took from the bag were a bar of soup and a bottle full of white liquid.
"What's that?" she pointed to the bottle, coming forward and reaching for it. Levi slapped her hand again, the second time only that day, and she pouted holding her hand to her chest. "What was that for?"
"You're too fucking curious," he deadpanned.
"And you're too fucking rude!" she retorted, getting all flushed. "You don't need to hit me every time,"
He stared her for a moment before rolling his eyes. In the end, the told her what she wanted to know. "This is called detergent, something you use to clean things. Cleaning, in case you don't know, is when you take the dirt out of things."
"I know what it is," asshole, she added mentally, frowning. "I already cleaned the house, by the way."
His interest was picked at this, and he looked around. "Eh? Did you, now?" he turned around and went to the small corridor, entering his bedroom first.
Seeing this, Syn went after him. "I didn't clean your bedroom because I didn't know if I could go in there or not," she informed him, watching as he saw his perfectly made bed, with sheets so white that it made it look like new; everything was well-kept and organized, there was nothing out of place there.
"Wow, you're really a clean freak," Syn didn't plan saying that, and as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. Levi's gray eyes glared at her for a moment, and it made her feel as if he was staring straight at her soul; it was really unnerving. "I-I didn't want to say that."
"Tch," he closed the door, turning to go to the other room. "Fucking brat," Syn heard he mutter before opening the door to her room. She went straight after him.
"Hey, where do you think I can get a bed?" he looked at her over his shoulder, eyebrow raised. "You don't expect me to sleep on the floor forever, right?"
He didn't answer; after sweeping his eyes around the room, he closed the door. "You didn't clean the ceiling; there's dust there."
Syn's eyes went wide. "What? Is that really necessary?"
Levi looked at her as if she had just called him the worse name in the world. "Eh? Are you shitting me?"
She bit her lip, shifting on her feet uncomfortably. "I'll clean it," she answered coyly.
He went to all rooms, and in every single one he found something to complain about; the toilet in the bathroom wasn't properly clean, the corner of the walls in the living room still had dust, the top of the cabinets in the kitchen were as clean as "a horse ass,". In the end, Syn was all mopey because she had thought she had done a good job. After his inspection, he sat down and took a mug of tea, even though it was cold by now. Meanwhile, Syn stared at the potatoes, which were starting to boil.
"Did you mess up with the tea?" her back went stiff when she heard him, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up by the tone of his voice. He didn't sound happy.
"What?" she played dumb, turning and looking at him with the best straight face she managed to put up. "Of course not."
"Why is it fucking watery then?"
"Maybe because it's made with water?" she decided to be a smart ass, and that was a wrong movement on her part. He stood up and came up to her, getting so close she had to bend backwards so they wouldn't touch chests.
"Don't. Mess. With. My. Fucking. Tea." He said through gritted teeth, staring her down and making her legs shake slightly. His gray eyes were scary to look at; she knew that if looks could kill, she would be dead right at the spot. His eyebrow was creased, which made him look even more frightening.
Her heart started pounding loudly in her ribcage, and she recoiled, scared shitless of the man in front of her. She honestly thought he would do something bad to her; she didn't know him, but she did know he was a thug, and a dangerous one at that if he and Kenny were similar in any sense. She gulped and her lip quivered.
"I-I'm sorry," she hated herself for stammering, but she just couldn't put up on a brave face when he was that close to her and with that murder aura surrounding him.
Levi, seeing her frightened as a bird would be facing off a big animal, felt slightly bad. The girl was smaller than him and that meant she was really small, her body was thin, her arms, which were clad with only the fabric of her shirt, were as thin as sticks. If he were to do anything against her, she wouldn't have been able to stop him. She was weak, he could see, and got scared easily enough. Her blue eyes, clear as a morning sky, were innocent and too bright – she wasn't made for that world.
Sighing, he took a step backwards, feeling stupid for having threatened a powerless girl like that. Although he was a thug from the underground, and liked punching people's face around sometimes, he wasn't one to beat women or children, or people he considered too weak to be taken into consideration.
Syn sighed in relief when he turned around and went back to the table, silent and somber. He didn't finish the tea, but he took off his knife and started cleaning it with a handkerchief, like he had done the day before. Maybe that was a habit of his.
They didn't speak again after that, and the awkward silence in the house was palpable.
The next couple of days were pretty much similar; Levi and Syn would wake up almost at the same time, and while he would drink his precious tea, she would drink water and feel miserable with the smell coming from the tea-pot. Then, he would tell her he wanted the house spotless and go out somewhere Syn had no idea. She would spend the morning cleaning the house, scrubbing the floor with the detergent, cleaning all the spider webs and taking off dust from everywhere possible so Levi wouldn't have any reasons to complain. She cleaned everything so well that one day he even gave her a nod of appraisal, which made her feel so good about herself that she wanted to kick her own gut for being such a lap dog for his opinion.
Their living together was okay. They did argue quite often, about almost everything. The last thing was the terrible porridge Syn had cooked, which made Levi spit it out and wash his tongue afterwards. Syn wanted to kick his ass, but when she tasted the damn thing it truly was disgusting. She hadn't put any seasoning, so it was as flavorless as a sheet of paper. She did eat everything, though, just to despite him.
Besides that, they got along well. In fact, they almost didn't talk to each other, even if Syn tried to start a conversation Levi would always answer with a snark or just give yes or no answers, which didn't help in the dialogue. Eventually Syn would leave him alone, preferring to sing softly to herself one of the songs she used to sing in front of everyone. Oblivious to her, while cleaning his knife or reading a book, Levi listened to her singing. He would never tell her, of course, but he actually enjoyed the sound of her soft voice humming the melodies or singing the lyrics unknown to him.
[…]
Syn was tired of sleeping on the damn floor. That day, the tenth day since she had moved into Levi's house, she decided she would go on a shopping trip with or without Levi. She had asked the man to help her a couple of times, but he either told her to fuck off or simply said that he didn't have the time or disposition for it. So she patiently waited for him to warm up to her a bit, but since he wasn't having any progress in that regards, she decided to go alone. She still had all the money she had brought with her, which was a lot, and some of the jewelry as well. Levi never asked her for money, so she didn't need to spend it. However, the situation was critic, so she decided it was about time she did.
She needed so many things she made a list. A bed, sheets, a towel – she had been using her cloak for the whole time she was there -, hygiene items that she thought she really needed, a pillow, a wardrobe, maybe even some decoration for her room; she also decided to buy food, proper food, because she was tired of eating potatoes – baked potatoes, potato soup, roasted potato, potato bread -, hard bread and porridge. Also, she needed tea.
Waking up full of purpose, she put on a dress – she needed new clothes, too -, fixed her long hair in a bun and went to the living room. As usual, Levi was already there, drinking his tea in that weird way of his, and when he noticed her all dressed up, his eyebrows raised slightly.
He would never admit it out loud, but Syn was damn beautiful; it didn't matter if she was dressed in rags, all dirty, she still was able to be pretty. That annoyed him to no end, especially since she seemed to be a little vain. Like that moment, for instance, when she was dressed with a pretty fancy light blue dress with a white corset over it. She looked like a person coming from the capital, and that, in the underground, meant that she would be probably killed.
"I'm going into the town," she announced with a fierce look in her blue eyes. Levi watched her through his mug, not saying anything. "Is there anything you want for me to buy?"
Still, he didn't say anything. Sometimes he was like that, silent, unnerving, and Syn hated when he did that. She preferred his snarky comments to the complete silence. Sighing, she went over the sink to take some water, as usual.
"Are you going dressed like that?" he finally said something, and Syn looked down on her body, seeing the blue dress she was wearing; she didn't know what was wrong with it.
"What's wrong?"
"You're asking to be robbed," she frowned, not understanding.
"Why?"
"Tch," he turned to look at her, his stoic mask in place. "You look like you don't belong." Far too pretty for this place, he added mentally.
"This is the simplest dress I have," she retorted, shaking her head. "I'm not changing."
"Whatever, brat." Grumpy ass Levi came back, and he returned to read the paper. "Just don't come crying when you come back naked,"
She flushed all over, swallowing the water to calm down her nerves. He was such an asshole; if he could just go with her so nothing bad would happen, but no, he had to be a jerk.
"Well, can you at least tell me where I can go to buy a bed?"
"Downtown," he said, not bothering to elaborate. Groaning, Syn gave up on getting more out of Levi.
"Whatever," she bit, going towards the door. "I'll be back later," she told him without turning, and then she left the house for the first time after seven days.
She wouldn't admit it, but just stepping outside made her feel terribly unguarded. It was as if someone would jump on her out of the blue and take all of her belongings – she had taken only part of her money, so if someone actually robbed her, she wouldn't be penniless. Taking in a deep breath, she put on a brave face and climbed down the stairs, determined to do what she had planned for the day.
The underground was a goddamn labyrinth; after thirty minutes walking, Syn had already lost herself in the crowd, and she had no idea where she should go. She remembered the map the lady had drawn to her on her first day there, and regretted not bringing it with her so she would find her way back. Now she didn't know where the hell she was, or how to go back. Desperation started to get into her, but she took a deep breath to try and remain calm. If she freaked out at that moment, it wouldn't help her.
The streets were crawling with people, and everyone seemed to her as a suspicious person; even the kids, whom were running around made her nervous. She tried to find downtown, but it was too damn difficult. Sighing, she decided to ask someone for help. Who?
She eyed the mass of people, trying to find one kind face that would help her. She couldn't, and eventually gave up on that and approached an old woman with gray hair and a wrinkled face.
"Excuse me, ma'am," she called, and the woman looked at her as if she was crazy for just talking to her. "How can I get downtown?"
"What?" the lady repeated, putting one hand over her ear and turning her head.
"How can I get downtown?" she repeated louder this time, and the old woman frowned.
"Capital? You're far away from the capital, miss," she answered, starting to walk again. Syn frowned, going after her one more time.
"No, downtown. Downtown!" she tried again, louder. People looked at her with strangeness, but she decided to ignore.
"I don't know where's Capetown. Leave me alone!"
Syn gave up, wanting to cry; she watched the old lady enter the crowd and disappear while she stood there, not knowing where to go.
"Hey, I heard you want to go downtown," she was startled when a young man appeared out of the blue in front of her. She looked up, eyeing him critically. He had dirty blond hair, cut in a fluid way, and light blue eyes; he was quite handsome, she thought, especially when he smiled.
"Yes, can you help me?" she asked hopefully, and his smiled opened up even more.
"Of course! Follow me,"
Syn had zero clue of how bad that idea was, so she followed him like he had asked.
"You aren't from here, are ya?" he asked, eyeing her without losing the smile. Syn bit her lip, unsure if she should tell him the truth or not.
"No, I've been living here for a couple of days, only."
"Oh yea?" his blue eyes sparkled in mischief, but Syn didn't notice. "Why did you move?"
"Personal matters," she answered, not wanting to delve into it with a stranger.
"I see. I was born and raised here," he commented. "Know the place with the back of my hand."
"That's good for you," she sighed, shaking her head. "I'm clueless,"
"I can see that," he chuckled, eyeing her with more intensity. The girl was really a sight to behold, and obviously stood out with her light complexity and heart shaped face. The dress, though, was what drew him in. "So, where're you living?"
Syn rolled her eyes, being completely manipulated with the easy going behavior of the guy. "With this grumpy guy."
"Ah," he nodded, raising his eyebrows. "Boyfriend?"
Syn's face flushed all over with only the thought of Levi being her boyfriend. "No, no. He's…a friend."
"I see." They walked a bit more in silence, with the guy guiding her through the crowd, and Syn not exactly knowing where they were going to but following anyway. She liked the guy, he seemed nice. "What's your name?" he asked after some time in silence.
"Syn. And yours?"
"I'm Farlan Church," he grinned, and that made his eyes shine even more. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he took her hand and gave her a kiss, which made Syn flush all over again.
"Likewise," she answered, still red in the face. She cleaned her throat, taking her eyes off of him. "Is it far?" she decided to ask, more to change subject than to really know.
"No, we're almost there."
"Good. I really need to buy some things."
They continued to chat lightly about nothing really important, until they reached a dark alley and Farlan's whole demeanor changed. Up to that point, Syn had not realized the true intentions behind his actions; after all it was completely acceptable for her that a nice guy like him would offer to help her. It all changed when she realized that they were in a very desert place, far away from all the noise and movement from the city. She looked at Farlan, seeing the same smile on his face, though it didn't reach his eyes anymore. Looking over her shoulder, she saw two figures approaching, and that made her heart leap in her chest.
Goddamn it, she thought, kicking herself for being so stupid and following a complete stranger like that. What was wrong with her?
In front of her, two other people appeared, a man and a woman, and she was circled.
"Er, are we far?" she asked, looking at Farlan with frightened eyes. His blue eyes looked back at her, and his smile was lost.
"Sorry."
Her heart was beating wildly at that moment, and she stumbled backwards, but that was no use.
"A-about what?" she stammered, eyeing each of the people getting closer to her.
"You know,"
"Just take her money already," one of the girls yelled, and Syn's eyes got wide as saucers.
"W-what?"
Farlan came closer to her, extending his hand as he had done before; this time, though, he didn't want her hand. He wanted more.
"Give us what you have and we'll leave you alone," he told her, serious. "You don't need to get hurt."
"B-but," she started, gulping and feeling really dumb. "I d-don't have much,"
"It doesn't matter. Just give whatever you have."
With shaky fingers, she reached inside her dress, where she had put the bag of money she had brought with her and handed it to the blond in front of her.
"Thanks, darling." He smiled, getting light humored again. "And sorry for doing that. You're nice person,"
She wanted to cry, but she held back the tears; her lip, though, started quivering. Farlan frowned at that, feeling slightly bad for robbing such a small and innocent looking girl.
"Aww, she is about to cry," someone laughed at her, and that made everything worse. She closed her fists, trying hard not to show any emotion.
She thought back of Levi and his stoic face; he certainly wouldn't show how affected he was if he was in her position. Hell, he would probably kick their asses. Gosh, she wished he was there at that moment.
"Let's go," Farlan said, turning to leave with his gang.
Something, or rather someone stopped him of doing that, though. For her relief, and utter adoration, on the other side of the alley, in the opposite direction to where Farlan was turning to, Levi was standing, his face as blank as a white canvas; as soon as he appeared, all of the people, including Farlan, took off their knifes and other weapons, getting ready to fight. Syn, however, stood there, looking at Levi as if he was god himself.
Oh, Sina, thanks! Thanks so much! She thought, turning and running in his direction.
She stood behind him, almost hiding while he glared at the group of thugs in front of him.
"I-It's Levi," someone from the group stammered, looking frightened as hell. Farlan, who had been pretty cool up to that moment, looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"You again?" Levi asked, sounding as if that was the most boring situation he had ever been in. Farlan cracked a smile that didn't reach his eyes, passing a hand through his neck.
"Oh, Levi, it's nice seeing you again." He said, sounding the complete opposite. He was nervous, Syn noticed, and that made her feel slightly pleased.
Serves you right, she thought, frowning.
"Give back the money you took," Levi ordered, and a collection of gasps was heard.
"B-but that's our territory," one of the men said, and Farlan sent him a warning look over his shoulder.
"I didn't know you were…acquainted with the girl." The blond returned to speak, and took the bag of money he had just stolen, throwing it towards Levi, who took it without shifting a single muscle.
Syn was relieved that her money was saved, and glared at Farlan.
"Did they hurt you?" Levi asked Syn, still glaring at Farlan with a murderous aura surrounding him. Seeing the desperation in Farlan's eyes and not really liking the idea of him being killed by Levi over a bag of money, she shook her head.
"No, I'm okay." She got closer to him and grabbed the back of his shirt. "We can go now,"
It took Levi a moment to shift from his threatening position, but eventually he did, turning around and walking away with Syn hanging as close to him as possible.
"W-we are sorry!" she heard Farlan yell at her, and she did the least expected in that situation of a girl her age - she showed him her tongue, before quickly turning back. They didn't look back.
"Thanks so much for helping me," Syn told her silent companion after a moment walking in silence. She stopped in her tracks, biting her lip and flushing a bit. "It was really stupid of me following him,"
Levi didn't say anything, and continued walking despite the fact she had stopped. Realizing he wasn't going to answer, she ran to catch up with him again.
"It's just that he was so kind to me," she continued her excuse, shaking her head. "I should've known something like that was going to happen. I'm so stupid,"
"Yea, you are," Levi opened his mouth for the first time, sending her a bored look over his shoulder. "You're not in the capital anymore; you'd better get used to it."
"I know," she agreed, feeling embarrassed for her stupidity. "Anyway, how did you know I was there?" she shifted the subject, slightly flushed on her face.
He didn't answer right away, but she saw the slightly tint of red on his cheeks – it was barely there, but she noticed and bit her lip to stop from smiling. He had followed her, maybe worried that she would get lost or that someone would do something to her; that thought warmed her heart in a way that she couldn't explain. Levi was a good person, she realized. He had no obligation whatsoever with her, yet he helped her over and over again. She felt bad for having argued with him so frequently, or for having called him names when he did something that bothered her. She should apologize and never do that again.
"I was doing a job when I heard your voice," he said, but it wasn't convincing in the slightest. Syn smiled, feeling blood coming to her cheeks and her heart warm even more.
"Thanks, then. You're a life savior," she got closer to him and, out of the blue kissed his cheek. It was a thank you kiss, the one she gave her father or a friend when they helped her, but Levi wasn't either; he obviously wasn't her parent, and she wasn't sure they were exactly friends, so the kiss ended up leaving an awkward air around them.
Levi stared at her, and then he took his handkerchief and cleaned his face. "That's fucking disgusting," he spat, but again his face was slightly flushed.
Syn rolled her eyes, giving him one of her big, genuine smiles. "Don't be such an ass," she told him, pushing his shoulder. In turn, he pushed her, and she stumbled on her feet and almost fell on her face, much to his amusement. "Levi!"
After that, they bantered a bit more, and the atmosphere around them shifted again to a more pleasing one. It wasn't awkward has it had been in the couple of days they had been living together; it wasn't exactly friendly either, but it was light and amicable. Levi ended up going with her downtown and helped her pick up her bed, her sheets and everything else she wanted to buy, which was a lot.
She was slightly crazy over the notion of buying her own things, another thing she had never done before, and the prices of the products were so low that she could buy a bunch of stuff using only a few golden coins.
[…]
They were at a clothing store, and Levi was sitting on a bench while Syn tried on a few pieces of clothing. They had already bought almost everything she needed, until they – or rather she - decided to go to an old, dusty store that sold articles of clothing and accessories. There weren't many beautiful dresses, as Syn realized after a moment, but she liked some of them. The majority were pretty simple, dull colored dresses, different from the ones she was used to wear in the capital. There were a few colored, but their design didn't appeal much to her.
"What do you think?" she got out from the fitting room, showing of the tenth dress she was trying on; it was a white, fluid dress that went all the way down her legs up to her calves, and it was tight around the waist, showing a bit of her curves there. The sleeves fell off to her shoulders, showing off a bit of the skin from her bust. There was a dark vest that went over it, too. She turned around, looking behind her and then back to Levi.
The dark haired man was reading the paper, not even paying attention to her.
"Levi!" she called him, frowning. He looked up, his eyes wandering up and down her body before he nodded. "Do you like it?" she asked, biting her lip, suddenly feeling shy and unsure.
"Oh, it's really beautiful on you!" the one to answer was the woman selling the dress, a small lady that was probably on her fifties already, and Syn smiled at her.
"Really?" she turned around once again, admiring herself in the old mirror.
"Yes, you have a really nice body, miss. I bet your boyfriend agrees with me," she turned to Levi with suggesting eyes, making Syn blush from embarrassment. Levi remained emotionless, not even glancing up.
"We are not…you know," Syn retorted sheepishly, and then changed the subject. "I like it; you can wrap it up together with the others."
"Ok, dear." The woman was pretty happy she was going to make a bunch of money that day.
Syn wandered off around the store, looking for more clothing that would fit her; amongst her looking, she found a really nice white cravat, and that remembered her of the men who lived in the capital and wore them.
A sudden nostalgia came into her when she remembered her old life, and she couldn't even believe she was in the underground shopping with a man with whom she was living. If her mother knew that she probably turn in grave, she thought darkly. Still holding the cravat, she decided she would buy it for Levi, as a thank you gift. Happy with her choice, she went back to the room.
At the end, she bought seven new dresses, three pair of pants, five shirts, a pair of new boots, and a pair of earrings she really liked besides them being fake silver, and the cravat for Levi. They left to go to the market where they would buy food.
"Okay, I'm really tired of eating potatoes, so how about we buy some other vegetables?" she told him, thinking about all the delicious dishes that could come out of some beets, and onions.
Levi sighed, already tired of going around the city for most of the morning, especially with a chit-chatting Syn besides him.
"Are you annoyed?" she asked, looking back at him with that silly smile on her face.
"You're damn noisy," he answered, but she wasn't offended. She actually laughed a full laugh, which made the dark haired man look at her with his eyebrow raised.
"You're so irritable," she told him after she stopped laughing. "I like talking, and you're the only person around that I can do it so bear with me."
"I'll put my foot up your mouth if you annoy me too much," she rolled her eyes, not being slightly threatened.
"If you do that, I'll put a rotten egg under your pillow." He looked at her with disgust, which made her chuckle. "I bet you'll burst into flames if I do that."
"Try it and you'll see what happens,"
They entered the market, which wasn't as full as Syn had thought, and started their hunt for food. There wasn't a big variety of products, being as they depended on the shippers from the capital to have proper food, but it was enough for Syn. She bought everything she wanted, and Levi chose some things he wanted as well, and they ended up with another bag full of vegetables and other kinds of food. That was the last shopping trip they were going to do, so soon they returned home.
Syn was really happy and satisfied about her day. Despite the fact that she almost got robbed, if it weren't for Levi, she had finally bought a bed and other clothes so she wouldn't have to keep using the same ones every day. Also, she got to spend a little more time with Levi, which, surprisingly enough, wasn't bad at all.
He wasn't the most pleasant company to be around, he almost didn't speak, and when he did, it was either to swear or to snap at her; however, the fact that he went all the way with her so she wouldn't go alone spoke volumes to her, and she felt respect for him that she hadn't felt before. She was beginning to understand how he worked, and she realized he wasn't a bad person, quite the opposite. He was just…rough. That was the perfect description. He had lived a hard life down there, and had to struggle so that made him into who he was. However, it didn't mean he had a bad heart.
He had helped her when she didn't have anywhere else to go; and he had helped her when she had been stupid and reckless. Now, it was her turn to reciprocate what he had done for her. Syn decided, right there, that she would be nice to Levi. Even if he pestered her to no ends; even if he annoyed her with his cleaning habits, or the way he was rude sometimes; she would bear with it, and learn how to live with his way. And maybe, in the future, they would have a nice relationship.
She looked forward to that.