Chapter 28.5: Be careful what you ask for Part 2

“Miss Emily, I am embarrassed to ask you of this, but I just want to let you know that we also accept donations. Each little bit helps preserve the children’s future,” on our way out, Sister Amelia asks, and there is an edge of embarrassment in her voice.

For a moment I stare at her. Like Reimuz she seems to insist on anything that can help the children residing here. I smile and offer her what little money I have in my hand. She accepts and returns my smile. Reimuz squeezes my hand and with a quick farewell, we leave the orphanage.

After visiting this place, I feel like I found the resolve to stand by Reimuz in a different way. It’s nothing but an idea right now, but I want to help make his dream a reality. He’s indeed quite the mysterious man. At first glance, behind his smile and carefree outlook in life, not once would a different perspective think that he carries so much weight on his shoulders.

Even if the mist of his insecurities are gone, I want to support him, to be an important pillar of his life. One that will stand strong, both emotionally and physically.

“So where do you plan to take me?” I ask him.

“Let’s go get something to eat first,” he says, dragging me to whatever place he has in mind. He looks so young and carefree, his eyes flaring in amusement.

“But, I’m not really hungry.” I want you to kiss me instead.

“Silly, you need to eat first,” he says, opening the door of this pub I do not bother checking the name. Greeting us with a smile, a beautiful waitress immediately guides us to our table. Reimuz picks a place near the window and he sits beside me, squishing me against the wall.

Smiling back to the waitress, Reimuz orders food after food. Salad, sausages, steak, bread, and even some milk. Although I’m surprised he didn’t ask for a plate of eggs, this heaps of food for two people is still too much.

“Gah, I miss eating rice,” he disses after finishing his long order. She won't think it’s weird for us to eat that much, right?

But before I forget…

“Hey, I’m pretty sure I'm older than you by a few years,” I murmur when the waitress is out of earshot.

“Why does it even matter?”

“It does... since I want you to show respect,” I whimper, fidgeting a little. He moves his hand underneath the table and places it on top of my thigh. Leaning on his elbow on the table, he stares at me, his dark eyes unreadable. He glides his palm up and down, caressing my thigh in gentle strokes, and I moan a little.

“Respect is something you earn, Miss Emily. And you’d be damn questioning yourself if you want a guy like myself respecting you after tonight.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Oh, Emily,” he cocks his head and levels his eyes to me, smiling a devilish smirk. “You're too eager for information it shows your innocence.”

“Well sorry for being innocent, Mister-know-it-all.”

“Oh, not yet, Emily. Not yet,” he chuckles. “But soon I’ll know everything about you.”

Moving his hand on the table, he pushes my pooling hair to the back of my ear. I flush crimson, and something inside me hurls in excitement. How can he make me feel like this?

“Now you’re just making fun of me,” I say, pouting my lips. Suddenly he slides an arm on my waist and pulls me closer.

“Even with my limited experience, I know how taxing it’ll be, Emily,” he breaths into my hair. “That’s why you need to eat. Because it will be a long night.”

So dark and manipulative, I blush even more after hearing his words. If it isn’t for the fact that we’re in a public area, I’d kiss him back a long time ago. But no matter how raw these sensations feel for me, I need to learn restraint. I control myself and resist the urge to touch his chest.

Then our food came as I was lost in my own thoughts. Thoughts about having sex for the first time. I’m so thankful for our food’s arrival my concentration bubbles up into something else.

“I recommend the steak here,” he murmurs. He takes my plate and proceeds to cut my share into even slices, sizes that are neither too big or too small for me to swallow. It seems like he really wants me to eat, and once I’m full he will EAT ME.

“Come on, Emily, you're gonna need the energy. Eat up,” he press on with a smile, but his words were phrased like a command.

“You sound so excited, Sir Reimuz, it’s unbefitting of a gentleman,” I smirk back, piercing my steak with my fork. By his orders, I eat and munch grumpily. There! Are you happy now?

“Don’t get me started with that smart mouth, Miss Emily," he whispers. "Or I will fuck you right here - where everyone is watching. Understood?”

I blink. “Is that a threat?”

“What do you think?”

Reimuz stares into my eyes, and his dark eyes doesn’t relent. It scared me that he might be serious, so I eat my food in silence. He watches my every bite, fervently, and it feels like I’m gonna melt.

“Good girl,” he murmurs and nudges me at the corner of my eye. So he likes it when I’m being obedient? I’m confused.

“Are you always… like this? You know…”

He smiles, feeling up my thigh again.

“Well…”

“Speak up, or I won’t eat,” I say coldly, giving him a warning look.

“Emily, last time a girl tried to know me, she went running out of the door. You have the same choice, Emily - you can still run away. Since right now there’s only me, you, and the bed. That’s why you have to think carefully.”

I turn silent at once and my mind fails me. Maybe he’s suggesting something sinister, but I’m already helplessly trapped in his web that even if I can keep thinking like a rational maiden, my body will say otherwise.

“Is this why you warned me?”

He blows a deep sigh. “I know your head will be filled with questions, and perhaps I was too harsh with my words, but this is who I am, Emily. I’m one fucked up guy. You have no idea how messed up I am in the head.”

Ah, just imagining what kind of problems he went through in his childhood to turn up like this puts a knot in my chest. Not to mention, his recent heartache broke him so hard he barely survived its aftermath. Poor, poor Reimuz.

“But, you’re a good man, Reimuz. And the orphanage is the proof of that.”

Reimuz shakes his head, his eyes looking past his glass of milk to some distant memory.

“Yeah right. I just do it for my self satisfaction.”

“Stop lying. I know you love those children.”

“And you, Emily, why are you pursuing me?”

Why? I want to burst it through your mind that my actions has nothing to do with guilt, nothing to do with generosity, nothing to do with any sentimentality, nothing to do with you saving my life at all. That's what I want you to come across. When will you understand this, you idiot?

“Because I like you.”

“Oh?”

“Reimuz, when we kissed before, it hit me that a kiss was a form of affection and love… However I felt none of those coming from you… That instant I knew you were just lusting after me…”

“And here you are, such irony.”

“No, it means I can lust too,” I look up to him, and our eyes exchanged smiles.

Reimuz kisses the top of my head, quick and hard. He looks like he’s barely suppressing his laughter inside.

“Come on, let’s finish our food,” he says with a faint smile.

I nod. I can feel my throat parching and I struggle to breath. Oh, what did I get myself into?