Reiner - Lucky or Unlucky

It was always during these enjoyable moments that time seemed to pass by so quickly. Before I knew it the sun had already started to set. I looked up at the sky a little sadly, thinking that the day was already coming to an end.

“You don’t need to look so sad,” Reiner said comfortingly as he wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders.

“The day is coming to an end…time flew by too fast…” I muttered depressingly.

“What are you talking about? This is when we start watching the sun set and once we’re done with that we’ll start a fire and cook dinner,” Reiner said before he flashed me a bright smile.

I guess, the day was far from over after all. I thanked Reiner silently as I smiled back at him and hugged him back. We watched the sunset together side by side. The sky changed colored from blue to a mix of orange and pink and then to dark purple and finally it got dark as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Reiner made a fire so that we could camp out under the stars. I watched as he started preparing the fish that we had caught before in the stream and started to grill them on the fire. Ok, he caught them while I was goofing around and acting useless. Spending so much time outside like this was a pleasant change. Because of my phobia of the forests, this wouldn’t have been possible before this.

“R, come here,” I said as I patted my hands on my lap.

Reiner cocked his head at me curiously, but I knew that he understood what I wanted him to do. He looked hesitant.

“Come here,” I said as I patted my lap again.

With a sigh, Reiner finally gave in. He sat down next to me and then laid down with his head on my lap.

I looked down at this handsome face as he stared up into mine with his beautiful blue eyes.

“Let’s watch the stars together, R,” I said as I pointed up at the sky.

We were far from the city so we could see the stars clearly. The trees where we were sitting parted enough for us to get a good view of the sky above. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight to behold.

There were many things that I wanted to say to him, but I decided to keep them for another day.

Perhaps, when the stars weren’t so bright and the atmosphere was less romantic, I’ll start saying them.

I wasn’t sure if Reiner had anything that he wanted to say to me. We just stayed close together as we watched the stars twinkling in the sky above us.

…

Perhaps it was because I was tired or because the trip made me relax but I slept so well last night. For once in a very long time, I woke up uncharacteristically early in the morning. For someone who wasn’t a morning person, I had never woken up this early by myself without the help of the alarm. I sat up in bed and realized that Reiner was nowhere to be seen.

I got out of bed and went out to the living room. Surprisingly, Reiner wasn’t there either. I guess he went out? I bet he never suspected that I would wake up this early. I decided to look around while I waited for him to return. The morning weather up in the mountain felt wonderful. The air felt so clean and fresh, and I could smell nature. There were dew drops on the leaves of the plants in front of the mini-mansion. I crouched down to see the drew drop. This really looked like a scene from some nature documentary that I had seen before on television.

Walking around the well-kept garden surrounding the mansion, I was lost in nature and the peacefulness of the scenery that I didn’t realize that someone had approached me. Looking back on it, I wasn’t sure if I was that lost in the moment or if that person had a talent of sneaking up on other people.

Regardless, I was shocked when I turned around and came face to face with a thin old man. All his hair was white and so was his beard. He was quite tall and lithe. He smiled at me, and many lines of age creased his face. I quickly placed my hands over my mouth before I would scream in shock. The man didn’t seem dangerous, but his sudden appearance truly freaked me out.

“Who are you?” I managed to ask in a panicked whisper.

“I could ask you the same thing, little girl…” the old man said.

Did he just call me a little girl? I might be young but ‘little girl’, seriously?

“Umm…I’m here with Reiner…my name is Natalia…” I introduced myself a little hesitantly.

“I’m the owner of this place. Happy to have you here, Miss Natalia. My name doesn’t matter because it changes depending on who you are anyways,” the man said before laughing a little.

This old man is the owner of this place? If I recalled correctly, Reiner did say that I might run into him if I was lucky…or unlucky. Now I was beginning to wonder if I was lucky or unlucky.

“You know…Reiner, right?” I asked.

“Of course. I know Reiner and all the other names that he’s used as well,” the man said with a grin.

This man knows Reiner. That caught my attention at once. Perhaps, if I asked, he could tell me more about Reiner. It wouldn’t hurt to try asking.

“Umm…can you tell me more about Reiner?” I asked.

“You want to know about him? What would you like to know, little girl?” the old man asked before chuckling.

“Everything. Anything that you can tell me would be valuable,” I said excitedly.

“Are you perhaps in love with Reiner?” the old man asked abruptly.

Huh?

Honestly, I didn’t know how to respond to that. The old man’s eyes narrowed as he watched my face intently before his eyes lowered and began scanning my entire body from my face down to my feet and then up again. It made me feel extremely nervous. This old man, he seems to have many tricks up his sleeves.

--To be continued…