Reiner - Surprise Invitation

A few weeks past by in the blink of an eye. I have fully recovered, and I was sure that Reiner was aware of that as well. Surprisingly, he was still by my side. I glanced over at him while he arranged things for our afternoon tea together out in the garden. After returning safely from our trip, the rules regarding my travels were relaxed a little by Lucien. I was now allowed to go outside to venues that are fully booked to become private for me. Basically, what that meant was that if I wanted to eat at a restaurant, I had to book out the entire place just to dine alone with Reiner.

That’s over-protective Lucien for you.

My eyes followed the graceful movement of Reiner’s hand as he prepared tea. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why Reiner was still at my side despite knowing that I had already fully recovered. It would be the solution to all problems if he was with me because he had finally fallen in love with me and had decided to stay with me forever. However, I knew that that wasn’t the case, and I wasn’t about to fool myself into believing something as convenient as that either.

The problem was, I had no idea why he’s still here. Reiner did not mention leaving either and I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. Suddenly, I felt irritated, and my mood had soured. Great, now everything is going to taste rotten. Maybe if Reiner would just smile at me, my good mood will return.

“Some tea?” Reiner asked as he came to stand next to where I was sitting at the table.

“Yes, please. Sit with me?” I said as I gestured with my eyes to the empty seat opposite me.

Just as I had suggested, Reiner took the seat opposite me after he had finished pouring me some tea.

Today we were having green tea with a twist of yuzu orange. That made the tea fruity and quite sour, but I liked it. I wasn’t sure who invented this formula, but it got along well with my tastebuds.

“R…smile for me a little…” I said as I smiled at him.

“Why do I need to do that?” he asked as his eyes narrowed at me suspiciously.

“You look better when you smile,” I said sweetly.

“Then there’s no need for me to smile,” Reiner replied emotionlessly.

Either he thinks he looks good enough in my eyes or he just thought that my request was complete non-sense. I’ll bet my life that it was the latter. My eyes fell on the pattern on the teacup. The flowers reminded me of my late mother.

“My mother liked these flowers…” I whispered softly.

“Did she?” Reiner said with interest as he turned his own teacup around to inspect the pattern.

“Oh yeah…” I replied shyly. I didn’t realize at first that I had spoken out loud.

“What was she like? Your mother…” Reiner asked although he sounded hesitant.

I guess it was hard to ask about someone who had passed away and so I fully understood his hesitation. It’s been many years since she left this world and talking about her didn’t quite hurt me anymore. Instead, I thought that it would be a great idea to share the precious memories that I had of her with Reiner.

“My mother was the best mother to me. She always put me first. She raised me all by herself and she worked very hard for us. She never hit me, but she made sure to teach me the important things…” I began telling him about my mother.

“She sounds like a kind person,” Reiner said before he continued sipping on his tea.

“I didn’t appreciate her enough when she was still with me, and I regret that so much. Looking back, my mother was always so selfless and always putting other people first before herself. That was why I was very happy when she decided to marry Lucien. I thought…that she was finally confident enough to put her happiness first and that she fully deserved to do that…” I said passionately.

However, I found out in the end that she didn’t even love him. He didn’t love her either. She wasn’t putting her happiness first at all. Perhaps until the moment that her life ended, she never got the chance to put her own happiness first. I didn’t dare voice these thoughts out loud to Reiner though.

“If it’s too hard on you…you don’t need to talk anymore…” Reiner said comfortingly.

I sniffed a little and realized that I was about to start crying. Reiner saw that and he wanted me to stop talking about her.

“I’m ok. I’m sure that she would have liked you very much if she had the chance to meet you,” I said before beaming a smile at him.

“I see…” Reiner said curtly.

I wasn’t sure what else he wanted to know about her. Afraid that I might bore him with my recounts of the fond memories that I had of my mother, I paused to think of what he may find interesting.

“Do you want to go out somewhere?” Reiner asked abruptly.

I almost dropped my teacup. His suggestion caught me by surprise. It was a pleasant surprise, but it was a surprise, nonetheless.

“Is this a date?” I asked without bothering to hide my excitement.

“Could be…” Reiner replied.

My eyes widened in shock at his suggestive words but more importantly, Reiner was smiling at me.

“When? Now? Later today? Tomorrow?” I asked excitedly.

“Tomorrow…” he replied simply.

“Ok…tomorrow…” I whispered.

I couldn’t stop smiling back at Reiner. The sour tea in my cup tasted sweet and the whole world looked brighter and more beautiful. Perhaps, I wasn’t just imagining things after all. Maybe…just a little…

Reiner is starting to like me. I felt so bubbly inside that I couldn’t stay sitting anymore. Unable to contain my excitement and happiness, I got up and walked over to Reiner before bending down to hug him before burying my face into the side of his neck.

--To be continued…