Alice in Borderland

Chapter 68 - Window or kiss?

A loud noise startles me out of my sleep and after a jerky movement on my part I fall off the chair and the next moment I feel a sharp pain in my head. Cursing, I open my eyes and realize that I am lying on the floor next to a coffee table on which I hit my head.

"Damn," I hear a male voice say and the next moment Chishiya's face appears in front of me, "I didn't mean to scare you, did you hurt yourself?"

"No I'm fine," I mumble and sit up. I rub my sore spot, but still smile at Chishiya, who is squatting in front of me. He takes my head in both hands and turns me this way so he can get a picture of the back of my head. Laughing, I take one of his hands to make him relax and try to cover my clumsiness at the same time. "No really, that was just the scare".

Chishiya looks next to me and picks up the book on electronics in surprise. He looks at me with raised eyebrows and his typical grin.

"You read that?" he asks in surprise, setting the thick tome down on the coffee table.

"And fell asleep while doing it? Yes," I say and he stands up laughing, holding out his hand to me. I take it gratefully to let him help me up. I realize that the bathroom light is on and he smells intensely of shower gel. I must have fallen asleep while reading on the chair and he went to take a shower when he got home from the meeting. "Sorry, I didn't mean to root here".

"That's okay" he laughs lightly and as I look into his dark eyes my fingertips start to tingle again, "I wanted to do something with you today as well"

"Good, now I'm awake. What were you thinking about?", I grin broadly at him.

"I don't know, I thought we'd just spend time together like we normally do" he shrugs and avoids my gaze. Spending time together. I think that sounds nice because I don't care what we do as long as I'm with him. 

"I'll get some food and you choose what we play meanwhile?", I ask him and he grins widely, as if he had the same thought. When he nods, I laugh out loud and run out of the room with him. We part at the stairs and I head for the restaurant. I walk through the door, which is actually only for the staff. No one seems to pay much attention to me, so I just go into the storage room and take with me a bottle of iced tea and a pack of fresh grapes.

I make my way back to Chishiya's room, but as I stop at the railing on the second floor, something catches my attention. In the lounge area of the entrance, I discover my uncle drinking tea and playing checkers with number two. Unsure what to make of this, I screw up my face, but a hand comes to rest on my arm and I relax again at the familiar touch. 

"Come," Chishiya says softly and I just nod thoughtfully. Together we go to his room and I put the things on the table. He looks at me scrutinizingly, but since he can imagine what I'm thinking, he says nothing in response. He reaches for the grapes and throws one high in the air before catching it again with his mouth and eating it. He looks at me playfully and holds the package under my nose, wiggling. I just roll my eyes before grabbing one and doing the same to him.

"So, what kind of game did you pick up?"

"Chess."

"Chess?"

"Yeah, you should practice some more" he laughs lightly but when I see his serious, lowered gaze I look at him questioningly "I've already had two games that kind of involved chess. It's strategic and requires logical thinking."

"Are you worried about something?", I ask him with raised eyebrows and he replies with the same look. He just laughs lightly and instead of answering he sets up the pieces. I look at him for a moment and give him a gentle look. If he wasn't worried, he would have made a snide remark or just denied it.