Blessed Combat

16 - Warm Feelings and The Unwanted Guest.

By the time Arma and Zessica went home, he was surprised that it was around three o’clock in the noon. He had expected the time in Wind Crest to be the same as the time in the game, around late at night. Nonetheless, Arma had been exhausted throughout the trial and surprised himself for dozing off the second he hit the bed. He was even more baffled to find for once he had a good night sleep and slept through the whole day to the next Saturday morning, the day of his ‘date’.

After waking up and spending more minutes than necessary on grooming himself, he strolled down the stairs to the kitchen and was astonished to find it was deserted. Usually Zessica was the one who would be in the kitchen first, sitting there eating her bowl of Choco Stars and waiting for him to greet her monotonous ‘Good Morning’. Nevertheless, Arma recalled that the trial had drained most of the girl’s energy and she had to ultimately push herself to the limit to even survive. Shrugging it off as something normal, he started having breakfast and decided to wait for the short girl in the entertainment room that was on the same floor as the kitchen. At that point, it was only nine thirty A.M.

By eleven A.M after testing thousands of old games in his slim hovering TV and game console, Arma still haven’t seen any signs of the girl showing as he kept on checking the kitchen once in a while. After all, she moves like a ghost with her silent footsteps and ever so weak presence. He knew that there was something wrong since no matter how late Zessica sometimes wake up, eleven A.M was too late even for her.

Worried, Arma sprinted up the golden stairway and stopped before the room where his partner had now claimed it as her bedroom for the past few weeks they spent under the same roof. He lightly rapped his knuckles against the hard wooden door, only to be replied back with silence. Was she still sleeping?

Placing a hand on the doorknob, Arma cautiously turned the door open and peeked inside. Sure enough, the girl was lying on the bed but to the tall lad’s surprise, she wasn’t sleeping. She glanced up at Arma for a brief moment before collapsing back into her pillow again, persistent to never leave the warm comforts of her blanket sheets and pillow.  A second later, Arma heard a muffled voice but as luck would have it, he caught what the girl said.

“...What?...It’s too early...get out of my room...” Arma didn’t know whether it was the nerves of hanging out with Titania, or the concern for the shorter girl, but something about this statement made all the patience that was inside of him snap loudly. He gripped on the edge of the door angrily, hearing it creak under his fingers as he smiled with a not so convincing joy at her.

“What kind of lifestyle are you living in? You sure are privileged to be sleeping this late. As for me, I finished breakfast around two hours ago! Get your butt out of bed and God damn wake up will you?” Arma hoped this would at least threaten her a little bit, but he found himself having more veins throbbing furiously at the side of his temple when Zessica dug herself deeper into the sheets of her blanket, cocooning her body with it that only her ivory black hair fanned all over the pillow was visible.

“Getting lectured about my lifestyle from Arma...doesn’t sit well with me at all...” The grip on the door intensified and Arma was vaguely away that he had now left a hand printed dent in it by then. His blood was boiling so much; he had lost sense in his surroundings and was now oblivious with what happened around him instead. How was this girl able to press the right buttons to make him infuriated when she hasn’t even got out of bed? Though, the real question was why he was unknowingly playing along as well.

“Why you-

“Just so you know... I have a cold right now...I am sleeping since I feel sick...” Zessica interrupted before Arma could break anything that was within his grasp. This sentence dismissed his boiling anger instantly and the tall lad failed to notice that the girl’s voice was thicker than usual, almost nasal. Arma’s eyes soften to a frown as he gaped at the small figure in bed.