CHAPTER 103 - KIMCHI-FLAVORED CURIOSITY
To identify the real or clone Raynevere, and to distinguish which is which, I have to ask a perfectly natural question that is still going on with the flow of our conversation. I inhaled a lot of air and then unleashed the question to finish all this dilemma inside my mind.
"How about you, Rayne? When did you first fall in love with me?"
"Hmm? Let's see..." Raynevere looked up and seemed to be in deep thought. "I'm not so sure, but the moment my heart throbbed this much is when I learned from your father that you said you will still marry me even though you almost died back then."
"You mean back then when my father talked to me in the hospital? After that... horrific night?"
"Yes." Raynevere gave a satisfied smile. "Back when you were in a coma after the real Raynevere sniped your chest with a laser, I asked your father if we are still pursuing the arranged marriage. He said it's up to you to decide."
"So my father even told you what I said back then, huh?" I whispered to myself. I think Raynevere heard it, but she continued to talk.
"So when you finally gave your answer about our marriage, your father called me and told me that you are still going to marry me even though it almost cost you your life. I felt bad and guilty for you, but honestly, I hopped in joy when you said you will never leave me. You were the only light during the darkest point in my life." Raynevere said jollily.
"O-Oh. I'm glad to hear that." I'm suppressing the urge to grin from ear to ear.
That's all I can utter. I'm flustered right now, and being lovestruck by my adorable and sweet girlfriend. I covered my mouth to make it not so obvious that I'd fallen in love with her for a thousandth time.
"Oh, but I was quite interested in you a while back." Raynevere clapped her hands to snap me back to reality.
"Really? When?"
"We were schoolmates back in junior high, right? For two years!" Raynevere said.
"Y-Yeah. I still couldn't figure out why you knew me from everyone in our junior high. I mean, I never stood out from the crowd, and nothing is going on with me. We never even became classmates until recently."
"It's because I often saw you from afar." Raynevere rested her chin on her hands and stared at me passionately with her purple eyes. Her metallic ears are even twitching energetically, and there is this quite teasing smile on her face. "Do you remember that time when you tried to rescue a cat on top of a mahogany tree?"
"Y-Yeah, that was back when we were second year, right?" I said.
A grim memory just invaded my mind. I remember that cat rescue event. As I recall, there was a kitten trapped on an old branch of a tall mahogany tree. There being no people around, I took pity on the cat and climbed up. However, I always fell whenever I tried to climb up. I am never athletic, so after about ten to twenty tries, another passerby climbed up and rescued the cat.
"T-That was kind of embarrassing, to be honest." I followed up. "I'm quite useless at that time that I had to ask another person to do the job for me."
"No!" Raynevere shook her head. "It's not embarrassing at all! It just showed that you are a kind and caring person! It's quite sweet actually, as you did your best to rescue the cat."
"Really?"
"Of course!" Raynevere gently caressed my hand. "When I learned that I will be married in the future with you as my groom, I knew that I will be in the care of good hands. That is why I never went against it."
I blushed once again. I'm pretty sure my face is now as red as a strawberry, and to make things worse, I can no longer reply or speak through words. I'm too flustered and my inner loser took over my brain.
I gazed upon Raynevere's twinkling purple eyes. This is when I realized that the Raynevere I'm here with is my classmate back in junior high. She is the Raynevere who won the beauty pageants that made me fancy her. She is the Raynevere who saved my life and made me trust her. And she is the Raynevere who chose to be my Gladiatrix which made me fall in love with her.
All of a sudden, Raynevere gave a confident smirk.
"I knew you would ask about some old memories since you're thinking that the one you're dating is an imposter, doesn't it?"
"W-What? N-No!" I cried. "It will not matter if the Raynevere I fell in love back then was the original one. All that matters is you, even if you're just a clone. You're the one who saved me several times!"
"Ahaha! Just kidding~" Raynevere teased.
I scrunched my face and looked at her with doubt.
"Wait, did you read my mind again?" I asked. "Or am I narrating out loud?"
"Nope. I was just expecting that you will doubt some things about our identities. Since I am a clone and the original Raynevere is still alive, it is normal that you would confuse us both." Raynevere said.
"Just like how Himeno Yuusha and Ryan Radars confused you with the one who is the head of the Human Experiment Division of the corporation," I said.
"Yep. We may share the same DNA and name, but I am me, and the original Raynevere is her. I was the one who lived a normal life, and she lived in the shadows, making horrible human experimentations."
Raynevere went quiet for some time as she started to eat her kimchi-flavored ice cream. I still cannot fathom how weird my girlfriend is for picking such a peculiar desert, but it's not my position to judge.
As Raynevere stuck the wooden spoon in her mouth, she mumbled something.
"I kind of feel bad for her. And I can't help to think that my grandfather has something to do with her doing all those atrocious things."