Rachel's eyes snapped open.
For a moment, she could not breathe. The world was different again, but this time it was still. Quiet. Real in a way that felt almost suspicious.
A ceiling. Normal. Unmoving.
Soft light. Not flickering.
Air that did not feel like it wanted to choke her.
And then
A face.
A guy, about her age, leaning slightly over her, watching her carefully, like he had been waiting for this exact moment. His expression shifted the second her eyes met his. Relief, maybe. Or something close to it.
"Finally," he muttered, as if she had just inconvenienced him by almost dying.
Rachel blinked. Once. Twice.
"Who are you?," she said, her voice sharp and irritated, like waking up half dead in a stranger's place was a personal offense.
He opened his mouth to answer, but she did not wait.
Her brain caught up.
She looked down.
Blanket.
Her grip tightened instantly. Her heart jumped into panic as she realized what was missing. Her clothes. Gone. She was only in her inner wear. In her bra and the torned short cloth which covered the bottom.
There was a pause. A very dangerous pause.
Her eyes slowly lifted back to him.
He looked calm. Too calm.
"Oh," Rachel said quietly. Too quietly.
The guy frowned. "Oh what?"
Rachel did not answer.
Instead, she grabbed the nearest thing beside her. A book. Thick enough. Solid enough. Perfect.
And before he could react
Thwack!
The book landed straight against his head and hurted him , maybe it didn't but it did.
"What the hell was that for?" he snapped after guarding his head by hands from her ,instantly sitting upright, more shocked than hurt.
"Really?" Rachel shot back, She is sitting on the bed now ,clutching the blanket tighter
"You have the nerve to ask that?"
"I literally just woke you up" he said.
"Oh yeah" her voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Woke me up. Right. Because that is clearly all you did".
His brows furrowed.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
She shifted her blanket down slightly, just enough to show what she meant, her expression full of irritation and accusation.
"This," she snapped. "Care to explain this?"
He stared at her again.
Not confused. Just staring.
Rachel's eyes widened in disbelief. "Seriously?"
she snapped, instantly pulling the blanket tighter around
herself again.
"You are such a freak for real."
"I was trying to understand what exactly you were accusing me of," he replied flatly.
"Is that your defense? " she shot back. "You find a unconscious girl and decide removing her clothes is part of first aid?"
"I did not touch you," he said, sharper now.
Rachel let out a short, sarcastic laugh.
"Of course you did not. Very believable."
"You were almost dead when I found you," he said, his patience thinning.
"Your clothes were soaked in whatever that was out there. Blood, poison, something worse. I had to remove it or it would have kept spreading."
She froze for a second.
"I healed you," he added. "Using magic."
Rachel blinked. "Magic?," she repeated slowly, like the word itself offended her.
"Yes. Magic. The reason you are alive right now."
She narrowed her eyes. "Convenient explanation."
He exhaled, clearly done arguing.
"Believe whatever you want," he said. "I am not repeating myself."
There was a brief silence.
Then he stood up.
"As you have woken up, you can change your clothes," he said. "I do not have girly clothes yet, but you can wear these till I get you something."
He placed a set of clothes nearby without looking at her this time.
"And try not to hit me again," he added dryly before turning away.
He walked into another room and disappeared.
Rachel sat there for a moment, still wrapped tightly in the blanket, still suspicious, still processing everything.
Then she quickly grabbed the clothes and started changing.
Did he really see me naked?
She froze mid movement, her face heating up with embarrassment and irritation.
Ahhh ! that freak moron!
She pulled the clothes on faster, shaking her head like that would get rid of the thought.
Tries to convince herself -
"Stop thinking Rachel!"