"Rein"
On the large bed laid a woman whose lips curved into a smile when the voice calling out her name reached her ears.
"Rein"
The voice echoed once again, only deepening the smile on her peaceful face.
'Meteor Sama's voice is so soothing~' She commented before turning to the other side in an attempt to fall asleep once again.
However, sleep was not easy to find when the reality of what had taken place last night hit her.
Covering her already shut eyes to shield them from the bright light pouring into the room, she frowned but refused to wake up, only to face bitter reality.
'Must've forgotten to close the blinds.' She clicked her tongue and turned her back towards the window.
Burying her face in the pillow, she grit her teeth while thinking back to what she had gone through last night.
'I never should have helped her!' She scowled at the one who had wronged her.
The throbbing in her temples, the aftermath of her lousy attempt to drown her sorrows in alcohol now only worsened her mood.
Letting out a low grunt, the woman turned around to lay on her back as her eyes slowly fluttered open.
Unlike the pale daisy ceiling she woke up to each day, today she was greeted by a pristine white ceiling.
The sight of an unfamiliar ceiling worked wonders in sobering up her drunken daze as she shot up in bed.
Loud thumping of her heart caused by the panic that took over her resonated with the throbbing of her hungover head.
The sensation of cloth on her body indicated that she was not naked underneath these sheets, easing her anxiety that she might have done something in her inebriated state she'd regret later.
If she was not naked and was sure that she had not done anything worthy of regret then how did she end up on a stranger's bed?
Contemplating various scenarios about what could have led to this outcome, she struck each one of them off the list.
'I don't even remember leaving my room so where the heck am I and how did I get here?' She frowned when she could not make sense of her current predicament.
With narrowed eyes, she scanned the room to find clues about her whereabouts.
Beginning from her left, her eyes first laid upon the bedside table on which were placed a few strange-looking boxes along with a jug of water and a glass.
Following the same path, she found a large window that happened to be the only source of natural light in this room.
Her lips bent into a frown when she noticed that the wide-open window had no grills, making it a blatant safety hazard.
The considerable distance between the bed and everything else present here made it easy to determine that this room was enormous.
Opposite her bed was an empty wall with only a door right at the center.
Turning to her right, there was another door followed by a series of well-preserved antique wardrobes.
However, instead of the beautifully carved wardrobes, what caught her eye was something that was hung over one of the wardrobe doors.
A pair of black trousers and a jacket with a white shirt demanded her entire attention.
Feeling entranced by this simple outfit, she could not avert her eyes from it.
"Argh!"
A low growl of anguish escaped her lips which forced her eyes shut.
Ripples of pain originating from her brain and traveling throughout her body made her clutch her head and coil into a fetus position.
Cold sweats drenched her body, a result of the severe intensity of pain she was experiencing right now.
The throbbing had turned into a heavy thumping now, eliciting tears to stream down her pale cheeks.
She gasped to catch ragged breaths between the whimpers of pain that freely flowed out of her lips.
It felt as though a train had run over her brain as strange images began flashing across her shut eyelids.
'What are these?' She grimaced when her brain felt cramped with these new images flooding in out of nowhere.
The whimpering sobs diminished when she began focusing on the images which flashed by like a slideshow, depicting a story to her.
Images, voices, visions.
She could see them all, hear them all, and feel them all.
Everything she witnessed was vivid enough to give her the illusion of experiencing them firsthand.
However, they moved too quickly for her to make sense out of what she was seeing.
Once the images stopped flashing across her eyes, she felt relief wash over her as the pain that came with it began to subside.
Still in the same fetus position, now a smile formed on her lips as she gazed at the beautiful appearance of an older woman forming before her eyes.
{Rein, my girl, Mama will always protect you.}
The woman in her vision reached out and caressed her cheek but began to fade away as those words came to an end.
As the image disintegrated from before her eyes, she sat up in bed with a deep frown.
She had never felt such an inconsolable sense of loss ever before and she could not figure out where this feeling was stemming from.
Her heart clenched in pain as the image of that older woman disappeared without a trace, making her eyes flutter open now.
Though she was still uncertain about many things, there was something that she had grasped effortlessly.
'Memories…' She had figured out what she had just experienced.
She was sure that these were not her memories which could only mean that they belonged to someone else.
She needed to check something to test out her theory.
Turning her head to the right, she knew exactly where the item she was looking for was.
To the extreme right of the room was a spotless mirror hung on the wall, just a few feet away from the outfit which had triggered her memories.
'Uniform.' She corrected herself as that was a uniform, more specifically, her uniform.
Now, looking straight into the mirror, she gazed at the reflection staring right back at her.
Tilting her head from side to side, she examined whether this reflection truly was hers and not some sketch drawn by a highly skilled artist.
The reflection moved along with her which proved that this was indeed how she looked right now.
The person visible in the mirror was seated on the bed with her back straight and her shoulders spread out.
A black linen sheet covered her lower body but her upper half was seen clothed in a white vest top.
As she raised her head higher, her eyes fell on the full breasts which were trying hard to remain contained inside that thin layer of clothing.
A sharp clavicle leading to a slender neck appeared as she ventured higher.
Finally, her eyes met those in the reflection and she was left speechless.
Crystal clear and cold blue eyes stared back at her, mesmerizing enough to make her fall in love with them at first sight.
Snapping out of her daze, she glanced at the rest of her face, and to say that she was pleased would be a gross understatement.
A sharp jaw, soft pink lips, a long nose, and well-defined cheekbones were what she found.
The last thing that caught her eye was her eyebrows and hair which were the color of sparkling silver.
This reminded her of the woman she had earlier seen in her memories.
There was undeniable resemblance as the two appeared to be cut from the same cloth.
However, compared to that lady's womanly charm, the face in the mirror was quite androgynous.
Her hair tied into a top bun only accentuated her sharp features, making her look like a cold young man rather than a lovely young woman.
Raising her hand, she undid the bun and watched those long silver tresses cascading down her shoulders as they finally fell to her slim waist.
'Long…' She marveled at this sight before running her fingers through those silver strands.
With just this small change of letting her hair down, her earlier androgynous face was now oozing womanly charm enough to seduce any man.
Her face was still pale after the gut-wrenching pain she had experienced.
Accompanied with the droplets of tears still clinging to her lashes made her appear like a distressed maiden in need of saving.
However, just that thought made her snicker as she raised her hand and wiped those tears away before tying her hair into a messy ponytail this time.
'Maiden, my ass!' She sneered while recalling the various memories that she had witnessed earlier.
She was back to looking cold and androgynous with her hair up and the sneer on her face made her seem unruly and wild.
'These are the memories of Rei-' She began but was interrupted midway and the cause was the booming voice echoing in her ears.
"Rein Melk! If I do not see you here in the next minute then my dogs will have your meat for breakfast!"
Her shoulders flinched and her back straightened in surprise at both the voice and the words she had just heard.
This was the same voice she had heard before but at that time, she assumed that she was dreaming.
A pleasant dream to soothe her weary soul.
Yet now the voice made her shudder as the hair on her arms stood on end.
'Meteor Sama would never say such a cruel thing!' She narrowed her eyes at this imposter who had the same voice as her beloved.
She could recognize the voice of her beloved with ease but these nasty words, he would never utter them in a million years.
The moment that thought appeared in her mind, her eyes widened after feeling a sharp jolt of pain.
Before she even knew it, her body was moving on instinct as she jumped out of bed.
Rushing through the door next to the bed, she entered the bathroom and was stunned at its size.
However, more than the size of the bathroom, her monstrous speed had her amazed.
One moment she was before the countertop, picking up the toothbrush and in the next moment, she was already done.
Only a second had passed but she was already in the shower, rinsing the lather off her body.
Her body was on autopilot as she rushed back to the room and within seconds she was standing before the mirror, dressed in the 'uniform' that she had acted as a trigger for the memories before.
After making sure that everything was in order, she turned around.
*Swoosh*
According to her memories, her feet stretched out and she was standing before the door fixed on the empty wall opposite her bed.
*Knock knock*
Her knuckles rapped on the door and after waiting for a second, she pushed the door open.
Her eyes scanned the new room and realized that this was another bedroom, adjoining hers.
This time, it was not the spectacular room that had caught her attention but the man who was entering the same room through another door.
'This could only be a dream…' Her eyes stared in disbelief at the one who was now looking right at her.