Their brunch was more than what Raine had expected. The seafood was very delicious and appealing to her taste buds. Moreover, the conversation flowed unrestrained which was something very hard to achieve between two cold strangers.
Raine couldn't help staring at him as they ate. His mannerisms were extremely elegant and she couldn't help but think back to the past. During those years, they had eaten together quite a few times but there was barely time to put food in their mouth so no one cared about how they looked while eating. Most times they'd push the whole bun into their mouth and drink the soup like water without caring about how they would burn their tongues.
When she joined the Special Forces back then, she suffered a lot. Nobody had time to care for her, moreover, she was greatly disliked for being a female. As she was a recruit, she spent more than two third of the time training and by the time she could drag herself back to camp it was either there was no food anymore or she could only nibble a bite before they had to start another set of training or go to bed.
Her first month was spent starving and it had an adverse effect on her skills because she didn't have any energy. It was around the time she thought she couldn't continue anymore that she had first met him. At that time, he was ten years old and had been in the army for five years. He had been sent over to assist in their mission and saw her as she closed her eyes in resignation waiting for death. He had slapped her and scolded her then he gave her great tips that she had used to overcome that stage in her life.
After then, she was able to function using her will and not her energy and she had learned the secret method of eating. She had scalded her tongue for a long time before she was able to get used to it but she had sworn after then to be the greatest female special officer and to gain the ability to stand by him in the future. That day was her rebirth and marked the beginning of her journey of chasing after him.
"A penny for your thoughts?" Dante asked as he called her out of her reminisce by putting a fork of fish on her lips.
Raine opened her mouth compliantly and ate the fish before picking up the cup of wine in front of her. "I'm sorry for that."
"You've been apologizing quite frequently." Dante pointed out and Raine shrugged.
"I am aware. I was drawn back to the past by watching how you eat." She divulged making him drop his cutlery and pay her his full attention.
"Oh?"
Raine stared into his enchanting eyes for a while before looking elsewhere. She knew from experience that his eyes were capable of hypnosis. "Hmm…you didn't eat this finely back then."
Dante chuckled lightly and picked up his cutlery again to continue eating. "Are you blaming me for showing and teaching you my barbaric way of eating back then?"
"Of course not! That so-called barbaric method was what kept me alive. I'm just surprised and can't help comparing the past you to the present you." Raine admitted as she also dug into her meal.
After Raine said that, there was a while of silence as they focused on their food. Raine was too focused on her meal to notice the frown on Dante's face as he ate.
"What's your conclusion?" He asked as he broke the ongoing silence.
"Hmm?"
Raine stared confusedly at his abrupt question.
"What conclusion did you arrive at after the comparison?" Dante expatiated.
"I don't have one. I haven't related enough with the present you to arrive at a lucid conclusion so I won't bother drawing one until I know you enough." Raine replied nonchalantly and Dante smiled.
"You haven't changed over the years, have you? You are still the self-opinionated, stubborn, righteous girl who doesn't mince her words." He was happy to know that despite maturing over the years, she had still kept to her values and innate behavior.
"You'll just have to find out yourself. I hope you don't get too shocked though." Raine bluffed. She didn't want him to discover everything about her yet. Most people were interested in things shrouded in mystery, once the mystery wears off so does their interest.
"Nothing you do could ever shock me Bleu; you know that. I think we are done with our meal. Do you want to rest for a while here or should we go to the next thing on the list?" He asked as he stood intending to ring for a waiter.
"You have a whole list of things you want us to do?" Raine asked with mirth as she stared at him as he rang the bell.
Dante turned to face her when he was done and smiled. "Not a list per se but more of activities to make you relax. You must have been experiencing a lot of stress these days so I brought you here to de-stress and relax. It's best to face your enemy with calm."
"Okay. In that case, let's move back to the other room for now. I'd like to listen to some music for a while before we continue with any other thing." Raine replied. She was a bit moved by his thoughtfulness and consideration for her.
Dante nodded his approval then moved forward to help her out of her seat. He tucked the seat back into its right position and led Raine to the room they were first led to with her hand in his.
Raine felt comforted and warmth from his hands. She couldn't help recalling a time in the past when they had sat outside of their camp in the cold. They had just received orders for a very dangerous mission and despite knowing how skilled she was, she had been afraid she might not be opportune to walk out alive.
Dante had sat next to her and had taken her palms into his, he had encouraged her silently and without words but she had never been able to forget that warmth and now she was deeply reminded of it.
She tried her best to snap out of it and put her feelings aside. She was an ex-agent, she couldn't be influenced by her feelings at least not until she could reconcile who he is now with who he once was. She couldn't afford to fall deeply and get hurt beyond repair.