The rest of the lesson went relatively well even with the occasional outbursts of squeals and screaming from the students, but after another stern warning, they managed to calm down. As Harold was sitting on the larger sofa watching his students answer the exercises he had just given them, his mind drifted to the events earlier.
Rayne Valera.
She was a firecracker or a cannonball depending on how a person sees her. The way she charged and bellowed at him, make him think she was like a nuclear missile. However, the sharp way she answered made him think that she was like dynamite. The anger she showed was understandable if this happened in reverse he would be just as enraged. Harold was relieved that he managed to calm her down and that they managed to resolve the problem before it escalated further.
However, what bothered him was his reaction to her smile. Why? He had met people in the past who had given him one-thousand-watt smiles but it had no effect on him. However, seeing the grin on Rayne's face had resulted in his mind shutting down and his heart beating fast. If that was how he felt with her giving her a brief grin, how much more if it was a full-blown smile? Harold ended up smiling goofily again.
"Sir? Uh, sir? Sir!"
Harold jumped a little at the student's voice cutting through his thoughts. He stared at the male student eyeing him as if he had gone insane. "Yes, Marco?"
"We're all done with the exercises," Marco said.
Harold loudly cleared his throat and murmured an apology. "Good, send the answers to this group and I will check them. We can go over these at the next meeting. Class dismissed."
One by one the students left the session and once Harold turned off his PC, he leaned back on the sofa and sighed. He was exhausted but at least one good thing came out of today.
When Rayne closed the door behind her, she saw that Bubbles was sitting inches away from her feet staring at her as if she had committed a war crime. She scowled at the cat.
"I know; I took too long to get back home. How is that my fault?"
Bubbles let out a long meow as if answering her question. Rayne raised an eyebrow at the feline. The cat kept meowing now this time, lecturing her for being away for so long.
"Really? Fine, I'm sorry."
"Mrow." The cat said stretching his legs up like a toddler asking to be carried. Rayne smiled and took him in her arms and hugged him.
"Okay, bedtime for us baby void." She said as she cradled him like a baby. Bubbles purred loudly. "Aww, you're so forgiving."
Bubbles meowed once more although it sounded more like "mrrrp" than a meow. "The overly raucous neighbor? Turns out he's a professor doing online classes given it's still the pandemic and all. His students are really noisy, I mean NOISY. Imagine that. I mean what's the deal right, void? Sure he's good looking but seriously is that enough to act like some thirsty middle-aged woman at a strip club?"
Bubbles stared at her then put a gentle paw on her face. "I'm fine now, void, the guy apologized and gave me some food and coffee as a peace offering. I hope it doesn't happen again or I will raise hell."
With one hand, Rayne opened the door to her bedroom and got inside. She gently placed the cat on the bed who looked up at her expectantly. She joined him a few seconds later and the feline proceeded to climb on her and settled on her hip.
"You know what, kitty, I miss that cheesecake of his already, I wonder when can I get another slice of that?" Rayne said before she closed her eyes and fell asleep almost instantly.
Rayne woke up that night feeling well-rested and energized. Once Bubbles sensed that his human was awake, he got off her and went to the bedroom door meowing loudly. She let out a big yawn while scratching her head before she got up from her bed. She trudged towards the door and opened it.
A few minutes later, Bubbles was eating happily while Rayne was preparing her coffee and peering in the contents of her refrigerator. Eyeing the microwaveable macaroni and cheese, she took that out and popped it in the microwave.
While waiting for her food to be cooked, Rayne had gone to the bathroom to take a shower, but as she passed by the mirror, she let out a yelp. She saw a white square patch on her shoulder and she frowned at it. She was puzzled about where it came from and how it ended up on her shoulder. But as she reached to touch it, she felt the texture of the gauze and the micropore tape making her realize she was bandaged. By who? She wondered.
Rayne then remembered that Harold had disinfected the wounds caused by her cat earlier this morning. She was so adamant in turning his help down, but he was also just as stubborn. In the end, she let him do his thing and even patched her wounds.
Why did she let him? With any other person, she would be in defense mode, but with Harold she let him touch her. The more important question was, why did she let her guard down to a complete stranger? She was never like that at all.
Rayne shrugged and took off the bandage. Whatever prompted her to question herself did not really matter. As long as he keeps his word, then all will be well. She took off the bandage and threw it in the trash can as she turned on the shower and stepped inside, closing the sliding door.
* * *
A few days later, Rayne found herself once again standing in front of Harold's apartment door. As she was about to knock on the door, it opened by itself revealing the man himself holding a slice of blueberry cheesecake on a blue ceramic dessert plate in one hand and a mug of French vanilla coffee in another.
"Really?" Rayne raised an eyebrow.
"You're not the only one who can hear you know." Harold had a slight smile on his face.
Rayne sighed. "Sorry. Bad day at work."
"No it's my fault, the students were rowdier than usual. Come on in."
She would have refused but this had become a habit for her. Whenever there was a noise coming from Harold's place, she immediately bounds over to give him a piece of mind.
At least that was what she kept telling herself.
Rayne was aware of the warning about taking this noise problem to the next level, but she never went with it. She should have but she did not. She had no idea the actual reason why, but she tells herself that it was not as frequent as it used to be and the guy was always sorry for causing trouble.
No, she knew the real reason why she stalks at his place: his ever delectable blueberry cheesecake, which he seemed to have an infinite supply of.
And she was too tired to make her own breakfast.
Now at the dining table, eating that delicious cheesecake and having a conversation with her new neighbor. In exchange for food, she ended up becoming his sounding board as he would sometimes vent about how unruly his students were and had tried to be patient with them. It seems that he saw her as a confidant and that was fine with her. She felt like that was her role most of her life anyway.
"I told you it won't work all the time." She said as she took a forkful of the cheesecake and ate it. "You need to be firm with them."
"I am, but it seems they like that as well." Harold sighed in exasperation.
"What are they a bunch of masochists? Are you sure you're not hosting a BDSM private show or something?"
Harold stared at her in shock. "NO! I wouldn't dare! I don't think I'm the dominatrix type."
"Hardly. You look more like a sub."
Harold choked on his drink and Rayne swore there were light red hints on his cheeks. "I am not!" he sputtered. "How do you even know such things when you rarely leave your room?!"
"Dude, it's called the internet."
"But-!"
"Look, kidding aside you really need to put your foot down with your students. If it were not for your cheesecake, I would have had you kicked out of the building already."
"Wow. I feel so valued."
The sound of a message alert interrupted their conversation. Harold frowned for a moment then realized his phone was in silent mode. "I think it's yours."
Rayne jumped a little and fished out her smartphone from her sweatpants pocket. She smiled sheepishly at him and unlocked the device skimming through the message in it. Her eyes widened and she nearly leaped out of her seat as she ran out of the apartment.
"Hey, what's going on? Is it an emergency?" Harold ran after her looking worried.
"Huh? Oh no. It's just that my delivery has arrived and it was way earlier than I thought." Rayne gave him a confused look.
"Delivery?"
"Yeah. Hey, thanks for the free breakfast, but I got to go. I'll try to return the gesture!"
"You don't have to. It was my pleasure anyway."
That stopped Rayne short. "For real?"
Harold grinned at her. "Of course, it's not like I do this to anyone."
Harold was screaming at himself. What was he saying? The way he had said it, it sounded like he was flirting. He hoped that she did not see it like that.
She looked at him still confused but smiled back anyway. "Then I'm thankful. Well, see you soon!"
He waved after her departing figure then when he was sure that she would not see him, he peeked by the side of the door and saw that Rayne was greeting a man dressed as a delivery rider, complete with a motorcycle mask and a surgical mask. She was frantically waving her hands at him and looking apologetic. The delivery man handed her a huge paper bag with a picture of a yellow M printed on it.
The man left after Rayne enthusiastically thanked him and she sped inside her apartment.
Harold slowly and quietly closed the door of his apartment. Once the door closed, he bumped his head on the wall several times wanting to take his mind off what he had said earlier.