Chapter 14 - Chapter 14. WHY?

-Merlin-

[6 Days ago]

I had bid goodbye to Rin, ready to leave but she looked me in the eye and kissed me, when she pulled back I couldn't help but stare until I had an answer to what this was, but before it came, I caught from a distance, a glimpse of someone who looked like Natasha but there was so many people in the lobby so I couldn't really tell if it was her. "Please think about it Merlin" cried Rin, and added, "I'm not sure about Natasha but I need you here.

I sure knew I'd kept Rin occupied, but as a bartender she was supposed to have a bit of control on her emotions and feelings, I mean that's how bartenders are naturally, she had to let me go, I thought. So I responded to the flight call and started walking towards the gate, Rin went the separate way. As soon as i got into the plane, the thought of leaving Rin hit me again like a hurricane reminding me of a similar occurrence back in Italy when Natasha left me, then both our lives became miserable. I wouldn't let that happen to Rin, I thought. I slowly stood up and as I walked out the plane everything seemed to be in slow motion as I pictured this real life situation and compared it to Priya and Rajesh's Bollywood serials and Philippines telenovelas. I couldn't believe I was actually walking my way back into the US when my ticket to Rome was readying to take off in a matter of minutes, I had to make peace with the fact that I truly had gotten over Natasha and I was ready to start over with Rin so the first place I went to was Rin's place.  It wasn't surprising that I didn't find her at home being Rin so I thought I should surprise her. I decided on working out some home-made dinner in her house. I checked for all the ingredients in the nearby market and started preparing some food. Just a little after I had started, Rin walked in. She was pouting. Seeing me she froze and looked at me as if she were starring through me into the wall behind.

It was possible she couldn't believe her eyes because the freeze was rather too long probably half a minute until she broke and tears started streaming down her face. "Oh my God" she cried, wiped the tears off her eyelids, she smiled and jumped on me, it had been a long time since I last made someone that happy. "What are you doing here?" she cried. Of course she knew that she had managed to convince me to stay, she just wanted to hear me say it. "I'm here for you, Rin" I said leaning forward to kiss her, she kissed back passionately, stopped after a couple of minutes to tend to the cooking, letting go of me felt weird for her but she sat at her kitchen table as I did the cooking,

"So what's cooking?"

"Come see for yourself" I said, she walked closer and opened one of the pots. "Mmh pasta, somebody's been doing their homework, and what is that?" she sarcastically stated as she also turned off the stove and heater.

"Don't insult me, it's been three years" I said, she sauntered and fell into my arms again, then pulled back and took me by my hand.  "Please come with me" she said softly and pulled me to the bedroom, shut the door and pushed me against it, literally tearing my shirt off my body, I took her by her thigh and dropped her onto the bed. With no regrets, I made Rin the second girl I ever showed love to in my entire life. Her touch was on point and all but everything felt so wrong after the sex. It got worse when she confessed to loving me but however we spent three days in her house together, just the two of us, behaving like wild teenagers who'd just been let loose.

[CURRENT]

All the way to the hospital, Natasha either hid her head in Rajesh's arms or she'd be looking away from me, she wouldn't face me. I still asked myself why, was she thinking of coming back to us, I mean just when Rin and I had just started opening up to each other, my screams as the paramedics tended to my wound shook her a lot as Rajesh had asked them not to sedate me. Just what authority did this guy have that he could even give orders to American health personnel being a foreigner? I just thought and let go of that then turned to Natasha. I had to call her out so she could at least look at me, I stretched out my hand to her, and she took it and held me tight. She had hidden feelings, he look in her eyes showed all of it, the traumas she'd gone through and was needing saving from.

"Raj" I whispered, "I see you two survived" responded Rajesh, clearly in the dark on the situation, but from what he was saying, it raised questions about Priya and him. This wasn't the time though, Natasha still looked miserable when she cried, the same way she'd always been. Three hours after the bullet had successfully been removed from my thigh, the police alerted the doctors for our peace of mind, Mike's killer had handed herself over. "What do you mean herself, who was it?" I demanded. "Apparently some Rin Smith, you know her" asked Rajesh, and added, I don't know why but she saved your life yet she had been shooting at me earlier in the night, I had to drive away and spend the night reporting an unavailable crime at the police".

"Oh my God" I cried, Rin was most certainly in deep trouble if this was true. She had gotten weak. Why would she hand herself to the police knowing very well that she'd saved everyone from the bad guys. "I heard gunshots earlier, I was in Merlin's house and you were sleeping" said Natasha. So she even came to my place, I thought, but why. My mind just couldn't convince itself that after all the years I was in Hannival trying to stalk the black rose to try and get a possible way to approach her and not make a fool out of myself; she had decided to come back to us out of the blue. Was it because of the child perhaps, I pondered but still the conclusion to every question I had was WHY?