Mark opened his eyes to shallow light, the sun penetrating through cloud and window to illuminate the room in a silver hue.
There was no longer a weighing fatigue over his mind, but weakness remained along with a cold towel on his face.
A faint noise resounded through the household and reached his ears. He rose from the soft couch, curiously heading towards the source of the sound. After having walked some distance in the hallway, he stopped at the door where the sound was emitting.
He discerned the noise to be that of a talking man, an unfamiliar voice at that. But a sudden static in the muffled talking made things more clear.
'Oh, a radio.'
The small, audible box was something he used to yearn for. During his childhood, it started to surge in popularity and became the envy of everybody he knew, himself included. It was a shame that he was distracted before being able to get one and that it became too expensive by the time he remembered to.
With a slight raise of hand, he knocked on the wooden door before being greeted by a melodious voice.
"Come in!"
Mark entered and beheld a nearly oppressing number of books that lined many shelves sprawled across the room. In the middle, the brunette rocked on a wooden chair with her gaze focused on one of the numerous works. The radio was on a table to her side, the man speaking from it never having stopped.
His gaze wandered around the room as if trapped in a ceaseless adventure amidst the plethora of titles.
"Where is everyone?"
She gently took her eyes off the book and looked up.
"My parents? After laughing at you for a bit they left the house and went to work. Ah, such busy lives those two have... aren't you supposed to be resting right now?"
While freeloading a few novels from the shelf and finding a seat across from the brunette, Mark nodded with a smile before opening the first title.
"I am resting. Don't you also have some work to do?"
The brunette shook her head before getting up.
"My only work right now is cleaning up the mess of your stupidity."
Mark helplessly shrugged.
"Sorry, and thanks for taking care of me."
He read for a bit, appreciating the perfect amount of light that poured through the windows and the modest temperature of the room that enchanted the accommodating space with a relaxing spell.
It was a shame when the brunette returned, forced him to stop reading while pulling his head back, and put a cold towel back on it.
"Just listen to the radio for now. I'll save your book for now... the grapes of destruction?"
The brunette seemed curious about his choice, which made sense considering its controversial contents that put the author in deep trouble.
"I never got to reading it. The book seemed interesting enough to take a peek at."
With that, he laid back and listened to the radio, its contents unamusingly predictable.
The sounds of static and a talking man filled the otherwise silent room. Mark wanted to ignore him, but his fresh mind was yearning for some sort of entertainment.
So eventually he started listening in.
"Major progress on the Western Front made after a brilliant move from general..."
Mark resisted the urge to laugh. The phrase was exactly as he imagined it to be: the same words he has seen in the past hundreds of newspaper titles.
By "major progress", they probably meant a few meters of territorial gain; that, or it was just a blatant lie because if every gain was as important as they were made out to be, the war would have already been won by now.
Sadly the only way to raise morale at home was to glorify the situation as much as possible. Showing bad news would only make things worse for the nation.
Of course, due to propaganda, the situation was never shown to its ugly truth.
Mark himself couldn't get a clear picture. The only things that kept him from the battlefield were the countless stories of family and friends who lost someone, along with the fresh example of a bloody corpse he had the chance to see for himself.
Another static played, this time longer than usual.
"Just in! Ruling for a new policy to be put into effect immediately across the nation: food is to be rationed to all citizens!"
Now that was something to take note of.
He listened while the reporter listed all the consumption limitations coming with the new law. It seemed reasonable enough, the restrictions not being too harsh.
People like him were already used to reducing what they ate so that money could be saved.
But he knew a few people who would get hurt by the new law. In fact, he was sitting next to one.
Mark tilted his head and regarded the brunette with a smile.
"Too bad. Now you can't eat as much as your pockets allow you to. This isn't going to starve your poor stomach, right?"
He heard her rise and walk toward him, before lightly taking the towel from his face and looking him in the eyes.
There was a subtle anger in her expression.
"I don't eat that much. Besides, now we won't be able to buy enough to feed you. So there goes your option of freeloading. How are you going to get your food now?"
Mark held her gaze, slightly taken aback.
"I'll pay for my own food..."
Realization hit him like a high-speed brick. The money he had wouldn't last him long with the already inflated prices. What's worse is that he had no job. And that meant no more money!
The crutch he was leaning on suddenly took a hit.
He tentatively averted his gaze from the woman standing in front of him, trying to think of a solution to his situation. And he found a few, but none of them seemed pleasing.
However, a comfortable outcome had never been an option for him.
"Actually,"
Mark coughed, trying to find the courage to speak. The brunette looked at him reassuringly, filling him with shame and confidence.
Clasping his hands, he continued.
"Could I have some money to pay for my food?"
Her expression turned incredulous.
"Are you trying to take advantage of me?"
'Ouch.'
The accusation made him swallow. His face turned dark under the guilt he felt.
She started to laugh and patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry, you've already been freeloading off me for the past few months, and you don't even eat much. Lending you money for food won't do too much harm."
The brunette smiled while Mark sighed in utter relief. His crutch was alive and well. Of course, he would still need to find something to sustain himself.
But there was one thing that bothered him.
"Lending?"
Mark looked at her with slight trepidation crawling in his eyes. It would be a pain to repay his expenses in a short amount of time.
She nodded in return.
"Yes, I'm lending you the money."
His fears seemed to bloom. He didn't have to rely on her, but it also seemed nearly impossible to get a job with the current way the city was. How did he even become so vulnerable over the past few months?
The future was beginning to look bleak.
He shook while looking at her skeptically as if she were some great con artist.
"This isn't some method of extortion- right? You know I won't be able to pay whatever I owe back for a while."
She raised her hands and frantically shook them in a gesture for Mark to stop before he got too caught up in paranoia.
"No, nothing like that! I believe you'll find some method to repay me in the future, whether it be protection against gangs or a simple helping hand in anything I need."
Mark looked at her, trying to find any flaws in what she said. Regardless of his thoughts, the brunette seemed reliable. This relieved him a bit. However, the terms did seem a bit lenient.
"That's all?
His question was answered with a straightforward nod.
"That's all."
The brunette paused for a moment, before closing her eyes with a slightly timid expression painted across her face.
"It would also be nice if you could... continue to go places with me, and pamper me too!"
Mark smiled
He looked through the window, where beams of silverish sunlight pierced and brought resplendence to the room.
The sky looked welcoming, as if inviting him to go out and enjoy a day outside, calling him to retreat from his lazy adjournment and tour the lively world full of opportunity.
Standing up, the young man extended his hand to the fathomlessly beautiful woman beside him.
"In that case, let me take you out to see all the sights the world has to offer us."
'And go find a job too!'
She looked up with a radiant smile, reaching out and taking hold of Mark's hand in a subtly soft grip.