Chapter 16
BL I don't want to reincarnate!
Lunch time arrived way quicker than I would have wanted. At the beginning I pretended not to see the time and thought that if he waited enough, Ephraim would just eat and leave. Every time Eulisses opened his mouth, I was scared that he would say that it was time to go eat and quickly said the first thing that came to my mind. For some reason the only thing i could think about was my clothes:
"I want to get changed!"
Eulisses frowned. I didn't give him time to say anything and rushed to change my clothes. When I came out and saw him open his mouth again, I screamed:
"Oh no! I don't like this fabric. I should change again. It's too itchy."
It wasn't itchy at all and even if it was, I couldn't have felt it anyway.
"I preferred the color of my clothes before. I'll get changed again, one second."
Obviously, I couldn't keep this on forever and at some point Eulisses told me that it was time for lunch. I grabbed him and hugged him very close:
"Please... Could you go instead of me? I'm sure he won't notice."
Eulisses patted my head as he would a dog he pitied:
"Everything will be fine, Mister Sliske. It is just a meal.
-A lot of things could happen during a meal. Can't you say that you are me? Just for a few minutes. Or days... Or even years."
Eulisses looked at my hair:
"I don't think we would fool anyone.
-We could dye your hair.
-Mister...
-I know..."
I sighed and finally let go of Eulisses:
"Would I be a terrible person if I asked Arora to come with me?"
Eulisses' silence was very loud.
"I won't..."
It took me five tries to get out of my room but I finally did.
"Aren't you getting changed?"
I looked down at my clothes, not remembering what I was wearing because of all the times I changed. Seeing my pajamas made me shrug:
"No. I am perfectly fine like this."
I did my best to walk with my head up. I read that if I was standing straight, then my body would believe that I was confident and I would start feeling confident as well. I really needed that. Unfortunately it was hard looking confident with a twisted ankle and I had to quickly give up and focus on not slipping. It was still really painful walking and I was out of breath by the time I reached the dining room. I would have been out of breath just because of walking and that was without counting my numerous changes of clothes. Who would have known that it was that exhausting to get changed?
Ephraim was already sitting at the table, reading a paper. Hearing me, he put it down and looked up at me. Seeing me walk in wearing my pajamas, Ephraim looked me up and down with a smirk:
"Was it hard for my wife to get out of bed? I could have come to your room again. We could stay in bed together."
I quickly shook my head:
"I don't mind coming here.
-Are you sure? You look out of breath. Maybe I should carry you next time.
-Me? What do you mean? I am the most in shape person ever on this Earth. Even the mountains are jealous."
I hit my forehead. What the hell was I talking about? Ephraim couldn't help laughing seeing my red face:
"You really are. It seems my dear wife should sparre with me. I would learn a lot from you."
I frowned:
"Stop making fun of me."
Ephraim pretended to be surprised:
"Me? I would never dare make fun of my dear wife.
-Makes sense because I am not your wife."
Ephraim ignored me and asked for the entree. As the servants brought us our food, Ephraim continued staring at me. I couldn't help asking. It was just a reflex:
"What?
-I thought that my dear wife cared a lot about appearances. I just can't get used to seeing you in pajamas."
I looked down at my clothes before shrugging:
"It's just clothes."
Ephraim tilted his head:
"You never would have said something like that before.
-And?"
He laughed and seeing him in such a good mood made me angry but I preferred to ignore him. Of course, he didn't give me that opportunity:
"Don't sulk, darling. I didn't mean to offend you. I by far prefer you like you are now."
I focused on the food and tried eating it as fast as possible. I thought that if I finished quickly, I could leave quickly as well. However seeing me do so only made Ephraim smile:
"It seems my dear wife was very hungry. Did you not eat enough at breakfast?"
I froze, feeling that this was going somewhere bad.
"I did.
-Then maybe three times a day isn't enough for you. We could have tea time together as well.
-No!"
Seeing me panic made Ephraim's smile widen:
"Don't be shy. My wife's health is my priority.
-I'm really fine. Look, I'm eating slowly."
I really slowed down but it wasn't the end:
"Were you so uncomfortable around me that you wanted to finish eating as soon as possible?
-What if I was?"
I wanted to punch him. Who cared if he killed me? He was driving me crazy. He had been toying with me all along and I couldn't take it anymore. I was fed up with him pretending to be all nice and I by far preferred honesty:
"I don't like eating with you. It makes me uncomfortable. So let's just stop talking. It would be even better if we could stop seeing each other all together.
-Hearing you say that really hurts my feelings..."
He didn't even pretend to be honest and I rolled my eyes.
"I have been trying my best to make my dear wife comfortable. I am so sorry that your husband isn't worthy enough. I just wanted to spend quality time with you."
It seems the servants started getting used to Ephraim behaving weird because no one whispered this time and they only stared at me to hear my answer.
"You just want me to say that I am not Sliske. Aren't you worried about looking crazy?"
Ephraim shrugged:
"It wouldn't be the first time I heard that.
-But if this got out, your reputation would suffer a big blow.
-As long as I can spend time with my wife I don't care."
He bent closer to me:
"I quite like spending time with you, you see. And no reputation can change that."
I bent away as far as possible. I could have told him that I wasn't Sliske. Maybe that would finally make him stop paying attention to me. That would be the best case scenario but I couldn't be sure that he would react like that. He was way too unpredictable for me. What if hearing about the truth only interested him even more? I couldn't risk that. Moreover, at that point I just didn't want to lose and give in.
"You indeed are crazy. I am the same Sliske I always was. You didn't care about me before so why now?"
Ephraim tilted his head:
"The Sliske from before was far from being as lively and interesting as you.
-I was always like this. I just stopped pretending.
-Why did you pretend in the first place?
-Everyone pretends."
Ephraim laughed:
"Very well. Then tell me something about the real you.
-And why should I tell you that?"
His smile widened:
"That makes me very sad... I thought that we were telling everything to each other. But it is entirely on me. It seems you don't trust me yet. I should prove to you that you can tell me anything."
For some reason, this didn't sound reassuring at all...