About Today

"Here, eat something." said Natasha, as she placed a plate of fruits on the table in front of him.

Riley blinked his eyes multiple times as he looked around the place he was in.

Though the place was not bright, it wasn't dark either. The candles did a good work at lighting up the place, it just wasn't as bright as Riley would have loved it to be, since the candles were not much. But whatever, it was better to have some light,than be in the dark.

He looked out through the window, but there was not much to see. His eyes darted over to Natasha who stood by the cooker, with her back facing him.

The place looked too clean, that he found it hard to believe he was actually in the kitchen.

*****

Natasha stood by the cooker, her arms crossed across her chest. She was so worried, worried that those seniors might have done the exact same thing as those who hurt Carrie. True, she was worried about that, but she was much more worried about how Riley was feeling at the moment.

She took a quick glance at him, but could not catch a glimpse of his face. Slowly, she turned to face him, still with her arms crossed, she looked at him compassionately. Looking at him, she realized his posture looked relaxed, and he really was relaxed as he looked around the kitchen with a face void of a smile.

Just this was enough to make Natasha mad at the crazy bastards who made him the way he now was. The Riley she knew loved smiling.

A sad smile came on her face and tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"Hey Natasha."

Hearing his voice, she cleaned off her watery eyes with her palms.

"Hey, were you crying?"

Riley got up from his chair and approached her, giving her some tissue paper he took from the table.

"I don't need it." she said with a soft laugh. "I really don't, I'm not crying, just rubbing my eyes, I kinda feel itchy there."

Saying this, she rubbed her eyes, with her fingers.

"See, it's just an itch, not tears."

Riley just stood there in front of her, still stretching the tissue to her.

"Fine." she said and collected it. And the next moment, she threw it into the trash can.

"I really don't need it Riley."

Riley didn't say anything, nor did he react in anyway. He just turned his back at her and went back to sit.

Natasha on the other hand, turned back to the cooker, since the water she was heating was finally ready.

*****

Riley picked up the cup and stared at the content in it with a disapproving look on his face. He placed it back on the table. Raising his head up, he saw Natasha looking right at him. He laughed dryly and picked it up again after giving the content a hard look. He brought the cup closer to his nose and hurriedly dropped it in the most dignified way he could.

Natasha laughed silently, seeing how he had hurriedly placed the cup down.

"You have to drink it Riley." she said in a composed manner.

"Why?" he asked with a frown on his face "It looks so green, like, disgustingly green, and the smell, urgh, the smell is horrible.There's no way I am drinking this."

She looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"Why don't you tell that to my uncle."

"Your, your uncle?"

Now that caught him by surprise.

"Yes. He specifically told me to prepare this tea for you as soon as you wake up. He said it will help you in calming down your nerves, and just so you know, it's also good for your recovery."

He looked at her proud face with his mouth agape.

"You call this thing 'tea'"

"Yes, so, hurry. You should take the tea if you want a speedy recovery. You have to drink it before it gets cold."

Riley took a deep sigh before picking up the cup with his two hands.

Natasha watched him raise the cup to his lips, watched him part his lips so small and heard the sound of a sip, before....

Bang

"Ahh! It tastes so awful."

Se heard him say as soon as he dropped the cup on the table with next to no care if it spilled or not, and well, it did spill, but just a little.

Natasha watched him remover the berries from its branch and throw the berries into his mouth.

"Yes, better, take this awful taste from my mouth."

Watching him speak even with a mouth full of berries, Natasha smiled. Looking at him as he kept on adding more berries into his mouth full of berries, a face of Carrie with a mouth full of berries flashed through her memories, and Natasha's smile turned sad, and she now looked at Riley with a sad smile.

'What do I do now? Do I wait for him to tell me about what happened, or should I ask him myself? Even if I am to ask him, he looks a bit happy now, if I do ask him now, his mood will surely turn sour. What if I decide to wait for the right moment, but he no longer wants to speak about it again? Just what should I do? But if he speaks about it now, he might feel better. Fine, seems like I have no other option than to play the bad cop.'

"About today..."

They both said at the very same time.

They both looked at each other with soft smiles on their faces before they burst into laughter