Chapter 10 - Not A Pushover

"Hey, sleepy head. Wake up. Rise and shine." A young lady said while shaking a young man who was still in the comfort of his bed, forcing him to wake up.

"Mmm." The young man responded, pushing away the hands shaking him and covering himself with a blanket.

"Hey, wake up already."

The young lady tried a few more time, but to no avail.

Seeing the young man's attitude, the young lady snapped. She folded the sleeves of her clothing, tore the young man's blanket off of him and gave him the business.

[Pak!]

The sound of loud crisp slap echoed inside the room.

Rayne, who was sound asleep, after receiving a hit was force out of his slumber. He quickly got out of bed, looking for the assailant.

Seeing that it was his friend Layla, who had barged in his room, he could only do nothing.

"What was that for?" Rayne said while touching his left cheek, a hint of anger in his voice.

Hands on hips, Layla answered with a bit of playfulness on her voice., "I just gave you your morning kiss. How was it?"

"You call that a kiss? Then why does it hurt? Wasn't a kiss suppose to have a wondrous feeling." Rayne replied sarcastically.

Not having any remorse, Layla just laughed at his friend's sarcasm.

"Hmmp. Anyway. Now that you're wide awake, hurry up and fix yourself already. I'll wait for you outside. Okay."

Layla quickly left the room, leaving him alone.

"Huh?." Rayne said with confusion in his face, as he massaged his slapped cheek.

After thinking about it, he remembered that he had promised to go out with Layla today. This is because he planned to to go on a quests soon.

Few moments later, Rayne and Layla were walking side by side in the streets of Aden.

This was not their first time doing this together. In fact, they had gone out quite a few time already. Every once in a while, when Layla need a breather he would drag him and make him accompany her looking around the city.

"That dress looks nice. Let's go inside and take a look."

"Mmm. Smells nice. Let's go buy some."

"Hey. They have new products. Let's check them out."

Layla would comment every time he saw something that piques his interest. Seeing him this happy, Rayne would just follow his friend around, like a chaperon.

As they were happily looking at the display of an accessory shop, a man and woman around their age approach them.

"Ohh. If it isn't Layla. What are you doing here? Are you out buying something? Or should I say, just looking around as you don't have that much money to buy. Hahaha." the woman said, openly insulting Layla.

The woman was Layla's former classmate when they are still studying. She held a grudge with her as Layla was always ahead on her at almost everything. And this did not sit well with her.

The man, on the other hand, was the woman's lover.

Rayne immediately stand in front of Layla, shielding her.

Being the kind-hearted she is, Layla just ignored the woman. "Ignore her. Let's just leave here." Layla told Rayne, pulling his sleeves.

Seeing this, the woman continued, "Wow. Such a good dog, protecting his master. Are you her bodyguard now?"

With the sudden commotion, the peanut gallery started to gather and even began talking to themselves.

"What's going on?"

"Are they going to fight?"

"Do you know who they are?"

"Let's go and watch."

Layla and Rayne chose to completely ignore the insult of the new comer. They tried to leave the area, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. Seeing this, the peanut gallery immediately lost interest.

"What? Tucking your tail between your legs, dog." the man also joined in. "Seeing as you are running away, you are nothing but a spineless prick. What a man you are. Coward."

"Right, right. And since the man is a cowardly dog. Layla should be a bitch. This will make them a perfect match."

The new comer duo persisted in badmouthing them and did not stop. They followed them as they leave and continued to mock them as they laugh. Even going as far as throwing something below the belt.

Unable to bear it anymore, Rayne abruptly turned around and directly throw a punch to the man's face.

Caught off guard, the man was unable to defend as he received a hit, felling him to the ground.

"I had enough of your bullshit, you bastard. I tried to ignore you guys but you never stop. It seems like you thought I was a pushover." Rayne said, giving the man a few more kicks to vent his frustration, taking advantage that he was down.

The man could only curl up in defense.

Seeing this, the woman was shocked by Rayne's sudden action. Before, he would not fight back even if they push him around.

"Hey, Rayne. Stop." Layla said, stopping him from hitting the fallen man and breaking them apart. She turn to look at the woman, who was helping her companion. "You should stop insulting us as well, Beth. Although we had ignored you before, we are not pushover."

"Kent. Are you okay?" Beth called out to his companion.

"Yeah. I'm okay." Kent answered, standing up while wiping the blood in his lips. He looked at Rayne and said, "This is not over."

The duo left after.

Rayne and Layla also left the scene immediately.

"Let's go buy some sweets." Rayne told her, trying to break the awkward mood.

"Let's go."

They then proceeded to Layla's favorite sweet shop and bought a few. Of course, Rayne had to pay for them.

The two of them continued to wander around the city as they enjoy their time together, completely forgetting what had happened a while ago. They had visited many the places within the city walls and spoke to some people they met.

Aside from that, they had tried many delicacies from the food stalls and also checked multiple shops all over Adven.

It was already night time when they had finished and returned home.

- - - - - -

Meanwhile, after separating from Beth, Kent returned home with a few bruise. He gathered a few of his friends to take revenge on Rayne for hitting him. They plan on ganging up on him to teach him a lesson.