STEALTH MODE WOMAN

Andrei woke up with an unfamiliar ceiling above his head, but the color was the same as their project room, it was white and had brown accents which line up forming a good old and traditional design. However he wasn't so fully awake to be aware of the differences.

"That dream... Felt so real," he thought that everything was just a dream, then he suddenly remembered that he had to push the code that he was working on to the project repository. He felt chills, just thinking about what will the manager do to him if his team didn't make it today.

He instinctively woke up and sat on the bed,

"Brix, Def, we need to push the files to the repo... si... "

Having noticed that there was no one in the room, he looked around it and noticed the differences clearly. "Instead of a computer there was only a vase in the table, instead of a TV, there's an old cabinet in front of me, and the bed..." he felt it with his hands, "I only have a futon right? The one that's convertible. Since when did I have a bed? Ah, this is strange"

"Okay I'm still dreaming", then he slapped his own face to fully awaken his brain cells.

[Slap!] [Slap!]

Two red marks on his cheeks appeared, "Now, everything should go back to normal," he said to himself as he slowly opened his eyes. But nothing happened, he can only cover his mouth in surprise,

"Where the hell am I?" He touched his body all over to make sure it's intact, he then discovered that he was still wearing the same camo jacket and navy jeans. Thinking that everything's fine physically, while reminiscing on what happened last night, he lets out a sigh of submission, "I may have been really taken to a different world," he then tried to organize his thoughts for a moment.

"That means from the plains, where I tried to save that girl, I was carried over to some unknown old-fashioned room," then he puts his hand on his forehead and hysterically laughed to calm himself, "HAHA, this is insane, isn't this so mainstream? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Ahh, I'm getting tired just by thinking about the whole thing." Slowly, he tried to close his eyes again to get some rest, but this time he heard a monotone voice speaking to him from his side. It sounded sweet and soft yet, it was devoid of emotion.

"Ah, so you're just gonna laze around all day not even giving a single worry about what happened to you huh? When just yesterday, you looked so dead and withered, I just don't know, but don't you have some sense of gratitude?"

He was so sleepy that he answered the voice bluntly while his eyes are closed, while trying to imitate her tone.

"Ah, my inner consciousness is talking to me in monotone, you see I don't even know where the hell am I right now, what should I do from now on, and what really happened. Ahhhh my inner consciousness is really harsh. Goodnight my consciousness, eternally"

He blurted out stuff, he wanted to let out, when suddenly a pair of footsteps quickly approached him and suddenly he felt an agonizing pain in his eyes. Two fingers poked his eyes, fingers that were thin and had long nails.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh it hurts! It hurts!!!!" Andrei screamed in pain, apparently, somebody was really there with him, it wasn't his consciousness nor his imagination.

"Was there someone near me?" He held his eyes as tears were falling from it, "I didn't really notice the door opening, perhaps are you a ghost?" while comprehending the situation, he tried to open his eyes, so first, he stopped his tears by burying his face on the pillow.

Then the voice answered in its usual deadpan tone.

"Ah sorry, I don't know, but your comment aside saying I was monotone.

Plus copying my tone was really offensive, you know before I knew it my fingers came for your eyeballs.

Does it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts! Otherwise, I wouldn't be crying this hard — wait, I'm not really crying but my eyes are really sensitive! Don't just poke other people's eyes because you are pissed you idiot!"

Andrei's vision got clearer after he buried his face on the cushion, and with the teary eyes, he slowly looked at the right side of the room where the voice is coming from.

There sat a plain-looking girl, in silver-white slim armor exposing her well-proportioned body while reading a book, the armor covered the whole body but it didn't hide her curves; she looked beautiful even with her simple facial features, her eyes were gray and her hair was normal black, tied in a ponytail with a red ribbon. The windows were near her, and the sunlight lightened her face, giving her a more breathtaking look.

The simple beauty of the girl mesmerized Andrei. Seeing her sincere and cute face reading a book, with her hair that reached to her waist being swayed by the wind back and forth, he couldn't explain but, it was a very heartwarming sight for him.

"Are you okay?" The girl said in her monotone, but soft and sweet voice while still concentrating on her book. Andrei couldn't help but just stare at the girl.

With no answer, the girl closed her book and looked at him, still mesmerized, he didn't have time to think of a reply, so he asked something that was on his mind. "I'm sure I looked around this room when I woke up, where did you come from? The windows?" he instinctively asked, because there was no other opening other than the door and the windows.

Then the girl placed her book at the table at the side of the vase and looked at Andrei again, and with her deadpan tone she retorted. "I have been always here from the start you know? It's rude to think of a sweet girl like me breaking into someone's window especially of a plebeian and unidentified foreign man? I think you just didn't notice my presence or existence. Ah, many people say that to me, so don't worry"

"This girl's stealth mode is too high, even when she's wearing that shiny plate of metal" Andrei thought as he was sure that he didn't see anyone around in the room at that moment. "Is it magic? Well, if this world differs from where I came from, magic will probably exist here or something," he pondered.

"Why did you become so silent?" asked the girl, breaking Andrei's train of thought. "No, just thinking about various things," he responded while searching for his phone from his pockets, but as he searched on the pockets of his jacket and his jeans, it wasn't there anymore.

"Don't tell me, I lost it?" he muttered and went pale, thinking that he might have left it somewhere around the plains.

"Perhaps are you searching for this?" The girl was sharp, she knew Andrei was searching for something, she showed Andrei his smartphone holding it with oddly with just her fingers. "Ahh thanky-" as Andrei was about to grab the phone, the girl quickly placed it in her pocket, Andrei couldn't grab his phone and complete his thankyou.

"Why won't you give it to me?" He asked while looking at the pocket of the skirt on where she put it in.

"Where did you come from and what's your aim?" She asked in a serious tone. "wearing those weird clothes, having this weird item, what the hell are you?"

She looked at him with curiosity, Andrei was confused about what to say, with everything going on he's not even sure if he's still sane, "I can't just tell her that I came from another world right?" he sighed, thinking about something to say.

"Still can't think of anything?" She asked him.

"What's the deal with this girl? Is she an Esper?" He didn't notice but his face was already showing it all, all it took for the woman was to read his expressions while staring directly at him. He was still sitting on the bed, while she looked at him

Knowing that it puts him on the bind, not knowing anything about where he was, Andrei decided to play it safe.

"Sorry, I can't remember anything." He then used one of his powerful skills which was acting. "Now what do you say? Don't I look like those MC's in the movies that got into a car crash and forgot his memory?"

"Trying to play it safe huh... " The woman placed her finger on her chin, giving him a clue that she knew he was lying.

"I got it! I got it! I'm not trying to play it safe, but it's really far away from here, and I don't want to say it, so please let me off just this once!" he folded his hands asking for a favor.

"Why are you asking me? I don't decide your fate, you know? I told you I was just curious,", she answered.

"Then what was with that look as if you're going to kill me if I don't confess."

"Nah, it's my normal face, really."

"I see."

"Yes,"

"Hmmm Hmmm" Andrei was relieved inside, the interrogation was postponed somehow.

"Now get ready, you have to meet the queen, she's very fond of you after saving her, so fond that she decided to make you her husband." The girl leaned in front of him and smiled.

The words that came from her was supposed to be a heavy one for Andrei, but he wasn't bothered by that at first, he was caught up thinking about the girl in front of him, he didn't know whether to laugh or cringe with the emotionless words and tone that came out from her mouth, which was completely off from her smiling face.

But that same smile soothed his weariness, with all the insane things that happened to him, "What the hell is wrong with this soft-spoken, sweet, and beautiful but overly ordinary looking girl?" He thought, but he let his poker face take over, thinking it was rude to tell it to her upfront.

"But something is amiss, I think I heard the word husband?" he uttered the words while as he crossed his arms.

"Yes you are, the soon-to-be husband," the girl clasped her hands at her back and turned away from him.

"Who? Me?" Andrei pointed to himself, and the girl just nodded in response.

"With who?"

"The queen?"

"Why the question mark?"

"Who knows..."

And it finally got to him, what the woman just told him.

"Soon-to-be-husband? You got to be kidding me!"