T.I.T.S.O.M.A.Y Ch. 03

Chapter Three: Christmas Surprise

"Reina? Reina, wake up. C'mon, you've slept long enough. It's time to wake up now."

Her eyes seemed to be burning. Add to that the fact that her eyelids felt like they'd been weighed down by lead, well, that could only equal one feeling:

Pure shittiness.

"Hm...?" Reina muttered, eyes fluttering open, "Brad?"

Rio's face came into focus, "Um, not quite. Guess again."

"Oh my..." Reina breathed, her eyes widening to the size of dinner platters as she moved to sit up.

Rio's hand was immediately at the base of Reina's neck, "Uh-uh. I wouldn't do that if I were you. Besides, it's my turn to be nice to you."

"What...? Why?" Reina was confused to say the least. Rio was going to be nice? Did he even know the meaning of the word?

"You're wondering why I'm gonna be nice, aren't you? Hm? Yes you are. I can see it."

Reina blinked, forgetting she was a captive to this man, "Who put crack on your cereal?"

"Hehe, no crack!" Rio smiled, seemingly oblivious to everything, "It's Christmas! See? See? Look outside!"

To Reina, Rio seemed like a child. Sitting up slowly— for Rio's hand was still on her throat— Reina saw that there was indeed snow on the ground, a sign Reina loved to see around Christmas.

Wait a minute....... Christmas?!

"How long did you make me sleep?!"

Rio whistled a little guiltily, "Not long. I must say that you're easy to put to sleep; but you're hard to keep sleeping. You nearly woke up when I was plotting your Christmas present. You also almost woke up when I was giving you your present. I have it to you early so that you wouldn't have to worry about taking care of it. But you needn't fear! You'll be awake enough to know what I'm doing, but you won't feel all the pain come New Year's. I promise."

"Pain? Excuse me?" Reina asked, sitting up and noticing a slight pinch on her chest. She ignored it.

"Yeah. I'll show it to you later; right now, though, it's time to open presents! C'mon, c'mon! Put this bathrobe on and follow me!" Rio smiled, picking up a large black bathrobe from the footboard and holding it for Reina so she could put it on.

Before Reina had a chance to look around the room she'd been in, Rio had whisked her away into a hallway and down some stairs. At the foot of the stairs was a door, which Reina assumed was the front door. Leading her to the right, Reina saw a large Christmas tree that was decorated like any other normal tree. What really caught Reina's eye, though, were all the colorfully wrapped packages with her name on them.

"What the...?"

"I didn't know what kind of stuff you liked, so I started out buying a little bit of everything. That's when I decided I'd do a little research, and I came up with this stuff. The things with bows should be stuff you like; by the same token, the stuff without bows was bought at random."

Something was bothering Reina, "Hey Rio?"

"Yes?"

"Where did you get the money for all of this?"

Rio put his hands behind his head, "Hehe, funny story, actually. You see, I was driving in my old neighborhood so I went to go see my brother Darien to see how he was doing since I hadn't seen him for three years. So I stop to see him and we talk a little and I let slip that I have a new 'friend'. So he told me to get a present and I told him that I had no money. So he gave me some of his and then I had the dilemma of what to buy."

"What does your brother do?"

"He works as a lawyer downtown. Helps get me out of trouble from time-to-time. When I told him when I brought you home with me, he was surprised I'd let you live so long. To tell you the truth, I'm pretty surprised myself; but unlike my brother, I like surprises," Rio smiled, picking up a small box, "What are you waiting for, eh? Start opening!"

Reina was still confused, "But why would you do this? You don't know me any more than I know you! So why would you bother?"

Rio shrugged, as though he did this all the time, "I want to know you. You are, after all, mine now."

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