Ch. 306..310: Forbidden Heat R18 Chapter 306-310

Chapter 306: Reiner - Just Like This

“Natalia...look this way,” Reiner said sternly.

Curiously, I turned around to see what he wanted. Water splashed onto my face and the front of my shirt so fast that I didn’t have time to react. I silently thanked whoever invented waterproof eyeliner and mascara as I closed my eyes and felt the water run down my face.

“Reiner!” I yelled his name as I reached down into the stream and began splashing more water his way.

“What do they like to say? Something like...you started it?” Reiner said while laughing a little at me.

The water felt so much colder on my face and body than it did when I touched it with my hand in the stream. The wind blowing against my face just made the water feel that much colder. I burst out laughing at the situation that we found ourselves in. Splashing water one each other like we were carefree children. It was so fun, and I felt so free just to be playing around with Reiner like this.

I couldn’t remember the last time that I laughed this hard. Even if it was only for a moment, I was glad that my burdens seemed to have lifted. Reiner’s joyful laugh filled my ears, and I could feel my heartache for him.

“R...” I called his name as I ran towards him and flung my arms around his neck.

He’s so tall I had to literally jump up on him to hug him like this. As expected, Reiner large hands held my waist and carried me up so that I could reach. I kissed the side of his neck softly as I wrapped my legs around his hips. The wind on my wet skin and clothes felt so cold but Reiner’s body made me feel so warm.

“Your shirt is all see through now...” Reiner said with concern.

“You’re such a pervert...” I teased.

“Says the girl who’s pressing her breasts to my chest...” he teased me back.

I looked up into his handsome face and beautiful blue eyes before I started laughing like I was going crazy. If only time would go on just like this, everyday would be so fun for the two of us.

“You’re so funny...” I whispered.

Pulling his head down towards me, I placed my lips softly on his. I kissed him softly and his hands tightened around my waist. Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, I continued to kiss him as our kiss deepened. I parted my lips invitingly and Reiner slipped his hot tongue into the depths of my mouth. Oh...how I’ve been waiting for this...

The forest was peacefully quiet around us now that we had stopped laughing and playing around with water. The atmosphere was so tranquil and thankfully, we were alone. As we kissed and his tongue grinded along with mine, it truly felt like we were the only ones in our little world. How I wished that this could be true.

“You should change before you catch a cold,” Reiner said after he broke our kiss.

“You’re always so worried about everything...” I replied but I couldn’t help smiling at him.

He put me back down on the ground before he turned to take out some clothes from the bag that he had packed. It was amazing how prepared he was about everything. I started taking my wet shirt off and realized that my bra is wet as well. Having a bra-free day wouldn’t be too bad once in a while. I shrugged carefreely as I also took off my bra.

I glanced over at Reiner and saw that he had his back turned towards me. One of these days, I’m going to come to understand his thought process. I didn’t understand why he had to turn his back when he’d already seen me naked plenty of times.

“I’m done...” I said when I had finished changing.

Reiner was wet too. I wondered if he was going to change as well.

“R...you’re wet. Are you going to change too?” I asked.

“No. I’m fine. Let’s have lunch,” Reine replied.

I watched as Reiner placed a mat on the ground and started unpacking many lunch boxes. While I stood awkwardly to the side, Reiner arranged everything professionally.

“Is there something that I can help out with?” I asked, not wanting to feel completely useless.

“No. Just...stand to the side...” Reiner said as he continued setting up everything.

When the food was laid out on the mat in front of me, I looked in wonder at the amount and variety of food that was packed.

“Did you make this?” I asked in awe.

“No. The cooks did...” Reine replied.

His response made me feel better somehow. I mean, it would really be too over the top if he had cooked all this as well. Being too amazing can be too much for my heart to take. Unknowingly, I had started smiling a little to myself.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s eat,” Reiner said as he sat down and gestured for me to do the same.

I sat down and we began eating in silence. Since I had changed clothes, the wind didn’t feel so cold anymore and the weather seemed pleasant. The food tasted amazing. I was sure that the food tasted decent because the cooks cooked it, but it tasted outstandingly delicious right now because I was in a great mood. Also, because I was eating it with Reiner.

“What are we doing after this?” I asked.

“Nothing. Today is your rest day so just rest and take it easy. The real thing starts tomorrow,” Reiner replied casually.

“The real thing?” I asked, catching on to what he just said.

“I figured now that you’re here...I might as well teach you some things...” Reiner said a little hesitantly.

I wondered what it was what he was going to teach me. As long as I get to spend time with him, I guess anything would be fine.

“Guess I’ll have to wait and see, right?” I asked, knowingly.

Reiner just smiled and nodded in response.

Just as Reiner suggested, I spent the rest of the afternoon doing absolutely nothing at all. We walked around together in the forest while we enjoyed the scenery. We sat down when we needed to rest and chatted. He read me a book while I used his lap as my pillow and drift off for a short nap.

Chapter 307: Reiner - Lucky or Unlucky

It was always during these enjoyable moments that time seemed to pass by so quickly. Before I knew it the sun had already started to set. I looked up at the sky a little sadly, thinking that the day was already coming to an end.

“You don’t need to look so sad,” Reiner said comfortingly as he wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders.

“The day is coming to an end...time flew by too fast...” I muttered depressingly.

“What are you talking about? This is when we start watching the sun set and once we’re done with that we’ll start a fire and cook dinner,” Reiner said before he flashed me a bright smile.

I guess, the day was far from over after all. I thanked Reiner silently as I smiled back at him and hugged him back. We watched the sunset together side by side. The sky changed colored from blue to a mix of orange and pink and then to dark purple and finally it got dark as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Reiner made a fire so that we could camp out under the stars. I watched as he started preparing the fish that we had caught before in the stream and started to grill them on the fire. Ok, he caught them while I was goofing around and acting useless. Spending so much time outside like this was a pleasant change. Because of my phobia of the forests, this wouldn’t have been possible before this.

“R, come here,” I said as I patted my hands on my lap.

Reiner cocked his head at me curiously, but I knew that he understood what I wanted him to do. He looked hesitant.

“Come here,” I said as I patted my lap again.

With a sigh, Reiner finally gave in. He sat down next to me and then laid down with his head on my lap. I looked down at this handsome face as he stared up into mine with his beautiful blue eyes.

“Let’s watch the stars together, R,” I said as I pointed up at the sky.

We were far from the city so we could see the stars clearly. The trees where we were sitting parted enough for us to get a good view of the sky above. It was a breathtakingly beautiful sight to behold. There were many things that I wanted to say to him, but I decided to keep them for another day. Perhaps, when the stars weren’t so bright and the atmosphere was less romantic, I’ll start saying them. I wasn’t sure if Reiner had anything that he wanted to say to me. We just stayed close together as we watched the stars twinkling in the sky above us.

...

Perhaps it was because I was tired or because the trip made me relax but I slept so well last night. For once in a very long time, I woke up uncharacteristically early in the morning. For someone who wasn’t a morning person, I had never woken up this early by myself without the help of the alarm. I sat up in bed and realized that Reiner was nowhere to be seen.

I got out of bed and went out to the living room. Surprisingly, Reiner wasn’t there either. I guess he went out? I bet he never suspected that I would wake up this early. I decided to look around while I waited for him to return. The morning weather up in the mountain felt wonderful. The air felt so clean and fresh, and I could smell nature. There were dew drops on the leaves of the plants in front of the mini-mansion. I crouched down to see the drew drop. This really looked like a scene from some nature documentary that I had seen before on television.

Walking around the well-kept garden surrounding the mansion, I was lost in nature and the peacefulness of the scenery that I didn’t realize that someone had approached me. Looking back on it, I wasn’t sure if I was that lost in the moment or if that person had a talent of sneaking up on other people.

Regardless, I was shocked when I turned around and came face to face with a thin old man. All his hair was white and so was his beard. He was quite tall and lithe. He smiled at me, and many lines of age creased his face. I quickly placed my hands over my mouth before I would scream in shock. The man didn’t seem dangerous, but his sudden appearance truly freaked me out.

“Who are you?” I managed to ask in a panicked whisper.

“I could ask you the same thing, little girl...” the old man said.

Did he just call me a little girl? I might be young but ‘little girl’, seriously?

“Umm...I’m here with Reiner...my name is Natalia...” I introduced myself a little hesitantly.

“I’m the owner of this place. Happy to have you here, Miss Natalia. My name doesn’t matter because it changes depending on who you are anyways,” the man said before laughing a little.

This old man is the owner of this place? If I recalled correctly, Reiner did say that I might run into him if I was lucky...or unlucky. Now I was beginning to wonder if I was lucky or unlucky.

“You know...Reiner, right?” I asked.

“Of course. I know Reiner and all the other names that he’s used as well,” the man said with a grin.

This man knows Reiner. That caught my attention at once. Perhaps, if I asked, he could tell me more about Reiner. It wouldn’t hurt to try asking.

“Umm...can you tell me more about Reiner?” I asked.

“You want to know about him? What would you like to know, little girl?” the old man asked before chuckling.

“Everything. Anything that you can tell me would be valuable,” I said excitedly.

“Are you perhaps in love with Reiner?” the old man asked abruptly.

Huh?

Honestly, I didn’t know how to respond to that. The old man’s eyes narrowed as he watched my face intently before his eyes lowered and began scanning my entire body from my face down to my feet and then up again. It made me feel extremely nervous. This old man, he seems to have many tricks up his sleeves.

Chapter 308: Reiner - Conversations

“What makes you think that?” I asked, more shock at how he knew rather than how forward his question was.

“It’s pretty obvious. You’re either in love with him or really obsessed with him...” the old man said.

“Well...” I mumbled.

“So, what do you like about Reiner?” the man asked.

“I guess...everything...” I replied after some consideration.

The old man’s eyes widened at my response before he roared with laughter. I watched him in wonder because I didn’t quite understand what it was that he found so funny.

“What’s so funny?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, you ask me to tell you everything about him as if you don’t know anything about him. Yet, you tell me that you love everything about him. You’re a complex paradox, aren’t you?” the old man said while he tried to suppress his laughter.

“Well, we’re not in that type of relationship,” I said softly.

“I wonder. He never brings anyone with him. Let alone a woman...” the old man said as his eyes narrowed at me.

“Don’t get my hopes up. He’s not in love with me,” I said, quickly shutting down my own hopes.

“You seem very trusting,” the old man said observantly.

“Excuse me?” I said, not quite following what he meant by that.

“You trust him and his words...maybe a little too much,” the old man said before winking at me.

“Maybe...” I muttered.

“If you want to be with him...you’re going to have to be very brave,” the man said as he nodded his head.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Exactly as I said. Brave...in every sense of the word,” he replied.

In every sense of the word...? While I was taken aback by the old man’s words, my arm was yanked backwards, and I started to lose my balance. I let out a small cry before my back hit something warm and hard.

“What are you doing to her?”

Reiner? I glanced up to see that the hard wall that my body seemed to have bumped against was in fact Reiner’s body. He still held my arm, and I could feel that he was very tense. I thought these two were friends or did I misunderstand something? The air between the two men didn’t seem friendly at all.

“I’m not doing anything. We’re just chit chatting. Is that the word that young people use these days? Chatting...” the old man replied.

Reiner looked at the old man suspiciously before he sighed and loosened his hold on my arm. However, he placed a hand on the small of my back and I knew that he wanted me to stay close to him.

“It’s rare for you to appear in front of people,” Reiner said flatly.

“I’m human too you know, I do like to socialize,” the nameless old man said.

“I don’t happen to recall...” Reiner muttered, clearly unconvinced.

I watched the two men conversing and I could sense some tension between them. That made me wonder how they knew each other and what was their relationship. I could tell that they’ve known each other for a long time and seemed close in a weird way. Perhaps, if I asked Reiner later, he might tell me.

“Natalia, can you go wait for me inside first?” Reiner asked and I knew that he was asking me to leave the two of them alone.

“Sure...” I readily agreed.

I guess old friends have somethings that they wanted to catch up with each other on. Smiling a little at the old man, I took my leave and headed back towards the entrance to the mansion.

...

Reiner watched silently as Natalia walked away from them until she rounded a corner and was out of sight. He then turned to the old man

“So that’s Natalia...” the old man said thoughtfully.

“Why did you approach her? It’s unusual for you to show your face...to anyone...” Reiner asked as his eyes narrowed at the old man.

“Easy easy...don’t get your diapers up in a knot. I just wanted to see the girl you skipped out on your real job for...” the old man said before he smiled knowingly.

“I didn’t skip out. I told you that I’m quitting...” Reiner replied.

“Isn’t that even worst? I’m losing my top agent...” the old man said before sighing.

“I’m quitting...” Reine repeated emotionlessly.

“Why? You’re still so young? When you told me that you wanted to...go after her...” the old man said as he recalled some memories of his own.

“I didn’t say that I was going to go after her,” Reiner quickly corrected.

“But that’s exactly what you did. You have no idea how much trouble I went through to keep this away from your father...” the old man complained.

“Why? You should have just told him,” Reiner said without a care.

“Me? Tell him? No no no...spare me my life, please. It’s your mess and I’m staying out of it. If you want to break the news to him, you can do so...” the old man said as he waved his hand dismissively.

“You’re scared, huh?” Reiner asked with narrowed eyes.

“Yes. I’m scared out of my chicken-brained mind. Your father’s a monster...” the old man replied without hesitation.

“He’ll be in a good mood as long as business is going well...” Reiner muttered.

“I guess. Are you...planning to go home?” the man asked.

“Maybe...” Reiner whispered.

“Reiner, you’ve used this name for many years now, but I still find it strange. Anyways, I just want to say that you should not feel responsible. You just did as I told you. The mission instructions were as such and you followed through. There’s nothing that you should feel responsible for,” the old man said, sounding serious.

“What about you?” Reiner asked calmly.

“That girl lost her mother because of the mission that I assigned to you. I could have assigned someone else, so it could have been someone else who would mistakenly kill her mother. So don’t overthink it. If you need someone to blame, you can just blame it on me. It won’t make me feel guilty,” the old man said passionlessly.

“I can’t do that...” Reiner replied.

Chapter 309: Reiner - Real Deal

“I don’t feel any guilt or any sense of responsibility. Everyone has their own role to play, Reiner. You and me, we just played out role. The mission came with instructions and without the identity of the target. If the person paying doesn’t care who would get killed, then that’s none of our concern,” the old man said firmly.

“I guess...” Reiner whispered.

“Why do you think the mission came without a clear identity of the target? Because it doesn’t matter who gets killed. The purpose was to get rid of some secret documents. That’s it. In the end, the client achieved that, and they were happy. Done deal,” the old man said before snapping his fingers.

“I know that,” Reiner replied coldly.

The old man narrowed his eyes at Reiner as if he wasn’t convinced that Reiner understood what he was saying. The man sighed loudly before speaking again.

“What are you going to do? Marry the girl?” the old man asked.

“Of course not,” Reiner replied immediately.

“Poor little girl is going to get her poor little heart broken...” the man teased as he made a small voice.

“You should go back...” Reiner snapped.

“Didn’t I teach you not to half-ass things?” the old man continued with his preaching.

“You should return...” Reiner repeated firmly.

“Go home, Reiner. Take on some jobs and put your old man in a good mood,” the old man suggested.

“You should disappear already, don’t you think? You’ve been out in the open for too long, isn’t it bad for your skin?” Reiner said, clearly annoyed.

“I wasn’t here. You didn’t see me. I don’t exist,” the old man said before smirking.

“Roger that,” Reiner muttered.

...

I waited for Reiner in the mansion. Those two are really taking their time with their talks. It’s been a while since I’ve been waiting and there were still no signs of Reiner. I wondered what they are talking about. I wondered if they’re talking about me. Sitting down on the sofa, I crossed my legs and then uncrossed them. After a while, I crossed them again. What is taking Reiner so long?

When I heard the door open, I jumped up from the sofa immediately and approached the door. As expected, Reiner walked in with an unreadable expression on his face. That only made me more curious about what the two men talked about. I decided to ask him about it although I knew that he probably won’t tell me anything.

“How was your talk with the old man?” I asked before smiling up at him.

“Nothing special. We didn’t talk about anything much,” Reiner replied.

I knew that that wasn’t true. I mean, they did take quite a while.

“How did you two get to know each other?” I asked, curiously.

Reiner stared down at my face, and I knew that I was being too nosy. But I just wanted to know...

“I know him from way back...” Reiner replied without disclosing any key information.

“He seems like a very kind person” I commented.

“Forget that you ever met him. That’s for the best,” Reiner said curtly.

“Why? This is the first time you introduced me to your friend,” I said.

“I didn’t introduce you two. You ran into him...” Reiner corrected.

Oh, I guess he’s right.

“I didn’t get to thank him for letting us stay here...” I mumbled.

“Did he say anything to you?” Reiner asked, suddenly sounding very serious.

“Umm...no...” I replied before smiling at him.

It’s not like I can tell him what we spoke about...

“Good. Come here for a second,” Reiner said as he reached out and took my hand into his.

Without much effort, Reiner began dragging me behind him. I struggled to keep up with his long strides while my mind wondered where he was taking me. The mansion was much larger than I had initially thought. The hallway that Reiner was leading me down was long but quite narrow. When we reached the end, we descended some stairs.

Is this the underground? I didn’t think that this mansion would have an underground floor like this. Surprisingly, it was quite clean and there was more than enough light for us to see properly. Reiner held my hand as he helped me down the narrow stairs.

“What are we doing down here?” I asked curiously.

“You’ll see...” Reiner replied without giving anything away.

These little adventures and exploration felt so exciting to me. I actually never knew that I was into these mysterious adventures and stuff.

“We’re here...” Reiner said unceremoniously.

I stared in wonder at a device that locked the door. This does look like some spy movie. It’s a fingerprint scanner and a retina scanner. In the middle of a mountain? Well, I clearly didn’t expect that.

“Is this some kind of treasure room?” I asked excitedly.

“Depends on who’s looking at it...I guess...” Reiner replied before he let the machine scan his retina.

The large metal door clicked unlocked and automatically slid open. It was dark inside, however, when Reiner stepped in the lights automatically switched on.

Oh...

“Oh...” I whispered in astonishment.

I took one step into the room, and I was too stunned with what I was seeing to take another step. Someone, please tell me that this is the wrong room. My eyes widened in shock at the sight of countless rows of weapons arranged on the walls from floor to ceiling. Racks and racks of what I guess were various types of weapons were there as well.

I had no knowledge of these things, but I could identify the key themes of the things in the room. Guns, explosives, knives, swords, bullets, and various other weapons that I didn’t even know how to start describing.

Tell me that this is some mistake...

“What are we doing here?” I asked, my voice shaking.

Reiner’s hand held mine a little firmer before he turned to face me. He looked very calm and collected and I could tell that this wasn’t his first time in the room at all.

“How best to convince other people that you can take care and protect yourself?” Reiner asked.

How am I supposed to answer that?

“Umm...” I murmured, unsure of how to answer.

Chapter 310: Reiner - My Teacher

“No defense is better than self-defense. You can have bodyguards and stuff but at the end of the day, it’s always better if you can defend yourself as well,” Reiner stated like it should be obvious.

I didn’t like where this conversation was going at all. The fact that we were standing in a secret underground room filled with weapons wasn’t helping either.

“I see...I don’t think I can beat anyone at physical combat though...” I mumbled truthfully.

Please don’t expect me to fight. That is something that I absolutely don’t want to do. Why does he think I never took up any self-defense classes up until now? It’s because I didn’t want to.

“Probably true. If you can’t fight them, then you shoot them,” Reiner said as he reached for a small pistol that was laying on a table close to his right hand.

Please tell me that that’s not real. Although, I knew that it probably was...real.

“Huh?” I gasped in shock.

One look at Reiner’s face and I could tell that he was completely serious. Is this what he meant by the real deal starts tomorrow?

What sort of logic is that anyways? I can’t just randomly shoot people.

“I’m going to teach you how to shoot a gun. We’re not going back until I’m satisfied with your achievement,” Reiner stated.

My face felt numb, and my lips suddenly felt very dry. I can’t believe he’s being serious about this.

The words from the old man came back to me in full force.

‘If you want to be with him...you’re going to have to be very brave’

Is this what the old man meant? Did he know that Reiner brought me here for this?

“So, the next time you meet a suspicious and creepy old man like that, just shoot him dead,” Reiner said before grinning at me.

After that Reiner led me outside and after a short walk, we arrived at what was probably an outdoor shooting range. I have never shot a gun before in my life, and honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. After introducing me to various types of guns in the weapon storage room, Reiner picked up a small revolver for me. Obviously, I went along with whatever he recommended because I had no experience or knowledge in this particular area.

“Do I really have to do this?” I asked.

“Of course,” Reiner replied without a thought.

The weather was pleasant enough but the tension and nervousness that I felt was making my hand sweaty. When I came on this trip with him, I never dreamt that I would end up learning how to shoot a gun like this. Honestly, even if something were to happen to me, I didn’t think that I could shoot anyone. Telling that to Reiner wasn’t going to change his mind though.

“First, I’ll explain to you how a gun works...” Reiner said seriously.

I listened to him explain while his hand showed me various parts of the gun. Truthfully, I was more scared than interested. However, I had to pay attention to Reiner. He’s such a good and patient teacher, honestly. I loved the sound of his voice and how his hand moved gracefully yet expertly as he held the gun in his hand and moved it around fluidly.

“Are you listening?” Reiner asked as his eyes narrowed at me.

Ok...I lost focus for a bit there. More like I was focusing on the wrong thing. It wasn’t like I could help it. I found my teacher much more interesting than the subject that he was trying to teach me. I laughed a little to cover up my shyness at being caught before I stuck out my tongue a little.

“How did you know?” I muttered.

“Doesn’t matter how I knew. Focus, Natalia...” Reiner replied sternly.

I sighed loudly as I tried my best to focus on what he was saying and what he was showing me. The fact that we were outside, and the training ground seemed so real, precisely because it was real, made me extremely nervous. Why couldn’t he take me to a shooting range like what other normal people did?

Simple...Reiner wasn’t a normal person. I wanted to laugh and cry the same time. The sunlight reflecting off his red hair makes his hair look so magical and soft...

“Natalia...” Reiner called my name sternly.

“Right...yes...I’m listening...” I said as I snapped out of my thoughts.

“No, you’re not...” Reiner said knowingly.

I rolled my eyes at him. Shit, he caught me again. This is why he should have hired some other instructor to teach me instead. Seriously...

“What about a demonstration?” I suggested.

“You want me to show you?” Reiner asked.

“Can you?” I asked before smiling up at him.

“Sure...” Reiner replied.

Wow...I’m about to witness Reiner shooting a gun. Maybe this lesson was worth it after all. This trip...my whole life up to this point was all worth it. I couldn’t see myself, but I was sure that my eyes must have sparkled with excitement.

“When you’re shooting someone, just aim at the center of their body. If the target is moving, that’s your best bet. Even if the target moves, you’re bound to hit him somewhere. It doesn’t matter where, just hitting your target is a good enough start,” Reiner said.

“Aha...” I mumbled.

I pray that the day never comes when I have to actually shoot someone. I mean, please. There were three targets positioned quite far from us. Narrowing my eyes, I could roughly make out the bull’s eye at the center of the target silhouette’s chest. Seeing it and hitting it, I knew were two completely different things.

“If you think you’ll get scared, you should cover your ears...” Reiner warned.

I quickly nodded and covered my ears with my hands and stepped away to give him plenty of space. Once he saw that I was in a safe place, Reiner lifted his arm, took aim, and shot the gun with ease. I counted the gunshots as he fired rapidly until he emptied the gun. That was six rounds...

“Come here,” Reiner said as he beckoned me over to him.

After he lowered the gun, I quickly went to his side before we walked towards the targets to see the result of his impressive shooting.