The Perfect Machine: Kingdom Of Glass (GxG

17. Something Wrong?

The brightness of the daylight hits my eyes makes me take the other pillow over my face. I groan in harshness. I needed to rest for a bit more. I toss the pillow off my face as I notice a decent smell originating from the lounge.

I step out of bed and attempt to tune in through the door to what's going on. The frying pans are sizzling and kitchen utilities are moving around. I open the door cautiously to look and see Harlow in the kitchen making food. I step into the lounge while I see her creation of an English breakfast.

"Did you sleep well?" Harlow asks as she turns towards me. I was going to question her how she knew I was here, but then I remember she has decent hearing. Not sure that is a good thing or not.

"Yes," I grin as I take a seat.

"Are you hungry?" She asks, and I nod as she puts a plate before me with bacon, sausages, fried eggs, dark pudding, prepared beans, tomatoes, mushrooms and on the side a toast. Then she places a cup of tea with a splash of milk in it.

I gaze down at the plate that is loaded up with more food than we have had the most recent couple of weeks. Not even at home did we have had a full English breakfast.

"Something wrong?" Harlow captures my attention.

"No," I state, stunned.

"I just never had so much food on my plate before," I say as Harlow sits down with her plate of food in front of me.

"Where did you get all of this?" I wonder, but Harlow takes a big bite of her toast to avoid answering me.

"Did you steal it?" I ask and she shakes her head, but I can tell she is lying. We both know stealing is wrong, but we don't have much choice, just like when I tried providing food for my parents.

"Thank you, though," I say as I reach for the fork and knife, starting to stuff my mouth.

"Slow down," Harlow chuckles.

"I'm sorry, it's just so good," I say with my mouth full if my mother had seen me now, I would have heard some nasty words. A warm smile appears on Harlow's face; it's beautiful. I don't think I have ever seen her look at me like that before.

"What?" Harlow asks as she noticed I was watching her for a long time.

"Nothing," I say, staring down at my plate.

"Do you mind if I took a shower?" I ask out of the blue. I feel sticky and uncomfortable in my skin. I should have cleaned myself up yesterday, but I didn't find the time or the will to do it after Harlow's outburst.

"Of course, go ahead," She says.

"Just don't expect me to walk in on you naked," She mocks me, and I feel my cheeks turn red. She just made a joke; Harlow made a joke! Part of me wants to smile, but the embarrassment is just too much.

"I didn't mean to see you half-naked," I say, clearing my throat and take a piece of my toast as I remember the view of her, which makes my cheeks even warmer.

"It's fine," She smiles.

"I am used to it in a certain way," She shrugs, which makes me look at her baffled.

"We were tested in a lot of different ways, and sometimes it required us to be naked. It just became normal," She explains, and I nod as I understand but feel uncomfortable knowing that. I can't imagine myself in that kind of situation, though.

"I'm sorry," I say as I don't know how to respond because it's out of this world what they did to them, to her.

"Don't be," She says.

"Thank you for breakfast," I smile as I get up from my seat.

"Of course," She smiles lightly back. I find my way into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Leaning back on it as I take a deep breath, then I step over to the shower to turn it on. The water turns warm eventually, so I start taking off every piece of clothing and get into the warm water. It's not often I get the pleasure of having heated water on my skin.

Every event rush inside of my head. From going to prison to our escape, and where Harlow killed that man in that way won't leave my mind. But now, the thought of her death is terrifying me. She can't die. We need to get those pills she needs and we need her to be okay.

I open my eyes as the thought of her being half-naked comes to my mind. For some annoying reason, that image won't leave my head. I am starting to question why I find her so exciting and why my heart turns upside down every time I am near her.

These feelings are not normal.

But then again, nothing here is normal anymore.