Forged - [Donald Na x female oc]

Chapter 18

'let's brace the point of no return'

The following weeks after the incident were too busy to allow them to properly process what had happened.

Neither Ray nor Donald brought the subject up again, but somehow they both felt a little closer to each other.

Maybe the adrenaline and danger tricked their brain's chemistry, but it didn't really matter. Whatever the reason, it made the time they had to spend together way more fun, and neither could complain about that.

The experimental part of the project demanded lots of shared hours at first, although now, being closer to the end of it, they started switching shifts as the workload became significantly lighter.

"How about we do a week and a week for this last part? We only need to watch out for like one to two things and it'd be a waste for both of us to spend that much time in the lab with not much to do."

"A week and a week? Geez, Ray, slow down a little. I know you've been in love with this project all along but a week for this next part is absurd."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's better to go two to three days at a time. A week is far too long."

"But I'll get bored during your three days."

"What? What about my week then?"

"Well I figured you'd be busy for at least two days and have me fill you in" she smiled.

Donald stared, very much amused by that logic.

"Goodness, you're obsessed. What a freaking nerd." he teased, earning a friendly punch to the shoulder.

"Hey! Rude!"

Although, she was, in fact, a little bit too invested in that project.

~~~

Donald entered the lab, his eyes focusing on the single stand lamp still on. In the dim light, he saw Ray, head resting on the desk.

Her breathing was steady, and she didn't seem to have noticed him entering.
On a closer look, her eyes were closed.

"How careless"

"Who is?" she replied, slowly opening her eyes.

"Sleeping like that, in the open?"

"Huh? This place is safe?"

Ray seemed very uninterested in this conversation, but Donald wasn't done yet.

"Don't let your guard down. If someone wanted to take on you right now, I bet they could with ease".

"Well, there's no one here interested in that. Unless you might be talking about yourself?"

Donald placed his arm over Ray, and while she wanted to get up from her resting position, she was stopped and forced to keep resting against the desk.

With his best defiant and superior tone, he answered:

"Who knows? You are underprepared and awfully tired, aren't you? No matter how you put it, this would be my best moment to take action."

The tone he used was threatening, and if she didn't know any better, she would have felt uneasy. But they were past that. They have been over such threats for a while now, so this sudden devolving was rather weird.

A small sigh left Ray's lips.

"Please do not mix your personal feelings and desires with your professional life.  This is a project we are both interested in, so if you want scandal, save it for later"

"Ha?" with a rough gesture, he pulled Ray up and held her in a playful chokehold position, both still sitting down.

"Is that really how you think things work? That your enemy is going to patiently wait to strike when you're ready for it?"

Ray didn't think that, of course. But for the sake of the fraction of remaining energy she had, she relaxed in Donald's grip and rested her head on his shoulder. After a moment of silence, she followed:

"What happened to you today that made you take your frustrations out on me?"

Donald's grin faded, as his arm relaxed, allowing her to come back to her initial position, resting hands and head on the desk, eyes closed.

His mind had been stuck on a weird high-alert mode ever since he saw Ray down on the prison's floor.

Her overworking herself on purpose and walking around, not a care in the world, awoke anger in him that he couldn't fully understand.

"Why aren't you going home?" he sighed.

"Well, I'm cold in here, so I don't want to know what it's like outside."

"Have you never heard of jackets?"

"I didn't bring one when I came here"

"How come? It's been raining since morning."

After a brief silence, Ray quietly added

"It was sunny the day before that"

Donald was shocked, but didn't say anything.

"You really don't know when it's enough, do you?"

He mumbled more to himself, thinking about the times when Ray's words left him conflicted, rather than the current situation.

"Seriously Ray, go home"

"Nuh-uh, I need to see if anything happens"

"Well if you're going to sleep anyway, it's not like you're going to see anything. You might as well..."

"I'll go when it's warmer"

Donald just rolled his eyes to the back of his head, took off his jacket and placed it over Ray's shoulders. As he did so, he forced her to stand.

"Move".

Surprisingly enough, he didn't hear any protests. She willingly let herself be walked out of the lab and towards the exit of the building.

Halfway through to the bus station, as he cringed uncomfortably due to the cold, pretty annoyed, Donald mumbled under his breath.

"Fucking simp".

[ A/N

Finally, some self-awareness   ;) ]