[Chriseva] Cindereva

6: The Fair and a Maiden

They fall into something of a routine after Eva starts working again and Chris is slowly but surely regaining his health and his strength. Over the next couple of days, Eva would wake up, by this point Chris had insisted that she continue sleeping across the width near the foot of the bed, where she'd slept that first time after a week of trying to find a comfortable position on the hard wooden chairs, while he'd sleep in a similar position near the headboard. It left his legs hanging off the edge but he was adamant that it wasn't anything he couldn't deal with. It meant that Eva would get to sleep in her own bed, while still getting her way and not allowing Chris to sleep anywhere other than the bed and it still left a respectable distance between them.

Usually Chris would already be up by the time Eva awakens; he'd be staring out the window into the canopy of trees behind the cottage, or he'd be walking around the small space, looking at the few knick-knacks Eva had collected, decorating her home.

But sometimes Eva would wake up to find Chris sitting up with his back against the headboard, silently watching her while she slept. That was one thing that always left her a blushing mess, and she noticed with a hint of annoyance that her embarrassment would only cause him to grin one of his small lopsided grins that she never grew tired of seeing.

Eva would fix up breakfast for the two of them, and leave out some bread and cheese, or whenever she'd go into town and bring back pie for Chris in case he got hungry. And then she'd leave, walking down the path away from her cottage, forcing herself to not look back and see Chris's figure standing by the door, staring at her back as she was walking away. She tried not to smile, but fails every single time.

Nearing the end of the working week, after she'd been back at work for about four days, she reaches her cottage and notices with some confusion that the clothes she'd hung out to dry that morning was absent from the clothes line.

She enters; the question as her lips but before she can verbalize it she immediately notices all her clothes folded and stacked neatly on the dinner table and Chris standing by the sink putting away the dishes.

"Welcome back," he greets when she enters, turning around to face her.

"Um—thank you," Eva stutters out, looking between her clothes and Chris. "Did you take my in laundry? You really didn't have to."

"I needed to do something," he said, "And it's really nothing, compared to everything you've done for me this whole time."

Eva smiles at that and places her basket aside, pulling off her red hood and unlatching the clasp, sliding it off her shoulders but before she can reach to place it over the back of the chair in front of her, Chris has walked over and taken it out of her grasp, hanging it up on the hook behind the door where she usually hung it.

Eva tries not to grin too wide, brushing a couple of free strands of hair behind her ear.

"Chris," she starts, calling his name as she pulls a chair out and takes seat. He turns around immediately and hmms a soft inquiring sound. "Are you...are you okay—with being here? I mean, you've been stuck in this small cottage for almost two weeks and—and I was wondering if you were not bored?"

He walks on over and pulls out the chair across from her, looking at her intently. "Where I'm from, having time to be bored is something of a luxury," he says as a matter-of-factly.

And Eva lets out a small disappointed oh despite herself.

"Why?" he asks, after gouging her reaction. She can tell that he felt guilty about his response. "Did you want to do something?"

"No...I mean—it's nothing important, I was just concerned that you getting tired of being stuck in doors for so long."

It wasn't the complete truth and Eva knows Chris can tell even though she isn't currently looking at him.