The Experiment © [Completed]

Chapter 7 - Sunday Morning

RJ woke up before 6 the next morning. He has a routine workout around that time and he found out before he went up the day before that the condo's workout gym opens at 5AM.

He went to the bathroom that was just next door to his room and took a quick shower. After he was done, he quickly changed to his work out clothes and grabbed his gym bag hastily. He planned on getting an hour workout and then come back at right after, before Dei wakes up.

As he turned the corner to the living room however, he found Dei already awake and doing yoga near the window.

"Oh shit!" he muttered when he saw her and quickly stepped back into the corner, accidentally hitting a tall, brass vase and knocking it to the ground. Fuck!

"RJ?" Dei called, scrambling to her feet and fixing her shirt consciously. "I didn't know you'd be up this early."

"Uh, yeah..." RJ said, his mind completely buffering as he stared at her in her yoga clothes. "I usually work out around this time, and I'm about to head to the gym." he explained, trying hard to keep his gaze on her face.

"Oh. Okay. I'll prepare breakfast for when you get back. I at least know how to fry eggs and bacons." she said.

"Ok. Thanks. Sure. See you later," he said as he made his way to the door.

Dei started rolling up her yoga mat and RJ had to glance back one last time, before he walked out the door, to look at Dei's perfect form.

Well damn.

+++++

When he came back an hour later, he found Dei already preparing their breakfast on the kitchen counter. She looked like she had already taken a shower and she was wearing a t-shirt dress that fell about three inches above her knee.

He himself had already taken a shower at the gym and he was wearing a black shirt over a pair of jogger pants.

"Hi," he greeted her.

"Hi!" Dei said, smiling. "I prepared some scrambled eggs and bacon. Do you want to eat now?"

He looked at the food she prepared and smiled a little. The scrambled eggs looked normal but the bacon's been burnt by the edges.

He picked up a fork and took a mouthful of the scrambled eggs.

"Hmmm..mmmm..." He squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to swallow the food.

"How was it?" she asked uncertainly.

The eggs tasted like she had put a spoonful of salt in it. "Good," he lied, his eyes watering.

"RJ..." Dei prodded, unconvinced.

"Ok, that might not be the best scrambled eggs I've tasted." he said, grabbing one of the glasses of water she prepared.

"Is it the worst?" she asked.

He nodded, taking huge gulps of water. "Yeah..."

Dei laughed. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have eaten a mouthful but it was too late to stop you."

"How much salt did you put in it?" RJ asked, refilling his glass and taking a few more gulps.

"Well, I forgot to put salt while scrambling so I tried to sprinkle some while it's on the pan. Unfortunately, the lid fell along with more than a tablespoon of salt. I added a couple more eggs but I guess it wasn't enough." she explained.

"Wow." was all he could say.

"I'm sorry," Dei said again.

"It's okay. Do you want to eat outside instead?" He asked.

Dei looked down at the food she prepared, looking disappointed.

"...Or we can eat the eggs with bread. Lots of bread," he said quickly, grabbing a loaf of bread from the basket on the kitchen counter. "I'm sure if we put a bit of mayo it can neutralize the saltiness or something," he added, opening the fridge to look for some mayonnaise.

He looked back at Dei and saw that she was staring at him with an amused smile. "Thanks RJ, you're sweet, but I understand. Let's eat outside."

RJ let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, let's go to the coffee shop," he said, grabbing her hand.

+++++

"What made you decide to come back to the Philippines?" Dei asked as they sat inside the coffee shop at the ground floor of the condominium.

RJ coughed. "Umm... I just missed the country." he said. "And I was trying to runaway from some bad memories there," he added, deciding to share a bit more.

"Oh." Dei said softly. "Must be some pretty bad memories if you needed to travel halfway around the world to escape them."

"Yeah," he said simply, taking a sip of coffee.

They sat quietly for a few moments before RJ decided it was his turn to ask a personal question.

"Dei, I've been wondering... why have you never had a boyfriend? I mean, you're pretty, you're witty and you're simply awesome. Are you the finicky type?" he asked.

Dei blushed. "Well, not exactly. I don't know. I studied in an exclusive school for girls all throughout grade school and high school and by the time I got to college and finally got to be around boys, I was too awkward to function," she said. "When I started working at the fashion magazine, I began meeting guys, but I haven't been able to find anyone I could trust my heart with yet. All the guys I seem to meet are fuck boys."

Ouch. "Have you ever liked boys though?" he asked tentatively.

"I have. More than a few times actually," she answered.

"What happened?"

"They never knew," she said, blushing.

"You don't let guys know what you feel?" He asked.

"I don't," she answered softly.

"You know what, I hope girls would be brave enough to tell what they feel about a guy. Just like what you expect from us. Because sometimes we guys are too scared to let you know what we feel out of fear that you may not feel the same way, or that we'll scare you away because we are not the kind of guys you're looking for," he said looking at her.

Dei met his gaze. "That's pathetic." she said.

RJ smirked. "Back at you."