Alina looked up from the bread she had been tearing to pieces. "Yes. I'm perfectly fine. Why do you ask?" she replied, forcing out a smile.
Max sighed and put down his spoon. He interlocked his fingers and looked at Alina as he said, "I ask because you look like you're coming down with something. Your face is very pale, and there are such big purple bags under your eyes that they look scary."
Alina shook her head as she started to stuff her mouth with food. "I'm fine! Don't worry about me. Just a little tired I guess." she said after swallowing, waving her spoon in the air.
Max sighed but didn't argue. Something was definitely wrong, but no one could force anything out of Alina. She would tell him when she wanted to.
Contrary to what she had just told Max, Alina was not fine at all. She had been having trouble sleeping ever since the night she and Max had spent on the sofa.
She had not had even a wink of sleep that night and the night after that. Even the previous night, Alina had slipped into a disturbed sleep very late and had woken up in a couple of hours from a nightmare.
Alina tossed and turned in her bed and sat up with a huge sigh. It looked like she was in for another sleepless night. "This cannot go on like that. My body will give up if I continue to push it on little to no sleep." she muttered as she caught sight of her face in the mirror. No wonder Max had asked her if she was okay. She really did look like she was coming down with something.
The next morning, Max and Alina sat at the breakfast table after their usual morning training. Alina's body was aching from head to toe and she really felt like she would swoon at the slightest touch.
Max peered at her from over his fork and had opened his mouth to say something but Alina beat him to eat. "I think we should move." she said, her brown eyes staring unflinchingly into Max's blue ones. Max blinked as he took her words in. And even after a minute, they seemed to make no sense. "Huh?" was all that he could come up with.
Alina rolled her eyes as she went back to her food. "Didn't you say that we should move out? I've thought about it, and it seemed like the best course of action for now." she said after swallowing a few bites.
Max blinked as his mind once again tried to process Alina's words but once again came up empty. "When did I say that?" he asked, frowning. Alina blinked as she looked up, genuine surprise on her face. "Didn't you ask me what I thought about moving out that night on the sofa?" she said, "Yeah. I wasn't asleep, just didn't know how to answer." she added in response to Max's quizical look.
Max nodded as he took in Alina's answer. But his mind was still confused as he asked, "Why do you think it's the best course of action?"
Given Alina's temper, Max was sure she was about to snap at him with the amount of questions he was asking.