An Arranged Marriage - Episode 45

 

I enter the room, our room to see him sprawled on the bed.

He doesn't twitch when I enter and I know he's sleeping.

I silently drop the tray I'm holding and slowly limp around the bed.

Over the weeks my limp has reduced, I don't know why but I think it has to do with the fact that I feel safe and I don't have to pretend anymore. 

I approach the bed and seat on the side, watching his face as his breath rises and falls. 

His hair is scattered and his hand is wrapped around the pillow that is supposed to be mine. 

I look around the room, noticing that it looks clean and pristine. 

I glance back at him to see his eyes opened, looking at me. 

I freeze. 

He isn't making a move and he looks sleepy. 

"Am I dreaming?" His sleepy voice asks and I shake my head. 

"You are in our room" He says. 

"I.. You didn't have dinner so I brought you some" I say and his face becomes weary, as if he's trying not to be eager.

"You brought me food?" He asks, sitting up. 

"I even made it myself" I say, he glances at the plate on the nightstand before looking at me. 

"I don't have much of an appetite" he says and my heart breaks, I lift my hand, stroking the skin under his eyes. 

Wishing I could wipe away the dark circles. 

"I will be very glad if you try to eat some? Please?" I say, standing up and retrieving the tray, setting it in front of him. 

He grabs the spoon, dipping it into the rice porridge. 

I watch as he eats and for someone who didn't have much of an appetite he finishes the whole thing.

"You were hungry" I state 

"I was" He replies. 

"Why haven't you been eating then?" 

"I didn't want anything not cooked by you" 

"So you've been starving?" 

He doesn't reply. 

"Why didn't you tell me, I would have made you something" I say, upset that he's been going without. 

"Would you have?" He asks and I become more upset that he thinks I wouldn't have. 

"I would have" I said. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't know" He says finally. 

I don't reply, waiting to see if he will tell me anything. 

"I let you have that play Anadia, this play you had going on ever since, I let you have it, what ever it is that's going to make you feel safe" He says and my body tenses. 

"What do you mean?" 

"I'm saying what you did, it's never going to happen, not on my watch, we quarrel you face it, you don't hide away" He says

"I will repeat what I did Kane, I you refuse to open up" I say. 

"What's up with that?" 

"Are you seriously asking that question? Are you asking what's up with the fact that I want to know the man whom I dived headfirst to marry?" 

"Ani.." 

"Is this even going to work?" I ask and his body tenses, when I came in here this evening I didn't totally expect us to make up and kiss but this wasn't what I was expecting. 

"You punished me Ani" He says and I flinch because he's right, I didn't think of it that way but he's right. 

"You punished me like I was an errant kid, that doesn't fly, do you think your behavior was supposed to make me fall on my knees and apologise to you?" 

"Kane. . I'm sorry" 

"My father was a douchebag, so was his father before him, he was an alcoholic who didn't put himself together, the night my mother died he was behind the wheel" I freeze. 

"He killed my mother and eventually sent my brother to his death" 

"What?" 

"My mother is royalty, so is my father, my mother was the royal amongst royals, my father had a little of it in him but he was very rich,when it came time for my father to help my mother get her position in our country, he didn't help her

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. There's a sort of  heirloom which my mother had to present before she gets her court back, she had given it to my father who had given it to his mistress, when my mother needed him to step up and give her back the heirloom, he failed, why? Because the mistress's refused to give it back, my father was too fucking weak to get it and it drove my mother to the edge."He says and I nod, knowing this is coming from a place deep inside of him. 

" Funny thing is that my mother and the mistress are best friends or they were until she started sleeping with her husband. "He says and even though I was glad he's telling me all these things I don't see the impact that this had on him. 

" He fucked me and my brother up when we were little, beat us around, beat on my mother, only Linda was saved from it, it's hard for me to let people in Ani, seeing as letting people in made my brother make a wrong decision and he's dead." 

"I will never hurt you, I'm sorry your father was an asshole" 

He gives a low chuckle at my curse word before smiling. 

"But... How does your father know my sister?" He freezes again before nodding. 

"I think they had an affair, my father and your sister" He says and my world tips. 

****

Kane. 

I don't know why I.told her all those many truths but it feels right. 

But I can see the storm in her eyes and I know what is coming next. 

"Asaali?and your father?" 

I nod. 

"But.. She was just twenty when she died, I know she was shallow and she did somethings.... I didn't.." She suddenly freezes her eyes coming to me. 

"Did you.. Did you.." She whispers, unable to form the words. 

"No, Anadia, I did not approach you because of anything, I  agree I bought your land because of the ties it had to Asaali, me falling in love with you was nothing more than love" I say, what is one more lie in the grand scheme of things? 

"Kane....." 

"Believe me..." 

"I want to.." 

"Ani, Believe me" I say and her face comes to mine as rain hits the windows. 

"Promise? Please promise me" She whispers and I nod, kissing her head, tucking it into my shoulder. 

"I promise" I choke out and she nods, sighing before kissing my neck. 

Just another lie she doesn't have to know about. 

AN

#1 of the 3 today. 

Thank you for reading. 

I love you!

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