My face is all red as I wait for Jerol at the dining table. It's weird how I'm enthralled by a simple thing as sharing dinner together. I am at the blink of rapture with euphoria. It's our first time sitting around this beautiful dining area. I also know that I shouldn't be this enthusiastic, but I am, and I can't contain my enthusiasm. Maybe it's his compliment back in the room that is arousing me like this. All in all, I can't conceal this feeling.
As I grapple between hampering the adrenaline rush and emotional catastrophes, his tall adorable frame appears from up the stairs. All my exertions to keep calm hit a hard rock. What's more fascinating is no longer the idea of us sharing dinner like a real couple that we will never be, but the grin on his lips blooming the entire cattle as he strolls downstairs.
For the first time since I came here, the castle seems lively. The aura changes, and why wouldn't it with the way the knight in shining armour is twinkling?
I didn't know I was biting my lip, and I didn't even know why I was doing that, but I'm snapped from my weird actions by him clapping his hands as he halts at the sitting room.
My eyes capture his arms. He took off the bandages? I doubt his wounds have completely healed, but that aside. What is he doing clapping his hands continuously like this?
I spring to my feet, worried that he might be suffering a strange episode, which I hope isn't the case. I sprint to him, but before I can ask a word, all the servants align in straight lines before us. I hold my apprehensions.
I'm thunderstruck! He was summoning them? Well, that sounds like a mafia sign. Sigh! And here I was about to pee on my pants thinking that he has lost his mind. I should go back and leave him to address his servants.
One.
Two steps away.
He grabs my waist, pulling back to him and sheltering me beneath his tall frame. I try as much as possible to relax and wait to see what he has in mind.
"Greetings, everyone!" His cold voice echoes in the living room, making the servants bow their heads.
"Greetings, sir!" They all chorus together.
"I want to take this opportunity to introduce to you my wife, Mrs McCall!" He starts with all the ears before us paying attention to their master. And me, I don't know what to feel. He didn't have to do this, especially because this is temporary. He adds. "She will be the queen of this castle from now on and in charge of you all. Any form of misconduct, disobedience, or disrespect towards my wife will not be tolerated from anyone. Do I make myself clear?"
What?
The queen of the castle? I had to snap my eyes and my confused face at him. How...
"Yes, sir!"
Their loud ballad echoes to all the corners of the castle as they respond to their master, but it doesn't move a muscle from me. Not even his voice as he dismisses them off.
"That's all. You can all go back to your posts."
"Yes, sir!" I hear their familiar chorus again and their heavy strides as they disappear in different directions.
"And you, my beautiful wife, why don't you stop ogling me and serve me that delicious meal, huh? I'm starving already, and the sumptuous aroma isn't helping."
I'm too thunderstruck to react to a point that he has to pull me with him to the dining area. He pulls a chair for me, and I drag my confused self and plop my butt on it. Again, that adrenaline surges down my spine.
"You didn't have to do that, Jerol." I state as he sits across me.
"That title is yours. I should have done that the day you stepped inside this castle." He responds.
Yeah? But for less than two freaking months now! It was of no use at all.
"But, Jerol, you and I know what this is. What will you tell them after..."
"We will worry about how to cross that bridge when we get there. For now, you are the queen of this castle. All that battalion of servants is under you, and above all, you are my wife. Period!"
This is all sweet and exciting. My heart is thumbing up with all these new things but...
"But, Jerol..."
"Hubby! It's hubby, baby. And can you please serve me this delish already?" He cuts me off.
Like a sweet obedient wife, I serve him the food I made with so much love, and I can't just decipher the feeling when I see him sniffing it. He takes the first bite, and I cross my fingers with the hope that he likes it, and get lost in his lips as he chews the food.
Ghosh, me! No, my brain!
"Mmh! I knew it!" He says after swallowing the first bite.
"What?" My curiosity snaps.
"I knew your food would taste as sweet...as... you."
Yeah, right! As if he has tasted me. Sigh!
"Thanks for the flirtery, hubby." I giggle as I serve myself a plate.
"Who said I'm flirting?"
Ooh, no?
"How would you know that I am sweet?" I ask, tucking the loose strands of hair behind the ear, exposing the blush on my face.
"You wouldn't have stayed by my side even for a day if you weren't. You are sweet. Caring, and compassionate. You are exceptional." The last part came barely a whisper. He adds. "I'm indebted to you." He says with his eyes glued to mine.
An awkward moment of silence passes, our eyes disseminating in a language that only they understand. As he leans across the table to meet me, I turn into a statue by his gesture, only to be snapped by his hand fondling my cheeks, and the only thing I can do is lean to his palm in the savory of his touch. I am melting in his touch, and I know he knows it.
As he cups my face nuzzling me with his thumbs, his face is just so dangerously close to mine. I'm burning in my seat. Everything in me is calling for him. His sweet alluring phones are irresistibly so strong. I close my eyes, and drink in the sweet aura. When I feel his moist lips brushing mine, I don't waste any time. My urge and desires are that demanding, and he doesn't object either. We kiss - a sweet kiss that lasts for minutes, until I can't breathe anymore.
Sensing my weakness from the kiss, he comes to my side, and sits beside me as we steady our breathing. A ripple of perplexing chills erupts in my body at the realization of how deep I am sinking into this. As he scoops me in his arms, burying his face in my hair, I rest on his comfortable chest, relishing his sweet scent, and wondering what is happening to us.
"Thank you, love!" He whispers after a while, nuzzling my back with his hands and kissing my hair.
Love?
I lift up my head to him, meeting his glowing dark orbs.
"It's me!" I say, reminding him that this is not Ellie in his arms, but...
"Of course, I know it's you, wifey!" He gives me a broad smile that leaves me grinning broader than him. Ooh, how sweet that feels! "It's you from now on!" He adds, sounding seriously sweet, but adding to my list of confusions.
"Jerol..." I whimper, but he cut me off with a kiss that leaves me trembling in his tight embrace, and speechless, except to coarse my eyes to keep glued into his.
"Hubby! It's hubby, love!"
I slightly nod my head, lost in words, and snuggle back to his chest.