Thirty-Six

"WE CAN STILL KISS, AND HUG, AND DO ANYTHING that isn't considered sex," I made the rules clear.

"That's a relief. I won't do anything, but I can't wait until the we do it again. We'll be starving, you know that, right?"

I gulped, feeling my face hot, "I know. But that kind of makes it more interesting and exciting," and painful. He'll probable get blue balls.

"But, God, please don't tell me you want to hold in until our honeymoon," absolutely not.

"No. That's absurd," I gasped. "That would be like crawling. Remember that we'll just be walking. Some times we can walk in a faster pace, and some times in a slower. But we'll still be walking. No crawling or laying down, and no running."

He seemed genuinely relieved, "I have hope!"

"You literally have Hope," I winked, and walked on my knees, crossing the bed, and hugging his waist, craving for his lips on mine. "You have me."

"Indeed, I have you," he whispered, before kissing me.

Then we finally heard a knock on the doors and it made me jump scared, but he held me before I could fall. "Oh my God," I gasped.

"Who is it?" He asked annoyed.

"Marianne!"

"Oh shit," I cursed in a whisper and we shared a look, then we got up. "How do I look?"

"Sexy as hell!"

Sigh, "You are not helping."

"Oh, I thought I was supposed to say what I think." He's doing it on purpose, isn't he?

"Devil," I cursed and walked towards the door. "Put down the sound barrier."

"Already down," oh.

When I opened the door, she gasped, "You are alive!" Then hugged me so tight that my chest hurt. "I haven't seen you since ages ago," dramatic-mode seems to be on.

"What? You thought he killed me or something?" I giggled, hugging her back.

"We didn't hear a word from you since two days ago, Hope Bissonnette. Are you insane? I almost went crazy. My head filled with thoughts of what could have happened," then she side-looked at him inside the room, then back at me. And when she entered, locked the down, and raised her eyebrows, I knew something was wrong. "Why are your lips swollen? Why are his?"

I gulped and my gaze when to him, then back to her. "We were… eating!"

"Eating what? Each other?" Her straightforwardness made me gasp and widen my eyes. "Girl, what have you done?" She held my face in her hands. "What have you two been doing in here?" Mari gave him a look, "And don't tell me she was sick again, Sir, because I'm not buying it."

He raised both of his hands, "I'm not saying a word."

"What's that?" She narrowed her eyes at his hands, gasping in horror. "God's above. Is that an engagement ring? And you dare to be so intimate with my Lady by staying two nights in her room like this, when you are already unavailable to marriage?" And let me tell you, Marianne seemed enraged as she stormed closer to him and abruptly held his gloved hand. "I don't care who you are, but Lady Hope Bissonnette is a daughter to me. I won't let you do such a-" alright, time to stop her.

Sigh. "Marianne!" I called firmly and she turned around, her eyes red, but then she saw my hand and the ring on it.

"Wait, what? What is that?" Then she came closer to me and held my hand this time. "What?" She gasped confused.

He giggled lightly. "That would be my mother's engagement ring. And the one in my hand's my dad's." She abruptly turned to him, speechless, and he smiled warmly. "You seem to have gotten a distorted image of me, Miss Marianne. I would never be shameless to do anything to Hope without being serious on having something official with her," then he raised his hand, "like marriage."

"What? You accepted her proposal?"

"Of course, I did. Why wouldn't I? I can't phantom anyone better to be with me other than Hope Ariella Bissonnette. And I promise you, I have no ill intentions, Miss Marianne. They are very clear and serious, and I've stated them to her," he has quite sweet way of talking, even with such a deep voice, hm?!

"So," she turned to me, now beaming with excitement. And the abrupt change in her mood was really funny. "Are you engaged again, my Lady?" A nod. "To him?" Another nod. "Wow," she stared at him from head to toe, "yeah, he does seem thousand of years better than that cunt. I'm sorry for being rude a second ago, sir. I tend to be protective over Lady Hope, and I hope you will understand."

He seemed amused, "Keep it up. I don't mind, and I understand your feelings, Miss Marianne. I'm similar when it comes to my twin sister. All because I love her and want the best in the world for her."

"Indeed. Indeed. So, you have a family?"

"Only a sister. My parents are gone," and the hint of sadness in his voice was undeniable. "But don't worry, my sister won't mistreat Hope in anyway. She'll probably want to be best friends with her. She's very smart, talented, powerful, loyal, and kind!" He does sounds loving.

Marianne opened a wide smile, "That sounds amazing." She pressed her lips, "But you look exceptionally fine, sir. Don't you have any ex girlfriends? Broken engagements?"

He gasped, "No. It might sound awkward, but in all honesty, Hope's the first woman that caught my eyes."

"Now, that, sounds amazing. And as you aren't using honorifics, I believe you must have gotten quite close in here, no?" Oh, she has no idea.

I felt my face hot, "Oh, yeah. We certainly did," he said with his attention on me.

She turned to me, "You kissed him first didn't you?"

Well, she has quite the sharp senses. Quicker to catch onto things than most people. "I did," there's no point in lying.

"Did you do more than that? Should I bring a special tea?" Oh dear.

"Special tea?" He seemed confused.

I felt even more flushed, but Marianne didn't seem to mind it, "It's a special tea that prevents the woman from getting pregnant, sir. It would be troublesome if Hope were to get pregnant before marriage. We don't want that. Besides," she gave me a look, "she only wants to be a mother after she turns 23 or 24 years."

Covering my face out of embarrassment, I sat down on the bed. Then I felt his presence closer to me, "I also don't want to be a father right now. Although, if it happened," I felt his fingers caress my shoulders, "I would still love it."

"God, this is embarrassing. Can we stop talking about it? It's making me want to make a hole on the ground and hid inside of it," I burst feeling my face burn more than ever.

"How did you know she took the initiative, Miss Marianne?" Is he for real?

"I know her. Hope is quite the mischievous kid. Always making comments on how annoying the system of only making love after marriage was. Or how that should come naturally when you meet the right person, as long as you are both committed. She also made me get lots of questionable adult romance novels for her to read," is she serious saying that out loud? "And she told me how she found you extremely hot, sir, with all due respect. So, when you didn't came out of her room, after I left her here taking a bath, I imagined it could have happened. I also didn't think it would come from you, because, besides my unavoidable suspicions, you seemed to be very respectful."

"What a way of calling me a lustful brat, Mari. Thank you very much," I mumbled and she giggled.

"He asked me, my Lady. I couldn't lie. Besides, you will get married, and you are already this intimate, so this doesn't need to be a secret anymore," she turned to him. "She can also be impulsive. Extremely impulsive. Just as she was when she first proposed to you, Sir."

A nod, "It was impulsive indeed. But it drawn me to her even more."

"That's good. I always thought her impulsiveness could drive some people away." She did? "I'm happy you aren't like that. So, sir, I don't know your name yet. And will you keep using that mask?" Oh.

"Don't press it, Mari. He can't tell us yet. Because of his work he has to be low profile, even now, he can't tell me yet," that's the best I could come up with.

She widened her eyes, "Are you a sp-" I stopped her.

"He kind of is. Now, drop it. He'll tell me eventually, and then you will know it too. It doesn't bother me, so don't give too much thought to it. Let's respect him," I turned to him. "Don't worry, you can trust her."

"I know. She's technically your mother after all," he circled his hands on my waist, way too comfortable around her after this awkward talk.

She faked a cough, and we turned to her, "So, the reason I knocked on the door was that there are some people here, wanting to see you both!"

What?

"Who?" He asked, serious.

"His Highness, Prince Behnam Astarabadi, Heir Apparent of the South Dukedom, and his bride, Lady Marie DuBlanc!" What are they doing here? "They came around five minutes ago, and told us that they would wait for you to come down, so I had to knock and call for you. After all, they are the next Duke and Duchess of the South."

His grip on my waist got tighter and he nodded. "Alright. The Duke said that the Lady would eventually want to come here to meet Hope. I just didn't imagine they would come so soon." Then he turned to her, "Tell them we'll be down in about ten minutes."

Mari nodded respectfully, still with a genuine happy smile on, "I'll do that. And congratulations on the engagement. I'm proud to be the first to know about it."

"Don't mind it, mother-in-law," now that's a low hit to win her over. And by how she blushed, he was getting his way. When she left, he turned to me, waiting.

"What do you think she wants?"

"No idea. Probably befriend you? Or hear more songs? She did love your voice back in ball, didn't she?"

Sigh, "She did. Well, there's nothing I can do about it. I just hope the Prince won't bring that up."

He tilted his head, and turned me around, making me sit on his lap, "We'll know in the minutes," he whispered. "When the time comes, I'll teleport us there, so, don't worry."

"About?"

"This," then he ended the space between us and kissed me passionately, making our tongues dance together.