Must I Be Your Bride? - Chapter Nine

The next few days were the same routine. Breakfast with the royal family, going to the garden and afterwards watching movies - with those delicious cookies included - with William and dinner with the royal family, yet again. And with every second of these days, I only found myself having it harder to peel away from William. He hasn't asked for my permission to kiss me, and I have so much craved him to. But maybe, this was better for the both of us.

I think he was able to push back the dress-fitting, because I haven't seen another single wedding dress. As the days passed by, I knew that it was almost time for the official day; I just didn't know the exact date. Tomorrow will be my tenth day here, and I tried to not think about the worry my family and friends might be experiencing. I was ashamed to admit that, while I was William, it wasn't such a hard thing to do.

I'm alone, sitting on my bedroom bed. My room. In my house. I'm not sure how I got here, or why everything looks so fuzzy in the dark. I manage to stand, but my feet; it's almost like I can't feel them, like they're two sticks making their way to my bedroom window. There's rain pattering on the roof, and the sudden thunder makes the hair on my back stand, but my feet don't stop. Once I make it to my window and look at the raindrops slide from my tree branches, I realized it. I had chosen to come back home, to live without William. My heart sinks at the thought, and I am suddenly overwhelmed with tears.

But wait. I see something. A figure scaling its way up the tree branches. It stops just right below my window and looks up, those blue eyes bringing joy to every single vein and cell in my body.

I don't hesitate in opening my window, sticking my hand out so I could usher William inside, but he doesn't take it. He only gives me a sad smile, and I knew that wasn't a good sign. It never is.

"I came to say goodbye", he says. I couldn't help the whimper that escaped my throat.

"No", I said almost desperately. "No, please stay."

He shakes his head. "I have a kingdom to rule, remember? I have my kingdom, you have your family, and I understand."

I clasp my hand over my mouth, to stop the sobs that were threatening me, while to other one still reached out to William.

"It's ok", he assures. He was getting soaked, beads of raindrops making his hair stick to his face. I vigorously shook my head.

"Let me go with you", I say, my hand barely making my words understood. So I removed it, and repeated what I said.

He looks away painfully, his eyebrows narrowing. "It's too late, Serene. I'm sorry." And without a warning, he hops out of the tree, and I'm yelling his name as he disappears into the thick rain.

I sit up with a gasp, my heart racing a long with my breath. I scan the room to assure myself I was still in the castle, that I was merely having a dream; a nightmare. When I look out the window I notice that the rain was actually a fact, and so was the thunder and lightning. I clutched the warm blankets and waited for my anxiety to calm down, but it doesn't.

Without giving it much thought, I slide off my bed, slip on some warm slippers from the dresser, and head for the door. When I remember it must be locked, my fear is back in a heartbeat. But when I put my shivering hand on the knob, I'm swept by relief that it isn't locked, that William is now no longer forcing control upon me.

I creep down the hall to the staircase that I'm almost about use to now. Without my covers, it's tremendously freezing.

As I walk the second hallway, I try to make out the familiar doors that led to William's room; the only light helping me is the lightning bolt that would flash every several seconds.

After watching so many horror movies with William, I couldn't help but get this creepy feeling that I had to be ready just in case someone decided to hop out from a dark corner holding a long blade, ready to slash me into pieces. This thought only made me go into a run.

When I finally reach his door, I lift my hand to knock, but instead it finds its way to the doorknob. It's unlocked. I silently turn it, open the door, step inside, and close it.

Another flash of light shining through the bedroom window made me see the still figure under the scarlet covers. My heart is racing as I make my way toward it, afraid that I'll only be shooed away like my parents did to me once I reached the age of eight.

I clutch the covers with my shaking hands and slide under them. William notices right away and he jerks up, expecting for some bad news. But I don't say anything, I only reach out to him and lay him back down. Before I knew it, each of my shuddering hands was on his warm shoulders, pinning him down as my lips desperately searched for his.

Despite his shock, he didn't resist my kissing, but his hands slowly went to my own shoulders as he tried to gently pull me back.

"Are you - " He tried to say, but I would only silence him with my lips.

"Serene - "

"What is - "

"Is something - "

I didn't want to stop, not yet, not now. I wanted to fill in that pain I felt in my nightmare; when I chose to go back home, when William vanished into the rain without paying any attention to my desperate calls. If the king or queen asked me if I had made my decision about the wedding, right now, then I wouldn't hesitate in saying yes.

William had no choice but to turn me over, making me the one pinned down against the bed this time. A flash of light made me see the worry in his sea-blue eyes. His hand went to my cheek, and my eyes slowly shut.

"You're burning up, Serene", he says. He starts to get to his feet, but I clutch his hand to stop him.

"No", I moan. I sit up and wrap my arms around his neck to kiss him again. Still loading the gap I felt. He wasn't hesitant in kissing back, but he was when he placed his hands on my shoulders to lower my arms, to gently push me back again. I only tightened my hold on him.

"You... had... a nightmare," he managed to say between kisses.

The thought of it only made me more unlikely to stop. Never let him go. Afraid I'd see him walk away from me through the window. For some reason, burning tears were forming behind my eyelids.

He was able to back away long enough to hide his face at the crook of my neck, just like he did in the garden a few days ago.

"It's ok", he whispered, his arms wrapping tightly around me. I couldn't help it. I was suddenly crying; for the fear of losing him, for my family, for my friends, for that one decision I'd have to make that would change my life forever, leaving me with a cursing agony either way.

He lied me back down on the bed, wrapped both of his blankets tightly around me, before sliding in, trying to calm my shuddering body with his warm one. He repeated that poem that he taught me a few days ago, Nobody knows this little Rose, and I listened to it as if it was a lullaby for a newborn baby - me being the newborn infant.

The thunder slowly started to subside, and soon, when the room was filled with the dim light of the rising sun being concealed by clouds, the only thing left was the rain.

A sudden churn in my stomach forced me to run to the first door I suspected to be the bathroom, and thankfully it was. But when I sat in front of the open toilet, there was nothing to come out, only the feeling of the tormenting nausea. William came to my side and pulled my hair back, just in case my stomach started to church more strongly this time. Nothing. It was only my paranoia, the nightmare only forcing its way out of
me.

I leaned against the bathroom wall and met William's gaze, feeling mortified of how much of a fool I must've acted. But when he bends down for permission, I let him kiss me, knowing that my actions didn't make him think any different of me.

He helped me to my feet and led me to his bed so he could tuck in the blankets around me again. I could feel beads of sweat trail down my face, and that's when I realized I had gotten back to my shivering. He sat beside me, and since the covers were tightly wrapped around me and my hands, William stroked my face so we wouldn't lose our physical contact.

"Don't leave me", I barely said above a whisper.

"I won't", he promised.

I closed my eyes, and slowly drifted into a sleep as his hand soothed my face. This time, I didn't have a nightmare.
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Aww I love you guys! I've actually grown to really love this story. This is, by far, probably my favorite chapter. I just reread it while listening to some music to go with it because it's just sweet for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!