The Prince's Indentured Bride

comforting attractions

I wasn’t really sure of how we had reached to this railway track and why were we standing in such an intimate position but I knew if I left his hand, I may feel things I don’t want to.

Starting from a bitter slap of cold, followed by the absence of his woody smell; more like a blend of bergamot, musk and ember, which were helping me calm my nerves, for now.

“Then get braced. See the lights there.” His voice was turning huskier, making me arch my neck away in rebound as small tingles erupted on my beauty bone. “It’s beautiful.” I commented.

It was a pulchritudinous aesthetic; with the blinding headlights of the train engine against the pitch-dark aura of insensitive raindrops grazing the scene. It felt like despite the worst-case scenario the train will still know a path to follow.

“Woah!” I exclaimed when the train first came into sight; the loud voice of the automotive deafened my ears and heavy gushing of air along with dusty rain drops started flowing towards us.

Instinctively Kriag pulled me back and we took a step back, my back now pasted to his torso–surprisingly it felt very good because of the warmth from his body; like a poodle giving kisses.

“It’s too loud.” He shouted in my ears as we stood watching the train run on its full speed. My heart mirrored the shamming of the train wheels; loud, confident and dangerous.

“Wasn’t that just awesome?” His tone had an unreal excitement, making me want to turn around and see, but I settled in assuming that he had a wild smile pestered.

“It was so loud but it’s like I am missing it already. It felt so good though.” I replied, loosening my shoulder muscles, and letting them fall lightly on Kriag; I can relax for a second, right?

“Smartie. You got the point already then!” I could feel his voice vibrating through my body as he spoke. “The train is our life and it is a one-way track, always. You make friends, memories and families but just like the train we move forward with the path laid for us and thus all we need to do is store the preciouses in the boogies and let go when station is reached.”

Slightly bouncing my head to and fro on his collar bone I took a sharp intake of the mud smelling air and thought about what he just said. I didn’t like the idea that it was making a clear sense.

Of course, life is a one-way ticket just like a train. For a train to change the direction it needs to take care of too many other interlinked routes or else a manmade disaster would be unavoidable. If the train stops it need to suck up and get well soon or else another engine will cave it’s replaced site.

But.

“What if the track is life and where we can have too many ways for the train to move? Like how the tracks stay intact even after bearing the weight of endless trains filled with humans running on them?” I felt his hold on my hand becoming a little bit tighter, persistent.

I ducked my head when Kriag juddered his head to throw away the excess water of his hair. Then I tilted my neck a nice forty-five degrees to see what was he trying to achieve as it was still pouring so hard and will his hair not be the same damp wet again?

Well, somehow, he looked so sexy with all the dripping water from his black hair, which has turned reddish due to the under light.

“Then well and good. We’ve got options.” I looked like a deer caught headlights finding the situation clumsy and confusing. As he tucked a lose wet hair behind my ear, making my eyes the easiest prey for the rain drops.

Was it always this comfortable with Kriag? I thought to myself staring at him under the red light coming from the post pole beside the track.

His eyes stared eccentrically; maybe wanting answers to something he didn’t dare ask or trying to figure out did he do a good job in consoling. “Vhrea, you need to be strong and let this rain tell your father that you will be fine.”

“I will.” Stay strong and kill the man with my own bare hands when I find the killer.

“Awesome! Now shall we search for a place to study... I mean get us some food. I have no idea where we are. It’s been quite a few years I have been in the city.”

Then reality hit me same as this cat and dog of rain. Kriag is just someone I know now. It’s been five years the last he talked to me, not having the manners to inform me where he was going. Be it that his one-sided love for me drove him away but I still was a f*****g friend.

“We aren’t friends.” Maybe I should have emphasized it like f.r.i.e.n.d.s. I said pushing him away with sudden anger bubbling inside me. He broke into a handsome laughter while I gave him a strong piercing glare.

He was now standing in front of me. “Of course not. But we are a family now. Ask me how?”

Family? Like a friend as a male, who may say, I love you?

I continued with my struggling glare as the rain kept hitting my retina. “A family built on the relation of humanity.” He smiled cheekily in the freezing weather, a very typical Kriag thing to do.

What is wrong with my head again? Why was I feeling a string of attraction pulling me towards him?

I was liking his presence more than I thought I would.

“Seriously Mendel!” I chided him; lying to myself that this was because I was emotionally unstable and deprived of male touch from quite some time, was the result of wild hormones having a liquid party.

“Ooh! It’s freezing now. Let’s hurry somewhere warmer now that you are exhausted with our run.” He said and closed my ears with both of his hands from the back as I lead the way.

Thankfully he wasn’t doing it from the front or else it would be awkward like when he ran face front earlier.

Now the puzzle fit perfectly; his car may not have been running out of fuel and this all was just to make me run and exhaust my body. Of course, I was feeling hungry now, with a blazing appetite.

I need to have a talk with Husna about this.

Or maybe would I have liked the view better with his smiling face in front of me?