Tales From The Past: Verena and Ridge

VERENA:~

The tiny room in the inn was a terrible place for their first night as husband and wife, Verena decided. It's bed kept creaking every time she rolled around, waking her up from her sleep. She had kept throwing worried glances towards the old rickety door that wouldn't stop someone from barging their way into the room. Her husband, on the other hand, had slept like a rock, even though he had ought to be more worried about it than her.

'My husband.' She felt a strange sense of warmth course through her when she thought those words. Back when she had first asked him on a date as a dare she hasn't expected to fall in love with him. He had been quite good looking back then too with his dark brown hair and his mysterious aura. The only thing that had kept him from being a highly desirable bachelor was the rumour about him being cursed. It was what everyone in her town believed and what the strange priestess who had held their marriage told her. And perhaps she was stupid for marrying him despite that. But she did not regret it.

Verena turned over and reached for her husband, only to realise that he had already left. She unhappily opened her eyes and looked around the room. It looked as terrible as it had the previous day. The paint had come off in many places and the damned bed still creaked every time she moved a muscle. The window was closed, yet light still entered the room through the places where the wood had been eaten up by insects and whatnot.

She didn't like the place. She had grown up in a rich family that could rival the wealth of some of the noble houses and so a place like this was pretty foreign to her. She had grown up privileged enough to not know the pains of life until she turned seventeen. That was when she realised that life was not a bed of roses, it was always accompanied by thorns. And for some people, there were more thorns than flowers.

She pulled the towel that laid on the chair next to her and wrapped it around her body. She didn't want people on the street to get free looks at her body thanks to the holes on the window. She quickly put on a dress the strange priestess had given her and wondered if she should have a bath. They were running pretty low on money and a bath at the bathhouse costed 50 coppers. She ultimately decided to have a bath. It had been 2 days since she had last had a bath anyway.

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Verena now wished that she had not gone to the bath. Fifty coppers was too much for that horrible excuse of a bathhouse. She had freaked out on seeing some cockroaches buzzing around the room and all the other people just ignoring it. The water was ice cold. And the soap was covered by some slimy substance she did not wish to know of.

She kept glaring daggers at the owner of the bathhouse, while shivering from the cold water, as she gave him 50 coppers. In all her life, she had never had a bath with water that cold. She wondered if all 3rd tier hotels were the same or if she just had terrible luck.

She walked back to their room while wishing for a sweater despite it being summer.

On entering the room she pushed open the window and let the sun's heat warm her body.

On looking around the now sun-lit room, Verena noticed the bags that laid on the floor. She wondered if Ridge had brought it. Curious, she unfastened the seal on the bags and found some cloth fabric in the bags. She immediately knew that this was yet another one of his gifts to her. Despite how low he was on money, he still would always give her gifts for seemingly no reason.

When she asked him why, he would simply reply that it was his way of saying 'thank you' to her. But she never understood what was he thankful for.

She made up her mind to scold him for wasting his money on her yet again, but deep down, she was thankful for the fabric, for now she could finally stich some clothes for Ridge.

She then quickly arranged then fabric, readied her stitching supplies and began stitching a shirt for her beloved husband.

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RIDGE:~

"Only two silvers today, huh?" Ridge sighed. At this rate, he wouldn't be able to keep up with his expenditure. He had hoped for at least five silvers a day. But he had barely managed to get two.

He sighed and shoved the coins into his pocket. Verena had said that she didn't mind being poor as long as she could be with him but he knew that she couldn't. She had been from a rich family and a life like his would be completely out of anything she could have imagined. He really wanted to soften the blow of the harsh reality for her. And for that, he was ready to use up all his money for her.

He strode to the room he had been staying at and was marveled by how different their world's were. The room had been the best one he'd ever been to. Meanwhile, she was appalled by the insects hanging around and the creaking bed. He understood the difference and didn't blame her. He'd be appalled by a neat room with decent furniture and no insects in it.

He turned the door handle and stepped inside the door, closing the door behind him. He smiled at the sight of Verena sitting by the window deeply engrossed in stitching something with the fabric he'd bought. She hadn't seemed to have noticed him yet.

He walked towards her with quiet steps and hugged her from behind.

"So," He murmered as he kissed her cheek, "How was the day, Verena?"

She didn't answer and kept stitching, though he did notice that now it appeared more like she was stabbing the cloth with her needle.

"Come on now. What are you mad about now? Please stop ignoring me, my sweet kitten."

On hearing the last part, her cheeks turned red and Ridge gave her a cheeky grin.

"You only call me that when you want me to talk to you, don't you?" she hissed while glaring at him. "Otherwise, you'll ask me what's the use of a nickname."

Ridge chuckled lightly at her remark. Well, she wasn't wrong in saying that. He still didn't understand the use of nicknames, but he had found out that his sweet wife would hear him out if he did call her by one.

"So, what are you stitching?" he asked.

"A shirt for you." she nonchalantly answered and resumed stitching, or rather stabbing, the cloth with her needle.

Ridge's brows knit together tightly on hearing what she said. The fabric she was using was a good one. A bit too good for an poor person like him.

"But I don't want one. That shirt is a bit too....fancy. And it's not like I can wear it to work."

"You can wear it to parties." was Verena's curt answer.

"I don't think you understand, Verena." He muttered.

"How will I understand unless you tell me?" she asked, looking up from the shirt she was stitching with tears in her eyes. "I know that we lack enough money to get the square meals. Yet you keep trying to act like it's fine by buying a bucketload of expensive fabric. What do you expect me to do with all this when we can only afford to fill one's belly by starving the other? I'm not a child, Ridge. I want to help you." She closed her eyes and sighed. "And I can't do that if you keep trying to shield me from the outside world. I don't understand a lot of things, but you can teach me about them."

Ridge walked to her front and got down on his knees. He placed his hands on her shoulders and whispered, "I'm sorry. I just wanted to make it easier for you. And-" He hesitated before saying, "And if you ever want to leave me, feel free to. I won't hold it against you."

"And where am I to go after that? My parents will either kill me or marry me off to someone else." she said, her voice trembling and tears cascading down her cheeks like a stream. "I love you, Ridge!" His grip on her shoulders loosened. "I don't know if you'll ever tell me the same or if I'll have to live my whole life wondering if you love me back!"

"I'm sorry." Ridge looked away from her. "I can't."

He began standing up when Verena abruptly wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her. She placed her forehead on his.

Ridge wanted to look away from her; from those chocolate coloured eyes of the woman he loved. He could feel her quickened, shaky breath on his neck. He didn't want to see her cry. Yet, he had been the one who had hurt her. He may not have wanted to, but he had. Perhaps this was what the Divine wished for - for him to be too afraid of telling Verena that he loved her. Because the curse was inevitable. Him not saying that he loved her made no difference for they knew that he did.

"I love you, Verena." he blurted out. He covered his mouth with his hand as soon as the words left his mouth.

Verena's too, looked surprised at his sudden confession. But she was smiling softly now. She looked glad.

"Thank you, Ridge." she smiled. She pushed his hand away from his mouth and kissed him. And that was enough to erase all regret Ridge had about confessing his feelings to her.