The Fifth Chapter

꧁(¯'·.¸¸.-> ~~~~~♡~~~~~ <-.¸¸.·´¯)꧂

My eyes drift open slowly from my nap. Or so I thought it was just a nap. It was suddenly morning, about 12. I start searching outside the window, noticing the scenery changed the slightest bit. All the vegetation is moving in the opposite direction we've been going. Which means we must be near the coast of the ocean.

"Hey," A familiar voice quietly says,

"I let you sleep, you just seemed peaceful for once." He softly chuckles and I glare at him.

"Sorry," Khalid looks down,

"You probably should start learning about our culture while we're on this long ride. Especially if you want to impress my parents," He smiles. Right, I'm not the only one with parents. And he didn't have to impress my family.

"Yea," I sigh,

"How long would that take exactly?" I ask.

"Approximately the entire time we're traveling, if you can remember it well." My jaw drops in shock. Even boarding school wasn't this bad.

"Also, pronunciation is key. I won't push you to speak our personal language, only because my family and the staff have been learning English since we were children." He continues, I probably won't even be able to comprehend it all.

"You'll definitely need the downtime to rest, of course. How about we start with the basics of my kingdom?" He asks as I hope basics are just common knowledge.

"O-Okay," I stutter, wishing I didn't have to get married to somebody so out of England.

"First, our country is known to be heavily hot. So, it'll be a hard change to overcome. My advice is to stay hydrated throughout the first few months and keep drinking less and less water to regulate your body to the temperatures." Khalid starts, a hint of worry in his voice.

"Second, you're going to have to wear our clothing. It's what's most appropriate and respectful to us. Not a problem, right?" He asks,

"Of course not," I smile warmly, kind of dying on the inside, hoping the clothes wouldn't be too heavy.

"We are also remarkably passionate about our music, traditional dances, and cuisine." He finishes as I space out and slowly nod my head, biting my lip in worry.

"Perfect!" He hushly claps his hands together,

"That's it until we get on the ferry to France." Khalid smiles.

We finally get off the carriage after the the last couple hours of a 9 hour ride. We bid the carriage goodbye and decide to take a walk around the town we are leaving from the ferryboat. It's chilly, so I put on my suede lined satin gloves, my purple bonnet that matches my dress, and my linen jacket that helps me warm up. I'm far too dressed down that I wouldn't be recognized. And for Khalid, well, where he's from is a give to not get recognized by people. Plus, color is rare in my country, so Khalid is probably feeling the stares of the judgemental men and women around us. I've gotten used to it, but it's still hard to wrap my mind fully around the fact I'm to be married to somebody not my color.

We both take in the salty air wafting from the ocean, leaving us refreshed.

"Your country is beautiful, if I hadn't said it enough." Khalid smiles, warming me up more.

"Yes, it is. The downside is we get rain for almost half the year. So I'm sure I'd find the sun everyday more lovely than cloudy skies." I say, squinting my eyes. My, the moisture of the water lightly spraying us almost seemed like rain.

"I'm sure you'd love it in India. It's brilliant," He trails off, I can tell he misses home.

I grab his arm as reassurance, letting him know we'll be there in a few days.

"We'll, be there soon, don't stress about it." I beam at him and he smiles back.

I feel we were staring at each other for far too long to not be uneasy. So I look away and cross my arms against my chest.

"We should start getting to the docks, the ferry will be leaving within the hour." I say, starting to walk faster.

We walk closer to the ocean until it feels like a storm hitting our clothes and bare skin from the wind. Khalid then insists on taking the tickets up to the booth to get them stamped, while I'm here getting soaked from all this saltwater. He comes running back with the tickets, hovering his jacket over us as we cross the dock and onto the steps of the boat.

"Wow, that wind is strong." I start,

"How long did the man say the boat ride was?" I ask, taking off my jacket and for sure ready to get changed.

"He said about 6 hours, at least this time we have a bed." He chuckles, thankful that he doesn't have to cramp his arse for another day. He's not the only one.

"Well," I sigh as we approach our door with the key we were given.

"It gives us time for some dinner and a few games of chess." I finish, placing my luggage on the bed I claimed.

"Don't forget, you're marrying me. Which means you're going to have to learn about my country." Khalid says sternly, making me sigh again.

"Why? It's not like I'm going to be allowed out of castle grounds anyways. Let alone people knowing about me." I complain, letting my bun go. My hair cascading down my back as I comb it out with my fingers.

"Palace," Khalid corrects,

"Castle never became much of a word when it comes to royalty in my country." He continues.

"Where are you even from anyways?! You never told me that. And I'd rather not get lost in such a ginormous country." I complain, slowly getting stressed out about learning more.

"India is big, yes. But, your mother literally named my kingdom when she was announcing our marriage!" Khalid snaps back.

"And? I blacked out! It's not like I wanted to know everything about you after you thought I was a maid!" I say, angrily raising my voice.

"Seriously? You said you were a maid." He replies, rubbing his temples.

"Fine! Get out!" I yell, feeling my anger go through the roof.

Khalid groans as a reply, lightly slamming the door as he leaves the room.

I sigh, instantly ripping the wet clothes off of me and hanging them on a nearby cupboard. I actually brush my hair and throw on some commoner clothes. Just in case, I didn't want anybody recognizing me. Not like they would.

I head down to the restaurant, coins in my pocket. I notice no tables were empty and then an elderly woman signals me to sit with her, paper menu in hand. I sit down in front of her and the old woman smiles.

"Hello," She greets, French accent easily heard. I greet her back as I suddenly see a familiar side profile across the room. Khalid, of course. My blood starts boiling as my fists clench up when I see he's sitting with a beautiful woman, whom I guess is in the situation I am in. Though he won the jackpot.

"What are you looking at, dear?" The elderly woman looks behind us and instantly knows what I'm looking at.

"My, what a handsome man. That woman sure is lucky." She chuckles, noticing my pale face getting more crimson with impossible ease.

"He's here with me, but I guess not anymore. We're supposed to be married in a few months." I say, straining not to go up to him and punch him in his stupid, pretty, tan face.

"Well," She clears her throat, "Why don't you call off the engagement? I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem if he's having an affair with another woman." She snickers.

"My mother scolded my sister for not wanting to be Catholic anymore. Imagine an engagement. Plus, it hasn't been long enough for the man to have sexual intercourse with another woman." I laugh, making sure I was quiet enough to not attract attention.

"Are you sure? My dead husband could say otherwise during our honeymoon." She laughs back, instantly making me worried.

"Oh, stop worrying. If he likes you, he won't do anything with that girl." She says, holding my hand.

"Trust me." She let's go, and then we finally order.

The food comes as we eat every crumb on the plate. I see Khalid and the woman pay and leave, his arm wrapped around her as she tilts her head into his neck. Now that I noticed, she's kind of tall. Almost beanstalk-ish.

"Mmmm, that don't look good." The old woman smacks her lips in obvious disapproval.

"What? But, you said he wouldn't do anything!" I complain, putting the coins on the table and rush into leaving. Then the woman grabs my arm.

"I said if he liked you, woman!" She snaps, then sighs.

"Look, if you want to, I'll join you on this little escapade to see if they do anything together. If they do, that's a disappointment but you'll manage. If they don't, then what are you going to do?" She asked, knowing I would have to ponder on the question.

"Well, I'd have to think about it. But they're seriously outside doing God knows what!"I raise my voice, letting her see I'm getting impatient about this.

"Fine, let's go then." She replies calmly, grabbing her bag and jacket.

We leave the restaurant out the door Khalid and the strange woman did, an instant cool breeze hitting our faces. I was too mad to need a jacket, my blood was boiling as I see them from across the dock. The beautiful womans arms around Khalids neck, her lips getting noticeably closer to his. I really hope he doesn't see it otherwise we have a problem. I stomp over to them as the elderly woman desperately failed at trying to stop me.

"Uhm, I think the fuck NOT!" I yell, getting straight in between them as I hear gasps from nearby people.

"Excuse you?" The tall woman says,

"We were in the middle of something." She scoffs,

"Oh shut it, beanstalk." I snap back as she leaves. Her commoners dress, that's too short to reach her ankles, following behind her.

"What do you think you're doing? You want a marriage or a mistress?" I turn towards Khalid, pure guilt in his face.

"I-I" He stutters out. I look at him, so done that I decide to interrupt,

"Doesn't matter, how can I ever trust you if the first thing you go to after a fight is another woman?" I feel tears coming up, this wasn't about him. It was how he made it seem like he cared, and then had the audacity to blow me off like that. My tears weren't going to come off as a weakness and I wasn't going to let him go unscathed.

"Look, I-" Khalid starts, tears starting to swell in his eyes now. He attempts to reach for my hand, wanting peace.

"No! I get it! She is tall, she is gorgeous, she's everything your desires want! But guess what? If you married her, you'd get to be snubbed for the rest of your life for th-this affair! Just wait until your parents hear of this situation." I angrily chuckle, leaving him on the dock. I can feel his pain like knives hitting my back. This was never about him. It will never be about him. This was about how he's making me doubt my body, face, and more.

In the meantime after a horrible breakdown, I decided to look through Khalids luggage. If he wants to betray like that, I'm going to need more information on whether or not he's going to have yet another affair behind my back when we're married. Clothes, clothes, clothes. There is absolutely nothing in here. I check all the pockets, feeling a piece of paper in the last one. I tug it out and see a woman pretty much encrusted with jewels and stones. It was definitely an old picture, but how old?

I hear the door open and a familiar face starts boiling my blood once again.

"Who's this?" I ask, flipping the picture towards him.

"My grandmother. You were looking through my stuff?" He asks, folding his clothes back into the now messy suitcase.

"Well, I wanted to see who I'm getting married to, so yes. Yes I did." I sharply reply.

Khalid sighs, running a hand through his curly hair.

"Look, she was very beautiful, yes. But were my intentions to hurt you? No." He then gestures me to sit down next to him, I half listen and sit on my bed across from him.

"She's the first woman that isn't you that didn't talk down to me. We were on the same page, laughing and having fun. You've been super uptight since the carriage ride and you've warmed up to me a little bit and-"

I interrupt him again,

"Until you decided to run off with that woman." I scoff, looking away from him. I feel his head droop down, hands covering his face.

"I'm sorry. I promise that's not going to be the real me when we get married. I've just grown up to my mum and pa fighting and then my father would go off and get a mistress." He replies slowly, his face blank.

"And I'm sorry you had to go through that. But that's not going to be the excuse everytime we fight and you want to chase after some pretty lady." I finish, leaving him in the room. I got to stop doing that. Though it's not like I want to stay in the same room as him either. I walk as far as I can, away from that room. And when it's out of my sight, I blackout.

꧁(¯'·.¸¸.-> ~~~~~♡~~~~~ <-.¸¸.·´¯)꧂

Hey! Finally, a new chapter :) If you like this series, make sure to follow my Instagram account  @ cara_brazzzzier for updates and more! Love you all and have a good day! ♡

Yours Truly ~ Author