Chapter 32

The whole day I could not look into his eyes and plates or bowls kept falling from my hands as I kept apologizing to him.

I was so embarrassed that whenever he was around me my heart wouldn't stop beating and my hands would start shaking. Sweat would form on my forehead and my mind would stop working.

Why did I have to wake up early?!

Although everyday I messaged oil but to do it before Arashi made my heart run wild. It definitely looked like I was seducing him!

As I was cleaning the kitchen, another plate fell and broke into pieces as I gasped. My mind was all over the place and I couldn't concentrate.

I looked around, making sure Arashi didn't hear it as I took the pieces and cut myself.

I squeaked.

"Did you cut yourself?" He asked, startling me as my head collided against the slab.

"Ah!" I cried in pain.

Arashi came immediately as he pulled me up and his touch made it worse for my heart.

"Let me see." He demanded as he took my hand in him while my head stayed low, eyes avoiding him.

He washed it with clean water as another yelp came out of my mouth. My head hurt and now my finger hurt too. I was a mess.

"Leave the cleaning to me. I will do it and let's go put some ointment on the cut." He said as he dragged me with him.

"It-it's okay. I can do the cleaning."

"And hurt yourself more?" He asked as my ears got warmed.

"I am not hurting myself at all." I mumbled, still not looking at him as he put the ointment and I hissed. It burnt!

"You have broken five plates, three bowls and collided against the walls for uncountable times, cut almost two times and were about to burn yourself if I wasn't around." His eyes fell on me and I shrunk as I felt the intense pressure from his glare.

"And you are saying that you are not hurting yourself..." He put pressure on his words as well and I tried to find if there was any room to argue with him.

I was about to burn myself while cooking as I forgot to tie my yukata sleeves. "Err..." I opened my mouth and closed then opened again as if I was a fish.

"Alright. Care to tell me what happened?" He asked.

He had already done putting the ointment and now his eyes pinned me with glares as I gulped.

"N-nothing." I stammered.

"Is it because of-"

"Ah! So much work, I need to go clean!" I cut his words off and was about to run away when his large hand caught my wrist and yanked me toward him. My back touched his chest as my heart now went bonkers.

"Where do you think you are going without answering me?" He said as his breath fanned behind my ear and I bit my lips. He was going to be the death of me if he didn't leave me now.

What am I supposed to say? I was embarrassed to do bold moves although I wasn't doing it intentionally. At first, I wanted to but then I decided against it.

"Was it because I saw you while you were preparing yourself?"

My voice seemed to be caught in my throat but I managed to say somehow, "N-no! Yo-you have already seen me... I mean... It was normal... Err... Um..."

I breathed heavily. My words jumbled in my tongue and I wasn't certain what I was saying. It was true that he had seen me but it was different this time. I was sick that time but this time, I wasn't.

"I apologize for entering without considering if you were in a dire state because everyday you would be sleeping and I forgot that you weren't sleeping today." He said, his voice laced with guilt and it made me shocked.

Was he thinking that he was the one at fault?

"You don't need to apologize for that since it is normal for a couple... I mean..." I got flustered. It was normal. Yes, he had rights to enter because it was his house and I was his wife. Didn't he have rights to do whatever he wished with me?

"But it is not right if you are not comfortable. I would not do anything that would make you uncomfortable around me, Bianka." He said as my face got blank.

He added, "It is true that we are husband and wife but I wouldn't do anything without you agreeing to this. I apologize if I have hurt you."

If I was shocked before I was beyond that now. I slowly turned around and looked into his eyes and found he was genuinely apologizing because he thought he did something wrong.

"You don't have to apologize for it. I am not hurt." My eyes averted everywhere as I said, "I was just embarrassed because I-I had never prepared myself in front of anyone. Not even in front of the maids we had."

He nodded. "Then I would be careful from the next-"

"No!" I cut him off as we both looked at each other with frowns on our faces as my face heated. "Err... I mean. It was nothing. I am sorry I broke some plates."

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. They are just plates."

We both smiled as the tension we had been feeling lifted off and I found myself one step closer to Arashi. He said he wouldn't do anything that meant he was considering my feelings before we go for another step in our relationship. He was waiting and with that I was confirmed that he wouldn't leave me like Mrs Hiro said.

Another thing she was wrong about was Arashi wasn't like the others who would do as they pleased with their wives. He let both of us explore ourselves and I was happy with that decision.

After that the rest of the day went blissfully as we both talked about various things and I got a little closer to him. We weren't reserved anymore or felt uncomfortable around each other.

He let me tell my opinions as well and often he would tease me or try to make jokes about some situation which would leave me laughing while holding my belly and soon it was time for us to go to Kosaki.

I was preparing both of our luggages as my mind formed a few questions. How would he meet the Emperor of Kosaki? He needed permission. Besides, there would be a lot of people waiting in line to meet the emperor and commoners or unimportant people like us who had no chance unless my father sent a letter to the royal palace.

"Are you thinking about something?" Arashi asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I am thinking if we should tell my father to send a letter because it wouldn't be easy to meet him."

Arashi shook his head. "We can't do that. If we tell your father, we'd have to tell him the reasons as well and it is a very sensitive situation."

I nodded as worry came crashing on me. It certainly was a very sensitive situation.

"Then what will you do?" I asked.

"I have a person there who knows me and I am hoping he will help me." He said thoughtfully.

I hummed and there was something I wanted to tell him. "Umm... When you meet the emperor, would you take me with you?"

He raised a brow as a smile played on his lips and asked, "Would you like to meet him?"

I nodded with a sheepish smile. "I had never met any royal family before so..."

He chuckled and said with a low voice, "That might not be true..."

"What?" I blinked.

"Prince Sen... You met him, didn't you?" He said.

"Oh! Yes. I almost forgot." I said and put the luggages as we would be leaving tomorrow morning. Arashi had already told Mr Hiro and the village elder that we would be leaving for a longer time and he requested to take care of the plants while we were away.

Now that everything was settled, we laid down on the futon as both of us went into our peaceful slumber without knowing the arriving trouble that was awaiting for us.

-----

A/n:

Hello Min'na,

How are you? I hope you enjoyed the Vol 1 of the story which was slow and steady with the relationship between Arashi and Bianka.

Why didn't I move to the main plot, you ask?

Because in the next Volumes, their trust and bond will be tested along with arriving enemies and twists. So, I wanted to make their bond strong enough to support each other. If they have no bond, how will they support each other?

With this chapter, Vol 1 has ended and I will start the Vol 2 in this book updating from the next chapter.

C'ya...