Chapter Twenty-seven

Emma

My eyebrows furrow in confusion; realising that by the look on his face—it shows well enough to see hesitation deep within. Then again, he seems like he's debating with himself whether he should be telling me or not, yet the chances are he will tell.

''What is it? Tell me,'' I mutter.

''Promise me first. Promise me that you will listen till the end without misunderstanding, you will let me try to explain things to you so that it'll be clear and for the love of god—don't walk out of this room before I finish. Promise me,'' He replies, too serious.

I know that this is something a little bit too serious due to the fact that he asked me to listen till the end; without leaving the room. He wants me to understand completely before making assumptions.

I hold onto his hand, ''I promise.''

His brown eyes begin to soften a little—soothing me slightly. My brain goes blank at this sight of him; all of a sudden, he has something to tell me. Deep down inside, I want it to be something good. At least good enough to lift up a smile on my face yet I know that it's far from good but bad.

Bad may be a little overrated.

''Years ago before I met you, there was this person named Hannah—she and I, we had something in the past due to the fact that we were sexually attracted towards one another but nothing more. No strings attached, at all. At least, that was for me,'' He stops for a few seconds, making me think of his next words.

''What happened, then?'' I ask, slowly.

''W—we, well, we had a few nights together ever since. None of us were complaining either. It was strictly friends with benefits and I didn't feel anything more towards her but when I met her again—''

''You met her last week?'' I cut him off.

Emery sighs deeply before nodding his head.

''Get to it, then. It's making me anxious,'' I add.

''She kissed me. Daniel started saying how she has feelings for me and that I had left Australia without telling her. They thought we were a couple,'' He says, ''Well, until he found out that I'm a prince and I end up on television on my wedding day,'' He adds.

''Wait, let me just get this straight for a second. This person, Hannah, she likes you? She likes you after multiple times of nights spent together with you?'' I ask, wanting to make things much more clear.

He stares deeply into my eyes, ''I don't know,''

''She clearly thinks the opposite,'' I mutter.

''It doesn't matter what she thinks. I don't give a damn about what she thinks. You see, when she kissed me, I pushed her away. I'm not the person who cheats, Emma.'' He says before slowly trying to get closer towards me, cupping my face.

''Okay, then, what happened?''

''I ended up ignoring her the whole week, she texted me and called me but I didn't reply nor pick up. That's why she went to my apartment and I let her in,'' He mutters before stopping, regret showing all over his face and it doesn't take me long to realise.

Something had happened. Something indeed.

My husband ended up sleeping with the woman he once had spent nights with—the same woman who currently has feelings for him, the woman that knows about his marriage but still proceed.

''You slept with her, didn't you?'' I breathe out.

Within seconds, I notice him clenching his jaw.

''Truth be told, Emma, I don't know because I can't remember what happened. I'm sorry,'' He breathes out, looking away before looking back at me. Both of his eyes held regret—breaking my anger.

''Why can't you remember?'' I ask him, slowly.

''I don't know but I swear I'll find out about it. For now, I want you to trust me. Believe me that I would never do anything to hurt you,'' He replies, leaning in closer towards me before caressing the side of my face and trying to soothe away my anger and anxiety.

I close my eyes at his touch before thinking about what had happened to him a week ago, even though we can't be so sure of what happened yet it might still be clear that they slept together; probably not.

All I can do right now, is trust my own husband.

Trust. It seems like a strong word because it is indeed strong—it can't be bought or received. Trust has to be earned; it's the only way possible to actually trust someone without hesitating. If hesitant is clear, then there wouldn't be trust.

Believe. Believe is all I can do. Believe his innocence.

''I trust you,'' I mutter before hugging him in which he responds back by pulling me closer towards him; not showing signs of letting go and breaking our embrace. It has been a week of us not seeing each other and we should not let things like this get in our way.

''Thank you,'' He pecks onto my temple.

The first five years are going to be hard especially for us. Our marriage was forced upon us even though we've finally found our ways to each other but it will never be the same—my point is, we end up knowing one another after marriage, it's slightly different.

''Now, how's our baby?'' Emery looks straight into my eyes as he cups onto my face before smiling.

My lips curve up into a smile as I let out a laughter, ''Our baby is fine—how's the baby daddy?'' I ask.

All of a sudden, I find him gripping onto my butt as I yelp in surprise; not expecting him to react this way but then again, I'm not complaining. We end up looking into each other's eyes with emotions shielding for some reason—our slowly growing love.

''He'll be fine if he gets a kiss,'' He whispers.

Then, he starts to lean in towards my neck, tickling me with his kisses as I laugh which causes him to graze on my neck with his teeth before meeting my lips with his—letting us pour our feelings.

''Sneaky,'' I breathe out as he picks up me up bridal style; still earning laughters from me but he doesn't seem to care—only staring down at my face.

The next morning, I find myself being embraced lovingly in his arms; making me raise an eyebrow at the sudden tightness around my waist due to him. I snuggle even closer towards him as he moves slightly to adjust his body to a comfortable position.

It takes me awhile to realise that I'm staring.

The way his eyes are closed shut and his pink lips slightly puckered to the front—it makes me smile just by the natural beauty that he has. Not a lot of people will see his beauty the way I do; yes, he is indeed a very beautiful man and there's no point denying.

Yet, the way I see him is different. Slightly.

Why? Other people see him as attractive as he can be that they want to end up in his arms but I see him as someone who has a bright future ahead of him with hidden ambitions. Not everyone can see that.

This is all happening too fast, very fast.

I took Jace's advice and went to England before meeting the prince. The same prince that ends up being my husband—willingly or not, we begin to accept our fate with one another. Like I said, there's no point in denying, either. The more we deny, the more we try to find ourselves but for us, we're here.

What if I ran away? What if I left all of this behind?

The possibilities: he will ruin himself by being with almost anyone he wants as his commitment slowly drifts away, he will lose almost everything just by my exact option, he will end up with nothing.

No love. No wife. No heir.

But I stayed, I'm staying, which results in a better life for both of us—he managed to make me fall for him just by a single glance, it's not worth questioning why or how we ended up falling for one another.

Emery. Truly and beautifully something. Everything that he does; he is fully sincere, for instance, like the way he talks to me or the way he listens. It shows how he is committed to something or someone.

The more I try to see what's hidden in him, the more I can try to make us last. An everlasting marriage or love may be rare but it's not impossible.

With every passing day, we will try.