Chapter 59 - Bare Naked

Jasmine

Benjamin held my hand when Naïma's wedding was performed. Ours went by in a daze as well. At the end of the wedding the Sultan and his first wife came up to us and presented me this golden bracelet and told me that this is the bracelet which all woman of the El-Raji Al-Saud family wear. It was beautiful.

There was an Arabic inscription that said; woman of the crown. Fake marriage or not, I was a princes now. That was a really strange thing to consider.

"Ben will it hurt?" I asked whispering.

"What Habib?" He asked sincerely unknowing of what I was meaning. "You know, tonight." I whispered back.

His eyes grew wide again, this time in real shock and his mouth fell slightly open. It took a while before he recovered.

"I will never hurt you, I promise." Benjamin seemed to be thinking. "Love is not supposed to hurt, or not intentionally at least" He said meaningfully.

I bit my lip. I was so nervous I did not pay attention to any conversation and Ben seemed to notice. "Come let's retire to our chambers." Ben said inviting me to take his hand. I took it hesitantly.

We said goodnight to the guests and Ben led me to his, or I suppose 'our' bedroom. He closed the door and he turned towards me.

Benjamin

I stood before her, taking her in. A small, but perfect nose. full pink delicate lips, that were slightly parted.

Her skin looked like milk cream and her golden curls flowed down her waist like honeycombs.

It was like I saw her for the first time.

I sharply breathed out, as I realized I had held my breath for the longest minute. "You are beautiful." I gasped.

Jasmine's cat-like green eyes were holding mine.

I hesitated, and then I gently brushed my hand along Jasmine's face.

My hand burned where it touched her skin. I cocked my head to the side and smiled at her.

She looked nervous.

"What are you thinking?" I wondered out loud. "What did you mean by what you said earlier." She squeaked.

My smile widened. I leaned in, pausing, to see if she would object, or would seem uncomfortable. She didn't.

I brushed my lips against the tip of her nose and remained close. "Did that hurt?" I breathed.

I saw the corners of her lips lift up. "No." She said almost smiling. "Mhh..." I chuckled. "And this... does this hurt?" I asked as I gently kissed her forehead.

Her eyes were still closed when I looked at her. With my thumb and index finger, I tilted her face to look at me. "No." She said flushed.

"Well then." I said as I took a few steps back.

She seemed starlet by me doing so, and I immediately felt a pang of guilt.

Jasmine

My breath became uneven. His hazel eyes were holding mine, hypnotizing me. "How old are you?" He asked. Did he not know this? "I'm 17, I will be 18 in less than a week." He swallowed noticeably.

"You're younger than my sister. Ben rubbed between his eyes like he head a headache. "I'm sorry." I apologized, unsure why I was apologizing in the first place.

Tears started to flow down my cheeks. I was just so tired and it felt like all the tension in my body needed a release in the form of tears.

Ben kissed my face. "Don't cry, please don't cry." He breathed cupping my face in his hands. "I'm just tired I think." That was a half-truth, I couldn't help but feel rejected by my fake husband.

I laid my head against his chest and he slowly dropped his hand to the small of my back. We stood there for a while.

He was rubbing my back up and forth and I was unwilling to let go when he broke off our embrace by creating some space between us. "There is something we must do." He said.

Confused I followed each movement with my eyes. He took a needle out of a suitcase and showed it to me. My heart was racing. What was the meaning of this?! He chuckled quietly. "Those eyes." A smile lingered on the edge of his lips.

"You asked me if it hurts." He said meaningfully. I bit my lip. "I will not hurt you, nor will I ever touch you without you wanting me to." He said while touching the tip of my nose again.

"And frankly, even if you wanted me to, there will be no intercourse before you turn 18 in the first place." I frowned. What did he mean? We would still have intercourse, but not just now? I did not know how a fake marriage worked, but I knew there would be witnesses presented while consummating a royal marriage. There was no escape from that.

"Aren't we suppose to consummate this wedding, like tonight." I said drawing out the last two words. It was how things work in our society, fake wedding or not. "They just want your blood on a bedsheet. And we will give them that." He said sounding pleased with himself.

He tied my arm and opened the lit of the needle with his mouth and spit it to the ground. He rubbed my vein and gently tapped a tube full of my blood. He pressed on the wound and carefully put a bandage on it. "Let me draw you a bath." He said stroking through my hair again.

I felt like there was a magnet pulling me closer to him. Even though I didn't want myself to notice; he was so handsome and he smelled so good.

I wanted to be close to him again. I just needed to be. So against all better judgement, I just pressed myself against his chest again.

"I just don't want to be alone." I said looking up to him. He closed his eyes and chuckled again. "I will be here… I just want your body to relax, your body feels too tense." He said while rubbing my back up and forth.

"Okay, I will draw you a bath and when you're covered in soap, I will sit by the door, so you can talk to me." "Deal!" I said pleased. He chuckled quietly.

The bath was nice and warm and of course he was right, my body relaxed. "Ben?" I called for him when I didn't hear him. "Yes little pea." He replied endearing. "Will you please sing for me, like you did on the phone?" "Mhh, sure. What did you have in mind?"

"You're favorite song?" It was quiet for a while and then he began. My body shivered. His voice was heavenly. His voice made you forget the world. As I drifted into thoughts, I thought of Naïma.

Naïma was right; What did I ever do to deserve him? There wasn't much I could think of. "Is your water still warm?" Ben asked breaking off his song.

"No, yes. But I will get out now anyway" I said getting out of the bathtub.

"Habibie, wait" He said.

Too late.

I stood in front of him bare naked dripping wet.