“Are you always a baby about situations like this?” Ophelia asked as they made their way to the room. They had just gotten to their honeymoon destination and were about to check-in. Cade had asked the hotel receptionist for two rooms but Ophelia had overridden his requests by asking for a single room. They were on the verge of arguing when Ophelia stopped them and delayed it till they went to the room.
“A baby?” Cade responded.
Funnily, Cade had tried his best to keep his distance from Ophelia and she always tried to cross the boundaries he tried to keep in place. He never spelt any boundaries for her but he expected that if she was the one who brought the no intimacy rule then she should at least be the one to uphold it.
He did not want to be seen as a man who could not control himself. “Was two rooms such a bad idea that you had to shut me down in the presence of everyone?”
“So you expected to me to respect you even though you were clearly making a wrong choice?” she asked.
Cade could not believe that she was calling him out on making a wrong decision. What was so wrong about his decision? Was it not the best for a couple like themselves? “A wrong choice?” he scoffed crossing his arms across his chest and staring her down.
“Dear Mr Vale,” she said walking towards him and leaving an impact on the ground with each step she took. She did not take her gaze off his face as she moved towards him.
“What is it?” he said moving back as if it was his instinct. She stopped in her tracks and gasped at his action. Why did he keep treating her like she was a threat? Did he believe that she was going to jump his bones? Why would he think that? Did he still think she was that girl Toria who jumped his bones the last time?
“In case you are not aware of your status in society but you are also very popular here”
“That is true” he said realizing what she was driving at.
“So what do you think they would say when they realize that the just married couple wanted to stay in two different suits?” she asked turning her back from him and walking to the door to let the bellhop in. The young boy offloaded the cart and took his tip before leaving.
“What makes you think the people here even care about all those things?” he asked. He believed that ninety percent of people did not care about all those kinds of details as much as they thought that they did.
“Let us just be careful anyway, it would not hurt to do so,” she said holding the handle of her bag.
“Okay,” he muttered knowing how important public image is to them.
“I will take the room” she said pointing toward the room.
“I was going to give it to you” he said going to the couch and planting himself on it.
“That is what makes you a gentleman” she said rolling her bags into the room.
Cade had complained about how heavily she had packed when she had to minimize her luggage to the barest minimum that she could. She had to do it because she had prepared to do a little shopping since she was out there. One would think that considering their status they would travel very often, in her case, it was more difficult to travel since her father kept her on a tight lease. He never wanted her to run into her mother and none of them knew where she was, she kept moving from place to place so Ophelia was only allowed to go to places approved by her father. She hoped things changed for the better now that she was free from him and his rules.
“What should we do today?” she asked excitedly coming to stand in front of him like a child who had been promised to see the tooth fairy or Santa.
“Are you planning to go out on this honeymoon?” he asked and she raised her eyebrows up in confusion.
“Are you not planning on going out to explore the city?” she asked.
“I have been here I do not think I need to explore the city”
“Were you here on holiday?”
“No, on business”
“Then I am pretty sure you barely got to see anything, so that is why we have to go out to explore, eat and buy things” she explained almost jumping on the spot as the words left her mouth.
“If you want to see around you can count me out of it, I am not going” he said with a tone of finality closing his eyes.
“I wonder what people would say if they saw a married woman touring the city all by herself three days after her wedding” Ophelia did not like the way he kept building a wall whenever she tried to make conversation with him.
“Then let us stay in”
“Are you suggesting we stay indoors for the entire two weeks?” she asked with a gasp. She could not believe the horrors of his words. How could he suggest a thing? How would that make her look?
“Yep,” he replied with his eyes still shut tightly.
“And what do you suggest we do while coupled in this hotel room?”
“Nothing, at least in here no one would be able to tell how distant we are and they can not judge us about it either,” he said and she heard the mockery in his voice.
“If we stay indoors people would think that we are…”
“Having sex?” he asked taking the statement from her mouth before she could say anything. “Is that not good for us? I mean that would prove our love better than going out” he tone still carried the mockery in them.
She pressed her lips together and crossed her hand over her chest. “You would get up from your ass and we would tour this city together”