“Do you want to explain why you are here?” Kieran asked. Arabella had expected him to scream his lungs out, but he was wrong. Myabe’s drive down has calmed him down.
“It is a stupid reason; I don’t want to tell you,” Arabella murmured to herself. She had wanted to hear an apology so much that it felt like her self-worth depended on it. She turned her head to the side so she was looking out the window.
“Look at me,” Kieran said softly. “Look at me,” he said again, this time turning her head with his hand gently.
“I am so ashamed of myself; I don’t know what I was thinking,” Arabella said again. Seeing Kieran had somehow triggered something in her. It was like judging her actions without even saying anything.
“Tell me, I want to know why you dressed up and left the house to come here when you should be resting.”
“Okay,” she said as she heaved a sigh. “I wanted an apology so bad.”
“What?”
“See, I knew you would judge me.”
“Ara, I am not judging you. I just want to understand what you mean. Why did you come here?” he said. His tone was like he was talking to a child while trying to understand the reason behind their actions.
“I just felt victimized by Aurora, and I wanted to hear her apologize. She was sent to jail but she was not sorry for what she did. It was like kidnapping me was her trophy in life. It hurt me so much that I just wanted to hear her say sorry, even though she did not mean it.”
“Ara,” Kieran said, dropping his hand to hers and rubbing the back of her hand. “I am sorry; this is almost my fault as well. It was because I was indifferent and careless.”
“Kieran,” she said, holding his face in her hand. “I wanted an apology but not from you,” she said. “When I got here, I realized that wanting an apology from someone as careless and self-centred as her only put me at risk, and there is nothing I can do about it.”
“I am sorry.”
“If you keep apologizing, I would keep feeling bad.” They sat silently in their seats, and after a while, Kieran spoke.
“Should we go to an amusement park?”
“An amusement park?” She did not expect him to say that in this kind of situation. The air was tense, and those were not the words that she expected.
“Yeah, I hear that screaming at the top of your lungs in a park on a ride that is somewhat dangerous helps you to relieve stress, and we have not been on a proper date.”
“You want to relieve stress on our first date?” she asked and he shook his head before nodding.
“We can kill two birds with one stone, and it would be easier for us,” he said with a wink.
“Let us go kill two birds with one stone.”
Arabella could feel Kieran’s excitement for the date, and she wondered why they got so lucky. They went on every ride in the park like they had been waiting to do this. Arabella was more proud of the fact that a handsome hunk named Kieran was with her.
In every line, they heard murmurs of people talking about how handsome he was. She was not letting any of that bother her because she could disagree with them; he was a beauty to behold. She did not let the nasty comments, such as those criticising his choice, get to her.
He glued to her like gum on the sole of a shoe, and it must have infuriated the crowd the more because of the kinds of dirty glances she received from them. Kieran was always pushing back her hair and staring at her while holding her hand tightly and dropping random kisses on her forehead. She was shy, but she liked how he marked his terror so openly. She was on a date, and she was going to try her best not to be affected by any of that.
“Should we go there?” Kieran asked, pointing to a super scary ride with the hand he held.
“Inside there?”
“Yeah,” he said with a nod.
“You know that this is a scary ride, right?” she said, hoping that he did not know and that she would somehow convince him not to let them go in there.
“I do know, but I read that couples should go on a scary ride together once,” he said, and she turned to him with a puzzled expression.
“And where did you read that?” She asked not because she was guilty of his antics but because hearing him say it every time cracked her up. Every time he did something for him, he usually told her that he was a dating expert but had read it somewhere, and even though his answer stayed the same, she liked to tease him the best way she could.
“Must I say it? And in public at that,” he murmured, looking down at their shoes. “Should we just take pictures instead?” He said his voice suddenly going up as he decided to divert the topic.
“Do you not want to go on the ride any more?” She asked, and he shook his head.
“I want to, but you seem sacred, and I do not want to make you feel scared. You should feel shy when you are with me,” he said boastfully, and she let out a dry laugh.
“Is that so?” She knew that he was trying to get her to do it by using a play of words, but somehow she was still determined to prove him wrong.
“I will go on there.” She pointed to the rider with her free hand and glanced at him. “If you tell me where you got that line from,” she said, going back to the topic.
Kieran groaned because he thought that he had successfully been able to divert the topic. “I read it somewhere that I cannot remember,” he said, pulling her hand to the ride.
“We are going on it,” she said in a fearful tone.
“You do not need to worry; I will keep you distracted,” he said with a wink.
“What is that naughty expression and tone?” she asked as they got strapped into the chair. The ride must have been scary because the lien was empty and they got in easily.
“You will see,” he whispered in her ears, and it sent shivers down her spine.