“Knight…please, can I talk to him? Just a few minutes is more than enough…please…” I whispered as I pleaded for his permission.
Reiner’s hand around my wrist tightened and I could feel his hesitation. Slowly, he turned to face me, and I stared up into his face. If I don’t talk to Charles now, I’ll have to talk to him later anyways so I might as well get this out of the way. It would be better for Charles, for me and for everyone. I owed Charles a huge thanks and also an explanation of sorts.
“Please let me talk to him. I really need to talk to him properly. Please trust me…” I begged determinedly as I stared up into Reiner’s blue eyes. I had just thought that I needed to be less stubborn and selfish but here I was…
Reiner seemed to hesitate while I prayed that he would just trust me on this. After a while of debating with himself, Reiner bent down and kissed my forehead.
“You have 10 minutes. I’ll be waiting in the car, if you don’t return by then…” Reiner said without finishing off his sentence.
There was no need for him to. I’ll be back there before the 10 minute mark for sure. I turned to nod slightly at Charles before we both watch Reiner walk away. It was surprising that he would leave me alone with Charles. I still had no idea how those two knew each other or how well they knew each other but it seemed like there was some mutual trust and unspoken respect between the two.
“I’m sorry about that…” I said softly when Reiner had disappeared from sight.
“There’s no need to apologize. I did expect that sort of reaction from Knight…” Charles replied casually.
“I see. Umm…what did you want to talk about?” I asked as I suddenly started to feel nervous.
I had a few things that I wanted and needed to talk to Charles about but since he did make the effort to come and meet me here, I wanted to hear what he had to say first. Breaking the news to my colleagues that I suddenly got married wasn’t an easy feat. However, knowing how Charles felt about me, breaking the news to him felt harder than climbing mount Everest or something along those lines. Suddenly, the wind around me felt very cold and I was at a loss about what to do. I knew that someday sooner or later, I would have to tell Charles about it, and honestly, it would be better if he heard about it from me than from someone else.
“Well, I wanted to congratulate you on your wedding,” Charles said before he beamed me a kind smile.
Oh, so he already knew…
“Yup, I found out already. News does travel fast if you’re in the right circle. Also, it’s a little hard to miss spotting a diamond that big…” Charles said as he pointed to the ring that I had on my ring finger before he started laughing.
I guess I was disappointed that I couldn’t be the one to break the news to him and he had to hear it from someone else. However, I was quite relieved that Charles seemed quite fine with handling the news. Perhaps, I was just over thinking things all along. Regardless, I was happy to see that Charles didn’t seem too bothered with the fact that I suddenly ended up marrying Reiner.
“I see. I wanted to tell you about that myself, but I guess someone already beat me to it,” I replied regretfully.
“Do you love him?” Charles asked after a brief silence.
“Knight? Yeah…I love him. So, I’m sorry for not being able to return your feelings. I really do appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. I must have seemed very selfish…like I was just taking advantage of your feelings and your kindness. I guess maybe I’m a horrible person…” I said truthfully before I smiled a sad smile at him.
Charles listened to me patiently before he placed his hand lightly on my shoulder. Suddenly, his face was right in front of me as he bent down to my level. My eyes widened in shock, not at how close he was but at how kind and composed he looked.
“I’m just relieved to see that you seem happy. Honestly, when I first heard that you suddenly got married to Knight, I thought that something was very off about it all. Sorry for coming here out of the blue, I just wanted to see for myself that you were happy,” Charles said and I could feel his genuine concern for me.
“Thank you for worrying about me. It was rushed for sure and even I didn’t expect us to get married that quickly but I’m very happy that we got married. Hopefully, things will work out for us…” I said to reassure him and also myself.
“I see. I wouldn’t say that I am completely surprised about this. When I ran into Knight here before and when I saw you two together at his office, I had a feeling that you two shared a connection that I couldn’t understand. I don’t like prying into other people’s business, but I do hear things,” Charles explained casually.
“Sorry for hiding it from you. Honestly, things weren’t going well between Knight and me before and it was complicated to put a label on what we were…” I tried my best to explain honestly.
“Don’t worry. I get it, I really do. Knight is a great guy and he’s highly regarded on this island and in our world. You’ll be safe with him. So, from now on, don’t worry about anything, ok?” Charles said and for a moment he seemed too serious for me to fully understand.
I felt very safe with Reiner and since coming to this island my life has been very normal except for the fact that I worked for a mercenary agency of sorts. It was hard for me to comprehend the meaning behind Charles words, so I decided to just take it at face value. Charles was probably just worrying too much.
–To be continued…