Naroaika

Chapter 29

"Al! Wake up!" I cried.

By the time I reached the room that had already been destroyed along with half of the mansion, Al fell to the ground unconscious with a lifeless Ijel not far from him.

"He's still breathing" The man in glasses appeared behind me and said.

I wrapped Al's unconscious body around in my arms keeping an eye on the man.

"Don't worry. I can help a little." He came towards us and placed his hand on Al's chest for a moment and stood up. "He'll be up in less than an hour, though his arm looks like it would be left useless."

I looked at Al's arm that was hurt severely. Unable to hold it in, tears streamed down my face as I held him in my arms.

"Don't cry."

My eyes opened wide as a hand cupped my cheeks.

"I'm sorry I took so long."

The emotions that were suppressed for a moment were released. Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

Zed came to where we were. I could hear him heave a sigh of relief.

"Zed! Al needs help at once" I cried.

"Adav helped to communicate with the people in Gardenia. They will be reaching soon."

"Adav?"

"The four-eyed man." Zed replied. "Turned out he was just following Ijel's orders and it was never his intention to fight."

I looked around and saw that Adav was nowhere to be found. Realising that, Zed decided to search for him.

It took some time for me to calm down. As I adjusted my body, I felt the pouch that I had tied under my dress and remembered that I had to sprinkle the dust on Al's face.

I took out the pouch quickly without the others noticing it. As I was about to take a pinch of it, Al's words stopped me.

As we sat facing each other, he looked me in the eyes. For some reason, I couldn't look away.

"I don't remember what we shared together; what kind of relationship we had before. I was unsure of how I felt when I woke up after my memories were lost and met you but the more time we spent together, I realised that for some reason I can't seem to get you off my mind and if I have to be honest, I don't really want to."

I was speechless by the cheesy yet romantic confession he just made. Was this the same person I knew?

"Jerinah..." He continued. "I don't know if this is the right time to say this, but I don't want to delay it further."

"I love you."

I was surprised at his sudden confession at the same time, I was overjoyed but I had to do something first.

'Al I'm sorry for not answering to your confession right away but this is the last chance I have to bring back your memories.'

I took a pinch of the dust and sprinkled it on his face.

"I love you too."

He went into a deep slumber.

"They're here to retrieve us." Zed informed. "Adav is nowhere to be found either. A search party will be sent immediately as we reach the capital."

I simply nodded stroking Al's soft hair.

"Let's return home."

***

'As we heard the explosion, Lady Jerinah was already rushing towards the direction where Lord Al was but I needed to take care of the four-eyed man.'

"The name's Adav Croinne." The man in glasses spoke.

Zed was taken aback by the carefree nature of the man.

"I'm not interested to fight since my master's gone now." The man named Adav said. "You better go after the lady."

"What do you mean?!"

But Adav was nowhere to be seen.

'Tch'

Zed hurried off after Jerinah.

("Don't cry.")

As he reached the location, he could hear Al speaking and decided to stay put for some time.

***

There was a great commotion in the capital as we returned back from Braeona. Al's right arm had taken a great damage that the physicians said it would take a lot of time to heal. Fortunately, it wasn't permanent.

It has been a week since the incident happened and I have been at home since then. My family got over-protective and hasn't allowed me to go out anywhere without their consent. I heard that Al had regained consciousness, hours after we reached the capital. Mr. Keilan had personally visited the Mansion to tell me that Al's memories had also returned and he kept insisting on meeting me but considering his condition, he should not be out of bed.

I could not forget the confession Al had made.

'Does he remember it?'

Three weeks passed by and I was still under 'house-arrest'. I couldn't meet Juliette as she was busy preparing for her wedding and I did not receive any negative information on Al's health so I thought it would be better to wait for some more time. So I basically had no one to visit at that moment.

"Lady Jerinah? There's a guest waiting for you."

The maid knocked on the door. I rushed out of the room as she told me who had visited.

"Al!" I was out of breath by the time I reached the room.

"Jerinah"

Al stood up as I burst open the door. His right arm was covered by a cape. I could see the bandages over his arm. I tried to hold back but the tears came any way. He walked closer and embraced me.

'It was warm.'

We remained that way until I calmed down.

"Your face looks red as a tomato" I sub-consciously pushed him back then I noticed his ears glowing red. His ears got even redder when I pointed it out.

"I missed you."

"Can I say the same?" Al said as he gave a light laugh.

It was so good to hear him laugh and most importantly, having his memories back. We sat down as I told him everything that had happened.

"Oh by the way, you never replied to my cheesy confession."

I looked at him surprised. "You remember?!"

He admitted that he remembered everything that had happened as he rubbed the back of this head.

I turned the other way as I knew my face was in no condition to be seen by him. My heart was beating louder than a drum.

'He didn't hear my reply!' I thought.

"Hmm?" He leaned closer from behind definitely asking for my answer.

"Y-you already know!"

He looked at me pretending he didn't know.

"I..."

"I love you too."

He rested his head on my shoulder.

"Haah... Seriously, you drive me crazy."

He pulled me closer and held my chin up towards him.

His warm lips touched mine. He suddenly pulled back and looked at me.

Leaving me no time to react, he chuckled and kissed my lips; this time it was long and passionate.