Capture Me

Taking Their Sweet Time

Thalia

The feeling of happiness cloaked my being as I stared at the white aisle sprinkled with flowers. I walked slowly with impatience, longing to reach the end of the walkway fast. Everything was bright even with the veil slightly hindering my vision, there were even petals falling from above. I gripped the bouquet of flowers in my hands as I got nearer to the back of the person clad in black tuxedo. I knew who he was but I was still excited to see his face like I hadn't before. He finally turned to me and offered his hand which I gladly took with a smile.

The faint sounds of vehicle engines slowly brought me to wake and my eyes came to the dark blue dimness. I could say that I had gotten used to waking up this early as I had been doing so for about a month.

I was cocooned in my husband's warm comfort. His arm was curled on my middle, anchoring me to him but as secure and contenting his hold was, I had to get up to prepare for our breakfast and everything else before setting out to work.

I was Mister Coltons's personal assistant—well, pretending to be—because he didn't want me left alone in the house. But I wanted to work for real, so in the past couple of days since I started, I did my best to cater the works he needed assistances at.

Gently, I moved his arm away from me as well as his legs. As soon as I lifted the blanket, cold hastily slipped in me. Tiny shivers popped out here and there as I made my way to the bathroom.

I was puzzled for a second when I opened the lights, and then I remembered that I was not in the old house anymore. The one that I lived in after I married Ryder, it was bombed to smithereens.

His house in the woods that we went before was too far to Ryder's office, which was why he got us a condominium not far from his company's building. When I first saw it, it was all white, the walls, ceilings, furniture, and even the floors were white. It kind of reminded me the corridors I walked on with Ryder when we were in his other company. Although I might have seemed choosy to suggest that at least we change the colors of the floor and ceiling but he unblinkingly agreed on it.

The cold got stronger when I went out of our room, making me hug my fluffy black robe tighter, it was like being drenched in ice-water but a dry one. We had semi-sheer curtains that I could see the slivers of light that had started to peek from the waking city through the large glass windows.

The area was identical to our former house albeit smaller. There was a kitchen island that separated it from the living room and stoves and cupboards were behind it.

My gray slippers padded past the living room and into the kitchen. I rummaged through the fridge and drawers for the things I needed. For today's breakfast, I opted for eggs and bacon, the coffee already brewing in its maker.

The topic about Rebecca Alastair never came up the second time after Ryder told me that they got her that time when Gid took me to the hospital. He told me how the clash went and how they accomplished the assignment with zero casualty from their side. When I asked about what they were going to do to Alastair, the only thing that he told me was that they had her. I hadn't further questioned anything about her after that because I knew—somehow—where her fate would end up.

I sat the pan on the opened stove and waited for it to heat up.

The sky had gotten brighter and the noise below had started to increase. I inhaled and the cold air that went in my nose stung, there were no woodsy nor piney smell, instead, I got a whiff of the floral deodorizer I had sprayed yesterday. Today, was the first day of December, and I was glad to be still alive and be able to spend Christmas with my beloved.

He didn't tell me if he was really going to withdraw from his other job and I didn't know if it was like my former that one had to be dead to be able to retire. Was it that easy to detach yourself from that kind of work, though?

I cooked our breakfast in silence and the sizzle of the foods I was frying were the only sounds that accompanied me.

I heard the door in the master's bedroom open and close but I concentrated on what I was doing. As I was putting the cooked bacon on the plate together with the eggs, my husband's glorious, boxer clad form walked towards me.

Was he that immune to this type of cold because Siberia's topped it all off? He didn't even shiver or rub his arms as he went his way to me.

The scar from where he got shot were still prominent. Two of the bullets managed to get through him and pierced his front torso because of the close proximity of the shooter and thank goodness it wasn't fatal. I bawled like a baby when he told me this and cried harder when his mother burst in the room with tears on her face, she walked directly to Ryder and hugged his head while thanking God that he was safe. "I am not dead, why are you crying for me?" He asked us that time and earned a hard look from his mom.

He insisted he be discharged when his wound started to close up, the doctor let him but with stern warnings. I was walked through on how I should clean the wounds, the schedule of his medications, and what he should and shouldn't eat for the moment.

Call me weak but I always teared up every time I took his patches off and saw the angry sewn holes in his skin.

"Good morning," His minty breath daintily caressed my face and I was in a very awkward position with both of my arms stiff and stretched sideward to avoid spilling the oil in the pan as well as to accommodate his embrace. The plate of food on my other hand that had me asking myself why I hadn't put it down on the counter yet, hovered a few inches above the worktop.

When he let me go, he took the pan out of my hold and sat it in the sink behind us. Ryder then set the plate on the counter after taking it from my other hand.

"We still have time," was all he said and lifted me off the ground.

I squealed like an eager teenager as he walked us back to the room.

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A/N: And that's Ryder's and Thalianara's chapter post-White Queen. For the longest time, I am still working on how I describe details and put appropriate words. I decided not to put anything after they went into the room. I'll let you decide what they did, hehe (actually, I don't know how to depict a sexy morning moment, so I just might come back and add it sometime).

I hope you enjoyed reading, keep safe!