A Kiss Of Love

6

Rose

"Do you want more water?" Kiran asked, looking over at me.

We sat together for lunch, ate in silence and suddenly he could talk. I was aware he asked me to give him time, and I wanted to give that to him so badly. He really made an effort to sit through lunch with me, and still, the awkward silence almost killed me right on the spot.

I, too, had to get used to him. So I was glad he asked for some time. But we could still talk, not?

"No, thank you."

He offered me a slim smile, I shot one right back at him.

"Rose, can I ask for how long you knew about us?" he suddenly asked like it had occupied his head for a while.

I nodded, though it took me a second to answer because I was in need for words. I didn't want to sound rude because I could've reached out to him in all those years. Granted, I thought his parents would tell him. But either way, I didn't want to lie to him.

"I just turned thirteen," I told him. "My dad woke me up that morning and told me about it. Said I had no choice and that was my birthday present. You. Well, you but in twelve years."

He scoffed a little disbelievingly, yet not quite surprised. "What a great birthday present," he muttered.

I bobbed my head as I agreed. "Well, my twenty-fifth birthday present wasn't much better either, seeing as I was told I was to get married in a couple of days, now had to move in with you, too."

I didn't except Kiran to suddenly look at me with shock on his face, nor that he even truly listened to my words. And yet, his eyes widened, his lips slightly parted. "It was your birthday yesterday?"

I shrugged and offered him a faint smile. "Kind of."

"Kind of?!" He stood up, raked a hand through his hair while taking a couple steps back. "Fuck, why didn't you tell me?"

"It's not that big a deal, Kiran."

He shook his head, waving me off, yet he came walking around the table to get close to me. "You're to be my wife, Rose. Of course it's a big deal! I should've taken you out or something like that."

"We had dinner here," I said.

"You barely ate."

"I ate before I got here, so I wasn't that hungry." I reached for his hand, smiled at him and interlocked our fingers. "There was nothing you could have done yesterday, Kiran."

"I could've gotten you a present."

I chuckled. "Whatever you wanted to get me, I can guarantee you, I probably have it already." At least if he was the guy to gift jewellery to a woman, that is.

Kiran took my face in both of his hands, forcing me to look at him. His eyebrows dipped into a confused expression, though he kept his eyes soft. "Let me take you out."

"We just ate, Kiran," I reminded him.

"Not to eat. We're going shopping."

"Shopping?" I liked the sound of it. Shopping was my escape from the world. Maybe I had a slight shopping problem, but I could afford it. Well, my father could.

"Yes, little star. Whatever you want, it's yours."

"Anything?" I asked, he nodded. "I might know something other than shopping we could do."

"Tell me."

"Go meet with a wedding planner?" I had called like six that morning, two of which said they'd gladly squeeze us in if we wanted to meet with them today. Those two were the more expensive ones, but I was sure Kiran didn't care one bit about that part. "Or the wedding designer?"