A Kiss Of Love

11

Kiran

"I hope your fiancée isn't mad because we're late," Huxley said, nudging me in the side just as we exited the office building.

"Doubt it." I sent Rose a text, to let her know that we'd be late. She said it was fine because she wasn't sure if she was ready to meet my friends yet. To that I told her those weren't my friends and more colleagues.

She didn't believe me. Said if I went out after work with them, those were considered friends. I had a different view on that matter, but whatever made her sleep better at night, right?

All five of us walked down the street to the restaurant we always went to. Well, occasionally. It was like a once-a-month tradition that we went to eat there. Every second Friday in the month, to be exact. I wasn't sure how it started, but it was... enjoyable.

I hated socialising with my colleagues, but it was better than having arrogant lawyers hate you and make you feel their wrath at all times.

We shared a building. All of us specialising in a different practice area. Whereas I was a patent attorney, Huxley, for instance, specialised in tax law, Audrey was an estate attorney... you get the point.

But the building, the whole firm was to be mine soon, so I suppose they were working for me eventually. Better to have had them on my good side, seeing as they were the best of the best lawyers in Massachusets.

"When did you get engaged," Huxley asked, having been surprisingly interested in my life. He'd never been before. We were chatting every now and then, but never beyond work stuff. "I kind of thought you were single."

"About three weeks ago," I told him.

"When did you start dating?" Harriette chimed in, hooking her arm in mine. She had been around my age, we went to law school together, so I didn't mind her interrogating me as much as the other three people with us.

However, that was a question I had been thinking about for a while now. It felt wrong to lie, but even more wrong to say this marriage was an arranged one. Rose deserved people to believe she was loved by me, not just as a friend. She deserved people to think she was in a happy relationship, one that wasn't forced upon her to earn some money and a store she so desperately wanted.

I still had no idea what kind of store that was supposed to be, so perhaps I should ask her.

She deserved to be seen as a normal person, not someone that would marry a random guy she once knew, to please her dear old daddy and inherit stuff she would have to give up again should this marriage end.

"Twelve years ago," I ended up saying. Since Rose had known of this arrangement since she was thirteen, and as I just found out, she'd considered us dating since, it was the most logical answer to go with. Technically, she had been in a relationship with me since then... of some sorts. Which is also why I couldn't be mad at her for having said it back then.

Had I known of it, perhaps it would have actually been that way.

Truthfully, I had never been opposed to loving Rose. Clearly, if one looked at our past. I mean, we did get married when I was six. Pretend married, obviously. But either way, that just proved my point. I liked her, always did. So had someone just fucking told me about this, I could've learned to love Rose starting at the age of fourteen.

Or even earlier. What age was normal for people to start dating? I did not know, but I would have started there.

"Really?" Her eyebrows raised. "Didn't you date some girl in college?"

I shook my head. I never did. Occasionally fucks, sure, but never from my university. They were always from neighbouring cities as I didn't want to run into them again afterwards. Which now came in handy for me.