Arranged Love

Waiting and Fort Making

Mika's POV

Week 2

The ride home was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. We weren't mad at each other...just flustered and embarrassed at the moment we were almost caught in by my mother. We got out of the car, we get inside, and I take off my heels immediately. Before I even get the chance to fully take off my second heel Bose takes me by my wrist dragging me upstairs. We get into our room, he closes the door, and then he pins me against the wall. He towered over me, with his hair hanging down on both sides shaping his face, while he had both his arms at my sides trapping me in. To say I was stunned was an understatement...I looked at him seeing that he was trying his hardest to hold back.

"I really wanna kiss you right now." He says.

I don't know what got into me but I was just as impatient so I say...

"What's stopping you?"

He pauses...his face looking very unsure.

"I don't want to ruin this."

He was obviously talking about us...

"What do you mean?"

Bose now backs away from me, sitting on the bedroom bench, looking extremely conflicted.

"Mika...our relationship has been through so much. Friends for 8 years, enemies for 10 years, and now we are...I don't even know what we are!"

I walk away from the door towards him, settling beside him on the bench. Bose had his head in his hands, gripping at his hair in frustration.

"I get it...we have only felt a certain way toward each other for so long. You didn't want to kiss me if you didn't fully mean it." I say.

He nods.

"Well...with what happened in the office it's hard to think that the kiss wouldn't have meant anything." I say.

He lifts his head...turning towards me.

"Mika...we have only not hated each other for a couple of days! We are adults now, I don't want to just kiss you if I don't actually have feelings for you. I'm just so confused and it frustrates me." He explains.

"I know. Let's just forget it happened...and try to get to the wedding. Maybe once we have been friends a little longer our feelings will change. There is no blueprint for relationships. Ours will be different from every other one and we will figure it out together." I say.

He smiles at my efforts to make him feel better.

"Ok...I'm sorry if this feels like a sudden outburst. Trust is just a hard thing for me...10 years ago I lost my best friend all because I trusted the wrong people. Every day for the last decade I hated myself for it and I never had anyone else to blame but myself. I was alone for so long I had gotten used to it...now I have the chance to get my only friend back and I don't want to fuck it up with some unsure feelings. I'm not 100 percent on how I feel for you right now Mika but trust me it's good. I can't lose you again over rushing into something we both aren't prepared for. We both had no one for so long that right now all we have is each other, our parents are both super busy with royal business and mafia business. We are too including the marriage business and it all came into my life so quickly...I-it's almost devoured me whole. But the only way I can get through it is by having you in my life which means losing you is not an option. I need you so I don't lose my sanity in this crazy life of ours even if that means putting my personal feelings aside." He says.

He was stressed, confused, angry, and even a little scared. I didn't realize how much this arranged marriage and Mafia Business took a toll on him mentally...and I don't think he did either till right now. Our relationship might be fake, but the pain and pressure were very real.

Bose's POV

She suddenly wraps her arms around my waist, leaning into me, I hug her back, and she says...

"You couldn't scare me away even if you tried."

I was put at ease in some way because of her words.

"Trust me...I'm not trying haha." I say.

We sit in that hug for a little bit then she says...

"You are like a coconut."

Mika's comment confused the hell out of me just now.

"Huh?" I questioned.

"You're like a coconut...hard on the outside but soft on the inside." She explained.

Her comments may be weird and confusing...but they mean so much to me especially coming from her.

"Well if I'm a coconut then you might be the only one who can crack me." I say.

She laughs at my quick wit answer and then says...

"Want to build a fort?"

"What?"

"A blanket fort! Come on we loved to build them when we were younger...it will be fun and we can make it our first fake date!" She says.

The smile on her face made it extremely difficult to say no.

"Ok."

That's all she needed to hear before she scurried downstairs asking the staff for all the blankets and pillows. I head towards the living room and see her already getting started.

"Come on Bose, this fort isn't going to build itself!" She says.

I giggle at Mika's sudden seriousness but I start helping her out and in 15 minutes we finished.

"Ok now that's done, we can go change." She says.

"Change for what?" I ask.

"Bose...you can't wear that in this fort. No suits, jeans or shoes. Only soft fluffy socks and pajamas." She says.

She walks past me, grabs me by my arm, and drags me upstairs with her to pick out pajamas. She changes in the bathroom and then comes out looking like a little kid all over again in her Garfield onesie.

"How do I look?" She asks.

"Like Garfield." I say.

"Great...now get changed and I'm going to get some snacks!"

She leaves with a pep in her step while I'm putting on this grinch onesie the staff gave me that Mika made me wear. Once I have it on I slowly stroll downstairs towards the humongous pillow fort in front of the living room tv. I look in the opening seeing Mika, remote in hand finding a movie for us to watch. She looked over at me and said...

"Judge me all you want, but this blanket fort has brought me more peace than anything else in my entire life." She said.

"I'm not judging, now scoot over."

I crawl into the fort and sit next to Mika but when my back hit one of the pillows one of the blankets nearly got tugged down.

"If you collapse this blanket fort, I cannot legally be held responsible for my actions." She says.

"We'll sorry...I'm not as tiny as you Angel."

Mika laughs at my complaining while putting on a movie called Alone but Together and it seemed interesting so she put it on. I watched as Mika grabbed her gummy bears and got comfy under a blanket...already zoned into the movie. I grab my bowl of popcorn, decided to forget all my stress and worries, and zone into the movie with her.