Years Since Past: Royal Reason

Chapter seven

Three years earlier...
My breathe caught as I rounded another turn, I was on foot and he was right behind me. I somehow managed to pass him and leave dust to cover my tracks. My hair was as it was normally, up, and I wore training pants and a loose shirt that hung around my waist, I also had on sneakers- they were white and blue with a dash of pink. Just as I reached a concrete set of stairs I paused a moment and turned to face him in front of me, he'd caught up and I smiled. Dimitri.
"Never thought I'd say it but, I miss the days when you were still able to beat me. Come on comrade? Give me a challenge." He laughed as he enclosed me into his arms.
He was sweating but I didn't care, I was too, after all I'd just run ten miles in under half an hour.
"I miss those days too Roza, but you're getting better at your job. I'm hearing whispers that the novices are the ones calling you a god now. Goddess really." He smiled and released me from his grip.
We were outside a beautiful building, one that was about fifteen stories high. The outside was layered with bricks and paved with cement. I looked at my wrist watch and released a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Looks like we made good time. Wanna go inside and have a shower?" I gave him a nudge and a knowing smile, he in return smiled back.
We entered the building, it was a hotel. "Mr Belikov. Mrs Belikov." The door man nodded at us knowingly and ushered us inside, we'd been staying here for the last week or so. He and I were both on leave and enjoying our time surrounded by lots of sun and sand. We'd decided we were going to have a holiday and when I mentioned that I had never been to California he jumped right in and insisted that we go. I didn't argue of course, it meant spending time with Dimitri and I was all for that.
We laughed to ourselves, "how many times do we have to tell that guy we're not married?"
"Would it be so awful?" He asked, tone still light.
"Would what be awful?" I asked in return.
"Being married? To me?"
We waited at the elevators and silence swallowed me, it was strange to think about marriage. I was still young, only just twenty. But I wondered, if I were to get married, I wouldn't want to be with anyone besides Dimitri. So how could I answer this without scaring him away?
"No." I said abruptly, " never. I imagine being married to you would be like ordinary life. You know, apart from wearing rings. I love you so much and would love to one day, in the far future, marry you. In the mean while you'll just have to live with being fake married to me. Got it?" He smiled and brushed back some hair that had fallen out of its holder.
"I can live with that. Being fake married. Who knows? Maybe one day we'll really be married and look back on this moment and think why'd we wait?"
And at that the elevator appeared in its small door way and allowed us to enter, after which we went to our room and spent the rest of the day under the covers.

Present day...
"Yes." I exclaimed coming back to the present.
It had only been a second hesitation so no one noticed. Dimitri's face lit up. "Yes?"
"Yes." He shot up and hugged me as tightly as if seeing me after one of my trips.
He moved away for just a moment to put the ring on my finger and that's when out of the corner of my eye I could see Lissa smiling from ear to ear.