Being Mrs. Kane

Chapter 9

Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.
   – Emily Brontë

They say dreams are unreal. They are a series of event that takes place in one's subconscious but this was not a dream or at least it stopped being one the moment I felt Dorian warm palm cover mine. The confirmation didn't come from the warmth but from the loss of the warmth as he withdrew his hands almost immediately it touched mine.

My vision was still unclear as my wide eyes glanced nervously at my hands which still reeled from the tingly feeling caused by his warmth.

Marry me.

He had said. It was not a dream. It must be a joke then, but I couldn't tell because this man sure knows how to keep a straight face.

Marry Me. Marry me. Marry me.

The words continued to ring in my ears. It was like an echoe– no, like a series of muffled sound under water, haunting.

Dakota.

I heard my name. It sounded far away and it ringed in my ears alongside the other words.

Dakota, can you hear me?

I could, but the voice was still far away and my mind was still at that blank state which made it hard to differentiate between what's real and what's not.

"Dakota, are you okay?"

I felt the warmth on my hands again and that did the trick. I looked down at my hands to find them covered by Dorian's.

"I'm fine," I mumbled feeling a little disappointed for not handling the situation better.

"You zoned out on me there," Dorian said with a breathtaking smile like he was enjoying a secret joke.

You making a spectacle of yourself is no secret. A small voice in my head nagged.

I cleared my throat trying to hide my embarrassment. I was sure my face was the color of beet. Way to go Dakota, way to go.

"Sorry about that. I was just short of words," I said as I withdrew my hands from his.

A small smirk formed on his beautiful face. He was clearly enjoying my discomfort. He was mocking me in fact!

"By the way, Mr Kane, I did not find your joke funny," I said with a straight face and that wiped the stupid smirk off his face. Yeah take that!

"Wait a minute, you thought that was a joke?" His face hedged into a frown. What was he trying to do? Make me go crazy? If so, he was succeeding, because my mind was going haywire trying to understand the intent of his silly joke.

"Yes I know it was and it wasn't funny. If you had done it before and anyone had found it funny, it was only out of respect. I do not appreciate such jokes Mr. Kane." I said with a serious expression. I wasn't going to let him make fun of me.

"No, Dakota–"

"No what? It's not April, it doesn't work like that."

"As in April's fool?"

"Yes." I gritted out.

He paused and stared at me with an utterly amused expression. Was this funny to him? Was he trying to mock me by asking me to marry him? Who the heck jokes with that?

"No." He finally said.

"No?"

"No it wasn't a joke–"