Her & Him, liliana941 [book club reads txt] 📗

woman is Christal Manela. She is from a village all the way across the world! She came here to visit her cousin the same week of the ball so she went and we danced and we fell instantly in love." I looked at Christal. She had tears in her eyes. I held her tightly to me. Many  ahhhs came from the crowd. I kissed Christal gently on the lips just to make the act more believable. I looked at my father. " We want to wed as soon as possible!" " Well, how about tomorrow?" " That would be wonderful!" " Then so be! Tomorrow , my people, we shall have a wedding at the palace!" The villagers cheered. I walked with Christal off the stage. Christal turned to me when we were away from the villager's sight. She looked alarmed. " What's wrong?" " Are they safe? Are my girls safe?" I nodded. " They should have stopped the betting." She gave a shaky breath. " Good. You know I got a little freaked out to go to the stage?" I laughed. " No. The hiding didn't give it away AT ALL." She playfully punched me. " Shut up! You were being a douche bag calling me out like that!" I tilted her chin until her lips were centimeters away from mine. " Was I? I thought I was just pointing out my future wife." She smiled. I licked my dry lips, my tongue slightly touching her lips. She jerked her head away and looked at the ground. " Sorry," I whispered. I put some space between us. " No, I'm sorry. I just made it awkward between us." She paused. " You know what's funny? Just days ago I hated you with every nerve in my body and today... we're engaged. How did that happen?" " I don't know. I guess we were just brought together by faith." I thought for a while. " Christal, what are we? Are we friends or more?" "I honestly don't know. I want to be friends but....we always end up having these moments that....make me feel so attracted to you that you don't even know!" She wouldn't meet my eyes. I watched a bird fly onto a nearby house. " Christal, why don't you just give into your temptations?" She giggled. " My temptations are....uh, not pg thirteen." I jerked my head toward her. She was red as an apple. A laugh erupted from me. " Well, mine aren't so pure either." She grinned but still wouldn't look at me. " Oh really?" " Yeah," I said walking closer to her. " Then tell me, Danny, what your temptations are." " Okay," I said, grabbing her hands. " I want to make sweet-" " Don't say love," she interrupted. " Why? Is it so wrong? I mean we are getting married soon. What do you expect we'll be doing on our honeymoon," I said. I stayed up most of the previous night thinking of Christal and what I could do to her. " Hey, don't think you'll get that lucky!" " Hey, don't think you'll get that lucky!" I joked. She laughed. " Okay, whatever. Carry on, Danny. What else do you want to do with me?" I kissed her finger tips. " After we make love, I want to make you mine. Forever." She pulled her hands away. " Daniel, there's a law forbidding us to be together." " Well, they won't know you're a street rat." " They'll find out, Danny." " They won't! And if they do, what could they do? We'll be king and queen by then!" my voice was getting whinny. " They'll persecute us," she said finally. I stared at her. " I don't care.....as long as I'm with you." " But, Daniel," she said sadly, looking up at me with sorrowful eyes. " I don't want to die." I reached for her hands but she moved them away so I couldn't see them. I stared in her eyes, instead." Not even with me by your side?" She lowered her head. " Daniel, I'm sorry.....I'm sorry for not loving as much as you do, I'm sorry for getting you in this mess, and I'm sorry I'm a street rat." Has she gone mad? I almost choked on my saliva. " What? Why are you sorry for those things?" " 'Cause they're all hurting you." " How? They're not!" I argued. " They are! I'm hurting you when I can't love you as much as you want me to. You're already talking about dying with me for God sakes! And I'm hurting you by getting you in this mess 'cause you don't want to get married, you don't want to see your dad but I'm forcing you for my selfish reason! And most of all" Her voice was getting quiet. " I'm sorry for being a street rat 'cause you can't get your happy ending 'cause this....world we live in....they don't want us to be together!" She paused. She got on her feet. " I'm sorry, Daniel." In a flash she was running away. I barely had time to stand up when she turned a corner. I ran with all my might and was able to see her a few yards away. I picked up the speed and there was a few feet between us. She turned a sudden corner. I was still able to catch up even though I slipped turning. I grabbed her by the shoulders and stopped her. She started fighting so I had to put her against a wall. She kicked the wall but then got tired and stopped moving all together. I turned her toward me. It took a few minutes to catch my breath. " Why did you run away?" " To stop harming you," she cried. " What about you're family?" I wondered. " I was gonna find a way to rescue them." I laughed for no reason at all. " Christal, you...you are so different and difficult!" She glared at me. I chuckled and laid my forehead against hers. " You hide your emotions. Why?" " I've done it for years. It's a habit." I shook my head. " You confuse me, you know. One moment you're smiling the next you're glaring." " Daniel, I'm trying to get you to hate me! You can't love me." " I think it's a little too late," I whispered. " You don't love me. You just.... like me a lot." " I don't know but I'm falling for you. Hard." She shook her head. " Stop then." " No. Stop trying to make me hate you because I can't." She pulled her head away and looked me in the eyes. " You're stubborn, you know?" " No, just when it involves you." She smiled and grabbed my face in her small hands. She pulled me close to her and kissed me softly on the lips. My heart pounded and my head felt so light. When she was about to pull away she bit me hard on the lip. I jerked away. " OW! Christal, what the hell?" She smiled slyly. " That's for calling me out." I woke up and stretched out on my king size bed. I've missed this bed so much! I then remembered Christal slept with me the night before. She wasn't there anymore. Where is she? I got up and ran to the door. I came face to face with her. We could have collided but I stopped inches away. She smiled. " That was close." I wrapped my arms around her waist. " Yeah, it was. Good morning." She touched my hair. " Morning." I picked her up and threw her on the bed. She giggled and sat up. I sat next to her. " Where were you?" " Um, your mom woke me up and wanted to talk." " About?" " You. Me. Us. The wedding." " Oh." I watched her play with her fingers. " So the wedding is today. You excited?" " Nervous," she whispered. " Why?" " Um." She turned red. " The honeymoon." I chuckled. " We don't have to do anything if you want." She gave me a mischievous look. " What do you want to do?" I smiled and got up. " I have to go see the tailor. Bye." She frowned. " Bye." I laughed to myself as I walked out the room. The tailor told me the day before to meet him in my fathers' room so I headed there. " Daniel?" a woman's voice rung in the hallway. I froze. The voice was familiar but I couldn't recall who it was. " What are you doing here? Did you come back for me?" I slowly turned around. " Dammit." Penelope stood in the middle of the hallway. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail and her beautiful face had light streaks starting from her eyes all the way across her cheeks. Has she been crying? She wore a long, powder blue dress that showed her figure. She took a step closer. " Why are you here, Daniel?" " Well, I'm getting married." Her eyes got big. " To who?" " Christal Manela." " The street rat?" she said with hatred. " She's not a street rat, she's from a village on the other side of the world." " What if she's lying?" " She's not." " How do I know you're not lying?" " Because I'm not." She took two steps closer. " How do I know?" " Penelope, I don't have time for this. Bye." I turned and walked down the hall. " Daniel, you can't marry her! She's your father's daughter!" " Penelope, just stop. I don't want to hear it!" " It's the truth." I kept walking down the hall and entered my father's room. The tailor immediately measured me and then handed me a plain suit. " You have grown since the last time I seen you, my prince. You've gotten more muscular." I politely thanked him and headed for the door. " Congratulations on your wedding," he added. I thanked him again. " Have you even given her a proposal ring?" I faced him. " Well, today's the wedding day. It'll be a waste of time to go and do it now." " I understand. Do you have your ring?" I nodded. " I chose it out yesterday." " Oh good." He smiled. I walked out the door and saw my father walking toward me. He already had his suit on. " Why don't you have your suit on? The wedding is starting in about ten minutes. You need to get dressed. Hurry, son." " Okay, but I have a question. What are you going to do with the street rats?" " Oh, I will just skip the betting. Why do you ask?" " Just wondering." He grinned. " Did you enjoy the betting yesterday before you interrupted?" " Errrr, yes." " Well, if you and your wife would like to see it continue then I can repost it." " Oh, no. That's not necessary." " Okay, son. Go get ready." He patted me on the back and entered his room. I quickly walked to my room and got ready. I came out the room and found a butler there. " Ruskle, right?" He nodded. " Yes, sir. Your father has commanded me to show you to your place where you'll be standing." " Okay." I let him lead the way. We went outside to the back of the palace where there was a big garden and a bunch of flat land. There was chairs in rows and a white carpet in the middle dividing the chairs in half. He took me to the front and told me to stay. I waited and noticed people were filling the chairs. They whispered to each other and the young women kept flashing me