Chapter Thirty-eight

Athena's POV

Food.

Two newly-served lamp chops with mash potatoes on the side and a bottle of red wine. One scented candle has been lighted up—vanishing the darkness. I walk closer toward the table, inhaling the scent. As I do, I feel something cold touches my chest area and around my neck; causing me to turn my head sideways.

Alex's face inches away from mine as he put on the necklace before slowly running both of his hands on my shoulders and down to my elbows. I bite my lower lip, preventing myself from shivering. He turns me around and as I turn around, I immediately meet my figure in the mirror on the wall.

The marquise diamonds bloom like exquisite flowers. The platinum with marquise and round brilliant diamond, shining brightly as the lightning strikes. My eyes blink in confusion, why is he giving me this? I swallow the lump in my throat, looking back at him—seeing that he's staring at me, ''Alex—'' I call out his name but;

He cuts me off by pointing at the food, ''I called room service and ordered this. I don't really know what you like.'' He says, pulling out my seat and I sigh before sitting down—eyeing his every action. My eyes follow as he sits in front of me, the table in between.

We stay in utter silence and I see him clenching his jaw in the dark—with only the candle giving me a better vision. I touch the necklace as I look down, feeling the material, ''Alex, what's all this?'' I ask him, frowning.

The way he's looking at me. It's like he's hiding something or more like wanting to say something. I continue to stare at him and he just does the same. I hear him sigh softly without an answer so I decide to continue, ''I can't take this.'' As I was about to take the necklace off, he quickly stands up and crouch beside me, stopping me from doing so.

He holds both of my wrists, pulling them back down and putting them on my lap, ''It's yours.'' I see him eyeing the necklace, ''You have to take it. If you don't like it then it doesn't matter, I will get you a new one but if you don't want it, at least, please, wear it for tonight.'' His voice low and taunting.

Turning our hands around, he slowly entwine our fingers together. I look down, feeling my cheeks heat up. Luckily, we're in the dark so it's not that noticeable. My heartbeat continues to raise—not even slowing down a little bit. I didn't realise I was frowning and staring at the ground; not until he lifts my chin up, ''Hey, look at me.'' Our eyes meet, ''I know this is unusual for me to act this way but I just felt like it. Whatever happens, you're keeping everything that I give you, you're taking it with you.'' I feel him playing with my wedding ring, ''It's yours now.''

''But you know how I can't accept—''

He cuts me off again by putting his index finger on my lips, ''Can you please stop being stubborn and just accept it for once or at least for the next few months?'' I keep quiet, only listening to the sound of us breathing.

Alex lifts my hand up before pecking at the back of it, making my eyes widen in surprise. I awkwardly tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, trying to wake up from this dream. Am I even dreaming or am I hallucinating? If this is a dream then please, let me wake up. If I'm hallucinating, let me face reality.

''I want you to tell you something. Something that I think you should know. I've been keeping it for a few weeks and I just can't keep it to myself anymore. I don't know how you're going to react after this but trust me, everything is still normal; even though when I'm saying or doing things that are not.'' He breathes out, nodding his head slightly, ''I like you.''

My body goes ice cold, freezing my entire body. My mind feels corrupted and somehow, my organs are damaged. Blinking a few times, I try to seek for lies in his eyes but there are none. Only the same blue eyes that I see almost every single day. My lips curve up into a grin before laughing unknowingly and shaking my head, ''Y—you're kidding.'' I stutter.

''I'm not.''

I lift my head up, letting out breathy laughs, ''Yes you are. You're kidding.'' I run my hands on my temples, rubbing them before looking back down—somehow feeling my heart beating so fast that it could explode from my rib cage.

He cups my face, stopping me from shaking my head as he just stare into my eyes. I close my eyes, not wanting to look into his any longer, ''Princess, open your eyes. Look at me.'' He mutters under his breath, ''I don't play around when I like someone. It's not a joke. Liking or loving someone isn't a joke to me. It's something that I take seriously.''

I breathe out, looking everywhere but him, ''You're insane.''

''Yeah, I'm insane.'' He nods, his lips curving up into a smile before chuckling softly, ''I'm insane and I can't change that. I'm insane and I like you.'' The way he speaks, the way he's looking at me, the way he acts whenever he's around me. ''I like you, why is it so hard for you to believe?''

''Because look at you.'' I reply, my voice almost inaudible. We're like two different things. He's the sky and I'm just a piece of paper; flying around, wandering. We could never collide. It's impossible for us to meet but then again, look at us now. We're married, even.

''No, look at you. You want to know why I like you?'' He sits a bit higher so that our height would be the same, ''It's because you're you. You are who you are. At first, I thought it was your beauty that hypnotises me, I mean, yeah it does but it's much more than just your beauty. It's your personality, your character, yo-your-it's you...''

''Alex, you're just confused.'' I say. Or am I the one confused? I don't get this. Any of this.

He sighs, clenching his jaw before running his fingers through his hair, ''I'm not confused. I'm sober and I'm here. I'm here and I'm telling you how I feel toward you. You're not like anyone I've ever met. You're different, you're casual, you're strong. You're how I want my girl to be. Is that not enough convincing for you?''

Alex lets go of my face, ''I don't want you to say anything. I don't want to hear it because I don't want you to feel pressured on telling me about how you feel. I want you to be sure of yourself then you can go ahead and tell me what you feel.''

He leans in, brushing our lips slowly as he cups my face again. As soon as our lips meet, I return the kiss—just with the same rhythm. How long have I been missing for his kisses? My hands move up to wrap around his neck; pulling him closer. We both hold our breaths in, not wanting to break the kiss, somehow afraid that if we take one step back, we won't be able to step forward.

I tilt my head to the side, making it easier for him to kiss my lips. He licks my lower lip and I open my mouth to let him in. We kiss endlessly, passionately and softly. I pull back slightly to breathe in and all he does is just continuing to lean in—wanting more.

Playing with the tips of his hair, he deepens the kiss—teasing me by biting a few times on my lower lip before kissing me back shortly. Without me noticing, he picks me up and I wrap my legs around his torso as he places me on the table, carefully not hitting the food or the candle.

We continue to kiss. After what felt like hours, I pull away but soon rest my forehead on top of his. My eyes are focusing on his lips; that are now swollen and bright red in colour. He pecks one last time on my lips before backing away slightly, eyeing my face.

Looks like we're two steps ahead.

Right now, we are standing in front of the Taj Mahal, examining the mausoleum. Alex is just a few steps away from me as he take pictures using his camera with full of interest. I turn around, seeing tourists talking and enjoying the view of Taj Mahal.

A few answered yes while the other population said no. I for one just keep quiet, not uttering a single word. ''A few of you doesn't exactly know about the Taj Mahal. Well, I'm here to tell you the facts and the purpose of making the mausoleum.'' He nods at everyone, ''Let's get started, shall we?''

''Okay, so, it is estimated to have taken more than 22,000 people to build this impressive building including labourers, painters, stone-cutters, embroidery artists, and many others. According to legend it is believed that Emperor Shah Jahan had planned to construct another Taj Mahal in black marble on the other side of the river but the war with his sons interrupted his plans.''

''The Taj Mahal takes on different colouring at different times of the day, from a pinkish hue in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden at night when lit by the moon. They say the changing colour resembles the changing mood of females—in particular the Emperor's queen.'' He says and his eyes stop at me but only to smile. I turn to look around, seeing that there's no one else behind me. I smile back; in a friendly way.

''Built in memory of the Emperors third and most favourite wife Mumtāz Mahal. It is said that the death so crushed the Emperor that all his hair and beard were said to have grown snow white within just a few months. The four sides of the Taj Mahal are perfectly identical creating an astonishingly mirrored image on each side. It uses the principles of self-replicating geometry and symmetry of architectural elements. The Taj Mahal is surrounded by significant gardens and a number of other buildings including a mosque and guest houses which make up the 17 hectares of land within the complex walls.''

He lifts his index finger up, ''Oh ah, before I forget, the full height of the Taj Mahal is 171 metres around 561 feet tops. More than 1,000 elephants were employed to transport the construction materials used to build the Taj. Many precious stones were ripped off from its walls by the British during the Indian rebellion of 1857.'' Then he gestures us to follow him to the other side, walking down the hall. I take my time to enjoy the view—the marble walls.

Within a few minutes, we came into the Taj Mahal mosque just a few feet away from us. He stops in the middle, just a few feet away from the entrance, ''Enhancing the already present splendor of the Taj Mahal is a building that stands on the western side of it, a Mosque made up of red sandstone. It serves two purposes, first, it was obligatory according to the Muslim law for each mausoleum to have a place of worship nearby; second, the mosque and a mirror image of the mosque, a guest house that stands on the opposite side of it, together provide a perfect symmetrical balance to the architecture of whole of Taj Mahal.''

''Where was I...'' He pretends to think before pointing at a kid nearby.

''You were talking about the perfect symmetrical balance to the architecture of whole of Taj Mahal.'' The kid answers, receiving claps from the other tourists. My lips curve up into a smile as I see the kid is around ten years old. How did he get in anyway?

''You've been listening, that's good. Okay, used for prayer purpose, the mosque faces the direction of the holy city of Mecca and is believed to have been built by Isa Mohammad. The exterior possesses one dominant portal known as an Iwan and on either side of it are two smaller arches. Three marble coated domes and four little domed kiosks with marble veneer make up for the splendid visuals of the mosque, a design that is similar to others built by Shah Jahan, particularly to his Masjid-Jahan Numa, or Jama Masjid, Delhi.'' He continues.

''The interiors host an elegantly designed floor that is made up of a material that appears to be velvet red in shade and is in the shape of clearly defined prayer mats, 569 prayer mats in total.'' He points at the front door, ''However, the main feature of the mosque that distinguishes it from the opposite structure of the guest house is the presence of Mihrab and Minbar. The Mihrab is an indented enclosure that indicates the direction of Mecca and the direction which the Muslims face to perform their prayers or salat. The place from where the Imam delivers a speech is known as Minbar and is always positioned to the right hand side of the Mihrab and consists of three steps to a flat platform.''

''Additionally, there lies a small stone enclosed space of 19 feet by 6.5 feet, which had served as a temporary grave where the remains of Mumtaz Mahal were kept for some time when they were first brought to Agra, until they finally found an eternal place of rest inside the beautiful mausoleum built in her precious memory.'' He nods and everyone starts to whisper something to one another, leaving me just staring at the mosque without saying anything, ''This enclosure is located along the western boundary wall that also houses the well of the mosque.''

''We're moving on to—'' I turn around, walking back in before going to the other side, meeting the exit door. Meeting the sunlight once more, I move further away to look around for Alex. My eyes wander around to look for his figure but I don't see him anywhere. Sighing, oh boy, I shouldn't have went inside without him.

Maybe he's inside.

As I turn around, I bump into a hard surface and I groan immediately before backing away, ''Ow, what the hell.'' I mutter under my breath. Opening my eyes as I rub onto my nose, I see Alex looking at me in confusion, ''You?'' I roll my eyes, ''What was that for?''

''You were too blind to even see me standing here.'' He smirks.

''You weren't even there earlier.'' I point out and shaking my head in denial, ''Whatever, where were you?'' I ask, crossing my arms—seeing that he's still holding his camera with a sling bag around his broad shoulder.

''The main question is, princess. Where were you?'' He leans in before dapping onto my nose and backing away a little; picking the camera up and focusing onto my face. My eyes widen as he quickly snaps a few pictures, making me groan and pushing him away.

''Stop.'' I groan, covering the camera. He ignores me as he just continue to snap pictures of me. Getting frustrated, I turn around—facing the other way but he follows me; making me glare at him endlessly but he just takes more and more.

''Alex, stop it or I'll freaking throw it on the ground.'' I shout a bit loud but not loud enough for the whole population to hear. I turn around to look somewhere else and when I did, I see a familiar figure laughing and walking with someone. My eyebrows furrow as I focus; seeing the familiar hair colour.

Alex chuckles beside me but once he realise that I'm not forcing him anymore, his laughter dies and he drops his camera to his abdomen level. I turn to see Alex looking at who I'm looking. As soon as I turn to look back at the familiar man, his eyes widen and I copy him.

''No shit Sherlock.'' I mutter under my breath.