Chapter 3
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Two bus rides, four hitchhiking stops, and one long walk. Not much sleep was had by anyone but they were finally at their last stop before Tamaran.
"A boat?" Kory questioned as they began to board the ship. "Now I'm not a strong swimmer so I hope you didn't mess up our boarding passes." She said playfully.
"I assure you, you can't mess up paying in cash." Richard informed her as he helped her onto the ship.
The boat began to sail and Kory ran to the edge, eagerly staring out at the sea. It's been quite an adventure, but at this time tomorrow she would be in Tamaranm, meeting the King. Her anxiousness slowly turned into uncertainty as she let out a sigh.
Richard could see she was troubled and hoped he had what it took to cheer her up as he approached her with a box. He cleared his throat to get her attention and as she turned towards him he opened the box. "Just a little something for tomorrow." He smiled as she looked inside.
"It's beautiful." She said in awe.
"Go ahead, try it on." He told her, handing her the box.
Kory took it and ran to their room; the gift didn't take away the nerves she had but it did help with them. Kory put on the beautiful pink dress and danced around a bit. She never got to wear anything like this at the orphanage, and it was nice to finally take off her old overalls she had been wearing for the entirety of this journey. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled before she slowly undid her braided pigtails, letting her red curly hair fall free.
Richard and Victor leaned against the ships railing as they waited for Kory. "How long does it take to put on a dress?" Richard huffed.
"Man, you don't know women." Victor teased before elbowing Richard as Kory slowly walked up the steps to the balcony. She was hesitant and shy, yet eager to show her friends her attire. "Well, would you look at that." Victor spoke approaching her. "Richard, doesn't she look amazing?" He said gesturing to Kory as she spun around.
Richard stood there his mouth agape as he stared at the girl before him. "You… you look very beautiful." He managed to say as a blush rose on her cheeks.
"Okay Kory, time for your last bit of training." Victor informed her as he pressed a button on a music player.
"Oh this will be fun, I have two left feet." Kory joked as Richard smiled and took her hand.
"You'll do fine, just let me lead." He told her as Victor slowly guided her on what to do as they slowly began to dance. But the thing about dancing is that it's easy to get lost in it and Victor quickly found he wasn't needed anymore as he slowly backed up and let the couple do their thing.
Eye contact was never lost as the pair danced and even though they were on a ship full of working men it oddly felt like they were the only two on it. Victor watched them and smiled, knowing quite well they were falling for one another.
The music stopped as did the couple dancing but even though their feet had stopped moving they found that they were still in each other's arms. Richard was just so lost in those big green eyes that he couldn't find it in himself to look away, even as they closed and his face grew closer to hers. But he stopped himself as reality came back to him.
He quickly pulled away and smiled nervously, "It's getting late, and we have a big day tomorrow." He told her as he scratched the back of his neck uneasily.
"Oh, right." She found herself saying before they parted ways.
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That night Richard found it very difficult to sleep as he found himself tossing and turning on his cot. What was he doing, he couldn't fall for her? She was their ticket to freedom; convince the King she was his long lost daughter, collect the reward and be free of all worries. But that was easier said than done.
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