My fist hesitated to knock on the door. This was the correct address; I double-checked it twice. It took me a minute to summon up the courage to finally knock, but when I did it was quiet. The door opened soon after to reveal the same man as before. He was wearing more casual attire now. His face lit up a tad when he saw me standing in the doorway.
"Right on time. Please, come in," Loid stepped out of my way. "Thank you," I entered with the couple of full boxes in both my arms. "Did you have trouble finding the place?" He shut the door. The way he sounded was like he didn't really know what to say to me but was trying to be polite. I didn't know how much experience he had with women before. Not like I'm one to talk…
"U-Uh, no! It was fairly easy to find," it was not. "That's good," he said before scanning over my boxes. His face morphed to one of confusion. "Is that all you brought?" He continued. "Just for tonight; I left the less important stuff at home…. Er, my old apartment." "Hmmmm, we'll pick it up tomorrow. Come, give those to me," he took the boxes and turned to go down the main hallway. While I looked around the common area, he glanced at me from over his shoulder. "Follow me." I did as he instructed and let him lead me down the hall.
At the end of the hall was a big, empty bedroom. By how deserted it looked, you'd think no one ever lived in here before. He turned on the light and set my boxes down on the floor. "This is your room," Loid pronounced, much to my surprise. "It's awfully big," I uttered, glancing up and down. "It's the biggest bedroom," he confirmed, again to my astonishment. My head twirled in his direction baffled. "Really? B-But what about…. your room?" My hand rose up to my chest a little. His head lowered a tad. "I don't need a big room; I barely spend any time in there. I thought you might have more effects with you, so wanted to be sure you had the space to put them." "You did?" Blushing a tad, I went on studying the room. It was bare but spacy and warm. I noticed there was an extra blanket folded on the bed. When Loid caught me looking at it, he added: "Thought it might get too cold in here for you at night." "Thank you….." More blushing.
Loid showed me around the rest of the apartment, finally bringing me back to the common space. It was a small kitchen, dining room, and living room combined. It was very fancy and quite clean. Loid led me towards the dining room table. "Have you eaten yet?" "Uh, yes, thank you," that was a lie; I hadn't eaten since lunchtime, but I wasn't hungry in the slightest. I was too nervous to be hungry. He nodded and gestured to large, coloured piece of parchment on the table. It was written in Latin and already had his signature on it. "Sign this. It's our marriage certificate. Once it's signed, we'll legally be husband and wife," he explained, extending a pen out for me to take. I did and, after a minute of pure reluctance, signed away. Loid waited until the ink was dry to inspect it. Then he carefully tucked it away in a safe place in one of the cabinets.
"That's that; it's all settled. Your new documents should arrive any day now, but until then my contact has procured you some temporary passports." "Thank you," he's really thought of everything. I wonder how long he's been searching for a wife for. I was doubting less and less that he was actually going to kidnap me, instead being persuaded that this…. is real. The very idea made my heart start to flutter. Married…. We're legally married now. I'm a wife; as of five seconds ago, I'm a wife. This is all making my head so dizzy.
Loid watched me a moment, straightening up his back and shutting the cabinet door. I think all of this was starting to hit him too. He took two steps towards me and stopped in the middle of the living room carpet. It felt like he didn't know what to say to me, much less how to treat me now. What does one say in such a strange situation? I mean we're married, and we don't know a thing about each other. Two perfect strangers, chained together by the bonds of holy matrimony. Or legal matrimony anyway….
My "husband" shuffled his fingers a little. "Can you cook?" Well that's not what I was expecting him to ask, but then, I didn't know exactly what I expected him to ask to begin with. I nodded slightly. "A little….." "Good, then I'll leave the cooking to you. I think… we should keep this marriage fairly traditional…. for appearance's sake." My head nodded a second time. "That makes sense," wouldn't want the neighbours getting suspicious, even though we did sleep in separate bedrooms. But that could be explained away somehow…. I think.
A pregnant pause fell between us. Loid's posture stiffened a tad. "Well then, I'll leave you to get settled in. Don't hesitate to ask me should you need anything…." He didn't finish his sentence, and he didn't need to. I merely nodded- I did that a lot around him. He shut his eyes, clearing his throat. "I'll see you early in the morning. We'll discuss…. personal affairs tomorrow, such as your allowance and what not," he felt the need to tack on quickly, lest I wonder what these personal affairs were about. I said nothing, too shy to verbally reply. I was right; this WAS all happening so fast, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought so. My eyes drifted upwards where his gaze and mine met again. Our eyes locked and we merely stared at one another for a moment. Loid looked tense and was forced to regain control of the situation by clearing his throat once more.
"Make sure you get a good sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow." "Is it?" I couldn't imagine what he had in mind for tomorrow. He tore his eyes away from mine, as if my question embarrassed him. "Sleep well, Mrs. Forger." "M-Mrs. Forger?" I blushed; he's really not going to call me by my first name yet, despite being married? Still, "Mrs. Forger" had a nice ring to it. Loid relaxed his shoulders. "That's your name now, isn't it?" There was a hint of cute mocking in his tone- one I thoroughly enjoyed. I couldn't help but grin. "My name's Yor." And only then did his grin return. It wasn't a smile, but it was as close to it as he came. "It's a bit too soon for that, wouldn't you say? Until I've known you for more than a day, your name is Mrs. Forger…..
Mrs. Forger."
