|Marry Me.|
Unknown to her, Duke continued to watch her from the periphery of his eyes and without intending to, his thoughts drifted back leading him back to that kiss. An unconscious smile carved his lips upwards but even as he did so, the skin of his cheek stung inciting his hand and his well manicured fingers to rise up and cradle the still flaming cheek in the curve if his palm. Slowly, Malisha's eyes followed the movement glinting as she smiled behind the cover of the book she was reading. For a moment, their eyes rocked and in that instant Duke's heart swelled, filled with positive emotions that cemented the simple fact that he had always known since he was a just boy. Since he had been old enough to recognize that the sour faced girl had caught his fancy.
He had never been able to bully her and he knew that she was crazy. Crazy yes, but not in a bad way. She was passionate also, passionate for her beliefs and many times that came out as being intense but he totally got her, or he liked to think that he did. A lot had happened since those days back then. A lot had changed. However and to him, she was still that sour faced girl next door - minus the ponytails and the hazel eyed beauty who had also stolen his heart long before she had even known it. She was his first love, his only love for as long as she was around his heart could not love another and in this madness it had led him to do many crazy things some of which he already regretted and was paying for even then.
She was great for him or so his mother told him, which he quick to deny in the spirit of keeping his little crush a secret. He could not allow himself to think about it. It was too painful and it always drove him to do insane him that hurt him and all others that were unfortunate enough to stand beside him. Worse of all, it made him rash out. As his frustrations continued to chew on him it brought misery to himself and most of all the subject of his affections whom he sought out and antagonised. It was juvenile and he knew it. However Duke somehow convinced himself that if he appeared to bully her, Malisha would act in realization and somehow their relationship would go back to the way it used to be. It did not work that way but instead his little games caused her to loathe him, a fact that he was only too aware of, even the murderous intentions that flooded her mind every time she set her eyes on him. Others couldn't see it, but he always did. It was in the way that her fists clenched, or the way her lips once full thinned out into a narrow line, or that unmistakable glint in her hazel orbs that always spoke of so much anger and so much hatred and a murderous intent lurking deep beneath a seemingly cool and polished facade.
"I have to fix this!" The man thought as he turned his attention back to her boy, the little boy who was already halfway through his puzzle and without his help. "Wow! Thomas! How did you do that?" he gaped only to have the the boy look back at him grinning before adding yet another piece for good measure. "The little rascal!" Duke smiled, careful to keep those thoughts to himself. As he now found out, the boy was as obnoxious and as impertinent as his mother, but he would never speak those words aloud. That would only work to attract the wrath of his ever vengeful mother who always seemed to have a thing or two to say against his own crazy way of doing things. The boy was cute too, which probably made it easier to overlook any indiscretions on his part. Cute as he was, this however did not change the fact that he was as zany, if not zanier than his mother whose attention was back on them.
It must have been expression. The silly look of surprise plastered on his face for she only gave him one look and burst out laughing, a thing that seemed to surprise him more and add to her laughter. Quickly surprise gave way to warmth. A warmth of spirit that caused Duke's own smile to grow. His heart in his own chest fluttered as the sound of her mirth took his lisp away.
It had been so long since he had heard that sound. Her laughter, the sound of joy singing in her own unique tune, and it changed her. It took away her normally severe looks that usually resembled that of an agent of vengeance transforming them and her into an ethereal beauty, an angel of light that would soon shine upon a weary heart.
And it did for it seemed to calm her more than her book had done and not just that, it softened her features way after the laughter had ceased, changing them to resemble those he had once known filled with innocence and with joy of a soul that was not yet broken by the ugliness of this life. More than that, it brought back memories. Beautiful memories of a time. Memories that reminded him of other reasons why he fell in love with her. It reminded him of what they had lost, of what had been broken and it also made him realise the lengths he was ready to go to in order to get back what they once had.
As Malisha reburied herself and got lost in her book world of make believe and fictional characters, Duke sat back and took to staring at her too afraid to disrupt her newly found calm. He took in her features that were now the most docile he had ever seen her since those days back almost twelve years ago. As he continued to drink in her appearance he took in her almost cat-like hazel eyes that were also huge and with long thick lashes black as the dark curly mop that framed a small oval face. Her lips were luscious and were usually tan but now pink probably from that kiss or the biting as she concentrated on reading. Either that or she had on a thin layer of lipstick or lipgloss, he could not tell which as he licked his own lips to try and tell the flavor. Her skin was clear. A dark clear olive shade that covered the entirity of a curvacious body covered in blue jeans and a tan sweater. On her small and delicate ears were emerald studs encrusted in yellow gold and apart from those,there was no other form of jewelry he could see on her person other than a golden anklet on her left bare foot. Her nails, both of her hands and feet were painted pink, and the curly mop on her head was so unruly it seemed to compliment her even as it mirrored her very own wilder personality and the dramatic afternoon.
"Malisha," he said as finally gathered the courage to call out. A wild thought had just popped up in his mind and he was not willing to let it go. The woman lifted up her eyes from her reading and scowled at him assumably irritated by his untimely interruption.
"What?" she snapped.
"Back to being hostile I see..." Duke drawled out unable to control the urge.
"When were we ever friendly?" she replied, narrowing her catlike eyes at him as if daring him to retort. However, Duke had other plans in his mind and even though he had seemingly crapped on her already fragile moods, that did not deter him from opening his mouth and speaking his mind like he had always been trained to do.
"Will you Marry me?" At first, Malisha's jaw dropped as she turned to look at the young man before her confused. He had now left the sanctuary of the play circle and veered out into her territory, before dropping down onto one knee and proposing to her.
" Is he for real?" she thought as she reaching out to her inner voice. It was a rare occasion but desperate times did really call for desperate measures.
"Nah, you must have hit him too hard or something." The voice replied and Malisha burst out laughing.
"Duke, I know you're crazy, but this... This is insane! " She said gesturing at his awkward position on her mat.
"I am very serious, Malisha." He responded not bothering to dignify her other accusations with an answer. Malisha just kept on smiling, laughing at the madness as endless possibilities flooded her mind. That is until her gaze landed on his eyes and the smile was wiped off completely as all colour draining from her face.
They say that eyes are the windows to the soul and if you look closely enough, you can find all your answers there. That afternoon, Malisha discovered exactly that.
The man that was before her, whom she had once thought to be joking was actually dead serious. As a result, the situation escalated from crazy and extremely humourous, to just plain crazy in a matter of seconds.
"Marriage?" the woman stuttered, her voice so small as she struggled hard to regain her powers of speech.
"Marriage." He confirmed her words with a most determined look on his face.
"You definately hit him too hard!" Her inner voice quipped right on que, but this time Malisha protested clearly not amused.
"Shut up! It's no longer funny! Can't you see?"
"From where I am standing, no. I also don't have a voice, so it's all on you."
"Yet you manage to bug me everyday."
"All your fault for wishing me into existence."
"How exactly did I do that?" she cried out outraged.
"And you call him crazy?"
"Just shut up!" Malisha responded before turning back to face the waiting man. By then, their ruckus had drawn Thomas' attention to them and he looked up from his puzzle with a questioning look in his eyes, but the woman ignored him.
"Bad idea."
"Shut up!"
And of course her inner voice was right. It was a terrible idea to ignore Thomas. Not only did this push his inquisitive nature, but it also meant that he would not relent until he got the answers that he sort after and because of that, he put off the puzzle he had been joining and joined the odd couple by his mother's bed.
"Mummy? Are you going to marry the nice gentleman?"