"Why are you so sad my love?" asked Liam as Wura held onto him tightly and she hugged him as Liam knew that she was sad, but this reaction of hers was surprising to him to say the least, he did not know that she would react like this.
"Because… because, once we reach the first city, you are going to go to the witch, and then you will find your wife" said Wura as she cried, she knew that it would be his fake wife that he would find, if there was anything that Mero had taught her, it would to be negative.
She would not be naïve to think that things would work in her favour, she was not sure of that.
"And you will find your husband my love, we would both be happy" said Liam as Wura cried even more, he said find her husband, she already found him, and he was right here in front of her, and yet he did not know it at all, it just killed her.
"It will not be the same, I will not be happy, I am only happy with you" said Wura as she cried, she could not bear to lose him again, no not again, the last time she lost him, she could not sleep, or eat or smile, and if she was to lose him again, she would rather die than to not have him by her side.
Liam could not bear to see Wura liked this, her tears moved him more than he could imagine, her cries, he could tell that they were laced with pain, with so much pain and suffering, he was not sure if it was for him, or her husband, he was not sure of that.
"But my love, we both know that this day would come, and that in the end, we would both have to part ways, and that is why we agreed to live in the moment and see where what we feel for each other takes us" aid Liam as he rubbed Wura's back, he wanted her to calm down.
"Well I do not want this day to come, because I do not want you to leave me again, please do not leave me Liam, I beg you, please do not leave me" said Wura as she cried, she did not know why she was crying so much, maybe it was a resort of all the tears she had kept back when she lost him, and now, she was pouring them all out while he was here with her.
"But I am not leaving you my love" said Liam as he allowed Wura to cry everything out, he could tell that she needed it dearly.
"But you are going to leave me" said Wura as she cried even more.
"Wura look at me" said Liam as Wura just kept on crying.
"Please look at me Wura" said Liam as Wura looked up at his face as he caressed her right cheek with his hand.
"I love you, I love you so much, please have no doubt about that in your mind" said Liam as Wura sniffed.
"I also feel the way that you feel, I do not want to leave you, not at all" said Liam.
"But I also do not want to feel as if I did not try, as if I gave up too easily while looking for my wife" said Liam.
"I have thought about it, I have thought about just you and me, starting a life together, doing the right thing, in the right way" said Liam.
"Because my wife does not deserve this, and you do not deserve this at all, you deserve respect, and a man who is completely serious, and dedicated to you" said Liam as Wura stopped crying as she listened to him.
"The reason I still want to go and see the witch is because I want to know the truth, I want to find out who I truly am, and where my wife is all of that" said Liam.
"And if after I see her, I still cannot find all the answers, I do not want it to seem like I am using you as a second option, because you are worth more than that, you deserve to be happy, it would be selfish of me to just keep you by my side, you are your own person" said Liam.
"But I am happy when I am with you" said Wura as she replied and she sniffed and Liam wiped away her tears.
"I am also happy with you Wura, but do you no longer love your husband?" asked Liam as he smiled, if he was being truthful, he did not want he and Wura to end up having to part ways, he felt like his heart would break, he wanted them to remain together forever.
But another part of him wanted to seek out the truth, he would never be able to live his life peacefully if he did not get the truth, and nothing but the truth.
"I love him and I love you Liam, I love you more than him" said Wura as she replied, she loved him more and more every day, he was hers, and she was his.
"If I speak the truth, I love you as well, so much, with my whole heart, and that is why I do not want you to suffer" said Liam.
"But you leaving me right now, is already making me suffer" said Wura as she sniffed and she cupped Liam's face in her hands.
"Listen to me Liam, I do not want to lose you, not at all, I do not think that I can ever bear it if I lose you" said Wura as Liam smiled at her.
"And I do not want to lose you as well Wura" said Liam as he smiled.
"But we are not just in a fairytale, this is real life, and we have to consider the feelings of others, and not just ourselves" said Liam.
"I do not want to be selfish my love, far from it, I want everyone to be at peace" said Liam as Wura sniffed.
"I can just imagine my wife at home, worried sick, crying many tears, wondering where I am" said Liam as Wura smiled at him, another thing that she loved about him, he was always so thoughtful, always considering others before himself.
And yes, he was right, she was worried sick, she did cry many tears, and she did wonder where he was, but the only difference was that she did not just stay back home and do nothing, she came out here to find him, and she did find him, she did not want to lose him again.
"You are always so thoughtful, so selfless…" said Wura as she smiled at him and Liam smiled at her.
"I do not think that I am, but yes, I do consider everyone else's feelings" said Liam as he smiled and Wura smiled at him.
"And because of that, I will not be selfish, I do not want to keep you back from finding the truth" said Wura as she smiled, she realized that she had no right to stop him from trying to find the truth, not when she did not tell him the truth out of fear of rejection.
"I agree with you, you should go and meet the witch, see what she tells you" said Wura as she sniffed, she realized now that she could not always be negative, that was not how life was, not everything was bad, maybe the witch would be able to undo the enchantment in Liam's eyes.
Because what Wura believed was that no matter how much she told Liam the truth, he would be unable to believe her, she did not think that enchantment in his eyes was just there for nothing, that was part of her fear as well, him not believing her.
"Thank you my love, thank you for being so understanding" said Liam as he smiled, he was relieved that Wura agreed for him to go and see the witch.
"Do not thank me, it is the least that I can do" said Wura as she sniffed and she smiled as she gave Liam a slow, tender, delicate kiss, as if she was savouring the moment, making him know just how much she loved him, and how hard it was for her to allow him to go when she was uncertain of the outcome.
Wura pulled away as Liam could see the pain in her eyes, it was still there, but she just held onto him.
"Can we stay here a little longer?" asked Wura as she smiled.
"Of course my love, we will do whatever you want to do" said Liam as he smiled and he kissed the side of Wura's temple as she smiled and she turned around to look at the river, It was so peaceful and quiet, unlike her heart.
Silence reigned between Liam and Wura, the good kind of silence that meant acceptance and coming to terms with what was happening right now.
"Liam" called Wura as she broke the silence and she looked at him.
"Yes my darling, what is it?" asked Liam as he smiled and Wura felt her heart race, she did not know why she felt like she had to tell him the truth now, she felt like she should just spill out everything and just tell him their story that she was his wife.
"Nothing… I love you" said Wura as she decided not to go ahead with it, she did not want to ruin this peaceful moment between them with something that would make Liam distance himself away from her.
"I love you as well Wura" said Liam as he smiled and he gave her a kiss.
"How long should we stay here?" asked Liam as he smiled.
"Hmm, I do not know" said Wura as she was not sure, and honestly, she did not want them to leave him position, him hugging her tightly, she did not want this night to end.
"We can stay here till morning if you want, I doubt anyone would notice that we are gone" said Liam as he smiled.
"Alright then, let us stay here till morning" said Wura as she smiled.
"Just like this?" asked Liam with a smile.
"Just like this" said Wura with a smile as she nestled in closer to him and she could hear his heartbeat, which was like music to her ears.
"Liam… I… I want us to be together" said Wura as she felt like she had to.
"But we are already together my love" said Liam as he laughed and he pinched her nose.
"Not in this way, but in the other way, we should…" said Wura as Liam cut her off.
"Not now my love, I do not want to force you into anything" said Liam as he smiled, he did not want her to give herself to him in this state, she would be doing it out of desperation, and not true love.
"But I…" said Wura as she was cut off once again.
"But nothing love, you do not deserve to be taken advantage of, you do not have to do what you are not sure of" said Liam.
"But I am sure of this" said Wura as Liam laughed.
"We do not need to rush into anything love, you should sleep now, it is late" said Liam as he smiled, he did not want to take advantage of her.
"So you will not do it with me?" asked Wura as Liam laughed.
"Sleep my love" said Liam as he smiled.
"You do know that I am not a child right? I know what I want, and I want you" said Wura as Liam smiled and he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Even adults can be denied things that are not good for them" said Liam with a smile.
"You are unfair Liam, we should do it, I want us to" said Wura.
"It is not the right time Wura, not until everything is settled" said Liam as he smiled.
"You are annoying" said Wura as she groaned.
"And you are cute when you act like a child" said Liam as he laughed and Wura scoffed.
"Sleep, or do you want me to sing you to sleep" said Liam as he laughed.
"No, I am not a child, I will go to sleep on my own" said Wura as she closed her eyes and Liam chuckled, he loved her so much.
…
The next day.
"Darla, the census had ended, I heard the trumpet yesterday when Lily, Liam, Nora and I were in the market" said Malcom as Darla got out of bed as she stood on her two feet for the first time in a long time.
"Well then, that is great news, it means that Liam can finally go and meet the witch, and you do not have to worry about me, my foot is fine" said Darla as she smiled.
"True, true, but I guess that you know about Lily and Liam already" said Malcom.
"It is obvious" said Darla.
"Do you not think that we should do something to interfere?" asked Malcom.
"No, do not interfere at all, it is up to Lily to decide what she wants to do, imagine if we interfere and everything turns around, then we will be the one to blame, it is best that we stay out of it, and I warn you Malcom" said Darla.
"I hear you Darla, and I will not interfere at all" said Malcom.
"Good, go and tell the others that we will leave for the first city first thing tomorrow, my foot is finally healed" said Darla with a smile.
"Alright Darla" said Malcom as he turned around and he walked out of Darla's room, meanwhile Darla had something else on her mind, or rather someone else, and that was Elihu, he had not come to see her like he usually did after what happened between them, she did not know if she wanted to see him or not.