Wura did not know why she allowed herself sink into his embrace but she did, and even though she regretted it, she could not lie that it felt so good to have someone hold her, someone comfort her, she had needed some comforting of her own ever since yesterday.
Mero sighed in relief as he felt Wura accept his embrace instead of pushing him away. All this time he had been afraid of her rejection and that was why he concluded not to see her, to give her some space, but he could not take it anymore.
He was suffering from guilt, from depression that he hurt someone who did not deserve to be hurt. All he wanted was that Nora forgive him, but he was not even sure if she could forgive him.
"Thank you." he said under his breath as Wura heard him loud and clear and she held him tighter.
"What are you doing here Mero?" she asked after she took a moment to get herself together and she broke their hug.
"I wanted to see you... no I needed to see you..." he said as Wura took a good look at his face, his eyes were red, it looked as if he had not slept in a while, he looked so pitiful and Wura wanted to comfort him, but she knew that she had to be strong.
"See me for what?" she asked as she took another step back, this was bad, if anyone suddenly came to see her and they saw Mero here in this state, it would look bad.
Almost everyone in the camp had heard of the end of Mero and Nora's relationship and speculations were going around as to why their relationship ended. The gossip was terrible and the rumours were dreadful.
Wura had heard from the maid that served her breakfast this morning that the popular talk among the workers was thoughts of who the other woman that caught Sir Mero's heart could be.
Wura felt her stomach tighten at news of that and she suddenly lost her appetite. If the truth was to come out that she, the queen was the other woman, all hell would break loose and she did not think that neither she or Mero would be able to survive that.
"Did Nora tell you what happened?" he asked.
"Of course she did... she rushed straight to me as soon as you did what you did." replied Wura in anger, she was still upset, her heart went out dearly for her friend.
"Do you know how bad you crushed her heart? She could barely control herself, her tears were endless." said Wura as Mero closed his eyes feeling even worse hearing Wura describing how terrible he made Nora feel.
"I know... I know, and I regret making her feel so bad." said Mero.
"You say that but your actions state otherwise. Nora is so distraught, so much so that I had to force her to take some days off work." said Wura.
"Wura believe me when I say that I never intended to hurt her." said Mero.
"Well that may be true, but you still did." said Wura as she sighed.
"This is why I did not want things to go this far, this is why I wanted to stay far away from you, this is why I wanted to hide my feelings from you, it is because of all this, we are intentionally hurting the people around us that we care about." said Wura.
"As much as I want to put the blame on you, it is both our fault. I am the other woman, and to make things worse I am even a married woman. Nora will never forgive me if she finds out." said Wura as she started feeling it was hard to breathe.
"You were right Wura... I apologize for not doing this sooner, for not ending things while they were still simple, but something I will not apologize for is loving you... because as much as I feel guilty and sorrowful for what pain I have caused Nora, this decision I have made makes it more clear to me the feelings that I have for you." said Mero.
"They are not superficial, they are not just a fleeting emotion for the moment, they are real, I love you Wura and if I have to face opposition for what I feel for you then I will. I just feel sorrowful that I have lost a very great friend and I have made a wonderful person cry." said Mero as he walked forward and held Wura's hands in his.
"Stop it Mero... please stop it, stop saying things like this. This is not about us right now. I do not think that my mind is in the right place to think about this right now, all I know is that whatever it is we feel for each other should be buried way deep inside never to surface again." said Wura as she sighed.
"Can you please promise me that?" she asked in desperation.
"I can promise you anything Wura, but not that... even if you do not like it, I will never stop loving you always." said Mero as Wura sighed and removed her hands from his.
"Look... can we... can we please talk about something else?" she asked him as he nodded.
"Have you seen Nora? Do you know how she is doing?" he asked.
"No, I have not seen her for fear that she will want to lie to herself and come back to work, but she is not doing well, yesterday she was a mess, and it hurts me greatly to see her that way." said Wura as she sighed and shook her head.
"I feel really terrible for not ending things sooner in a more gentle manner. She already had a feeling that my heart was with someone else due to my behaviour and that made telling her confirm her suspicions and she did not take it well at all." he said as he sighed.
"She told me that she loved me... and I... I broke her heart and told her that I loved someone else instantly." he said in guilt as he looked down.
"Oh Mero... I am so sorry, I am so sorry that it is my fault." said Wura as she walked to him and hugged him.
"It is not your fault, it is our fault." he said as Wura shook her head.
"Do you ever think that Nora could ever forgive me?" he asked genuinely.
"I know Nora well and she is not a malicious person, in fact, she does not allow anything or anyone hurt her, the difference here is that she loves you... she had already pictured a life with you and that fantasy has been destroyed, anyone would be distraught including me." said Wura as Mero winced hearing those hard but truthful words.
"But if I am being honest, it would be easy for her to forgive you, but not forget. Seeing you around will be difficult." she said.
"It will be difficult for me as well because I know that things will not be able to go back to normal." said Mero as he sighed.
"I want to go and see her and check on her and apologize." said Mero as Wura let go of him.
"I do not think that is a good idea, she cannot bear to see you right now." said Wura.
"But I really want to see her, I want to know how she is doing." he said with a sigh.
"Alright look, it is impossible for you to go and see her, not only will you look bad, but she will not appreciate the gesture no matter how sincere you are, so if you are that worried about her, I will go and see her, I am also very worried about her as well." said Wura.
"Alright... thank you Wura." said Mero.
"You do not have to thank me, Nora is my friend and she needs people around her right now." said Wura as Mero nodded.
"Mero, what do you think would happen if everyone found out about us?" asked Wura as Mero looked at her.
"I would defend your honour and your imagine if that was to ever happen." he replied as he took her right hand and kissed it.
"That is sweet of you to say Mero, but I doubt that anyone would believe you... besides, it would be treason of the highest order to Liam." said Wura as she sighed and Mero kissed her hand again.
"I do not think that you should worry yourself on what had not happened and what will never happen." he replied assuredly.
"It is better that we talk about this now rather than later, but you are right... how are you though?" she asked him as he let of her hand and sighed.
"I feel terrible." he replied as Wura just felt really bad for him, he seemed to be suffering more than she had imagined he would.