Was she panicked? Of course, she was!
How could Arsia act normally after knowing that she would marry an old man?
No!
Salim wasn't just old! That man was at least 402 years older than her. At least! For God's sake, he was a man from history!
Okay... There was nothing physically wrong with Salim. He looked like a normal young man in 2019.
No, no...
Salim was above the average! That man was handsome, tall, his blond hair and chartreuse green eyes were charming, his appearance was so well groomed, and his face was very aristocratic. Arsia admitted that Salim was so attractive. With all the physical features that Salim had, under normal circumstances, Arsia wouldn't refuse to marry that man.
'But he said he's from 1617!', Arsia repeated in her head.
How could a 20-year-old girl like her marry someone from 1617? Just imagining it was enough to make Arsia so pale in short.
"Of all the things I've said you just focused on that?" Salim asked. His expression was dulled and his voice sounded deep.
It was Salim's voice that told Arsia that Salim was offended by her words just now. But she didn't care about it. Her words were true, according to reality. At least Salim was lucky because Arsia didn't think he was a fossil.
"Then I should focus on what else?!" Arsia was about to be
hysterical.
No one spoke there afterward. Arsia needed to take a breath to face all this madness. She turned her back from Salim. While there was nothing Salim could do besides looking at her back and giving a space for Arsia to calm down.
Before long, Arsia turned her body toward Salim again. Defensively she approached that man. A pair of her eyes move furiously when staring at Salim.
"There is a time portal in this house? Okay, I can take it. You're from the Ottoman Empire? Okay, I can take it too. But marrying you?"
Arsia immediately raised both hands to cover her face. This was the first time Arsia felt so under pressure. There was something inside her that wanted to explode but couldn't get it out. Then Arsia threw both hands out of her face harshly. Her eyes looked at Salim.
"My parents are underprivileged, you know? I'm here because I'm a scholarship awardee. Not because I'm clever but because I'm lucky. I'm not as smart as my other friends. All this time I desperately trying to be able to finish my study on time. If I don't marry you, I will be deported and I have to give up all of my efforts and let them be trash. If I marry you, it means there will be a mark in my life that I can't erase forever. Then what did you say? Why am I just focusing on this? You dragged me into this disaster! Am I the one who is supposed to think about you?!" Arsia spilled all her feeling with a trembling voice holding back her tears.
Arsia should be calmed down by now after saying all of her feelings. Unfortunately, she couldn't. What she had just said only released a small piece of the burden that she felt. Maybe it was like a little stone rolling off the top of a volcano. Arsia was so upset but more than that, she was worried about her future.
Arsia threw her face away from Salim. "Maybe if you say you're a trouble maker, I could accept it," she said, wiping away the tears that started to form in her eyes using the back of her hand. "But I see it myself, how the post box is there," she continued with irony.
Salim listened to all Arsia's words in silence. Arsia wasn't insulting him or calling him an old man anymore. But why did Salim feel something broken inside him? He couldn't even get his eyes off of Arsia. It was as if Salim was being cursed to witness Arsia's grief with his own eyes for already dragging that girl into this mess.
'Hearing her saying that I'm an old man didn't even worse than this', Salim thought.
"Arsia, I'm sorry for all this," Salim said without hiding his regret. "I should have anticipated that Yıldıray would trick you like this. If only I could get you out of this situation without harming you or us--"
"I have no business with you!" Arsia interrupted Salim's words in a temper. "We just met today! You don't have to drag me this far, do you? Oh, you don't even have to show me all this just to strengthen your apology," she said with his index finger pointing at the post box that still hadn't disappeared from the wall.
"That's what I'll explain to you if you weren't frantic about 'marrying an old man'," Salim calmly said.
Arsia looked at Salim, bewildered. Her brain was processing Salim's words just now. After thought about everything that Salim had just said, Arsia concluded that she had misunderstood Salim's words earlier. "So it didn't an introduction of you?" she asked innocently.
Salim sighed. He tried to be patient in facing Arsia. That girl couldn't even tell which one was an introduction and which one was an explanation.
'She's really not as smart as she said', Salim muttered. If they weren't in a complicated situation right now, Salim would have laughed at that girl.
"Do you want me to introduce myself first or explain our situation first?" Salim gave the choices to Arsia.
Arsia's two black eyes stared straight at Salim's green eyes. Arsia considered. She didn't know why she had to do it when she wasn't even interested in Salim. Moreover, knowing him even Salim was the man she had to marry.
Seeing Arsia being silent, Salim lifted one of his eyebrow. "What are you thinking?" he asked.
Arsia shook her head. "Nothing. Just, I'm not interested in getting to know you. Please explain the situation," she answered honestly.
No doubt Salim became annoyed when he heard it. He had never met such an expressive person as Arsia before. But he also had never met a person who talked openly like that girl.
Once again, Salim had to hold himself. No. He had to get used to that girl's behavior because after this they would be together -- they should be together. What saddened him, even more, was that it was because of his miscalculation.
"I guess, when you first checked at this house, Yıldıray didn't give you the golden key yet?" Salim made sure.
Arsia nodded.
"As I said, that time portal will only appear when there is this key," Salim said as he returned to show the golden key. "And whoever holds it -- no, whoever has touched it -- he will be the guard of that time portal," he pointed at the post box with his chin.
Salim slowly explained up to that point. He wanted to make sure if Arsia understood his explanation just now. His eyes watched that girl who stood in front of him.
For a moment Arsia seemed to be summarizing Salim's words. It made Salim optimistic that Arsia would understand it. But he had to face the fact that the person he was talking to right now was Arsia. The slow Arsia.
"But you hold the key. Then what does it have to do with me?" that was the conclusion drawn by Arsia.
Arsia drove Salim cranky and also failed at once. 'How should I explain it to her?', Salim complained.
Then Salim leaned his hand on his chin. He thought while watching Arsia. Arsia paid attention to Salim by turning her head to the right and then to the left as if that man was a statue.
"Hey, are you daydreaming?" Arsia asked while waving her hand in front of Salim's face.
"No," Salim replied. Then he removed his hand under his chin but still keeping his eyes on Arsia.
"This key is mine," Salim said after finishing his thought. "I handed it over to Yıldıray and he handed it over to you. So who should be the last key holder?"
"M-me?" Arsia answered doubtfully.
Salim nodded.
"B-but I already gave it to you back," Arsia avoided.
"I can't be in two places at once, Arsia. Someone has to be here to keep the portal hidden. You'll know how it works when you see it in person. That's why I can't let them send you back to your country," Salim explained. Deep in his heart, Salim wished that Arsia would understand him now.
'I've explained it as easily as I can. Maybe not be enough to persuade her but at least she should know the reason why she should be here first', Salim thought.
"Why are you so impractical? You can come here and lock the portal afterward. Or go back to your time and re-lock the portal," Arsia complained like a child. She also moved her hands in a locking motion as she said it.
"It's not that easy, Arsia. To do so I must have plenty of time to wait."
"Why don't you have much time? Look, you're hanging here now," Arsia insisted.
"Arsia, I'm Shehzade Salim. The nephew of Sultan Mustafa I, Shehzade Salim," Salim replied as he began to lose his temper.
Arsia couldn't believe it. Her lips opened slightly and her pupils widened knowing Salim's true identity.
"Are you surprised?" Salim made sure.
Arsia's eyes blinked while looking at Salim. It was true that she was so surprised. But it wasn't because of something that Salim thought...