KAIMA'S POV
The sharp high-pitched sound of clashing steel echoed in the blueblood arena. Being a member of the legendary organization came with obligations; one was learning self-defense.
I always had a thing for knives knowing they never failed to turn a weak female into a fearless queen… at least in novels.
The intensity of the fight increased but I stood strong before my opponent waving off every attack with the swings of my sword.
When I got the chance, I kicked my opponent, destabilizing, and landing him on his buttocks. Without giving him time to recover, I struck my final move.
Just inches from penetrating his throat, the tip of my steel blade halted. The sound of clashing swords ended leaving the arena dead silent.
"I just beat my trainer in a fight"; I thought in disbelief.
The silent atmosphere got obstructed by resounding claps from the entrance. All heads turned to the noise source and my eyes slowly fell on Zain standing at the entrance with Deckard Lannister, his consigliere, and two other bodyguards.
"What an impressive improvement," he spoke with an impressed smile stuck to his face.
With the corner of my eyes, I could notice the consiglieres irritated expression, he had always hated me and I also disliked him. I focused fully on Zain and gave an appreciative smile.
"Don't rejoice yet" he connoted. "You still are not perfect"
A few moments ago, he praised me but now he seemed to be taking his words back. I stared at him trying to hide my annoyed look.
Without even saying another word, he slowly unhooked his buttons exposing his beautiful chest. He shamelessly took them off exposing his well-built body.
Wittingly, I stared straight at his shirtless figure, not regarding any other presence around. I felt my eyes would bulge out at any second. As he turned to hand his shirt over to his bodyguard, I saw the Blueblood tattoo surrounded by other random tattoos decorating his back. I never thought of a tattoo as something special, but this one made me change my mind almost instantly.
I didn't know how long I stared but a stern, throat-clearing sound snapped me out of my dreamy reverie. It was Deckard staring with a raised brow, every of his expression made me dislike him more.
Turning back, my eyes met with Zain's mischievous teasing smirk.
"Oh my God, he caught me staring!" I thought in panic.
I bent my head low to avoid eye contact, knowing fully well my face must had been bright red. This could be counted as one of the times I wished for my hair to be loose instead of in a bun; it could have been a veil to my flustered cheeks.
"Don't be shy Anam" he teased.
With every step he made toward me, my heart raced faster.
"How could that perfect body walk here?"
Still lowering my head, I noticed calligraphic writing of his name, ZAIN written just above his waistline.
"It's normal to be blown away by my body" he boasted.
His finger found its way under my chin and he raised it slightly till my eyes met his. His green eyes were filled with pride and something unexplainable but comforting. The musky scent of his cologne found its way gushing into my unsuspecting nostrils.
His smell, his voice, his stance, his walking position, and his eyes gave an entirely different aura, an aura different from the Zain I knew before; not intimidating but somewhat comforting.
Once my eyes move to Deckard's I snapped out of my dreamy state.
"What's your plan?" I asked in a serious tone.
His smirk suddenly disappeared and cold eyes and a slight frown replaced it.
"You have to compete with me," he said.
"With you?" I asked.
"Why?" he questioned. "Do I look so weak?"
"N-no, It's just that…"
"Then stop talking and fight" he cut me short.
I couldn't deny being hesitant, not because of fear but because I didn't feel it right. Staring back into his cold eyes I felt something I couldn't explain. No words seemed to be capable of explaining such emotions.
I got into a stance so did he and the sound of a bell jingled. I unsheared my sword and tried striking a move but his sudden defense obstructed it. He casually waved my attack off with just a swing of his sword. The ease at which he escaped my attack angered me a bit
"Was it that easy?" I thought to myself.
I advanced toward him in an intensified battle but I ended up trapped in his strong arm. My back laid against his smooth bare skin and my sweaty sleeveless yoga sports bra rubbed against his body. I didn't feel disgusted but a spark erupted in me.
I struggled for some time like a cockroach still, his arms would not unwrap me. His arms were wrapped around my body striping me of my freedom, I couldn't remember seeing this in the rule of swordsmanship. My sword slipped off my hands a sharp metal sound echoed throughout the space.
"Let go" I screamed in rage still struggling.
"Don't you want to show your improvement?"
"We shall see," I stated.
Even when I didn't look at his face but I knew a mischievous smirk played on his face.
Still struggling endlessly, I didn't realize when he freed me from his hold. Due to the force, I landed on the floor with a thud.
One of my weakest positions for, laying on the floor with my opponent before me.
Before he could point out his sword, I did a floor slide sweeping him off the floor and tumbling to the hard wooden floor. Like a fallen soldier, I crawled desperately to pick up his abandoned weapon but a sudden palm clutched to my feet relentlessly pulled me back.
Desperation got the better of me and with a burst of energy, one tug jerked my trapped feet off its captor.
Truly this stood as the weirdest sword fight I ever experienced. The adrenaline rush in my veins activated my survival instinct.
Like a stuntman, determination sent me flipping off the floor and landing on my feet. My eyes rummaged through the space around me in utter confusion, Zain, his abandoned weapon, and even my sword was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly, the cold, icy feeling of swords against both sides of my neck sent a loud banging alert to my brain. Two steel blades crossed my neck in an X-like manner.
"It's over," his deep husky voice brushed past my sensitive ears.
My breath ceased and I found it hard to gulp down whatever surfaced in my throat. Instead of a feeling of defeat, a wide smile spread across my lips.
"Why are you smiling?' he asked in a bit of confusion.
I laughed like a lunatic as his blades lowered off my neck.
"Oh Zain, you will never change, will you?" I said rounding up my laughter.
"You might have won but see how hard it was, you're even sweating like a water tank."
With all said I walked out with a feeling of pride and satisfaction, making sure to bump my sweaty shoulder into Deckard Lannister.
*******
ZAIN'S POV
I planted a knock on the brown polished mahogany double door before me.
"Knock! Knock!" the door resounded.
After knocking I stood waiting for an answer but none came. Worry, the last thing to surface in my mind since I knew from the beginning how angry she could get over silly competitions. The weak silent Kaima had left and her fiery self returned.
Without considering, I wrapped my hands around the handle and turned it till the door opened. Once I stepped in I could hear Kaima's horrible singing voice resounding from the bathroom Her voice had always been ear-aching from the beginning but it still tickled the deepest corner of my heart.
"I'm gonna swing on the chandelieee-eeer". She croaked.
I walked towards the bathroom door and gave it a slight knock but no reply surfaced so I opened it.
The smell of milk and rose glided into my unsuspecting nostrils, I could taste the milk in the air. Before the mirror, she stood tall with a short towel loosely wrapped around her body.
Like a fluffy tail, her dark, drenched, tangled hair majestically dangled down her back making sure to release drops of water on the towel. Her skin transformed from sweaty and oily to a glowing light rose perfection.
My eyes traveled from the top of her head to the sole of her small feet in awe. I had seen so many women in as less as nothing but this image before me created a commotion in my mind. The pounding sound of my chest drums picked up, beating so hard I could hear it in my ears.
"What are you doing?" she exclaimed snapping me out of my trance.
"I-I um-I" I stammered unable to get back on track.
"Forget it," I scoffed slapping my forehead lightly
Without letting a second pass by, jammed the door after me.
"Ugh! What was I doing?" I grunted in a hushed tone.
The confusion-filled look on her face made my heart pound faster in embarrassment. It still hadn't recovered from that sight.
I became so disoriented I forgot why I came here in the first place. As I walked toward the exit a vibrating sound sparked my attention. It sounded like a ringing phone call.
Like a predator, I searched for the sound source, making sure to put my hearing abilities to full use.
"Grrr!" the vibration echoed.
The closer I got to her bed, the louder it became and the ringing got to its loudest at the headboard. I rose the pillow and right there I saw a black pouch-less smartphone, the source of the noise.
Questions erupted in my head, neither did this looked like her phone nor did I give her this.
"Unknown number" was written boldly on the screen as the vibration went on. I took the call with a mind filled with nothing but suspicion.
"Hello," I said with a deep concentrated voice.
The silence at the end of the line made me more suspicious, it sounded so tense I could hear the breathing of the other speaker. A beep chimed as the call hung up.
*******
KAIMA'S POV
With a free mind, I casually stepped out of the bathroom knowing for sure Zain would have been gone. I strolled over to the slightly opened door holding my loose towel tightly to my body. After shutting the door, I turned but jolted after facing one of the worse shocks in my life.
Like a king, Zain sat on the king-sized bed with his crossed hands crossed behind his head, one knee raised and the other nonchalantly placed.
"What are you doing here?" I asked in screaming frustration after recovering from the shock.
"There's no need to raise your voice," he said whimsically. "We're married aren't we?"
I rolled my eyes at his comment.
"Married? more like in a contract," I said.
"Did you say something?" he asked with a raised brow.
"No," I said walking towards the polished wardrobe.
Silence erupted as I proceeded to search through the wardrobe waiting for him to leave.
"He wasn't going to watch me dressing, was he?" I thought.
After some minutes of silence and furtive glancing, I decided to speak out.
"When are you leaving?" I asked.
He began eccentrically inspecting his nails. Increasing my annoyance and frustration.
"Come again?" I said.
"When are you going?" I said already losing my patience.
"As I said were husband and wife no need to be shy?"
"Stop!" I exclaimed in anger. "Yes, we're married but there's no feeling behind this so-called marriage."
His playful attitude seemed to have disappeared and an angry look slowly replaced it.
"This…" I said specifying everything around us. "It's just a game and nothing else."
With a face completely replaced by anger…he jumped off the bed. The speed and rage at which he approached me made my legs weak. My face twitched and my heart began to race something in me said to run but I still stood trying to keep up my angry appearance.
"Then how do you explain this?" he said holding a phone to my face.
I recognize this phone as the one given to me by Arsan to communicate. For as long as I could remember I didn't reply to any of his calls, hid them, and put them on silent.
"H-how did you get that?" I asked making attempts to snatch it.
He raised it high into the air so I couldn't reach it. I took it as a matter of life and death and didn't care what would happen next. He just couldn't look through the phone.
"Please just give me that?" I began to beg him as tears formed in my eyes.
"First, who was that?" he asked. "And how the hell did you get this phone?"
His face leaned in so close to mine as his raging green eyes searched and pierced into my eyes. I didn't come into this mansion with anything except the clothes I wore then and didn't leave this place without him by my side. Right now, if my towel fell off I would be dead knowing he fully well he couldn't see that tattoo.
"It was Richard" I mindlessly babbled the first lie bursting out my mouth.
"Who?" he questioned, his agitation growing with every passing second.
"R-Richard" I stuttered. "My ex-boyfriend."
I watched his eyes closely, searching for his next reaction. His palm suddenly gripped my upper arm and a piercing pain struck me as his slightly grown nails penetrated my skin.
"Z-zain…" I winced in pain. "It hurts"
His raging emerald pupils were soaked with nothing but anger. I grimaced, shut my eyes, and bit my lips in pain waiting for this torture to end.
"Consider him dead" he hissed. "And you're to blame"
His grip on me suddenly loosened and two backward steps were enough to return my stamina. A loud bang echoed from the door giving me a little jerk.
His departure gave me relief and I became free to process the situation in tears. I fell flat to my knees and tears began flowing like water from a leaking pipe accompanied by voiceless whimpers.
I had always seen his annoying playful attitude but not his cold one. Still, I preferred to be killed by him than Arsan.
"Richard is in trouble and it's all because of me" I bawled as more tears began flowing.
After minutes of unending tears, my trembling legs managed to get up and move. I stood before the mirror and let the white towel fall off my body to the floor.
I turned to my back hoping the tattoo had disappeared even when I knew how impossible it would be. Just when I thought I had no tears in me anymore, seeing the X mark got more tears out. I could feel the lines from the dried tears plastering up my face.