Page 143 of Tall, Royal Hater
Chapter 34
Shehryar
Ifelt more composed than I had since arriving in Touma by the time everyone left and dispersed back to their rooms for a good night’s rest before the bustle of the wedding tomorrow. I had my case to Mariyah drawn up and all my thoughts were for once aligned.
As I quickly changed and washed up in my bedroom, I couldn’t help but wonder if it would’ve felt like this the whole time if I’d just stopped fighting my attraction to her. But twenty-two-year-old me had been too thick-headed to try.
I was still stubborn to a fault, but maybe the way my world had tipped on its axis in the last year had given me a bit more perspective. In the grand scheme of things, it felt a lot easier to accept that I wanted to try something exclusive with Mariyah. The prospects of that option felt far better than the idea of going back to the way we were and watching her be with another man again.
I rolled my bent hairpins in one hand as I switched the light off in my room and left. They weren’t a last resort thing. Neither did I plan to knock. If her door was locked, I was using them to pick it.
Unsurprisingly, when I pressed on the handle, I found her bedroom door to be just that. Aligning the two pins into the keyhole, I jiggled the straight one back and forth, but—
It wouldn’t turn. Fucking Neves, what had she jammed under the lock?
I jerked the door handle in annoyance and slammed my fist in a demanding knock. “Mariyah.”
“Stop fucking with my door, Shehryar,” Mariyah’s muffled yell came from the other side.
“Open the door.”
“No. Knock like a normal person.”
I tucked the pins into my hoodie pocket. “Nothing about us is normal.”
There was a long pause. “I never said anything aboutus.”
“I want to talk about us.” She was quiet again, so I tried my luck. “Let me in, Mariyah.”
I waited. And waited. Just when I thought I’d have to convince her further, the door opened.
Mariyah stood makeup-free in a fitted T-shirt and leggings with a pout that made her appear somewhere between annoyed and uncertain, causing my heart to squeeze.
“You have five minutes,” she grumbled and stepped back, letting me in.
She closed the door behind me, and then we faced each other. She cocked her hip and crossed her arms, everything about her demeanour saying,go on then.
“I should start with an apology,” I said. “But I’m going to start by saying I want you to be mine.”
Her gaze narrowed immediately. “I don’t belong to any man, Shehryar.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.” I took a step towards her. “I want to give us a chance. I want us to stop pretending we don’t like each other or don’t want more.”
“You’re assuming a lot there.”
I moved another step closer, shaking my head. “I don’t think I am.”
Colour rose through her cheeks as she dropped her fists to her sides. She wasn’t angry, I was sure of that. She was being defensive, questioning my motive, demanding reasons to believe me.
“Not long ago, you were singing a very different tune,” she accused. “You couldn’t have emphasised more that you wanted nothing to do with me.”
“And I said to you—one day, let alone a whole week, is long enough for someone’s opinion to change. Though you’re wrong anyway.”
“Was that not what you pretty much said to me?”
“I did.” I stopped in front of her. “But I wasn’t being completely honest. Nor was I five years ago.”
She stilled, then eased a step back. “What do you mean?”
