Page 106 of Tall, Royal Hater
“Why?”
“To go to the gym too. I do work out as well, you know.” She sauntered to what I assumed was the dressing room. “I simply do not do it as regularly as you do.”
“Yeah, and the fact your fiancé is there right now has nothing to do with why you’ve suddenly decided to accompany me, right?” I said flatly.
“Not at all.” But the mischievous rise in her tone said otherwise as she disappeared behind the door.
I rolled my eyes. “You two are sickening. Also, I’m still waiting for you to spill the tea.”
“First, I need you to take a deep breath,” she declared loudly from inside.
“Why?” My eyes bugged out from their sockets as realisation bowled through my brain, sending every other possibility scattering like pins. “Fucking Neves, Esmeralda, are you pregnant?”
“What?” she shrieked. “No.” The top half of her body appeared in the gap of the door. “Why would you think that?”
“I mean, other than the fact you and Kai seem to fuck like bunnies? I don’t know.” I threw my hands up. “I thought for a second maybe you were trying to go the whole mile—baby, wedding, and all.”
“Gosh, no. Not yet at least.” Esmeralda shuffled out the door, a pair of wide-legged joggers halfway up her thighs, giving me a glimpse of her pink panties before she pulled her trousers up all the way. “It’s got nothing to do with me or Kai or anything like that.”
“Then who?”
“Kareem. He told me he’s been seeing someone.”
“What?” I exclaimed. My mouth hung open. “What…what do you mean? What do you mean he’s seeing someone? That’s my husband you’re talking about.”
Esmeralda shook her head, but the grin she wore sobered quickly. “It was odd, Mariyah. And honestly, I’m a little concerned.”
“What happened? Who is she?”
She sat herself on the edge of the bed, turned towards me. “At the airport when we dropped him off, we obviously said our goodbyes and whatnot, but when he pulled back from our hug, he kind of just blurted out, ‘I haven’t told you, but I’ve been seeing someone.’”
“What?” I bunched my lips in confusion.” Okay, thatisweird.”
“Exactly. And I was confused, so I said,‘What do you mean?’, and he said that he’d recently started dating Safira again and hadn’t said anything because he wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but that things were actually going well, and he hadn’t planned it properly yet, but he was going to propose to her very soon. And then he essentially implied that Kai and I had nothing to worry about and that he wouldn’t let anyone stop me from being with him.”
I narrowed my eyes, struggling to process her words as quickly as she was babbling them. “Safira…Safira…why does that name ring a bell?”
“Do you remember two or three years back I told you he had started seeing this minister’s daughter—well, that was her. Safira.”
“Oh—the minister who died, right? Wait—I swear you said it didn’t last long.”
“Yes, her. And itdidn’tlast. They went on a few dates, and then nothing. A few months later, her father passed away, and that was the last I saw of her.” Esmeralda shrugged and shookher head, a flummoxed look widening her eyes. “But apparently, they hit it off again recently.”
“Did you ask how or when?”
“No, I was so shocked, I didn’t know what else to say. And I didn’t have the time to ask either.”
“Damn…okay, that is suspicious,” I said, nodding slowly in agreement.
“I know.” She sighed heavily.
I eyed her worried frown. “Do you think he lied about seeing her or is only proposing to her to solve the ‘you and Kai not being able to marry yet’thing?”
“I think so,” she said quietly. Then her spine shot straight. “But I hope not. I don’t want him to marry someone he doesn’t love or get trapped in a bad relationship just so Kai and I can marry sooner. It wouldn’t be fair on him nor her. They both deserve better. And if he’s doing it because he feels bad for how things were between us, then I don’t want that kind of sacrifice from him.” Her face softened as her eyes turned liquid. “I want him to be happy, Mariyah. And a political marriage isn’t going to give him that. He should be with someone who truly loves him.”
I opened and closed my mouth soundlessly, then sighed. Dipping my head, I squeezed Esmeralda’s arm reassuringly. “Hey, maybe we’re both wrong. Maybe he does actually care about her, and they’ve just been keeping things quiet. I mean, you know better than me, but the Jahandari media and old-ass ministers haven’t exactly always been on Kareem’s side, have they? So maybe this was his way of protecting you, Safira, and himself. Just in case.”
Esmeralda placed her hand over mine and smiled weakly. “I hope so.”
