Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 49415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
“I did wonder why you missed work, yes.” He inclined his head towards the doors. “I also saw you with that boy.”
“Did you?” Still that same fake light tone, and the sheikh’s dislike grew. A teasing smile played over her lips. “Jealous?”
“Maybe.”
Hyacinth stopped smiling. “Don’t do that.” And this time, her voice was dead serious. “We both know you’re not.” And hurt. So much hurt.
Rayyan’s lips tightened. For a supposedly smart girl, she certainly wasn’t acting like it. Because if she were smart, she would never have let herself get hurt like this over a bastard like him.
Hyacinth waited for the sheikh to say something else, but all he did was stare at her with those damnably beautiful blue eyes of his. It was almost – it was almost as if he knew.
And as soon as the thought entered her head, Hyacinth realized that was exactly what this was.
“You know.” Her voice was tight. “Don’t you?”
“Nem.” The sheikh saw no point wasting time on denials and clarifications. “And I got rid of her as soon as I knew—-”
“That I had found out about your mistress?”
“If it means anything,” he said evenly, “I haven’t paid her a single visit since you started working for me.”
“No.” Hyacinth fought hard to keep the walls around her heart from crumbling. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
Silence.
“I mean it, damn you.”
“No.” The sheikh’s tone was gentle. “We both wish you did, but you don’t.”
“God.” Hyacinth’s chest squeezed hard at the effort to keep her heart protected. “I really hate you.” And because the sheikh was a gentleman, he answered only with silence, he always did when any word would simply rub salt into the wound.
“Did you...” She swallowed hard. “Did you really get rid of her?” And by the time she finished speaking, her hands were covering her entire face. It was almost as if she was preparing herself for the inevitable.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized she was hurting you.”
And the inevitable was the tears.
Shit.
Starting out like a soft, barely-felt sting –
Shit.
Gradually shining, crystallizing –
Shit.
Until they flowed down, liquid pain wetting her cheeks –
The sheikh slowly pulled her hands down, and the tears fell faster.
“I didn’t want this to happen,” she gritted out.
“I know.”
“I don’t even know how it happened.”
“No one does.”
“It just did.”
“I know.”
And he slowly pulled her into his arms.
Seven
“I’m being an idiot about this. Aren’t I, Mrs. B.? I should just go and find someone my age or just someone less complicated, right? Because this – it’s lunacy. Right?”
Mrs. Bauer’s delicate shoulders moved in an elegant shrug. “It’s your life, not mine.”
Hyacinth glowered. “You gave me such a hard time about how I’m fake-smiling my way through life, and now that you know why—-”
“Because I thought it was over something more serious!”
It actually was, Hyacinth thought, but that was one thing she still needed to keep a secret.
“Just tell it to me straight,” Hyacinth insisted. “I’m being an idiot about this. Aren’t I? Aren’t I? Aren’t I?”
“Fine,” her homeroom teacher agreed calmly. “You’re being an idiot about this.”
Hyacinth let out an offended gasp. “I knew it. Deep down inside, you’re against me because I don’t have a drop of royal blood in my family. That’s the truth, isn’t it? Admit – ouch!” She gingerly rubbed her head, which her normally unemotional teacher had just swatted with a rolled-up piece of exam paper. “What the fu—-”
Mrs. B. raised the makeshift swatter in her hand threateningly.
“What the fuh-fuh—-”
The older woman’s lips twitched.
“—-was that for? I could sue you for child abuse, you know!”
“Finally.” The older woman was once again a picture of serene tranquility, with her features returning to its flawless state as the last of her frown lines disappeared. “All that self-pity was getting a little revolting.”
Hyacinth choked. “You do know you could get fired for saying something like that.” When her homeroom teacher simply looked at her, she shot up straight in her seat, alarmed. “No, seriously—-”
“I was joking.”
Oh.
“I do have a sense of humor, you know.”
Hyacinth bit back a smile at the other woman’s slightly defensive tone. “No kidding.”
Mrs. Bauer sniffed. “You just have no idea.”
She could no longer keep herself from smiling. “You’re too cute, Mrs. B—-” The older woman shuddered in visible disgust at the description, and Hyacinth burst into laughter. “Seriously. It’s like, I don’t know, you’ve allowed yourself to unbend just a bit more ever since I found out about you and the sheikh being cousins.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“I don’t—-”
Mrs. B. started rolling the exam paper in her hand.
“You know what? I think you’re right. I’m imagining things.”
Mrs. Bauer loosened her grip, and the paper unrolled by itself in a second. She waited for her student to speak again, but when moments passed and the silence remained broken, she took the time to choose her next words with care. “If you’re still worried about that matter I spoke of...”