Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 71: Leave Tomorrow?

Chapter 71: Leave Tomorrow?

Arthur sat beside her and hugged her closer. She was gasping and hiccuping and there were endless tears streaming through her face making him scared.

He had never seen her like this before.

Well, once before... When she lost her mother...

" Iris! Look at me..." he tried to hold her cheek and make her look at him but she dipped her head down and started crying more each time.

He waited for sometime to give her space to compose herself but it seemed like she was only getting more and more sad and wept more as time passed.

" He was right... I am a murderer... an adulterer... I’m stupid... I’m the dumbest... for not knowing the truth..."

She kept on mumbling and Arthur only then felt how big a deal it was for her.

She used to cry or pretend to cry all the time back in high school and he won’t be able to even take her fake crying and would give in to her.

But now she was so distressed, she couldn’t stop the tears from her eyes.

But...

Adulterer?

He remembered that woman who tried to pour wine on Iris saying something of the sort to her that day.

He never thought from her side till now and never thought why she was that opposed to let her identity,especially their marriage known to others.

Yes, it is shameful for a man to be made a cuck but for a woman who cheats, the ramifications are always worse. Men can get off scot-free after cheating and it’s not the same for a woman.

He himself felt stupid for holding on to their marriage for this long, publicly professing that she’s his wife whatever chance he gets. She never sugar-coated anything and she always made sure to let him know that she didn’t accept the marriage.

He thought he was being understanding of her, leaving her spade to figure herself out and will come back to him one day. But he never considered what others might say about their relationship which is weird in any standards.

If he just backed off when she asked him to nine years back, maybe she won’t be crying this much now?

"Stop crying!"

He shouted and stood up facing her.

"Look at me!"

He screamed once more and he could see her shoulders stop shaking and she slowly looked at him and the moment their eyes met, she started crying once more.

"You did not cheat! Stop crying! You’re annoying!"

Arthur really couldn’t see her cry like that and he shouted once more.

What she did cannot be considered cheating. He never considered it as cheating anyway. But he could understand her plight.

In the court of public opinion, she’d be the worst woman in history and would be burned in the stake. Not literally, but figuratively. Their words would be the ones burning her heart and soul. They already pushed her away when Cyrus died and when she appeared back as the Royal Princess of Rosandale. With this information added, they’d just tear her to pieces.

" Look! I won’t let anyone say anything bad about you, okay? Don’t cry!" he said and bent and placed his forehead over hers to make her look at him,

"And why should you care about what others say anyway? You are Talia Brunton. Since when do you care about what others say about you?"

Talia who was forced to look at him finally stopped crying.

"I don’t care about what others might say... Not that much... I’m just sad that I ran away without knowing the truth..."

Talia really couldn’t face the truth. If she knew Arthur was the one she married, she might not have been succumbed to depression and kept herself away from the place she loved.

She could say true to her heart that she didn’t cheat. She never considered herself married and so what she did cannot be considered cheating intrinsically. She just blamed her stupidity. Thinking that she was avenging Fred, she only hurt herself more and more and that person who really loved her.

If only she knew she loved Fred deeply even back then... Then it would have been better.

She had to live with another guy to realise that she loved Fred and Fred had to forcefully stay with her to make her realise that she loved him so deeply, as much as he loved her.

And more importantly, she only kissed the other guys and never slept with any one of them and she wasn’t even love with them. So it’s not like she actually cheated, emotionally.

But that doesn’t mean he didn’t hurt Fred. He must have deeply hurt by what she did.

’How stupid am I?’

" You are stupid too! Why do you still want to protect me anyway? "

She still couldn’t understand this man in front of her.

"If not me, then who’d protect my wife?"

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and sat by her side. She stopped crying but she couldn’t help but say her usual line.

"We are not..."

"Don’t say we are not married," he interjected her and she looked at him wide eyed.

Arthur could not help but kiss her in the forehead seeing her. Her eyes were so bulging and her entire face was wet and red.

"We are married, legally. You didn’t tear the certificate but some other paper. And I finished the signing and we are officially married," he explained her and seeing her stunned he hugged her.

"It doesn’t matter. Our marriage is really not valid..."

"So I am an adulterer by law?" she asked intersecting him and looking at her swollen face he couldn’t help but laugh.

Adulterer by law? Like mother-in-law or brother in law?

"Yes, and since we are married for more than ten years I own half of your inheritance... Bwahahaha!"

He laughed evily trying to make her laugh but she seemed to be in deep thoughts and he sighed.

"It doesn’t matter. I’ll take care of it..." he said and watched her becoming calm.

If she was that unstable that she didn’t even know who she was getting married to, then that marriage is clearly invalid. And he has already arranged for annulment anyway.

Now he should find a way to actually propose to her.

But he can think about it slowly. He didn’t want to overwhelm her.

He had waited for her for a decade, he can wait a few more weeks or months.

She covered him with the duvet and wrapped her hand around her waist and wouldn’t let go and he stayed with her silently.

"So, you’ve accepted me? You won’t push me away?" he asked and he felt his increased heartbeat. He was scared she might still push him away.

"But you said you’d be leaving tomorrow..."

She sat up straight and looked at him. Her eyes didn’t even open properly because they were so swollen but he found her beautiful still.

He is probably the only person who’d seen her this... unkempt.

"Yes. Will you come with me?"

He asked. He knew it would be too much for her to answer right now and she cannot just pack and leave this place. She has her job and friends and a lot of things she has to settle, but he just couldn’t help it.

Asking won’t hurt, right?

" Well, not tomorrow... But are you serious? You are willing to be with me still?" she asked. "I’m trouble."

She really was stupefied by his questions. He looked so careful as he asked and she didn’t miss the great expectations in his face.

He really is not joking.

"You silly... Why wouldn’t I want you? You are all I want. I’m stupid too, you know," he chuckled and he could see her tearing up once more.

"Come on, now. Don’t start!"

He held the back of her neck and kissed her forehead and laid on the bed and she lied on his arm. Both were rolled up in the duvet and were both naked inside the duvet sparing his boxers.

He could feel her soft mounds on his chest as she rolled to her side and looked at him. It seemed like she wanted to say something but she didn’t.

He felt a mixture of emotions now. He was extremely happy she agreed to be with him. At least that was what he inferred from what she said. It all felt surreal to him.

Talia was deeply delighted she get to know the truth and clear all the misunderstandings she had. It was only then she remembered what happened when those memories returned to her and her face turned red.

’We actually... Well, did we really?

Ugh! Why did the stupid memories return then?

I don’t know clearly what happened.

But it hurt a bit. So it must have happened, right?

Can that be considered popping the cherry?

Am I a woman now? ’

She wondered giggling in her heart.

She stared at him intently to see any change in him.

’What is the male equivalent of breaking the hymen?’