Chapter 4: Sundown Detour

Chapter 4: Sundown Detour

Marcial slowly pulled me away. I groaned a little. I’ve realized how undignified it must be to plead for my cause by throwing myself at him.

He held me in arms-length. “Natalia, I understand your reluctance in marrying a man whom you’ve never met before. But please give the General a chance. He is a sincere man after all.” He wiped the tears from my eyes.

“Marcial,” I say, shaking my head. “You’ve known me since we were children. You do know that I haven’t experienced much with men and even the world. I’m afraid that I am not ready to get married.”

Marcial chuckled. He held my hand. “It’s too early to say it. But the General could protect you for a lifetime, Natalia. That’s more important than you liking him.”

I blushed. Looking straight at Marcial was making me see him differently. He wasn’t the childhood friend whom I’ve grown up with anymore. The lines on his forehead and the white strands in his hair were remnants from the battles he’d never tell me.

If he hasn’t gone to the military academy then my father would have married me to him. Why did he have to go away then?

I let go of my hands slowly and placed my hands at back. “Please forgive me, Lieutenant. Why would you still care for a childhood friend whom you’ve never seen again until now? You’ve probably forgotten about me.”

Marcial took a deep breath and stepped forward to pat my shoulder. But I was quick enough to evade it. I turned my back at him. “Please excuse me as I am tired from the travel.”

I entered my room without waiting for his reply.

I immediately approached the bed and laid down. It felt too good to be able to stretch my legs again.

I could hear Marcial speak to Runi from the outside. “Tend to your young lady. The General will be coming home to see her for dinner. And don’t mention about her crying on my chest as it might be misinterpreted by the General.”

I cried again this time as I rolled to the other side of the bed. I bent both of my hands underneath my head.

Marcial wasn’t the same anymore. I remember how he used to tend to my wounds whenever I tumbled down while we’re playing at the garden. I remember how we used to steal coins from the kitchen’s cupboards to buy ice cream. I remember how he would shift the blame to himself when I broke a vase, so that the servants wouldn’t reprimand me. But I just realized that these memories were the last things that still made a connection between us, and I’m the only one holdig unto them.

I thought Marcial is still my brother and my friend, but he isn’t anymore.

Runi entered and rushed to my side. I turned to see her.

She sat on the bed and wiped my tears with the back of her hand. “Young lady, please stop crying. It would hurt your head and your heart.”

“How can I stop from crying, Runi?” I asked as I sit straight up.

I folded my legs to my chest. “Marcial and I have been through childhood together. But now that he’s already a military man, he doesn’t want to listen to me anymore! He used to put Band-Aids in my wounds, Runi! And now he’s not even thinking twice of giving me away to marry a stranger!”

I pouted and cried harder. Runi took a comb from her pockets and pulled me gently toward her. She started combing my wavy hair because it always calmed me down.

Runi replies, “Young lady, please give the General a chance. He, too, is willing to marry you even if he hasn’t met you yet. And with Lieutenant Marcial, I believe that he still cares for you but he is also trying to perform his duties for the General too. But as he said, the General could protect you better.”

“Runi!” I hold her hand. “I don’t want to marry the General!”

“Is it because you don’t know him yet or is it because you want to be with someone else?” She tried to lighten up the mood.

Unexpectedly, a grin spread across my face as I placed my index finger on top of my lips. I took my finger away and reply, “Of course I do, Runi. I have already met the man for me.”

“The one who saved you from the fire again, right?” she clarified.

“Yes,” I firmly confirmed.

“But you don’t know him, Young Lady,” Runi says while chuckling softly. “He might be a criminal or he might stink or he might be a lazy drunkard!”

I chuckled back. “Runi, those strong arms of his could not possibly make him a lazy drunkard.”

“You still don’t know him,” she repeated.

“I also don’t know who the General is,” I replied.

I grinned at Runi. She has been with me during the toughest times of my life. And I always wondered why she chose not to get married even if she’s beautiful and she’s caring.

Runi has an oval face, M-shaped forehead, round eyes, and freckled face. Her face is like a long stretch of beach sand on a perfect sunny day laden with scattered pebbles. Her long and straight black hair is always kept in two long braids like scorpion tails. She might not be able to wield a gun to win a war, but she can calm anyone just by assuring them that she would never leave them.

The sound of a car halting from the outside alerted both of us. Runi quickly sprung up from the bed and rushed to the window. She took a peak behind the curtain and gasped.

She turned to me and announces, “Young Lady, I think the General has arrived.”

I gasped. I rushed in front of the mirror and started powdering my nose. The four hours of travel made me weary with sweat and oil across my face. Unlike Runi’s oval face, my face is round that compliments my plump cheekbones. I have a narrow forehead, thin eyebrows, almond eyes, bulbous-tipped nose, and full lips.

I do take after most of my mother’s appearance but I have my father’s wavy and brownish hair. My skin is reddish fair from my father’s side of the family that have been conjectured to have been descendants of the Anglo-Saxons.

I could face the General with sweat and oil in my face but I knew that I am representing the daughter of Ransang’s President, and it doesn’t seem appropriate if I show up like I didn’t care for my father’s reputation.

If only I could just dress with maong shorts and a white shirt, just like going to the mall. Hmmm…To the mall? I always heard about the Capital’s malls!

I paused and stopped powdering my face. Meeting the General is inevitable but it doesn’t mean I could not postpone it!

I turned to Runi with a twinkle in my eye that she knows too well. She groaned with a chuckle. She says, “Oh no, Young Lady. Not again.”