Chapter Thirty One

I didn’t know how but all of a sudden it became my responsibility to start cleaning Jonathan’s room and changing his bandages. The second day I got there to clean, he hadn’t even bothered trying and just sat down there and the moment I walked into the room, he simply stared at me and in all my shock told me, I need help. I was flustered and shocked and it made me laugh but I still bent down and helped him anyway.

It was surprising seeing all the new side of Jonatahn, a side that he only showed his people, people he didn’t hate which unfortunately I wasn’t part of.

One week after cleaning Jnathan’s room and changing his bandages, we had started engaging in small talk much to my surprise. Jonathan still had not gotten rid of his sarcasm towards me but his sarcasm this time around was no longer spiteful or infused with hatred like before, his sarcasm was starting to be more like he needed to keep up appearances which was funny but I was sure of one fact, just because he allowed me to clean his room and change his bandages didn’t mean that I was no longer his enemy nor did it mean that he wa snow my friend, he still hated me and it was getting better at reining it in or I didn’t know why and I was also tired of coming up with reasons why with he was acting like that.

“Thank you” Jonathan’s voice drifted into my ears as I finished bandaging his arm. I stretched to my length while looking at him with a small smile, “You are always welcome your Highness” I replied softly and Jonathan nodded.

He stood up from the chair and walked to the dressing table and opened the lower drawer, he grabbed a set of keys and turned them towards me. I immediately moved to catch wondering what the keys were for. I didn’t succeed in catching the key and it fell to the ground, I quickly bent down to pick the keys and realized that the keys looked rather old and it was already starting to rust.

“What are the keys for?” I asked curiously and I followed Jonathan’s eyes as he turned towards a door at the far end of the room. The door was shut tightly with padlocks and the door itself looked desolate. I had seen the room each time I came to clean but I never bothered to try to open, the door screamed nothing but trouble and seeing the way Jonathan was looking at the door gave me goosebumps.

His eyes contained a trace of longing and depression all mixed together and I just couldn’t understand his look.

“You want me to clean that room?” I asked slowly and Jonathan turned to me staring at me and I noticed him gulping so visibly which made me more anxious.

“Yes. Just clean, don’t touch anything” He replied slowly but I could hear the subtle fierceness in the room.

“Yes, your Highness” I replied and Jonathan nodded walking towards his bed.

“Is there anything I should know before cleaning the room?” I asked again and Jonathan turned to me, a small smile forming on his lips.

“Nothing much” he replied, “Just don’t touch anything” he added and I nodded, grabbing my tools and waking out of the room. I slipped the keys into my pockets as I exited the rom, I had not taken more than ten steps when I ran into Kareem. A small smile immediately formed on my lips

“Commander Kareem” I greeted and Kareem stared at me with slight surprise; most likely because of the most joy in my voice.

“Good morning” he greeted back and I nodded my head, “For a while, I thought you were never going to show up because I’m the one cleaning now” I said and Kareem looked taken aback for a moment but the second what I said settled in, he chuckled so beautifully.

“It’s nothing like that I promise” He replied with a soft smile on his lips, “How’s she by the way?” He asked and I shrugged.

“She believes you are avoiding her sooo…..” I trailed off and Kareem looked bothered.

“She cleaned the western part of the palace so you can apologise to her in person, I mean explain yourself” I continued and Kareem stared at me in surprise again.

“You seem different” he said before he could hold himself back and I shrugged, “I guess that’s a good thing?” I asked and he immediately nodded his head vigorously, “Definitely” he replied.

“That reminds me, do you know why the king has been the one changing his bandages? I haven’t seen Masoma either” I said slowly. The fact that I hadn’t seen Masoma since the incident was more annoying to me than ever. She had been the one who asked for my help and pushed me into promising and responsibility yet when Jonathan had screamed at me and embarrassed me, she had disappeared and not even a word to me, I was disappointed in her, her disappearance was her admitting that I deserved what Jonathan had done to me.

“I’ve been the one doing the bandaging for over two weeks now” I added and Kareem looked taken aback at my revelation.

“You’ve been doing it? You helped him again?” He asked in shock and surprise and I swallowed, “I guess I couldn't watch him fumble the bandages over and over again” I replied turning my head away.

I understood why Kareem would look at me like that. After what Jonathan did to me, one would think that I would disappear and never help him again but I had helped him and in between the small talks we had, I could almost say that we are almost fine.

“Well Masooma is not coming because of you” Kareem revealed and I turned to him in surprise and shock.

“Because of me? I didn’t do anything” I quickly clarified and Kareem laughed, shaking his head.

“She heard what the King did when he woke up and she was angry. She refused to help out until he apologized properly to you and she’s also very embarrassed and ashamed to meet you since she was the one that asked for your help” Kareem replied and my lips parted in surprise.

“Masoma is not helping the king because of me?” I asked pointing to myself, “That sounds really absurd” I blurted out and Kareem shrugged.

“As absurd as it gets” he added, “I know I told Serena to do it for me but on behalf of the king, I’m really sorry. He wasn’t in the right state of mind at that moment and believe me he’s sorry. Really sorry” Kareem continued and I swallowed.

“I know he’s sorry but he hasn’t properly apologized to me. I’m a slave and I know that he hates me but I also think I deserve an apology from him” I replied and Kareem nodded.

“How about I talk to him now?” He asked and I immediately shook my head, “You don’t need to be my knight in shining armour, Commander Kareem, I’ll get my apology from him myself, nothing to worry about” I replied and Kareem smiled softly nodding his  head.

“If I’m done with cleaning, Serena is most likely about to finish, so before you add another layer of misunderstanding, you should go to the Western halls and speak to her” I said and Kareem glanced at the door of Jonathan’s room for a few seconds before immediately turning on his heel and heading towards the western halls and a smile broke on my face.

“Nah, they are definitely getting together” I muttered as I moved my tools after me. Serena had indeed lost her sweet smile each time I came back after cleaning and I told her that I hadn’t seen Kareem while cleaning, and then days turned into weeks and we both stopped mentioning him but I knew that she still wanted to see him that’s why I did the only thing that made sense the moment I saw him, send him straight to her. I tried to imagine how her face would look when she saw Kareem and I burst into laughter. I already knew that she was going to be happy and excited and that soft smile of hers would be back.

I thought about what Kareem had said about Masoma as I dropped my tools and headed to the room. It was hard to believe that she was fighting with Jonathan, the King on my behalf. I couldn’t believe it, while I was throwing a tantrum at her and hating her, she was fighting with the king on my behalf while being embarrassed to see me.

A small smile spread across my lips as I walked into the room. I loved how Masoma had supported me and it made my heart feel full.