FEELINGS

 

                  "Husband... It is such a beautiful word."

 King Raleigh knew Ives was just going along with him but still hearing the word 'husband' coming out from Ives's mouth made his heart flutter. His heart was beating so loudly that it felt like it was going to come out from his body. Oh my god... He should learn to control his feelings. King Raleigh put his right hand on his chest and took a long breath to calm his raging heart. He brought back his poker face and entered inside. That soft look before this felt like it was just an illusion. But this was king Raleigh's habit which had been carved deep into his veins since he was a child. Never show your emotions to others. It is your weakness and others may take advantage of it. As a king, king Raleigh must not have any weak points.

        King Raleigh sat on a couch as he waited for Ives. He could still feel lingering pain on his left leg which was still not healed properly. It slightly stung when he walked for too long. Soon Ives came with a cup of tea and the aroma of jasmine tea immediately spread making King Raleigh relax.

   "Here's your tea."

    Ives said giving him a cup of tea.

King Raleigh took a tea and sipped it. "You really make the best tea."

   "Thank you."

      Ives said blushing and rubbing the back of his head. King Raleigh always complimented his tea and it always made him blush. He didn't know why.

    "So, when is your father returning?" King Raleigh asked immediately when he saw Ives blushing. He wanted to pinch those red cheeks so much but he controlled himself. Ives was just too cute for him to handle.

    "I am not sure but he had said he would be coming soon." 

    "Oh."

The atmosphere became awkward after that. They both didn't know what to say to initiate the conversation. The room was silent with occasionally the sound of king Raleigh drinking tea. Because of the silence, king Raleigh was feeling awkward to even drink the tea. He drank the tea as slow as he could without making any sound. Ives suddenly stood up breaking the silent atmosphere.

   "I will go and prepare breakfast."

    "Okay."

Ives immediately left the room after that. King Raleigh also sighed and kept drinking tea. Why was he like this in front of Ives? He should have chatted more to cultivate their feelings. He sighed again and leaned back on the couch. Back in the kitchen, Ives was also feeling flustered. He was so excited before when king Raleigh had said he would be staying here for long but now he didn't know what to say or how to behave. They would joke sometimes but mostly it was silent awkwardness. And again now he was feeling flustered because of king Raleigh. He didn't know why but his heart always raced very fast when king Raleigh stared at him intensely with those piercing steel-grey eyes. Maybe king Raleigh himself hadn't realized but Ives could always feel intense burn gaze piercing his body. And then it would make Ives feel what, what he himself couldn't tell.

     Whenever he heard king Raleigh call his name with his deep husky voice, it made him feel goosebumps. Why was this man's voice so damn attractive? Ives blushed thinking that. No, No, he mustn't think more. Ives started to prepare breakfast for both of them.

    Ives soon finished preparing the breakfast and went to the living room to call king Raleigh. He went and saw king Raleigh leaning back on the couch closing his eyes. Maybe he was asleep. Ives thought and walked towards him to wake him up. He stood in front of king Raleigh and watched his face silently. The sun rays were gently covering king Raleigh's pale face and his face looked relaxed. King Raleigh's eyebrows were not twitching and he looked so soft and gentle now. Ives sat down on the level of King Raleigh's face and softy traced the face of the king starting from his forehead to his nose and slowly to his mouth with his fingertip. When his fingertip went on the king's thin lips, Ives paused for a while and then slowly rubbed his thin lips.

      "Raleigh looks so good even when sleeping."

Ives thought as he continued to rub the king's lips. His face was so perfect that it looked like it was sculpted by the god of beauty. Ives would never tell king Raleigh that he loved king Raleigh's face. This was the lip that would call out his name which would always make him flustered in return. He blushed at the thought of that, even his ears were bright red now. Ives stopped rubbing those lips, hurriedly standing up and then running out of the room. 

  "Ahhhhh... what am I doing? For god's sake, that's your guest, Ives!!"

Ives thought as he ran out of the room. King Raleigh who was supposed to be sleeping slowly opened his eyes. He raised his right hand and brought two fingers on his lips slowly tracing it. What the hell was that? King Raleigh asked himself. Did he just got taken advantage of? And he even willingly did it!! 

     He was not even asleep when Ives came. He had just closed his eyes deep in his thought. When he felt Ives came inside, he wanted to open his eyes but stopped when he felt Ives standing in front of him. His heart was racing with the thought of Ives looking only at him with those beautiful doe Caribbean eyes.

      "Yes, just look at me. Don't look at others. Focus on me."

King Raleigh was feeling pleasant and was about to open his eyes when Ives suddenly touched his forehead with that soft paw...ah- I mean that soft hand. He felt like he was electrocuted with 1000V of current. When Ives gently traced his face, King Raleigh's heart was totally not calm. It was like a bloody war going on inside his body. Oh... how much he wanted to catch that hand tightly and intertwine between his fingers but he controlled. That was the only thing King Raleigh could do now. But when Ives rubbed his lips, the war of hormones started inside his body.

    Was Ives going to kiss him? What was Ives doing? That was the only thing going on inside king Raleigh's head at that time. He was about burst with all those feelings. He wanted to hug Ives. He wanted to touch Ives. He wanted to feel Ives. Yes, he wanted Ives. Only he himself knew how much self-control he required just to stop himself from opening his eyes and embracing Ives tightly in his arm. Everything he had never done before, he wanted to do it with Ives. It felt he met Ives for a reason. 

     King Raleigh was breathing heavily now because the whole time before he was holding his breath. He didn't want to terrify Ives by actually opening his eyes. He had kept wanting to feel Ives's touch on his face. He was feeling very giddy. He brought back the fingers from his lips and licked it slightly with the tip of his tongue and smiled. He could still feel those subtle touches. If one looked at king Raleigh right now, they would be shocked beyond the word. Why?

     Because right now at this moment, King Raleigh was smiling widely and had a lovelorn expression on his face. His dull steel-grey eyes were now shining brightly with lots of emotions in them. Even the tips of his ears were red if one looked closely. It must be true that there is already that one person made for you who will come unexpectedly in your life and change your life from monotonous black and white to colorful.

       Everything was unexpected to him. The attack from the snow leopard and falling down the cliff and founding by Ives, everything was a fate. And King Raleigh was actually glad that the snow leopard only focused to attack him. If it had attacked others and they had gotten found by Ives then... he didn't even want to think about it. He hadn't planned to fall in love with Ives but he couldn't control these feelings he got whenever Ives was near him. And now he couldn't stop himself from falling deeper and deeper. You fall in love with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time. And king Raleigh could swear that Ives was the best thing he never planned. It really was a wonderful feeling, falling in love.

      Ives hurriedly ran outside and stayed for a bit to calm down his racing heart. He was panicking inside and questioning his actions from before. The cold breeze made his red hot face back to normal. Now that he was sober, he almost died from embarrassment. Why did he do it? But who could resist themselves from touching that perfect face? It was not like he had some bad ideas. He just admired king Raleigh's good looks. Yeah... just his good looks, nothing more. 

     Thinking that Ives went back inside to call king Raleigh. He opened the door and saw king Raleigh sitting on a couch silently. Did he notice? Ives started panicking.

     "Raleigh."

Ives softly called. King Raleigh looked at Ives's somewhat shy expression and laughed lightly which Ives didn't notice.

   "Yeah." King Raleigh said making his tone as soft as possible.

   "When did you wake up?" 

    "Just now."

    "Oh."

    "Why?"

    "Nothing. You were sleeping before so."

    "Well, I am wide awake now."

Ives let out a long breath and said, "Breakfast is ready. Come on, let's go." King Raleigh stood up as he hummed and walked behind Ives. He could see Ives's small body and his soft long brunette hair. He wondered how it might feel laced around his fingertips. His gaze fell on Ives's pa- hands which were half-covered with his large coat making only fingers visible. He wanted to hold those hands. But he stopped himself. Now wasn't the time.

    "Do you need my help to walk?" Ives suddenly asked turning back.

King Raleigh's perfect walk suddenly staggered. He limpidly walked some steps as he frowned his eyebrows in non-existing pain. He subtly looked at Ives and nodded his head. Then he saw Ives extending his right hand towards him and king Raleigh immediately held that hand like he was starved for days and finally got some food. 

    And yeah... his kitten's paw was fucking soft. He could hold these hands forever and ever. He felt Ives's left arm around his waist and grabbing the chance that the god presented before him, he completely leaned his whole body on Ives's body. One should learn to take the advantage of the situation granted before them. King Raleigh was feeling blissful. Being attacked by the snow leopard was worth it.

     It was too much for Ives to handle king Raleigh's robust body but he somehow managed to take him from the living room to the dining room. He firstly helped king Raleigh to sit and went to the kitchen then started to serve the food. They both sat in front of each other as they started to have breakfast.

    "How's it?" Ives asked.

    "Delicious." King Raleigh answered. He really loved the taste. Neither too bland nor too spicy, perfect for the persons recovering. The food was prepared by the doctor.

     "Eat a lot. You need lots of nutrition." Ives said serving more.

     "Um." King Raleigh couldn't say no to Ives.

After their breakfast, they were sitting outside enjoying the view. Today the weather was calm and pleasant. King Raleigh felt like he must go somewhere with Ives like a beautiful place to grow their feelings.

    "Ives, I'm feeling bored staying here. Are there any good places around here?"

 

Ives thought for a while and said, "There is a beautiful lake where we can swim."

     "What?! Lake? Here? We can swim? Is it not frozen?" King Raleigh asked being shocked. He knew how to swim but he absolutely couldn't swim in the frozen lake.

      "Hehe... you will know when you reach there. But I can assure you that you will love that place." 

        "Really?! Can we really swim there?"

         "Yeah, we both can swim together." 

King Raleigh choke on his saliva hearing they will be swimming together. Today the god was giving him too much chance. It must be his good day today. For once in his life, King Raleigh actually believed in the things like god and luck.