"I will find you and drag you home,"

14/07/2023

"Elodie!"

"Elodie, honey! You're going to be late for school,"

ELODIE'S mother, Hellen, clips her final earring behind her left ear, puffs up her short brunette bob hair and walks to her daughter's room. She knocks, "Elodie,"

Hellen sighs tiredly and turns the doorknob, swinging the door open, ready to give her an earpiece. "Elodie, come on. I'm going to be l- Elodie?"

Hellen's sentence falls midway when she sees an empty bed and scrunches her eyebrows in confusion. Did she already leave? Without her? And come to think of it, she didn't see her the night before but that didn't make sense because she came home quite late from a night shift in the hospital. However, she shrugs and shuts the door.

"My sweet daughter is working so hard," she tells herself, feeling pride in her heart.

~

4•5•1824

The lunch is exquisite and Serena takes full advantage of it. She tried her best to eat with the best etiquette she acquired from all the gilded shows she watches on Netflix but since she hasn't eaten since yesterday, she averagely gulps up the food.

"My goodness child, didn't Xavier feed you this morning?" Noelle, Xavier's grandmother asks accusingly, narrowing her eyes at her grandson.

Serena blushes in embarrassment and dabs her mouth with a napkin. "I'm sorry. We were running late," she tells her.

Noelle's eyes soften and smiles. "No need to apologize dear. That means good news,"

Serena and Xavier share a look then back at a still smiling Noelle. "Good news?" they both ask, and Sally, Noelle's husband laughs quietly.

"Yes," Noelle responds.

Serena grabs a glass of water and takes a sip then a lot more to push down the food.

"Are you pregnant, Serena?"

Serena spits out the remaining liquid that was in her mouth—some moving down her windpipe and chin. Letting out multiple coughs while beating her chest, she hears Xavier groan clearly disappointed in his grandparents.

"S-Sorry," she wheezes out.

"Aren't you pregnant?" Noelle asks.

Xavier sighs. "She's not, grandma,"

"Oh," she replies dejectedly, looking down on her food—her face turning gloomy but that doesn't stay long when she abruptly raises her head. "When am I going to have a granddaughter?"

"You mean grandson," her husband intervenes.

Noelle glares at him. "I mean granddaughter,"

Sally shrugs. "I want a grandson,"

"And I want a granddaughter,"

"Who will take over the family business?"

"What are you trying to say? That a woman cannot run her own business?"

Serena watches the pair bicker as if they are siblings and smiles in amusement.

"We can have both. So, stop it you two,"

Serena's smile drops when she hears Xavier's statement. She cannot believe that he said something like that. Why would he comment such a thing when they aren't even in love? All that there is is a marriage agreement legalized on paper. And to add onto that, there's no way she'll be a mother because this will ruin her chance of leaving this place and go back to her world.

Noelle's face lightens up and claps her hands. "That is wonderful!"

"Good work, son. This family needs an heir," Sally replies with a small smile.

Serena smiles uncomfortably. "May I be excused?"

Noelle smiles back. "Of course,"

Serena pushes back her chair—the screeching noise radiating in the air when the legs drag harshly on the floor, and proceeds to walk out of the room. She releases a heavy sigh, glad to have escaped the weird tension but groans when she doesn't know where the bathroom is.

No one is in the vicinity, so she trusts herself and walks straight ahead. Trying to pinpoint where the room might be, she grits her teeth at the pregnancy conversation. How dare he give the insinuation that they will be parents? As far as she knows, Xavier will be a terrible father because of his anger issues. Their children will be scared of him.

On the other hand, she'll also be a terrible mother. There's a million reasons why she doesn't want children. First, she doesn't know why but there's a high chance that she'll end up getting postpartum depression for the reason that she doesn't like children. She views them as annoying creatures who needlessly scream and cry too much. Second, she might end up dying during childbirth.

"This is why I need to escape," she says.

"Escape?"

Serena jolts in shock and turns back to see Xavier standing behind her. She then shakes her head, waving her hands in front of her. "No. Who said anything about escaping?" she says, laughing nervously.

"Are you planning to leave me? Is that what you are implying?" he asks, his voice suspiciously calm.

Serena clears her throat, racking her brain to say something but goes blank instead. She blinks and takes a step back as if it would solve the situation and Xavier looks down at her feet. She wishes to run away to anywhere that is further away from him but her heels will slow her down.

Xavier walks closer to her and grabs her wrist, drawing her closer to him. He lowers his head—their noses almost touching each other and Serena's heart stops a beat before resuming to a quick paced manner. From this close space, Serena can see the faded freckles around his nose and lashes that would brush his eye bags whenever his lids would lower when he looks down at her lips.

Serena wants to bite her lips but she wouldn't want to create a thick tension that she has never been in with the opposite gender. Of course, it won't make any sense since Xavier is her husband but she has never been kissed before and she's very insecure about it.

He looks back at her eyes and narrows them. "I don't care whether you love me or not," he starts, and Serena gulps. "But, the only way you will leave me is either one of us is dead. Otherwise, get used to this. Do you understand me?"

Serena nods in response. Xavier finally lets go of her and stands up straight. "Come. I'll show you where the bathroom is," he says, and Serena quietly follows behind him.

~

When they arrive home, Xavier immediately goes to his office leaving Serena all alone in the entrance. She rolls her eyes and heads up the stairs to her room but stops when she sees the same portrait she was looking at before she went to Xavier's grandparents. His mother looks so sweet with her fair skin and is the only one who had a smile on her face.

She sighs and proceeds to her bedroom and slump her back on the door, lifting her head to the ceiling. Her chance of escaping has been thrown out of the window when Xavier overheard her talking to herself. She softly slaps her cheeks. "I need to stop talking out loud,"

Wanting to change out of her dress, she remembers that she has no clothes and gets out of the room again down the stairs, heading off to anywhere that might have the staff walking around. Turning around a corner, she almost bumps into a young man who is carrying a tray that had two cups of tea and a kettle on top.

"Ouch!" he yelps, when the hot tea slipped from the nose of the kettle down his hand.

Serena gasps in shock and starts apologizing profusely. The young man's eyes widen and he swallows before bowing his head. "My apologies, Mrs. Alexandria. Please, forgive me,"

Serena frowns at his stammering but smiles. "It's alright. I'm the one who almost bumped into you,"

The young man looks up–his eyes filled with fear and Serena's heart clenches. Why is he looking at her like that? What did she do to make everyone fear her? Was she cruel? Rude? If the old Serena was, she feels guilt and deeply wants to hold a meeting and apologize to each individual. She shakes her head and smiles again. "What is your name?"

The young man straightens. "Adam, empress,"

Serena smile doesn't waver. "Well, nice to meet you Adam. Could you kindly show me the way to my husband's office?"

Adam nods stiffly and walks ahead of her. Serena follows behind, trying to match his pace as they turned left then right then left again, coming in a long wide well lit hallway with huge windows to their right. Adam then stops behind a double door and Serena looks at the two guards who are standing at the ends of the door.

"Here we are," he tells her, and Serena nods.

"Thank you," she says, and Adam hurries back to his duties.

Serena looks back at the two tall, buff guards and clears her throat. "I would like to speak with my husband,"

Both guards look at each other then back to Serena. "I'm sorry we cannot do that, empress," one of the guards reply.

Serena smile falters. "What do you mean? Does he not want to talk to me?"

The guard on the left says, "The emperor does not like being interrupted unless you schedule a meeting prior,"

Serena doesn't say a word, thinking of what she will do but something clicks into her mind. Mustering a brave, unemotional face, staring hard at the both of them, "Are you insulting the empress? I order you to let me in or you will both lose your jobs. You wouldn't want your children to go hungry, will you?" she threatens.

The guards gulp and bow their head in respect. "Our sincere apologies, empress," they say, and move aside for her to pass through.

Serena does so and stomps in the room. After shutting the door, she starts looking around and her eyes set on Xavier. He isn't looking at her since his focus is on the ceiling above, and Serena's mouth waters at his beautiful features. The veins protruding from the sides of his neck makes him look delectable and at the thought of that, Serena hastily brushes those thoughts away.

"What do you want?" he asks.

Serena slowly walks over to his desk and stops a few inches from it with her hands held together in front of her. "I need new clothes,"

Xavier finally looks at her, the strands of his front part of his hair falling down his forehead. "New clothes? Why?"

"I don't like the ones I have at the moment,"

"You said those are your favorites,"

"I don't recall,"

Xavier narrows his eyes but shrugs. "Fine. Take Peter with you. I don't trust you to be alone,"

"Why? Are you scared that I will leave you?" she bites back but shuts her mouth when those blue eyes glowed at her.

"Do you want to?" he asks, his voice low.

Serena doesn't reply. Xavier is like a crocodile at the watering hole—waiting for a perfect moment to pounce at his prey and at this moment, Serena is the prey. So, she has to tread lightly.

"Fine. So, can you wir-I mean, give me the money?"

Xavier leans back in his chair—both his hands resting on the arm chairs, and nods. "How much do you need?"

Serena bites her lips thinking of the currency of the period she's living in but has no idea which year it is.

"Do you have a calendar?" she asks him, abruptly.

Xavier's scrunch in confusion. "Yes, may I ask why you need it?" he drawls.

Serena shrugs. "I can't seem to remember the date today,"

"Today's fourth,"

Serena swallows. "Which month?"

"May,"

"Year?"

Please, please, answer.

"What's with the questions?" Xavier inquires.

"Just answer the damn question!" Serena grits out.

Xavier is shocked but a smile creeps on his face, confusing Serena whose face is red.

"Feisty, I see," he comments, and Sierra sighs, pinching the upper bridge of her nose in the middle of her eyes.

"Please," she stresses. "Answer my question,"

Xavier doesn't reply but after a moment, he tells her.

"Eighteen twenty four?!" she shrieks, and Xavier winces.

"What's wrong with you, woman?" he bellows, but Serena doesn't recognize his tone since she's trying to calculate how many years she's gone back to.

"Oh my gosh! One hundred and ninety nine years?! I can't believe this. I'll die by the time I-

Serena shuts her mouth quick when she realized that she was about to spill the truth. She hesitantly turns around and fakes a smile. "Nothing. Uh...give Judy the money," she says, quickly, and starts rushing out of the room but when she hears a chair screeching and heavy footsteps behind her, she gathers her dress, and jogs, managing to turn the doorknob and open the door but it forcefully slams shut.

Serena closes her eyes, feeling the warmth on her back.

"Turn around," Xavier commands, but Serena doesn't move an inch.

"Now,"

Serena begrudgingly does so, squeezing herself through the small space and stares at his chest. His arms are on each side of her head—caging her in.

A warm finger lifts her chin and she stares at him. He looks worried. An expression new to her.

"You are sick," he says.

"What?" Serena asks, sounding confused.

"You say all these weird things. I'll ring a doctor to come check up on you,"

Serena shakes her head. "I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine,"

"You've gone mad!" he exclaims.

Serena blinks. "Excuse me?"

Xavier breathes out heavily and drops his head on her shoulder. Serena goes still when the strands of his hair tickles the side of her neck, making her want to reach out and push it back.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm worried. I'm worried about your health," he tells her after lifting his head from her shoulder and brings his forehead to hers.

Serena gulps feeling nervous at the close proximation. This is the second time he's coming towards her and this baffles her because he clearly told her that he hates her but yet here he is worried about her health. She badly wants to tell him that she's not sick but rather is from the future. She doesn't belong here.

"As I s-said, I'm f-fine," she stutters.

Xavier doesn't buy her truthfulness but nods his head before taking a step back. Serena lets go of the doorknob—unknowingly that she was holding it tight the whole time and stands straight.

"You can go. Buy yourself everything that you need," he says, moving back to his seat.

"What's your budget?" she asks.

"Unlimited. Come back early when you're done," he answers, and Serena's mouth drops open. This kind of service is only applicable in books but experiencing it in real life, is exciting. She wants to refuse to make sure if he's sure about it but holds back not wanting to inflate his ego.

"Alright then," she replies with a confident voice.

Now that's more like it.

Turning around to get out, she stops when Xavier calls her name.

"Yes?" she asks.

"Remember, if you try to run away, I will find you. I don't care if you go around the world, I will look for you and drag you home. Do you understand me?"