"Do you love her?"

WHEN they arrive at a hotel, they are led to the roof towards the balcony that looks over the golf resort at the back of the hotel. The sun is hot but the tables have umbrellas and Serena removes her hat, placing it beside her on the table. She gathers her hair behind her back to remove any strands lying at the front of her chest and leans her head on the palm of her right hand that is plopped on top of the table.

Xavier has been watching her since they sat down and he furrowed his eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

Serena hums and moves her eyes towards him without moving and smiles. "I'm feeling a headache. But, I think it's because of this heat,"

Xavier then places the back of her hand on her forehead and sees that it is hot. "You weren't like this in the carriage,"

At the mention of the carriage, Serena's cheeks heat up and she looks down at the white tablecloth. Xavier sees this and smirks before turning away when a waiter comes up to request their order.

"Please, bring her some cold water," Xavier finishes the order.

The waiter bows. "I will, sir,"

Serena yawns and desperately wants to take a nap but she has to pay attention because this is about work. "So..." she yawns, waving her hand. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I missed a very important meeting with the King," he says, and I raise an eyebrow.

"Why? What happened?" she asks.

"Because that's the day you ended up missing,"

Serena blushes and apologizes. Xavier brushes it off saying that it's in the past.

"I need you to hold a tea party next weekend," he tells her, and Serena's dizziness is thrown out the window.

"What? A tea party?!"

"Here's your water, empress," the same waiter says, placing an average-sized glass on top of a coaster towards her. "Please, have this as you wait for your food,"

Serena thanks him and takes a big gulp—some droplets rolling down from the corner of her lips. Xavier watches them like a hawk and gives her a napkin to clean herself up before his lips do the job.

"Yes. A tea party," Xavier repeats.

"Why?" Serena questions. Tea parties were common during this era but she has no clue on how to host one, let alone, invite people.

"I need you to be in good standing with the queen,"

"The queen?"

Xavier clucked his tongue in irritation. "You're so clueless, it's annoying,"

Serena purses her lips and dunks down the rest of her water. The cold liquid cooled her throat and lowered her body temperature. "I'm sorry. I can't help it,"

Xavier drags his face down his face and leans on the table. "No. I'm sorry. It's not your fault,"

Serena is flabbergasted at the apology but accepts it nonetheless. Xavier then threads his hands in his hair and Serena almost faints at the sight. His right index finger has a silver ring that has a green stone in the middle. She instinctively looks down at his left hand but no rings are in show.

Xavier notices her stare and he returns it. However, when Serena sees that he's grown quiet, she apologizes and grabs her glass to drink her water but no liquid touches her tongue. Feeling confused, she checks the glass and sees that it is empty.

She was drinking an empty drink while Xavier was watching.

Xavier laughs quietly and mutters something under his breath and if Serena isn't mistaken, she definitely heard him saying, "cute,"

"Here are your orders," the waiter says, holding a large rectangular tray in his hand—he slowly and carefully places them on the table. Serena helps a bit but that takes the waiter by surprise and without careful thought, he loses his grip on one of the drinks and it spills all over Serena and breaks into tiny pieces after falling to the floor.

She shoots up, loudly gasping in horror, feeling the cold drink seep through her dress and show an outline of her corset. Xavier sprints up as well and comes in front of her to cover her exposed chest—wrapping his arms around her.

The waiter, on the other hand, spits out several apologies and even goes down on his knees. "I'm so sorry, empress. I didn't mean to. It was an accident. Please, spare me,"

Serena licks her lips. "It's f-

"Get us some napkins, will you?" Xavier orders, his voice sharp and loud and the waiter agrees before dashing off inside the hotel.

Serena feels pity for him and looks down at her chest again. The dress is clinging to her and she feels disgusting. Xavier's sight is on them too and Serena wants to cover herself from his eyes but he is so close that she can't move.

Many footsteps are heard and Serena sees a bunch of people running towards them. When Xavier sees this, he covers her some more—the only thing that can be seen is his back.

"Emperor, empress. We sincerely apologize," one of the men says.

"Give me the towels," Xavier says, ignoring them and reaching out for them but the men look anxiously at one another and Xavier's face hardens at their reluctance.

"Let us do it, Emperor,"

Xavier unconsciously tightens his hold on Serena after the statement. "Let you touch my wife?"

Everyone flinches at his tone including Serena and she tugs his shirt making Xavier look down at her. His eyes are flared and his mouth is set in an angry scowl but when he looks at her, his face relaxes.

"Please," she whispers, and as much as she didn't say anything else, Xavier understood her.

"Just hand me the damn towels! I won't ask again,"

One of the men digs his elbow into the waiter's ribs, who had caused all this issue, and cocks his head to the emperor. "Give it to him," he whispers, and the waiter does so.

"Go away," he orders, and everyone scurries off.

Serena draws out her arm to grab the towel but Xavier ignores it and gently taps it on top of her chest and around it.

"I can do it," she tells him.

"Shut up," he replies, and Serena does so.

Xavier doesn't back off and continues wiping her off, grazing her nipples in the process. Serena held her gasps whenever he did so because she didn't want to turn it into something sexual. And anyway, he looks so focused that she doesn't want to interrupt him.

Now that they were out in the sun shade, the light hit the left side of his face making him look like a model. If he was in her day, he would be the face of Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren. Serena still can't believe that the man standing in front of her is her spouse. She feels like she's in a dream. And she doesn't want it to end.

Xavier would then use a lot of force and the v line would deepen, giving him an amazing view of her ample breasts. But, she is amazed at how controlled he is and backs off. Serena takes the clothes and resumes drying herself as Xavier removes his sweater and places it on top of her.

"Wear this," he tells her, his buttoned-up shirt a bit wrinkled from the force of the pull but straightens it out and places his hands on the railing—caging her in his arms.

"What are you doing?" She asks him, and he tilts his head—some of his front hair strands falling on top of his forehead.

"I'm waiting for you to clean yourself up. I don't want anyone to stare at you," he answers, and Serena turns red but resumes drying herself as he watches.

At first, his eyes were on her face but when she vigorously patted the dry cloth on her chest, he couldn't evade looking down at her breasts. To him, they look perky, delectable and tempting. At that exact moment, all he wanted was to bend down, suck on them as if he was a newborn child and grasp them in his hands but he clears his throat and looks away from her completely before he loses control for the second time in the day.

He notices a few guys sitting two tables down from them—staring at his wife and his hands form into fists. Once they noticed that he was glaring at them, they immediately looked away.

"Let's go somewhere else," he suggests and Serena scrunches her face in confusion.

"Why?" she asks, her voice timid.

He looks down at her and clenches his jaw. "I don't like the way everyone is looking at you,"

Serena smirks. "Everyone or the men?"

Xavier throws her a nasty glare and moves closer to her ear. "The only man to look at you is me. So, don't test me when you spew such nonsense. Do you understand?"

Serena flinches at his harsh whisper and nods. "Yes,"

"Good. Let's go," he says, kissing her temple and leading them out of the hotel.

~

It is around five o'clock and Serena yawns, her feet staggering from the lack of focus. Xavier holds her tight and shakes his head.

"What's wrong with you? Someone might think you're intoxicated," he says, and Serena giggles.

The sound warms his heart and a smile creeps on his face but he wipes it off when she looks up at her.

"Really? I've never been drunk before," she says, and Xavier nods his head stiffly.

"And I don't want to see you drinking any liquor, any time soon either,"

Serena leans against him, feeling her feet getting heavy. "I'm so tired,"

When Xavier hears that, he bends and sweeps her off the pavement. Serena grabs his shoulders tight and leans her head at the crook of his neck, giggling. "Mmh...you're so strong,"

She sighs in content after that and when he looks down, she sees her eyes closed. Is she sleeping?

He shakes her a bit and calls her name. "Serena, Serena,"

His voice is soft as if it wasn't his and he swallows in disbelief.

"Xavier!"

He turns to the source of the sound and sees three guys jogging up at him. That movement made him grasp Serena more and he tells his driver, Benjamin, to stand on guard. He has no idea who this man is and doesn't want him to hurt Serena when she's so helpless right now.

The first guy comes to a stop and he smiles. "Xavier Alexandria. I can't believe it's you,"

Xavier slightly scrunches his eyebrows, trying to remember if he knows the man but nothing comes up. The man guesses that he doesn't remember and laughs. "Ah! You don't remember me. Miles. Miles Dawnford. We were in the same class in high school,"

Xavier blinks repeatedly, the memories coming in like a flash. "Yeah. I remember. You were the class president,"

Miles laughs and points a finger at him. "Yes. Yes. I sucked at that job, didn't I?"

Xavier chuckles, checking up on Serena in his arms then up at Miles whose gaze had already shifted to her. Once upon seeing this, he turns his body to hide her face from his view.

Miles sees this and looks up at him with a smile. "I heard you got married. So, this is her?"

Xavier nods.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the wedding. I had to go abroad but I'm back now,"

Xavier licks his lower lip. "When did you get back?"

Miles hums and looks up at the sky and Xavier takes this chance to check the two men behind him but based on their attire, they look like guards. Miles is an important businessman.

"I came back two years ago," he replies.

Xavier nods. "Welcome back,"

Miles grins—his teeth on display and his eyes move to a sleeping Serena again. Xavier wants to gorge his eyes out but remains expressionless, waiting for him to step out of line. He is still hiding her face and he adjusts her in his arms so that her face will be much closer to his neck. From that position, the only feature Miles can see is her lips.

"I can tell that she's beautiful," he tells Xavier.

"Yes. She is,"

"I heard you got married early—how old is she?"

Xavier's mouth twitches. "Twenty-one,"

Mile's eyes grow wide and he laughs. "Woah...so young. I thought you were in a relationship with Lillian,"

Xavier shakes his head. "No. We've never dated,"

Mile's eyes widen again and he smiles as if he was told exciting news. "Really? It looked like you were dating,"

Xavier sighs, feeling annoyed. "As I said, I've never looked at her that way,"

"So," Miles starts, licking his lips. "Do you love her?"

"Who are you referring to?"

Miles cocks his head towards Serena. "Your wife—what's her name?"

Xavier wants to bash his head on the pavement but answers regardless. "Serena. Serena Alexandria,"

Miles nods, rubbing his chin with his forefinger. "Do you love her? I know how arranged marriages work,"

Xavier gulps, not sure how to answer the question. The last thing he wants is to make Miles feel like he's winning in this conversation. At all costs, he needs to have the last word.

"I believe that my feelings for her doesn't concern you,"

Love.

Such a heavy, meaningful word that shouldn't be thrown carelessly. Xavier isn't sure about his feelings when it comes to Serena. He doesn't hate her—far from it. Even after his mother's death, he was still attracted to her. From her long black hair to her warm eyes—unlike his cold blue ones, her lips...

"Does she love you?" Miles prods, bringing Xavier back to reality and he restrains the urge to beat the crap out of him.

"What are you doing, Miles?" he asks, announcing his words slowly as if he is talking to a child.

Miles shrugs. "I have no idea what you're talking about,"

Xavier frowns and resumes walking to the carriage without saying goodbye but Miles doesn't mind and waves his hand at him.

"Goodbye, Xavier. Until we meet again,"

"I don't intend to," he mutters underneath his breath, as the carriage is wheeled away.

As the carriage moves, Xavier leans his head on the seat and sighs. He closes his eyes but they snap open when Serena shifts in his lap. He looks down at her and caresses her cheeks. She looks like an angel. His angel.

Just staring at her face makes him remember the way all those men looked at her. It made him so mad that he could twist and break their arms and stab their eyes with a pitchfork. Especially Miles. The thought of him made his vision go red—he never liked how he ogled at Serena. His wife.

"Ah," Serena winces, and Xavier loosens his grip on her.

"Shh...I'm sorry, darling. Go back to sleep," he whispers close to his ear and Serena shuffles closer to him. Xavier holds her not too tight—afraid that she'll disappear like that day but when she told him that she wasn't trying to run away, he wanted to believe it because he admits that he hasn't been the best husband and it makes him antsy when he thinks of the day he'll wake up and find her gone.

Lately, Serena has been daring and that scares him because she is unpredictable. She wasn't like that before. He is losing control of her and he doesn't like it one bit but this new version of her, entices him just the way she acted before—tricking him to back off by suggesting they have a quickie when they have never slept together since their marriage.

He doesn't know how he has done it all these years but right now, he wants to make love to her every night, watch her pant and lose her breath when he makes her climax over and over again until she gets pregnant with his first born. At the thought of their child, he smiles and looks out the window. He'll be so cute—maybe, has his hair and his mother's eyes. He looks down at Serena and wonders if she wants a family. It's understandable if she doesn't but sooner or later they'll have to have children so that the line lives on.

How will he start the conversation? How will Serena react to it?

"I hope you understand," he whispers.