Chapter 10 - Weird Feelings

Pru was so entranced by the figure in front of her that she did not realize that he was talking to her. Everything was a blur, she didn’t hear well what was just said. She suddenly snapped out of the spell-like experience when she was slapped on the arm and the first thing she heard was a loud laughter and Shawn rolling like a mad man on the grass.

“Wha- what? Why are you here?” Pru finally able to finally pull herself together.

“What do you mean why I’m here?” Shawn trying his hardest to stifle his laughter, tears forming on the corners of his eyes. “We practice here! But I should be the one asking you that. Why are you here and why were you staring at me like you want to eat me whole?” he stood up then sat down beside Pru, still laughing but tamer now.

Pru looked at him surprised with a curious expression on her face then rolled her eyes “You’re too full of yourself” she reverted her gaze to the field

 “Am I?” Then he gestured to his whole body and Pru glanced at him. It was like a splash of ice-cold water poured all over her body. Her eyes widened and a gasp escaped from her mouth in realization that the guy she was ogling at was Shawn!

“I can see from your expression that you now know what happened.” Shawn can’t help but laugh out loud again while holding his stomach “You should’ve seen your face! You adored me so much!”

“I – I –“ She couldn’t the words to speak. She felt her face grew red and ears hot. She immediately lowered her gaze away from Shawn and she was assessing what just happened ‘Did I really just…?’

“UUUUUGH! I HATE MYSELF!” She whispered to herself and covered her face with her hands

Shawn still heard what she said, though, and put his arms around her shoulder. She froze. “It’s okay Pru! It’s only natural for you to be drool for…” He then went close to her ear with a grin on his face “your husband.” At that, embarrassment engulfed her and Pru pushed his arm and ran away from him as fast as she could. Shawn was left laughing more than he ever could.

Pru was running eyes closed and head down that she bumped into few people then finally bumped into Suzi and Eunice

“Woah! Woah! Woooooah! Slow down girl, why are you running eyes closed?” Suzi held her arms and looked at Pru’s face. Eunice though startled, had a worried look on her face too.

Pru was startled when she heard Suzi’s voice and then calmed down when she opened her eyes and saw her face. But she panicked again when she saw Eunice standing beside Suzi.

“I… i… need to.. uhm… use the restroom!” Then she bolted out again

“Be careful!” Suzi yelled out to Pru. Then she and Eunice looked at each other shrugged their shoulders simultaneously.

When they reached the bleachers, they saw Shawn, now calm but still in a good mood. When he saw them he immediately embraced Eunice and gave her a quick but intense kiss.

“Hey where’s Pru?” He then asked as he turned to Suzi while putting his arm around Eunice’s waist.

“Oh, she said she needs to go to the toilet. She was soooo weird though. Running with her eyes closed! She’d hurt herself.” Suzi explained with a disappointed look.

Shawn could only let out a small grin as he knows exactly why Pru acted that way. “Okaaaay.” Hiding his amusement “Uh, Suzi can you give Pru a ride? I just need to bring Eunice home. If anyone asks, Soccer practice.”

“Yeah sure.” Shooing them away while rolling her eyes “Be responsible, okay? Be protected.” The couple could only blush at her reminder as they walked away linked to each other.

When Pru got back, she noticed that Shawn and Eunice were gone, and she only saw Suzi flirting with a varsity player. She relaxed and smiled at the sight and shook her head. When Suzi saw Pru, she said goodbye to the guy and pulled her away. “Thank goodness you came! I swore I would’ve devoured him right there and then! Did you see how tight his abs were?!” Pru just laughed at her.

“Where are they?” Pru asked curiously but hoping that she wouldn’t see Shawn

“Oh, they went ahead. Shawn asked me to bring you home. Don’t wait up, I think they’ll continue their escapades at Eunice’s” Suzi said it with a snicker and a naughty expression.

Pru’s tension went out the window as she realized that by the time Shawn gets home she’ll be already be asleep.

All throughout the drive home, both chatted about their respective clubs and the opportunities they’re longing to hopefully get. The two best friends enjoyed the drive as they also sang and danced to their favorite pop song on the radio.

She waved goodbye to Suzi as she got off the car “Drive safely and message me when you get home!” Pru then watched Suzi’s car driveaway before entering the estate.

“Mistress, you’re home.” Sam bowed, welcoming her “I thought you’ll come home late as Sir Shawn said you’re hanging out with your best friend.”

“Huh? What? Shawn’s here?!” Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead

“Uhh yes Mistress, he is in your bedroom” He looked up and he saw her face paled with sweat “is the Mistress alright?” His face now full of concern

“Oh. Oh! Yeah, I’m okay! Just the cold breeze, I guess. Don’t mind me.” She laughed and waived her hands nervously “I know you have lots of things to do still. Sorry to bother you.”

“It’s my pleasure to attend to your needs Mistress.” Sam smiled at her “But if there’s nothing else, I’ll leave you be. But just let me know if you need anything.”

“Uhm, sure don’t worry I will.” At that, Sam turned around and walked away. Pru however, seemed to be planted on the floor. She was only a few steps away from the door and she felt like running away but her legs won’t move. She felt so embarrassed at how she gawked at Shawn. Not only he was her friend and can be considered as her brother, he was someone else’s boyfriend! It was a good thing that Eunice didn’t see what happened, or else she might think that she’s planning to steal Shawn from her! ‘Ugh how dreadful.’ the thought made her feel dizzy.

While lost in her thoughts she felt a hand grab her wrist and pulled her, it was happening so fast that when she came to her senses she was already seated at the sofa inside their bedroom with Shawn’s hand on her forehead.

“Oh, it’s you. How did you know I’m already here?” Pru felt a bit flustered that she kept blinking “Why are you home so early? What happened to Eunice?”

Shawn smiled at her reaction, but noticed she was uncomfortable with their proximity. So, he let go of her and just sat down in front of her. “Sam told me. He also said you looked pale as paper. Eunice's parents are home so, I couldn't come in so I just went home.” He snickered as he answered all her questions.

“I… I…” Pru looked down and felt red again with embarrassment, then covered her face “I don’t know if I can ever face you again!” 

Shawn laughed heartily “Why? What’s wrong? Oooooh! You mean earlier? Pffft! No big deal!”

“What do you mean no big deal? I looked like a thirsty hyena! I know I do! See! Your laughing!” at this point, Pru’s face was getting redder and redder, but she wasn’t covering her face anymore.

“Like I said earlier, I’m your husband, so there’s nothing wrong with that! It’s only natural to desire your husband! if it was someone else, then that would just be wrong.” This time, he was just really teasing her a glint of mischievousness was obvious in his eyes.

“It would’ve been better if it was another guy than you, yeah!” Pru shouted in frustration while blushing But Shawn was taken aback. He didn’t expect Pru would agree bluntly. He suddenly felt his heart squeeze and it felt uncomfortable. A frown was evident on his face. 'What's wrong with ME?'

Pru noticed his expression and began to explain nervously “It... it’s not that your ugly. I mean…” she gestured to all of him “Duh?! Obviously great in every facet!” Shawn’s face brightened at her compliment. “But the fact still remains that you are Eunice’s and that supersedes even our marriage. To put it bluntly, you have a girlfriend and my actions earlier were totally unacceptable.”

Shawn’s face was blank and expressionless but his thoughts were all-out, ‘How can that be unacceptable? She’s my wife!’  at the same time, he couldn’t understand himself too. It’s as if like the moment he and Pru were declared husband and wife, he’s gone into auto pilot mode of being assertive of his role – at least when Eunice was out of sight. And it was so frustrating to Shawn that Pru can’t seem to be doing the same. It’s as if, to her, there’s no legal bond existing between them and their just playing sleepover.

Internally, Shawn rolled his eye in annoyance but still kept a calm face “Can you, explain more?”

“I… don’t get what you mean. What’s more to explain? You’re taken. By Eunice.” Pru was confused at his statement. Wasn’t she clear enough? “Have you already forgotten Agreement 1 & 2?”

To be honest, Shawn has completely forgotten about it. In fact, when Eunice was not beside him, he really enjoyed being with Pru. He enjoyed being married to her, but it was evident that Pru doesn’t feel the same. When he thought about that, it felt like there was a thorn somewhere in his body and he can’t exactly pinpoint what or where it was. It just felt uncomfortable. Tolerable but uncomfortable, nonetheless.

Shawn cleared his throat and thought for a few seconds, his eyes averting Pru’s before he spoke again “You know what you’re right” He then looked at her again with seriousness in his eyes “and I’m sorry that I made fun of you because of it. Maybe, I was just really flattered that you... ummm… appreciate me, I guess.” Shawn looking down again feeling shy.

Pru snorted and shook her head “Appreciate? Oh come ‘on Shawn. Everybodyyyy appreciates you. Especially girls.” She raised her eyebrows at him with a knowing look on her face “Especially Eunice.” She then crossed her arms and leaned on the backrest of the sofa.

Shawn fell his gaze down on his shoes and said with a defeated tone “Gotcha.” He suddenly felt weird when Pru kept on mentioning Eunice. Her name suddenly felt heavy on him. He feels so disappointed that Pru can always find a way to push him away from her. He couldn’t place where his emotions are coming from, so he disregarded it.

“Anyway,” He shot a look at Pru “Why though?”

“Why why? What why?” Pru confused again

“Why you did what you did?”

“Ohhhh…” Pru started to be nervous again, she averted her eyes away from Shawn and looked everywhere except his eyes “um.. I don’t know.” She shrugged and scratched her nose “umm obviously you’re…” she gestured to all of him again “you’re..” she cleared her throat “you’re hot.” She really felt uncomfortable now. “Can we not talk about this anymore? After all, I only realized that it was you when you came close. Soooo, I hope we can forget about this and pleeease” her hands in clasped together as if praying “don’t tell Eunice. We were starting to be friends.” She pleaded to Shawn

Shawn can’t help but be amused by her sudden change in moods and tone. His smile was so big that it almost seemed like he’s gonna laugh “I promise I won’t, I still prefer to look at you with hair.” Shawn stood at up and grinned. Pru’s eyes widened and imagined the scene in her mind of Eunice attacking her and hauling her hair apart. It sent shivers down her spine, so she shook her head and stopped thinking about it and heaved a loud sigh.

“Here, read this and if you’re good with it, sign it. I already signed it.” Shawn then walked over to her and handed over a printed document. Pru’s eyebrows creased but then realized that it was the marriage agreement.

“Where’d you get this? The file is in my laptop.” Looking up to him with a confused look

“I sent it to me while you were with Suzi at the mall the other day. Remember that day?”

“Ohhhhh…”

“So, I amended it on my own yesterday. I just didn’t get the chance to give to you. Read it.”

Pru read Agreement 7 once again. While reading her face displayed unhappiness, then confusion, then ultimately, surprise – especially at the last line ‘In the event, she is discovered, she would need to resign right away and make amends with Grandpa Kingsley then Shawn Kingsley will help her find another part-time job, one that Grandpa will not find out about.’

”SHAWN!” Pru got up from the sofa with surprise and confusion drawn all over her face

Shawn was very amused her expression and snickered “What? You don’t like it?”

“Like it? I love it! Thank you, Shawn!” Pru then threw her arms around Shawn’s neck for an embrace. He was caught off guard and almost fell down, but he caught his balance at once. He was taller than her so naturally, she needed to tip toe so she can reach his neck.

“Heeeey calm down you almost knocked us down both!” Shawn laughed and put his arms around her waist too, hugging her tight. Pru let go then looked at him “I am really happy and touched. Thank you.” She said in a very sincere and happy tone.

“It’s my pleasure.” He replied in a warm tone.

Shawn stared back at her eyes, gentleness enveloped his face. He felt like her hazel eyes were pulling his blue eyes toward her. He felt her tense up but none of them broke out of each other’s hold and gaze. A faint blush slowly crept up Pru’s cheek and delight instantly flashed Shawn’s eyes. Pru and Shawn’s breathing became slightly quicker than normal, they didn’t notice it though. Everything around them seemed to have become a blur as they were sucked in each other’s hypnotic but beautiful eyes. Shawn scanned her whole face and noticed that her lips was agape, he wanted to know what they taste like and subconsciously he slowly moved his head forward. On the other hand, Pru was very still, her mind muddled as she was just consumed by the entirety of the person so close to her and felt her heart racing - banging against her chest. As she saw Shawn’s intentions, her eyes involuntarily closed and tightened her grip on his shoulders.

Their lips almost met but their intimate moment was abruptly interrupted by a knock on the door. They were so startled that they jumped away from each other’s embrace and realized that they just been snatched away from a trance. Pru and Shawn had perplexed expressions on their faces and panting nervously. They stared at each other as if they both want to know what just happened.

Feeling embarrassed, Pru averted her gaze and walked toward the door to open it. She stayed by the door looking down on the floor.

Shawn cleared his throat “Come in, Sam.” He then composed himself.

As if sensing the unsettled atmosphere, Sam asked “Is everything okay? Sir, Mistress? Did I come at a bad time?”

“No! no!” Pru shook her head aggressively. “it’s fine, what’s up?”

“I see.” Sam bowed to Pru then looked at Shawn “Sir, the Master wants to see you in the library. It’s about the Grand Kingsley Ball. He’d like to ask for your inputs.”

Shawn felt relieved to have had an escape ‘Thank you Grandpa!’ he thought. He nodded and just walked out of the room, trying to avoid Pru. She had the same relief, and sighed the breath she was holding onto loudly as Shawn left. She then ran to her walk-in, closed the door and leaned it. She slowly sat down on the floor while clenching her shirt across her heart, which did not stop beating wildly since. She closed her eyes with a bothered expression on her face.