Eternal Love (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 21🌻

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"Getting married..." Mew tilted his head and looked at him for the first time since getting in the jeep. Their eyes locked. Mew's eyes reflecting the darkness.

Without any change in his expression, he confirmed Gulf's suspicion. "I suppose. I have to. I've been engaged for six years. My father wants to see me married while he's still alive, and everyone is pressuring me."

Gulf's heart squeezed tight.

He had been trying to bring himself to accept that Mew was engaged, but it distressed him to hear it straight from the man himself. And the calm response only made Gulf hate him more.

And this brought him back to his original question. If Mew was getting married, why had he come for Gulf?

"I see," he said. "I suppose congratulations are still a little premature."

What could he do but laugh and let it go? He couldn't be expected to have his feelings under control already. He had only just been given the determination to do it, because everytime he glimpsed Mew's face, the six years that had accumulated between them crumbled away.

"I suppose I thought you wouldn't want to come to Madina," Mew said, no longer looking at him.

"You're right," he agreed. "I didn't want to come."

"So you didn't want to be with me because you'd stopped caring?" Mew said.

What an insensitive thing to say. Gulf rallied his emotions, which were on the verge of utter collapse. He wouldn't let Mew know he'd hurt him. If he admitted that, it would just make him look unnecessarily pathetic.

"That doesn't matter anymore. As long as you let me go back home," he said acting nonchalant.

"It doesn't matter?" Mew repeated coldly.

"Of course it doesn't," Gulf insisted. "I have my own life to live. Plus, I have a job, you know. How long do you intend to keep me here?"

"So you hate Madina, too?" Mew said.

A cruel smile came over his face. It recalled in Gulf's mind the memory of Mew's arrogant expression when he had forced himself on him.

"You don't need to worry about your job," Mew continued. "We told them that the negotiations were dragging on, so you had to stay a while longer."

"That's not what we're talking about!" Gulf burst out, his irritation flaring. Their conversations always ran in parallel lines, never intersecting no matter how long it went on.

Mew turned his attention away, and looked out the window. "We'll be there soon," he said coldly.

Gulf looked out of the window too, and saw that they entered a town. There was no one on the streets this early, but the city's lights sparkled vibrantly.

The luxury hotels and shopping mall along side the gaudy orange street lights made for a brilliant view that seated the eyes. The city deserved its reputation as a world famous tourist site. If Gulf had come here under different circumstances, he was sure he would have enjoyed it.

The jeep sped down an arrow-straight road, sharing it with only a few other cars.

Gulf lowered the window a little, hoping to soothe himself with the fresh air. The night breeze run through his hair and caressed his face, and his emotions, frayed by the fight with Mew, began to relax.

"It's beautiful," he said quietly, and Mew's face softened too.

"Madina is special, even for a Ridwan Emirates country," Mew said. "Tourists and VIPs from all over the world come here. We have five star hotels, casinos, the desert, horse races, and falcon hunting. All the pleasures of the world are here, in Madina."

Mew truly loved his country. But what he loved even more was life in the desert. He had told Gulf that before. Eyes shining like a child's, he wondered many times about how fantastic it would be to live your life wandering like the ancient nomad tribes of the desert.

Saria might be as close as Mew had come to seeing his dream granted.

Gulf recalled what the stable hand had told him.

'This is the first time that Prince Mew has invited a friend to Saria, so everyone is very excited.'

But he didn't have to feel bad for Mew. He shook his head and chased the sympathy from his mind.

"We're here."

TBC