Eternal Love (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 44🌻

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When they were outside, Mew opened the passenger door of a car, which he had obviously prepared in advance. "Get in," he said.

Gulf looked from Mew to the car and back, hesitating. What the man had just done had no doubt astonished not only all of Madina, but most of the world as well.

"Mew, you...you have to go back," he said. "Why are you doing this?"

His mind was in complete chaos. It was unheard of for a king to abdicate immediately after being crowned. This man had to go back right now.

"You want to know why?" Mew's voice was full of energy. "It's not obvious? I know exactly what's most important to me."

"Mew..." Gulf blinked his eyes rapidly. He was convinced that he must be dreaming.

"Get in, quickly," Mew insisted.

He pressed his hand at Gulf's back and Gulf climbed into the passenger's seat, despite his uncertainty.

Mew shut the door, then got into the driver's seat.

"I learned how to drive after I got back from England," he explained.

He pressed down on the accelerator. He seemed to be enjoying hinself.

As they roared out of the mosque's parking lot, they passed throngs of citizens readying their flags. Everyone's face was radiant, honestly rejoicing in the accession of a new king.

They could never have imagined that their newly crowned king would be making his getaway like this. The populace and the media's attention would be briefly distracted, and then no one would even see Mew's low-profile car anymore.

No one stopped the car as it came out of the mosque. They left the building far behind, following behind a milirary escort vehicle. The vehicle leading them had apparently been notified in advance, and it guided them along smoothly.

Once they had put some distance behind them, the military vehicle pulled over to the side of the road. The window rolled down and the driver waved them off with a salute.

Alone now with Mew, Gulf ran over what had just happened in his mind. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't make sense of the man's actions. There was only one thing he was sure of---he had succeeded in convincing Mew that he was Yaya.

"Mew, I'm..." he began, but decided that actions would be better than words.

He pulled off the hijab and niqab, then rubbed at his face with both hands, wiping off the make up. He turned sideways in his seat. "I'm not Yaya. I changed places with her for the ceremony. Yaya is in love with AA, and...I agreed to take her place out of respect for her feelings."

There, he had confessed. He was ready for the worst. After all, Mew had just lost his throne, and now he'd also lost his bride.

"I've known about Yaya and AA for a long time. They make a good couple," Mew answered evenly, his handsome face undisturbed.

Gulf hadn't expected that. He was disappointed.

Mew had known for a long time? So he wasn't even surprised. He didn't look the least bit upset by the news.

"Mew, I'm saying I tricked you," Gulf said. "You married me, thinking that I was Yaya."

Mew frowned, as if he thought that Gulf's explanation was unfair.

"A marriage is meant for people who love each other," he said.

Gulf didn't answer.

"It would have been meaningless without you as my bride," Mew added.

At the mosque, he had stretched out his hand to Gulf and called him 'faridat.' He had called Gulf that since they were together in England. At that time, Gulf wasn't sure if Mew had just been calling out to his bride, or if he had been addressing him. But Mew's words now dispelled all his doubt.

Mew had known that it was Gulf the entire time.

"That day when AA asked me if I'd ever considered your feelings, I didn't have anything to say for myself." Mew said. "But at the same time, I realized something. There are people who can take my place as king, but there's no one who can take your place, Gulf "

"Mew..."

"If you can't live in Madina, I'll just have to leave too." Mew looked confident. This was such an important decision, but he was treating it so frivolously. "Besides, I'm not so stupid that I wouldn't recognize my own bride."

For the first time since they'd been brought back together, Mew smiled at Gulf just like he had when they were first together---a smile that revealed honest happiness. It seemed that Yaya and Mew had orchestrated the entire thing.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Mew asked.

Gulf scrunched up his eyebrows as he searched for response.

"This is awful..." he finally said.

He was referring to Mew, for throwing away everything just for love. And so was Gulf, since he had done nothing to stop him. Far from it, Gulf was glad that Mew had.

"Comopetely awful," he added.

He fought back the tears threatening to break free and took several deep breaths. He needed time to accept that this was real. Otherwise, he would just feel like it was a convenient dream. And if it really turned out to be a dream, he would never get over it this time.

"Gulf." Mew slowed the car and pulled to the side of the road. The eyes that Gulf loved so much fell on him. "I wouldn't be able to live a day here without you."

He spread his hands out before Gulf. "You won't be angry if I hold you in my arms?"

"Of course not," Gulf replied, wrapping his arms around Mew's back, squeezing them tight.

"I have nothing now," Mew said. "I'm no longer a member of the royal family, and no longer have my palace. You must be disgusted to be with such an ordinary man."

But Gulf had never needed any of that. As long as Mew Suppasit Jongcheveevat was with him, that was enough.

"Any women's quarters?" Gulf asked, voice faltering with excitement.

And Mew laughed softly in his ear. "Of course not. There's only one person I love."

Mew's arms wrapped around his beloved's body at last. Joy bubbled up inside Gulf, filling him completely. He couldn't hold back his tears any longer. But he ignored them as they rolled down his cheeks.

"What will we do now?" he asked. The answer seemed somehow essential.

"What should we do?" Mew replied, his voice overflowing with such happiness that it couldn't have sounded any fuller. He kissed Gulf's forehead and murmured in a silken voice, "We can do anything. We're as free as the hawks in the desert. My faridat."

Faridat, the name that he gave to no one else in the world---only to Gulf. The word that existed especially to name the person most precious to him in all the world.

Gulf didn't need anything but this. It was enough to savor the happiness of being in each other's arms.

He gazed at the blue sky he saw over Mew's shoulder. A pair of desert hawks could fly freely in a day like that. Stretching their wings wide, at peace, nothing holding them back.

Nothing could stop them from going where they wanted.

Gulf whispered the name of the man more precious to him than any other in the world.

"Mew."

TBC