Eternal Love (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 45🌻

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He heard the sound of waves. Sometimes, the voices of children playing carried over to him.

Gulf relaxed in a chair on the dock of their cottage, dozing peacefully below a large parasol. The wind caressed his cheek like a bird's wing, lulling him into still deeper sleep.

These last three months had been like heaven. That was the only thing he could compare them with. His biggest worry was that if it continued, his heart and body would swell beyond their capacity to contain such joy.

"Gulf."

He roused himself slightly, smiling as he heard his name and felt fingers in his hair. "Mm?"

"A storm's coming."

"Oh yeah?"

Opening his eyes, he saw Mew standing in front of him. The former king of Madina, wearing an Arabian-style tunic and loose-fitting silk pants, had visibly relaxed since coming to this island floating somewhere in the South Pacific. He was nearly his old self, Mew that Gulf had known in England.

"Oh, I see it," Gulf uttered.

The sky had been a clear blue up till then, but distant thunder now accompanied the clouds that had spread across the sky. Turning his eyes from the sky back to Mew, Gulf noticed something in his hand.

"Is that letter? Who is it from?" he asked.

"Aisha," was the reply.

"...May I?"

Mew nodded as he handed the letter to him. Gulf unfolded the paper and began to read the formal Arabic script.

There he read events of the last month. They had expected a fair amount of fuss, but they had been surprised at how hard it had been for Aisha to accept what had happened.

Gulf felt a nagging guilt as he read the letter. After Mew's dramatic renunciation of the throne at his coronation, they had gone straight to the airport. They had touched down on this tiny island in the South Pacific. He had been surprised to find out that Mew owned the island of 300 or so inhabitants, and that the man came here once a year to disappear from the world.

"Aisha is the only one who knows about this place," Mew had confessed.

And just as he'd said, no one seemed to realize that Mew owned the island and, for better or worse, no one came to visit them. The media also left them in peace. So Mew was only reported on as much as he wanted to be and he generally laughed it off.

Maybe Mew was naturally disposed toward such broadmindedness. Gulf knew that once the man had made up his mind, he never again questioned his decision---recent events had demonstrated that aspect of his personality too.

Aisha wrote about the various rumors that were circulating: that Mew was deathly ill, that he'd had a dispute with the rest of the royal family, that his British mother had been persecuted by Arabian society and so he actually hated the royal family. But most interesting of all were the newspaper stories questioning his disapperance with social editions that read like a detective novel. He'd gone there. Some country or other must have given him amnesty. And so on, and so on.

His 75-days were over, but people hadn't forgotten about him yet.

But it was probably just a matter of time. Soon they would be crowning a new king. Aisha's letter also mentioned that AA and Yaya had been married. She said they fought from time to time, but seemed truly happy together.

The two had postponed their honeymoon, but apparently they had gone together to Ziyard soon after the wedding. Yaya had declared that she wanted to see with her own eyes this place that her husband went to so often.

'It would be hard to destroy Ziyard. All we can do for now is open up as much as possible to the outside world.'

Mew had always told AA that, and Gulf had no doubt that AA intended to continue with that policy. Because the two of them had visited there, the country's attention was slowly beginning to focus on Ziyard.

Gulf remembered what it had been like in Madina. Many things had happened, but once it was over it felt like it had all happened in a moment. But it had brought about a number of changes in his life. Without question, the biggest change of all was the man standing in front of him now.

He never would have imagined this result when he first came to Madina. No, it was still early to call this an outcome. Everything was just beginning now.

The letrer wrapped up with words were very characteristic of Aisha.

"I pray that you will think from time to time of your poor Aisha, who worries about you more than anyone else, no matter how far away you might be."

Gulf folded the letter back up and handed it back. "We were very cruel to Aisha," he said.

A bitter smile came over to Mew's face, as if he acknowleged that too.

"Why don't we have Aisha come out here one of these days?" he suggested. "The sooner the media and my relatives forget about me, the sooner I can do that."

Gulf agreed.

Their life on the island was completely unrestricted and the inhabitants were all kind. Gulf felt guilty---it was so peaceful. The fact that they were living together here, without interference from anybody---the fact that something he had believed to be a dream had become reality---he was still reluctant to believe it. He couldn't shake the feeling that they should be facing some sort of karmic paybay by now, or that. Mew would suddenly disappear again. He was still too wrapped up in what had happened six years ago.

"Oh..." A cool raindrop struck the tip of Gulf's nose. "It's raining."

As he glanced up at the sky, rain fell in gentle pinpricks over his face. The sky had lost the last of its blue color and the sun was completely hidden by clouds.

"Let's go." Mew took Gulf's hand.

Gulf stood up and, hands still twined, they ran toward their cottage.

Halfway back, Gulf remembered the book he had been reading. He had set it aside on the table. "Oh, I forgot!"

"What?"

"My book."

He disentangled his hand from Mew's and hurried back to pick up the book. He stuck it under his shirt so it wouldn't get wet and, at exactly that moment, the skies opened. Rain pounded the dock and started to flow across it like a river. He couldn't even hear Mew's voice over the noise of it.

He ran back to where Mew was standing and by the time they reached the cottage, they were both completely soaked.

"Ugh, how horrible."

Mew laughed at Gulf's pathetic tone of voice.

"It's not a big deal," Gulf added, glowering at Mew for laughing at him. He took the book out from under his shirt and set it down on a chest. "Who cares if we get wet? It's not like we're going to melt."

He walked toward the bathroom. But after taking the first step, he couldn't go any further.

Mew had taken hold of his wrist and pulled him back. Mew looked at him defiantly and brushed away with cool fingertips the hair stuck to his neck.

"Take your clothes off here," Mew said.

Gulf searched for an answer, but not because he didn't know what to do. He gave a moment's thought to what to say, but Mew expected an answer from him. He gazed down into Gulf's eyes, silently urging him to be quick.

Guld hesitated, fluttering his rain-soaked eyelashes. "What are you saying? The floor will get all wet."

But the floor was already wet. He didn't actually care.

Of course, Mew knew that, and he gently shook his head. "I don't care if the floor gets wet. I'm thinking about that t-shirt clinging to your wet body."

Gulf's eyebrows knitted together unconsciously, out of embarrassment.

The wet t-shirt sticking to his skin had just felt uncomfortable, but Mew's words caused a different sensation to grow inside him. He realized that his t-shirt had become transparent and that Mew was not unaware of his chest peeking through it.

TBC