Kingston Law #2: There is no such thing as divorce for a Kingston.

Marriage within the Kingston household is a lifelong commitment. In accordance with Law #1, contracts are to be signed by both families of the marrying parties. These contracts reinforce Section 1b of Law #1, requiring all marrying partners to adopt the Kingston surname. This act signifies more than a marital union; it symbolizes allegiance to the authority and legacy of the Kingston name.

2a. Only a Kingston may rule the Kingston Empire.

2b. Once a Kingston, always a Kingston.

2c. Any request from the marrying party will be discussed and agreed upon with all parties present.

This law solidifies the necessity for the marrying partner to take on the Kingston name, as only those bearing the name can uphold the leadership and legacy of the Kingston Empire.

——

I make my way through the company lobby, dressed in a trench coat dress and a black shades covering my eyes. Almost all attention was directed towards me but I didn't pay them mind.

"People are saying that she was gawking at him the entire night at the Benefit Dinner."
"What relation could they possibly have?" Two women bravely spoke as I pass them, but I knew not to make a scene of it. If I were to make a scene, or confront them it would spark even more rumors than what is already circling.

Trouble in Paradise with Pemberton's Beloved It Couple is the headlines of today's gossip section in the newspaper.

I walk into the elevator, pressing to the thirteenth floor, watching through as they openly stared at me, before it closes shut.

The door opens once more, seeing Matthew sitting by his desk staring ahead of him.
"Matthew can you-" I pause, shocked to find Assad sitting on one of the chairs. He stands immediately when he sees me, smiling at me.

So that's what Matt was staring at.

"I don't have an appointment, but I needed to see you." He says and I glance at Matthew, who glared at the man.

"Do you need me to have him removed?" He asks, making me smile a bit.

"It's quite alright Matthew. I'll talk to Mr. Benjamin in my office." I say and walk forward.
His soft footsteps behind me proved that he got the signal to follow though I had not spoken the words.

So this is the reason why they are talking so much downstairs?

I enter my office, holding the door open for him to enter.

"I will close it."

"Just go in Assad." I order and he nods, walking forward and turning to me. I close the door shut, but don't remove myself from by it, nor do I take off my shades. I did not want him to see my eyes.

"Why are you here?"

"Why else would I be here Paulina?" He takes a step towards me but I hold out my hand.

"Stay there." He stops.
"You had no right suddenly turning up here. You signed a contract to stay away from me."

"I signed a contract to not speak of what had happened when we were young." He walks towards me again, I step back only to be stopped by the door.

"I missed you."

"Stop." I tell him, but he doesn't listen, so I push against his chest to keep him away from me. His hands come to cover mine and I quickly pull them away, going to move from in front him but he cages me in with his arms.

"S-top this Assad." My voice breaks, causing me to be angry within.

I've had enough of mother's rants. From last night to this morning, constantly telling to not let him near me. Maybe I should have allowed Matthew to remove him.

"I know you missed me Paulina." I remain silent. Don't give in to him Paulina. Don't give in to him. "I know you cried days and nights for me. Susan told me when she came back to the village." Tears fill my eyes under the glasses, but I force them not to fall.

"Stop it." I softly whisper, pushing against his chest again.

"I came to take you back with me." I coldly chuckle, forcing myself to become cold towards him.

"That's not how things work Assad. And it most definitely is not going to work." I push pass him, walk away from him, thankfully this time he did not put up much fight. I don't think I would be able to remain that close to him any longer and not concave.

He looked so handsome. The older version of the boyish charm that I fell in love with. His long hair was still in cornrows as he told me they are called. Many still stare at him for them, it happened at the dinner last night, yet he did not care of people's opinions. Not then, and seemingly not now.

"I am a married woman Assad." I turn to face him in front of my desk. "Three years into our marriage. I love my husband." He pushes his hands in his coat pockets, staring at me with a serious expression.

"You want me to truly believe that?"

"Believe whatever you must Assad. But the truth still stands. I can't and will never be able to be yours." My heart tightens after my words; trying my best to not let a tear drop, or to show him how much this conversation was affecting me.

"Well I choose to believe that it is not the truth, and that you do still love me. But I will take my leave for now." He says, reaching into his pocket and taking out a business card.
"Call me whenever you want to meet." I numbly stare at the paper, but he takes hold of my hand and places it in my hand.

"I do still love you as well Paulina." He says to me before turning and walking out the door,  closing it once more behind him.

I glance down at the paper, slowly feeling myself begin to lose control of my emotions, my breathing becoming heavy.

"You think they will let us wed Assad?" I ask him as we sat behind the oak tree in our back garden. Mother and father were not home, so this is the only time we are able to be together.

"I don't think they will." He admits.
"But I won't stop fighting for you." I look up to him, and smile.

"Really?" He cups my cheeks, leaning down to peck my lips.

"Always."

The sound of the phone ringing draws me back to reality and I turn to look at it.
Move Paulina. I tell myself, forcing my feet to move forward towards the phone.

I try to collect myself before answering but it was clear that I was still clearly out of it.

I clear my throat answering.
"Paulina Kingston speaking." I force out, despite my tongue starting to become heavy.

"Breathe baby girl." Father's voice fills my ears and I burst out in tears.

"He..He..."

"I know. Matthew called and told me that he was there, I cannot come to you now so I need you to trust my judgment."

The door suddenly opens to my office, and in walks in a very calm looking Carl.

"Is Carl there already?" I hear father ask seeming surprised, and I whisper a small yes. Watching as he closes the door behind him, and walks forward.

"You may not trust him, but trust me." He says.
"I'll see you soon."

"Okay." I mutter and rest the phone back down.

He rounds the table, and I turn to face him. He glances at the paper still in my hand, and then back up to me; no word spoken.

"Won't you...even ask how I am?"

"How are you?" I narrow my eyes at him.

"If you don't...want to be here...then you can..." I take in a sharp breath, rubbing my chest as I feel my throat close up even more.

"You need to calm down." I snap up to look at him.

"I-DID NOT- KNOW THAT!" My sentence comes out broken, and I turn away from him, holding on to the table as I descend to the floor, the paper still tightly held in my hand.

You need to calm yourself Paulina. Relax. Relax.

"Relax." I look up at Carl with more tears threatening to fall from my eyes. He comes to sit on the ground next to me, pulling me into his arms. My skin begins to burn from his touch, a part of me yelling at me to get away from him, but my conscious mind knew I needed some form of comfort right now, before I fell into unconsciousness.

"You can go back to despising me afterwards." He says to me, causing something of a laugh to leave my mouth.

"Close your eyes." Ignoring the part of me that was yelling at me to let him go, I close my eyes and he tightens his hold around me.

"Focus on my breathing, the beat of my heart." He softly spoke, and I follow his instructions. Taking slow breaths to try and ease myself down from the panicked state of mind I am in.

"Assad you can't do that." I mutter still in shock that he had kissed me.

"I..." He walks up to me again, our eyes staring deeply into each other's. I never expected for him to recuperate my feelings. Far less to kiss me, that too behind my favorite tree.
"Can I kiss you again?" He whispers, taking hold of my chin, and closing the littlest distance between us."

"Please." It came out as a soft whimper, but he seemed pleased, and that was all my heart wanted.

——

"I will never love you." I tell him and he just stares at me.

"Did you hear me? I said I'll never love you! I don't care if we are to consummate our marriage tonight. I will never love you!" I yell at him again, but he doesn't say a word.
"Just hurry up and get it over with." I walk over to the bed, crawling up, and turning to lie flat on my back.

——

"I HATE YOU!!! I HATE YOU!!!"

"Paulina baby girl please!!" Father yells coming to grab hold of me, and I drop to the floor.

"You will have many more children Paulina. Stop acting so irrational." I burst out sobbing.

"What have I done for you to hate me so." I cry.

"Tabatha get out of my daughter's room before I hurt you myself."

"You're crying." My eyes snap open and I pull away from him, quickly standing to my feet, wiping away my tears.

"It is nothing." He stares up at me for a moment, before taking a breath and standing up. He fixes himself, and stares at me again.

"What?"

"Nothing." He turns to leave.

"Stay!" He looks back to me.
"Just until father comes. I...I..."

He walks over to the sofa and takes a seat. Laying his head back and closing his eyes.

Nodding to myself, I take a seat at my desk, my eyes locking to the paper in my hand. The urge to call him was indeed there, to hear his voice again, to be held by him again.

I reach for the phone, but mother's voice suddenly fills my ears.
Kingston Law no. 2 Paulina!

I retract my hand, fisting it tightly to try and smooth the itch to call him.

Call him. That voice tells me and I grab hold of my head.

"You can't Paulina. You can't call him." I mutter to myself, unaware that Carl was watching me.

"You can't go to him. You can't have him. You can't..." I clutch at the collar of my dress to try and ease the pain in my heart but it made no use. My other hands wraps around my belly, and more tears being to fall.

"Don't you worry little baby. Grandpa promised he'll take care of us, and won't let the evil witch take you from me." I whispered to the growing fetus. The doctor said they were growing very well and healthy.

"I can't wait to you." The door suddenly opens, mother staring at me with a blank stare.

"Get up, we have to go to your check up." I nod, standing to my feet.

Only it wasn't a check up.

"Paulina." I look up to Carl, as tears bitterly fell from my eyes, his own eyes softening at the sight of my face.

"What can I do to help Paulina?" He softly asks coming to stand next to me. Divorce me.
"What should I do?" He grabs hold of the handles of the chair, turning me to face him and getting down onto one knee, taking hold of my hands.

"What should I do to help? I can't see you like this." He asks again. I try to speak, but the lump in my throat prevented me from doing so.

It felt hard to breathe, feel, move, everything. My heart aches for the man she truly loved, but knew she could not go to him for the sake of law and reputation.

A broken sob, brusts from my lips,and Carl quickly stands, pulling me to stand with him, hugging me tightly. But it only hurt. My body was paining.

I push away from him, causing myself to lose my balance and fall back onto the chair.

"Paulina-"

"D-don't touch me. It hurts. Everywhere hurts. I want to go to him. I want to..." I cover my face with my hands, beginning to cry more.

"Paulina! Come on!"

"Assad we cannot leave the estate, mother would have me hanged!" I whisper yell as we try to sneak through the deadly quiet household."

"We're not leaving the house."

"Then where-" he places a finger to my lips.

"Trust me."

"I do." He leads me all the way over to the left wing of the house, where grandfather used to reside before he passed from his cancer.

He opens grandpa's room door, and I feel my heart rate quicken.

"Assad we—I.. Where are we going?" I ask him when we pass the bed heading deeper into the dark room.

He opens the balcony doors, and leading my out and I gasp in shock. The familiar t small table I would spend days sitting and conversing with granddad had a small container of sandwiches on them, with two cans of what looked like soda.

"Assad-"

"This room has the greatest view of the left side of estate, so I thought we should sit under the stars and have a date." He says, but he sounded quite shy.

"It does have the best view." I look out at the full scale green field, lit by the moon and the stars above it, with the highlights of green due to the fireflies.

"My lady." Assad says pulling out the chair for me, making me smile.

"Paulina please!" Carl comes to kneel in front of my sobbing body, which I had not realized moved to sit on the floor.

"What can I do? Tell me to do something please." I look up at him through tears, finding tears of his own falling?

"Please Paulina. Tell me what to do." He holds my face.

"D-istract me."

"I don't understand-"

"Distract me Carl! You want to help? Do something to stop these memories from continuously replaying in my mind, do something to stop me from getting up from this chair and walking out that door, throwing all care for reputation and family laws behind me!" I roughly grab at his suit jacket, fisting tightly at the material.
"It hurts. Everywhere hurts Carl. Do something." He stares up at me, his eyes seeming to move about showing he was thinking.

I watch as his pupils suddenly dilate, and he covers my hand with his own.

"Okay."