chapter 15: Love test

Kaino's POV

"Did you send your husband off?" Ria asks as soon as I came back after Parker leaving.

"Yeah." I hum as I walk to my cabin to put on the coat as she follows me behind.

"I envy you, Kaino. You're so lucky to have someone as your life partner who you love and is loved by him at the same." She says, suddenly sounding so serious unlike how she was minutes ago.

"Ria, what are you talking about?" I question her, though I understood what she meant I'm a little confused.

"I'm talking about you and your husband. How lucky of you guys to get married with the ones you love." She states with a smile.

"Ria, you got everything wrong." I chuckle sadly at how she mistaken us.

"What? Kaino, I didn't get anything wrong. Tell me you don't love your husband?" She counters me as if challenging me to say no.

"Ria, it's not like what you think it is." I sigh not really knowing how to explain to her.

"Come on, Kaino. Tell me everything, I'm all ears." She says as she settles on the chair in front of mine.

I stare at her who's waiting for me to talk before finally sitting on my chair.

"I love him, Ria. But Parker doesn't love me." I tell her, those words almost breaking my heart.

"Kaino, are you dumb or something! Why would you say he doesn't love you when it's clearly shown in his eyes?" She calls me out making me confused.

"What?" I ask totally dumb founded.

"God! Kaino, he loves you, he obviously loves you. Can't you see it in his eyes? He looks at you like you mean the world to him and it's clear as day for everyone to see. I can't believe you think he doesn't love you." She shakes her head as if she's disappointed by what I said.

"You might think like that because the love he has in his eyes is not for me it's for my brother." I tell her.

"What? Your brother? Why would your husband love your brother and show it to you? First of all do you even have a brother?" She queries and I sigh for the second time within last five minutes.

"Ria, let me tell you something." To clear everything to her I decide to tell the story behind our marriage. She's one of my closest and trusted friend in here, she's not suspicious to not tell her about it and also, I think sharing my feelings with someone would make me feel better. Everything I keep inside me and honestly it's all suffocating me.

"I had a twin brother, though we were born together, our parents gave me to my mother's sister immediately after our birth as they didn't have a child. So, when I was days old, I was taken to states with them and grew up as their child. My brother, Zayn was with my birth parents. My whole family in states are all doctors and work in hospital. While my brother here had a business on his own. Parker and my brother loved each other, they were going to get married. And we came here few months ago to attend their marriage."

"But unfortunately before the wedding, my brother met with an accident. He was in critical condition and the chances of survival were very thin. When we came to know about this, we all hurriedly went to the hospital and there we leant my brother can't be saved. We were given a chance to talk to him for one last time and when we went to talk, the only thing he asked us was to get married to each other. He wanted Parker and I to marry."

"Parker was an orphan, he never grew up with a family but when he and my brother stated dating, our family became his as well. For our parents he's one of their child, just like Zayn and I. Parker is a very reserved person and whatever he went through life, my brother didn't want him to go through that again because of him. He wanted to give Parker a family of his own and to be loved by them. He wanted that family to be ours. So, during his last breathe, he asked us to marry and I promised him that I will and Parker did the same because he couldn't say no to my brother's last wish."

"They loved each other a lot and my brother mean everything to Parker. You know, it was so hard to bring him back to normal state because he lost himself when my brother died."

"Our marriage is not like everyone else's, it's just an obligation. At first for me, Parker was just a responsibility as I gave a promise to my brother but slowly I started falling for him and now I love him. But it isn't same for him. He married me because of the promise he made to his lover. To him I'm just a replacement of my brother. I look like a exact replica of my brother and he sees my brother in me. So, the love you're talking about being clear as day isn't for me, it's for my brother." I tell her everything and I really felt at ease after sharing it with her.

"Kaino, I understand everything you said. I didn't know that's how you got married." She says, "but for real, are you dumb or what?" And she calls me out immediately.

"Ria! Seriously, is this what you say after hearing my story?" I respond.

"Kaino, I love you my friend but you're really nuts. Did Parker ever tell you that he sees his late lover in you or that is the reason why he's with you?" She questions while folding her hands on her chest.

"He doesn't need to say that, Ria. It's understandable." I say, feeling sad. I just wish that isn't how things are.

"Now I'm going to knock some sense into you." She states and leans forward as she keeps her hands on the table.

"You must have married each other because you promised your brother, I get that. But one can't show their love on someone to others. If I love you, I'll show it to but not to others and that's how love is. We won't show because we want to, it just happens on it's own. He has the look of love in his eyes because he loves you. Like you said, even if he just sees you as a replacement and the love in his eyes is for your brother, why would he even do that? After everything he went through by loosing his lover, if he ever see someone that resembles him of his lost love, all he would feel is sadness. He would be more heart broken to see you everyday which keeps reminding him of someone he loved the most and lost him for life."

"But that isn't the case, he was obviously sad at the beginning and took time to cope up with the events. However, now he's different, he's happy and back to normal. I won't say he'll forget about his late lover, no, because till he lives, he'll never forget him. But that doesn't mean he can't love someone else. The love he has in his eyes is for you because now the person he loves is you." She says and I watch her perplexed.

"Ria.." I call her shockingly.

"Believe me, what I'm saying is true." She nods at me.

"So, what you're saying is you think Parker is loving me?" I state still being confused.

"I'm not saying I think, what I'm saying is he loves you, you moron." She growls at me as she's repeating the same thing again and again.

"I still can't believe, Ria." I state, how much I think I can't really be sure of what she's saying.

"Kaino, it's high time you confess your feelings to Parker and only then he'll tell about his feelings. What if just like you he thinks you just married him because you promised your brother and see him nothing but as a person who you have to look after? He might think you would come to hate him if you know he has feelings for you. If that's the case, he will never in life tell you what he feels towards you. As a person who went through a lot of pain in life, he will keep it to himself if it means you'll stay with him. Until you tell him, he won't. If you confess, it will give him the confidence to let out his feelings." She explains.

"So what do I do know? I just don't want to confess and get rejection from him. As much as everything you said feels good, it might as well end up badly. It's better to think he doesn't love me instead of getting rejection from him." I tell her, if he rejects I'll be heart broken.

"He loves you that's for sure. But you aren't sure, so let's find out about it." She replies at least understanding my fear.

"So, how do we find out?" I ask her with a hint of hope in my voice.

"What from I heard, I realised you guys are like living together like strangers. So, what I suggest is today when you go him the first thing you do is kiss him." She smiles staring at me.

"Kiss him?" I inquire confused, "but why?"

"Yeah, just go and kiss him. When someone we don't like does anything intimate with us, our first reaction would be push them away and get away from them. So, if he pushes you away or gets angry at you when you kiss him, that means he doesn't like you, which is not going to happen anyway. But if he doesn't do that and goes along with whatever you do, that means he likes you." She suggests her plan.

"Will this really work?" I question her, still doubtful about it.

"Of course, it does but don't go kissing him aggressively. Be gentle and soft. I know this actually sounds silly but I'm only giving this advice to make you believe. As for me, this wouldn't be needed because I can see and I know he loves you." She shrugs as she says.

"Okay." I reply trying to process everything, "but what should I do after kissing him?"

"God! Should I say that also? Think by yourself. Now, I have to go. Tomorrow when you come to work, you should report me what happened. I'm going, bye." She states and gets up from the chair, leaving my cabin.

After our not so useful conversation comes to an end, I lean on the chair and let out a sigh. It's hard to process everything. Though I don't know what Parker feels towards me, I'm happy with how we're now. But if confessing my feelings means having a chance to be ourselves with our feelings, gives me a hope. So, for the remaining of the day, I continue my work and when the work finishes, I clean up in the bathroom attached to my cabin. Usually I would always wash up after going home, but now I have other things to do when I go home before I clean up. So, I fresh up and go back home.

When I reach, I park the car and make my way inside where I already find Parker. He stood there at the door with a smile as he opened the door for me. Tension fills my heart and I clutch my bag before letting it fall onto the ground. I stride forward and pull Parker to me by his waist before I press my lips against his just like Ria said. I don't know what came over me but I uttered the without thinking...

"I love you, Parker."