Destined Love by Marline (i can read book club txt) 📕

myself to.
“I’m sorry, but I cannot live with anymore of your laws. There is too much uncertainty in marrying you. I need to find someone who can give me some stability in my life.”
“But Cleo-“ He sputtered.
“I’m sorry Nathan.” I turned around and walked off. I knew hurting him like this would be one of the hardest things I had ever done in my life but at the same time I knew I had to.
“I thought you loved me!” He called after me. I pretended to ignore him but it stabbed me harder than any physical pain could have ever achieved. When I was out of his sight I started running. I needed to speak to Lila. She was trustworthy and would possibly understand my plan. I dashed up to my room, put some random clothes in my suitcase and scribbled a quick letter.
Don’t come looking for me. I need to do this. I will be back soon. Lila is with me. Don’t worry.

I ran out the back entrance, out the door and stopped the first taxi I could see. I gave them the address to Lila’s home. In the taxi I could finally breathe again. It would be hard on both Nathan and me but it was the only way. The only way to happiness.

We checked in The Golden Goose Hotel

a few hours later. I had explained the whole story to Lila and finally convinced her to help me. “That was so unbelievably mean!” She had said. “I know, but he should have no hope left.” I had responded. But that comment was nagging on me. Still, his feelings were not important right now. Or actually, they were very important, but in a different way. The whole goal of what I was doing was to get Nathan depressed, sad and angry, to show his country that he could not live without me. I knew it sounded selfish and I was not happy about what I was doing but I knew I had to. I knew I could not live without him and I hoped he felt the same way too.
We checked in under Lila’s name and we had a big bag of books with us, which I had managed to get before we left to the hotel. They were Tokitian law books and I hoped to find a loophole in the law. At the same time I would write a speech to convince the people of Tokito to let me marry Nathan. I had never been too good at writing, or reading speeches but I desperately needed this one to be successful.

I sat on the bed and blew the dust off the cover of the first book. It was big, heavy, and it had a dark brown cover. It looked freakishly boring but I would look through books like these for the rest of my life if I could be together with Nathan. I started reading the first page and when my thoughts flew off to some other place, I forced myself to concentrate on the words again.
“I need a dictionary.” I complained to Lila, “I don’t understand half of these words and the other half I can’t read because they are either too vague or smudged.”
“Do it for Nathan.” Lila answered. That was all she needed to say because I plunged back into the book and started reading vigorously. Page after page of boring laws, half of them didn’t make sense to me. I was again surprised at the stupidity of some of them but then again, I had not read the Dardoland law books either. Who knew what was in those books, maybe even more rubbish than in these.

I needed some time alone so decided to go for a walk. It was already quite dark but I didn’t care about my safety at the moment. It was cold and misty on the road and I regretted not having brought a shawl. I wrapped my arms tighter around myself and thought that if I walked a bit faster, it would keep me warm. Since I had met Nathan, this was the longest that I had not contacted him and I missed him terribly. At the same time I was worried about my speech. It wasn’t going well and I knew it wasn’t persuasive enough. Without realizing it I had been climbing up a hill and when I looked up I saw a tiny building. It looked like a church but I wasn’t sure. Curiosity won over fear as I climbed the rest of the hill upwards. It was a church. It was small and looked cozy. Some of the big windows were stained glass while the others were just normal. I walked up to it slowly and when I came close I saw that the door was open. I walked in slowly and saw that it was empty. I sat down on one of the pews and couldn’t help but cry. I hadn’t cried since I had left him but now my emotions were taking over. Together with my sobs I prayed. I prayed for all the things that could go wrong in the rest of my life but most of all I asked God if I could please marry Nathan. At the same time, I suddenly got an idea. I ran out of the church, down the hill and in the hotel. I rushed up the stairs, not bothered to wait for the man-powered elevator. I took the steps two at a time and burst into the room. Lila looked up surprised.
“Lila, I have a perfect idea!”

I stood in a little room, waiting for the parliament to be seated. I nervously straightened out my skirt and blouse while doubting if writing a poem had been a good decision. What if they did not like modern things? What if some of the things I had said were too open? What if- I couldn’t finish that thought because Lila came bursting into the room.
“They’re ready.” She said excitedly. I smiled nervously, checked if my speech cards were in order and walked out of the room.
When the meeting room door was opened for me, the room quieted down immediately. There were around 100 people in the room and they were seated neatly at rows of tables. The room looked exactly the way a parliament had to, big and boring. All the men were dressed in formal suits and the women wore something similar to what I was wearing. I looked around for Nathan but before I could find him, I reminded myself that I better not. It would break my concentration. I walked up to the microphone and took a deep breath to steady my heart and my shaking hands before I began.

First of all, I would like to say,
That this is a very difficult day,
I have dreaded it and been afraid,
Been discouraged and dismayed.
Speeches have always given me a scare.
But this is because I care,

I could not resist the temptation to find him in the crowd and our eyes met. He was the only one I looked at for the rest of my speech.

And because I just don’t dare,
To live without being able to run my fingers through his hair.
Yes, this poem is written indeed,
For him and for me, we don’t wish to bleed.
I will tell you all now, I love him.
And the whole world seems dim,
When he is not here, with me.
So please, I am begging you, please let our marriage be.
Because the way he is now, depressed and sad,
Upset, annoyed and maybe even a little mad,
Is the way I will be without him too.
And it’s up to you to decide what to do.
I am begging you to change, or even break the law.
Because if you don’t, it might be a great flaw.
I will be forever grateful and content,
If for this once, the law is bent.
I thank you all for your patience and time,
And for listening to this rhyme.

When I finished the whole room was silent. I nearly panicked but then the room burst out in muffled clapping and everyone was talking at once. I took a deep breath as I stepped off the stage. I hoped it had touched their hearts and they would listen. Maybe some of the people would have found it too modern. But I knew there was nothing to do about it now. I knew I needed to hurry if I did not want the whole room to see me cry. Just before I left the room I heard a beautifully familiar voice.
“Cleopatra, wait!” I looked up at him and didn’t care that the tears were already streaming down my cheeks and that everybody could see this. He took me by the hand and then walked up to the microphone.
“I have decided,” he said, pronouncing each word slowly, “that I cannot live without her. And if I have to lose the throne to keep her, I will.”
I stared at him shocked. “No, Nathan, you cannot do that! It’s your country, your people, you can’t give them up for me.”
“Cleo, you mean too much to me, I can’t just let you go.”
“I won’t let you.” I felt a sob come up and I had to fight to keep it down. “I won’t!” I repeated, as I tore my hands from his grasp and ran off the stage. In the room where I had been before the speech, I cried my heart out. I knew the parliament would never beak the law for me, I was sure of it now because even Nathan thought they wouldn’t. They disliked me and there was nothing I could do about it. There was a short knock on the door. I turned around but Nathan did not wait for an answer, he just barged in.
“Hey,” he said softly, as he sat next to me and wrapped his arms around me.
“I won’t let you do it.” I said again. “I love you too much to let you give all this up.”
“I’m not going to give anything up. Not you, and not the crown.” I stared at him, dumbfounded. How was that possible?
“The court agreed, as long as we get married within the next two weeks.” He laughed at my face and hugged me so tightly that I could barely breathe.
“But, I thought..” I started.
“Apparently they thought differently.” He wiped a stray tear off my cheek and then kissed me. I forgot everything at that moment and barely heard the knock on the door. Suddenly I heard someone clear his voice. Nathan let me go to see who it was and it turned out to be the head of parliament. I was a little embarrassed but Nathan seemed to act like there was nothing wrong so I didn’t mind that much either.
“If you would be so nice as to come back to the meeting room for a few minutes, we have something we would like to say to you two.”
“Sure.” Nathan answered and hand in hand we walked back to the meeting room. I suddenly realized that I must look horrible, my mascara was probably running and maybe my other make up was too.
“Wait, one moment.” I tugged on his arm. “I just need to use the bathroom for one moment.” He understood what I meant and laughed.
“You look fine, I promise.” He gave my hand a squeeze and a few moments later we walked into the