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ELIZABETH
"Mom!" I ran into the orphanage and found her in the nursery. "Is it true?"
"Is what true?" She asked as she picked up little Rosie from her crib and handed her to me. "Change her diaper for me please." Her long black hair was fastened into a neat bun at her nape.
I accepted the six-month-old and laid her down on the changing table next to one my mom was using. The baby showed off her cute toothless smile and I smiled back. "Is it true that General Khung proposed a marriage of alliance?"
"Where did you hear that?" She asked while putting a new diaper on another baby.
The nursery had gotten bigger over the years. It used to fit two dozen cribs and now we had three dozen. Also, another changing table was added to the two we had. The wardrobe had expanded as well in order to accommodate all the babies.
"Uncle Timothy." He is my father's second in command. His daughter, Theadosia, is two years younger than me and one of my closest friends.
"Tim and his big mouth. He never could keep anything from you." My mom chided and shook her head disapprovingly.
My twin sister and I knew how to work him and our dad, but as we got older, our dad was a little tougher to manipulate.
"So it is true? That General Khung wants to marry me?" I asked excitedly.
My mom rolled her eyes. "No, not exactly. His advisors came with the proposal, not him. And it was for one of the daughters, they didn't specify which."
"I'll do it. Dorothy doesn't care since she already has someone in mind." My twin sister had more luck than me in the love department. She currently has a boyfriend whom she adored. Unlike her, I haven't found anyone interesting enough around here.
All my suitors were boring—they all feared my father. None would even dare to hold my hand let alone kiss me.
I wanted someone with a backbone—someone who was willing to kiss me despite who my father was. And I was curious about what kissing felt like.
And yet, all of them said they would only kiss me if I married them. But I wanted to know what the food tasted like before deciding if I would want to eat it for the rest of my life.
My sister didn't have this problem. She was simply content just having the available suitors at her beck and call. I, on the other hand, wanted more than just someone's company—I craved for physical intimacy.
"Your father already declined the offer."
"What? Why?" Little Rosie scrunched up her face, mimicking my expression and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Because it seems suspicious. Usually, the General would be present if he wanted to propose such a thing but his advisors insisted that he was too busy and couldn't make it. Besides, your father thought you wouldn't be interested."
Oh, I'm very interested.
"Was that your only concern? That he wasn't here to propose?"
"That and the fact that you don't know him."
"Well, that didn't stop you from falling in love with Dad." I countered.
"That's different."
"No, it's not." I tried to reason. "You were twenty, the same age as I am now. And the only difference was you felt like you didn't have a choice in marrying him while I do." I finished the task with Rosie and picked her up just as Sister Miller came in with a tray of milk bottles for the babies. She was in her eighties now and yet she was still as healthy as a boar. I hoped to be like her when I got to that age.
I grabbed one of the bottles and sat down in one of the four available rocking chairs nearby with Rosie in my arm. She cooed and her cute chunky little fingers reached out for the bottle as if she knew food was here.
Sister Miller also picked up a baby and a bottle and occupied to seat to my left.
"You don't know anything about him. Why are you so willing to accept the proposal?" My mom was genuinely curious as she picked up the baby and sat down with a bottle in the chair to my right.
"You didn't know anything about Dad either." I reminded her. "And it turned out okay, I mean better than okay. You even thought he was some scary-looking ruthless ruling giant monster."
Sister Miller tittered at the inaccurate description of my dad. Who could blame my mom though? Even now, my dad still wears his silicone-scarred mask whenever he travels. And if we traveled with him, we were forced to cover our faces with cloth masks as well.
He didn't want people to know our real identities in case they wanted to harm us.
"True. Your father was nothing like the gossip I heard but I was lucky. What if the new General Khung is as bad as the old one, or what if he's worse?"
"That's a chance I'm willing to take. I won't know until I meet him right? And you're wrong, I do know things about him. The truth is... I've been intrigued by him for years now. Five years to be exact—"
"You were intrigued since you were fifteen years old? How come I didn't know about this? That's a little disturbing."
"It's all because of you." I accused playfully.
"Me. Me?" Her spines straightened in surprise. "What did I do to—"
"When you started telling us about how you and dad met when we were ten—how you fell in love. You filled my head with these wonderful stories of love and I knew..." I sighed and my mind went to a faraway land. "That's who I need to find in the future. Someone who treats me the way Dad treats you. The way he hangs on your every word, the way he looks at you, the way he acts when he's around you. I've seen his many sides, when he's the General, when he's the father, and when he's with you. And he's a softy when he's around you."
"He's a softy around you kids too. You guys got him wrapped around your fingers."
"Yeah, when we were kids. But now, he's so strict with us, that we can barely do anything. He says 'no' to us often but he never says 'no' to you."
My mom smiled smugly at my statements and I couldn't help but laugh.
"See! You know it too don't you? You're the one who's got Dad wrapped around her finger." I laughed harder. "And during that time, the old General Khung died in an accident and the new one was appointed. After he took over, Dad talked about him often and I ate up every word. How he seemed like a better ruler, smarter, and less brutal. He even came here two years ago for trade deals and Dad accepted—praising him for being more rational and fair than his predecessor. I don't know, he just seemed interesting to me... someone on par with Dad—someone I would like the opportunity to get to know."
And the irony was that the new General Khung was around the same age as my dad when he met my mom.
I looked at my mom square in the eyes and pleaded with her. "And now that the chance presented itself, how can I not take it? Please, mom. Please. The advisors are leaving in a few hours and I want to leave with them."
"Your dad's not gonna—"
"There's no time to persuade Dad right now. Please just give me your approval to go. While I'm gone, you can talk to Dad and persuade him. And Dorothy can cover for me if need be. Please."
She looked to the heavens as if asking for help before she slowly dragged her gaze back to me. "Alright. You can go. For two weeks—"
"Two weeks! That's not enough—"
"Two weeks is all I can give you. Two weeks to get to know him and see if you would want to accept the proposal or not. If you accept, then we can agree to an engagement and go from there. The wedding will usually happen six months later. Your father is leaving tomorrow for two weeks to visit your grandfather in the South. When he's back, I expect you to be back as well or we're coming to get you ourselves. Is that clear?"
"Yes. Thank you!" I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, put little Rosie back in her crib with another kiss, and said goodbyes to my mom and Sister Miller. "I'll call and write when I can," I told them before quickly running back to my room to start packing for the trip.
A/N Oct 11, 2023
