The Death of a Bachelor

Chapter Thirty-two

🎶I just wanna keep calling your name, until you come back home.🎶

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Elena was out of breath and hyperventilating by the time she took cover inside the main kitchen of Hammedatha household.

She brought her hand up to her chest and slumped down onto a stool. As if she wasn't having enough emotional turmoil from princess Debra, the General just had to show up and pour onto her some more.

He was really something else. She had been doing just fine until he came along and for no particular reason - none whatsoever - started giving her heart palpitations than was necessary, or normal.

She just couldn't understand it. He didn't even have to do much; just speak in a certain kind of way and her organs would run wild - her stomach, her heart her skin, her nerves! It was perplexing!

With an elbow on her lap, she placed her chin in her hand, and decided she would not face him until he was dried up and fully clothed.

After a long while, she guessed he'd probably be done bathing and dressing up, so she stood up to leave. It was getting late, so she had to get back home soon. She decided to inform the General that she would be leaving, so she departed from the kitchen, and began making her way through the halls and stairs in the Central Wing.

She had never been in there before, but she knew where his bed-chamber was from the times they'd moved around together. It was on the same floor as Aaron and Joshua's bed-chambers, at the end of the hallway.

At last, she stood infront of the double doors, and knocked thrice. There was no reply, so she knocked again. When she still heard no response, she gingerly opened the doors just a bit so she could peep in. She saw no one, so she slinked in, thinking maybe he had gone somewhere within the Manor, or returned to the others outside.

His bed-chamber was quite large and spacious. Unlike hers, his had a fireplace opposite the king-size canopy bed, and a grey fur rug in that lounge area, equipped with a setee and a coffee table with its chairs. To her right was a half-open door that looked to lead to a walk-in closet, and to her left, the door to the bath house. It was also open.

Walking further into the chamber, she noticed a corridor in one corner, next to the fireplace. And when she craned her neck, she made out ceiling to floor gold and maroon curtains, meaning that was the balcony.

"Very lavish," she nodded and looked up to admire the tapestries hung on the walls. The crossed swords and shield were the most outstanding. She walked closer to the wall, peering to figure out how exactly it had been hung. Was it a fixture? She was still pondering when,

"What are you doing in my bed-chamber?"

Startled, she swivelled round and spotted the General, who was regarding her questioningly. He was standing on the rug, a good distance from where she was. His feet were bare, and he had on a pair of black breeches. A towel was draped over his shoulder, and it shielded most of his shirtless front side from view.

Wait, shirtless?

Elena's eyes widened in realisation just as he tugged the towel downwards, and it slipped off his shoulder. She whirled around before it could go all the way down, and she heard a swooshing sound that indicated he'd tossed it aside - probably on the bed.

"What are you doing?" He inquired, baffled.

She cleared her throat. "Facing away from you. Can't you see?"

"I can see," he said. "But why?"

She huffed. "Be-cause, I do not want to look at you when you are...half-naked."