THEA
Santorini was breath-taking.
I was a bit tired after the flight, mostly from being nervous of flying. Arthur had helped me to stay calm as he never let go off my hand the whole flight. It was really nice of him to do that, which was quite surprising. The man didn't talk much on the flight but he'd rub my hand with his thumb whenever there was a turbulence.
Otherwise, I was happy to be here and couldn't wait to explore the whole city.
Being in Greece reminded me of my nationality, I was actually a Half-Greek. My mother was Greek, married my father who was British. I hadn't been to Greece before, I was born and raised mainly in England. You could tell by my first name which was Althea, means 'one who heals', in Greek. Also I was named after my parents' names, Alfred and Mathea, combined as Althea. I loved the idea of my name.
The driver dropped us to our hotel which was located just in front of the Aegean Sea, so the view was incredibly beautiful.
Once we reached the hotel, we were separated into 2 rooms just beside each others. Arthur and I dragged our luggage into our room. It was big enough for the two of us. The room was painted in plain white. In the middle of the room was a king size bed with a plasma TV that hung on the wall. There was also a big sofa, bedside table, a wardrobe, and a study desk near the window.
I also just found out that we had a secret tunnel that lead us to a private pool with the most beautiful view ever. I couldn't help but being so happy and excited.
The only tiny problem with this room was that it only had one bed. Both Arthur and I looked at the king size bed and glanced at each others, there was way in hell we would share the bed.
"Take the bed, I'll take the sofa." Arthur said before I could start.
"You sure? That sofa doesn't look so comfortable."
And Arthur was tall. His feet would hang down when he sleeps.
"I didn't have much choice, did I?"
I shrugged. "Whatever you decide. Don't say I didn't warn you."
He didn't say anything as he plopped himself on the sofa, he let out a sigh as he closed his eyes. I knew by the look of him, that sofa wasn't so comfortable. But it was what he wanted.
I took this opportunity to use the bathroom to refreshen. I removed my make up and changed my cloths into my night attire. When I left the bathroom, Arthur was nowhere to be seen. I looked for him and found him in the balcony, looking at the already dark sky. He seemed in a deep thought, not wanting to disturb him, I crawled on the bed and made myself comfortable. I was super tired today after the flight and we just called it a day so I chose this time to sleep earlier and got ready for tomorrow.
*
"Ah this is so nice," Elisa sighed in relief as she laid down on the sand, facing the sun. "It's been a while since I last had a trip, working in a hospital can be very exhausting."
We were currently at the beach near our hotel, it was the best time to let our skin get all the heat and vitamin from the sun. The weather was super warm and nice. A perfect time to sunbath.
I laid down beside Arthur, resting my head on his muscular bicep. I glanced at Elisa on the corner of my eye that she looked at us smiling. For once I felt bad that Arthur and I had to act civil in front of her. She looked genuinely happy to see us like we were in love.
I didn't know how long we could keep this facade before my in laws found out that we had been lying to them for months. I couldn't imagine how hurt they felt when they found out. I didn't know how we would continue this any longer.
"You alright?" he looked down at me after a while.
I didn't look at him. "I'm fine."
I couldn't tell him what I was thinking, not when his parents were near us. I could talk to him when we were alone later.
"Do you want to go somewhere after this?"
This time I looked at him. "Where do you want to go?"
"Let's just go away from my parents."
An hour later, Arthur informed his parents that we were leaving to go sightseeing. His parents just nodded in response. Arthur nodded at me to get ready, I was only wearing my bikini and since we were going somewhere I put my shorts on and told him I was ready.
Arthur looked at me for a second then handed me his white shirt. "Put this on."
I didn't argue so I took his shirt and put it on, his smell was piercing into my nose. He smelled like mahogany with a hint of teakwood. I loved his scent.
He took me to the city to sightsee, it was quite crowded as it was a holiday season. Many people bringing their children to come here, or just couples. When the crowd got busier, Arthur grabbed my hand and pulled me close, his grip was firm. I didn't complain though, I liked it.
On day 3 of our trip, I was already relaxed around him. He seemed to enjoy himself being here with me. We would explore the whole island just the two of us, he would hold my hand when we walked together or sometimes planted a gentle kiss on my forehead. I didn't point them out to him, I just let him do whatever he wanted to do to me. He hadn't tried to kiss me, not that I wanted him to. I just liked that he was finally comfortable around me.
And he had been nothing but nice to me the whole trip. He was still a bit grumpy sometimes but we hadn't been arguing. I could get used to this version of him.
Though he was being nice to me, sometimes things got a bit awkward once we were back in our hotel room. We didn't talk much when we were in our room, he even seemed like he was avoiding me whenever we were in our room. I never asked why, he probably didn't know how to act around me when no one was around.
And he still slept on the sofa, sometimes I caught him getting restless for finding a comfortable position. Well, I did told him sofa was never comfortable to sleep on, no matter how fluffy it was.
Today Arthur took me to the Museum of Prehistoric Thera, just the two of us. The weather was pretty hot today so I wore a red tank top and a shorts. We looked around the museum, holding each other hands. It had become a natural thing to do whenever we went out.
Arthur left to go to the restroom while I kept wandering around the museum. I had learnt so many things about Thera, it was a great knowledge.
Somehow I felt someone stood next to me, I looked over, thinking it was Arthur. But it was not. It was a man who looked around Arthur's age. Black hair, brown eyes, thick eyebrows.
"Hello." the guy said, smiling at me.
"Hi."
"I didn't mean to sound creepy but I just thought you look familiar," he began. I just nodded because I didn't know what to say. "I'm Milo, by the way."
"I'm Althea." I shook his hand in return.
"A very Greek name, I take it you are a local?"
I shook my head. "No, though I'm Half-Greek."
"I see. So, what brings you here?" He asked as he walked beside me.
I shrugged. "Just a family trip. What about you?"
"Came here for my sister's wedding, I'm from Spain."
"How sweet, when is the wedding?"
"2 days ago, my sister really had this dream to have her wedding in Santorini. She had always wanted to get married at the beach."
I smiled at the thought. "Must be nice to have a dream wedding."
I had always wanted to get married at the beach too, it was my dream. But not every dreams needed to come true.
He nodded. "Yeah, I'm jealous though. She is a few years younger than me but got married first."
"Really?"
"Yeah, hence why she couldn't stop teasing me to start looking for the right girl."
I chuckled. "Don't worry, you will find the right one when you least expect it."
He looked at me and smiled. "Thank you, I hope so. What about you though? Any boyfriend?"
"Well, actually I'm-"
"There you are, my darling." a hand slipped around my waist. "I thought I lost you somewhere." Arthur pecked my head.
Who the hell was this man? I had almost sensed he was jealous.
"Well, I'm here." I let out a fake laugh. Milo looked between us. "Anyway, this Milo. Milo, this is Arthur." I didn't know what to do so I introduced them.
"Ah, my wife already made friends." he emphasized the word 'wife'.
Milo looked uneasy but offered his hand. "Nice to meet you, man."
"Likewise." he shook Milo's hand. "Sorry, my wife and I are leaving."
Milo just nodded at him then looked at me. "Well, it was nice meeting you Althea."
I gave him a polite smile. "You too, Milo."
So he left. And I instantly looked at Arthur. "What the hell what was?"
"What was what?"
"The 'my wife' emphasize, I could've sworn you were jealous back there."
He scoffed. "I was not jealous."
I smirked. "You sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Now shut up and let's get back to the hotel. I have work to do."
The statement surprised me, it instantly erased my smirk.
"Already? But.. it's only 5 in the afternoon. And why are you bringing work to our trip?"
"Don't ask questions, you got me a headache."
Damn, he was back to being an asshole.
But he did look troubled as we went back to our hotel, he actually looked stressed. He wasted no time pulling out his laptop and did a Zoom meeting with his team. Looked like there was an emergency in the office.
I didn't want to disturb him so I took my bikini and got changed in the bathroom. We had a private pool here so I would go for a swim.
The view was incredibly beautiful, the blue sky met the sun, making the sky looked like an art. I looked around the view with a smile on my face. I jumped onto the pool to the edge. I rested my arms onto the glass, watching the sky.
Suddenly I remembered about my parents. How nice would it be if they were here with me. We had never visited Greece together. We struggled so much when I was young, we didn't have money to go abroad. My parents would just take me to the local beach or a funfair to make me happy.
I swam for almost an hour until the sun finally drown and the dark sky took over, I started to shiver from the cold. I left the pool only to realize that I didn't bring my towel with me. There was no way I would be going into the room all wet. I didn't want to ruin the room carpet.
I peeked in through the window to find Arthur on the study desk. He was no longer speaking to the screen but was typing on his laptop.
"Arthur?" I called hesitantly. He hummed without glancing at me. "I'm sorry to interrupt but could you please hand me my towel? I don't want to wet the carpet."
He finally stopped typing then looked at me. "Yeah, sure."
He grabbed my towel in the bathroom then handed me the towel. I took it from his hand.
"Thank you."
He just nodded but his eyes never left my body.
Did he just check me out?
Feeling embarrassed, I wrapped myself with the towel, looking at the floor. He cleared his throat then left to finish his work again. I took this chance to sprint into the bathroom and did my business. By the time I was done, Arthur was still on the study desk, still typing.
I was hungry, and by the look on how busy Arthur was, I didn't think he would want to go out for dinner. So I was thinking to order room service.
"Hey, is it okay if I order room service for dinner?" I asked as I sat on the bed. He just nodded without leaving his eyes from the screen. "Okay, what do you want to eat?" I opened the menu on the bedside table.
"Just order anything for me."
"Okay, what about your drink?"
"Just wine."
I rang the room service. After I told them what I wanted, they assured that our foods would be ready in 20 minutes. I thanked them then ended the call.
The room was awfully quiet, the only sound filled the room was Arthur typing on his laptop. I didn't want to distract him by turning the TV on so I just played with my phone, making myself busy.
20 minutes later, the door bell rang. I jumped from the bed to open the door, the guy brought us our foods and placed them on the table. I gave him a tip before he left the room.
"Arthur, take a break. Let's eat." I said, nodding at our foods. He looked at me then our foods before he finally nodded.
He took a seat across me as I gave him his plate. I ordered grilled chicken for me and beef steak for him. We ate in silence, I tried to stay silent when all I wanted was to ask him what happened at work. So I did it.
"So.. how's work?"
He sighed. "One of my employees messed up with his work."
"How bad?"
"Pretty bad," he butchered the steak as he said that. "He lost the disk where I put some important files about the company's profile."
"Didn't you have the copy or something?"
"I did have the copy, but it's not the main problem. If someone outside the company has it and leaks what's inside, my company will be in a big trouble."
That's pretty serious.
"I'm sorry. I hope the disk will be found soon."
"I damn better hope so."
We finished the rest of dinner in silence. After we were done, Arthur continued with his work, taking a phone call every once in a while, while I turned the TV on but minimized the volume. I looked through the channels and found Justice League was playing on Fox Movies.
What I loved most about this film was that Jason Momoa, Henry Cavill, and Ben Affleck were casting in the same film. 3 of my favorite actors all together.
Halfway through the film, my eyes began heavier. I got sleepy. Arthur was still on the study desk, wearing the outfit when we went out this morning. He looked tired and stressed and I wished I could have done something to help him. But this was something beyond me so I just hoped the problem would be solved soon.
And I thought I finally fell asleep with the sound of typing, and Arthur's sighs every once in a while.
"Dad, how did you meet mama?"
"Hhmm let's see," my father started to remember. "I think I met her in one of the classes at uni. She was the smartest student in our class, even she is now. But even though she was the smartest student, she was also very down to earth person, and she loved to help her friends. It was what I admired her about. And then one day I encouraged myself to ask her out on a date with me, but your mama being herself she-"
"She refused to go out with you." I finished it for him. He nodded then we burst into laugh. I figured my mother would actually do that.
She once told me that she never looked for a relationship during her studies. She said that she wanted to focus on her study so she could graduate and got her degree first.
"How did you convince her then?" I asked, wanting to know the rest.
"Well, kid, it was not easy at all. I remember I had asked her many, many times but still, she was as stubborn as she was. So I had to think hard to convince her to go on a date with me, because graduation was in a few months and I couldn't let her go like that."
"Wow, dedicated much."
He nodded. "Anyway it was a complete failure, she still refused to go out with me, until one day I decided to propose to her."
I gasped. "What the- Dad are you crazy?!"
He chuckled. "It's true. It may sound crazy, knowing that she never once agreed to go out with me. But you know what?"
"What?" I asked, getting impatient.
"Turned out, your mama liked me too. And she accepted my proposal."
My jaw dropped on the floor because what the actual fuck?
"That's impossible! How did that happen? Did she hit her head or something?"
He laughed. "No, sweetheart. She apologized to me for never agreeing to go on a date with me, she didn't want to get distracted by having a boyfriend. You know your mama got into uni with a scholarship that's why she really valued the chance that was given to her. But anyway, I proposed to her on our graduation day so she finally accepted my proposal because she had finished her study and didn't have to worry about any distraction again."
"Holy hell.. Who would have thought that my dad had the gut to propose to my mum of all sudden?"
My father grinned. "That's your dad, for sure"
I chuckled then snuggled onto my father as we watched The Office.
"Well, well, you guys look comfy. What were you guys talking about?" My mother asked as she joined us in the living room.
My father and I shared a look then looked at her. "You have no idea, ma/sweetheart"
I was woken up by the sound of metal thing dropped on the floor. My eyes fluttered opened then I realized that the lamp was already turned off. I rolled over to look for Arthur but he was no longer on his study desk. I frowned then looked at the clock to see it was already 3 in the morning.
Then I heard the bathroom door opened and Arthur walked out in just a towel wrapped around his waist. Not wanting to get caught, I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep.
I heard him dressing then plopped himself on the sofa. He sighed as he laid down. I kept silent and opened an eye to find him tossing around the sofa, finding a comfortable position. Having enough of seeing him suffered, I sat up.
"Arthur?"
He froze then looked at me. "Did I wake you up?"
I shook my head then yawned. "Are you okay?"
He sighed as he laid down. "I'm fine, I'm just tired. Go back to sleep."
"That sofa looks uncomfortable, you can sleep here with me," I finally said. He looked surprised as I said that. "This bed is huge enough for the two of us, you know." I added.
"It's fine, it's not uncomfortable."
"No, you will not sleep on that sofa." I argued. He looked unsure. "Come on, it's not like I'm gonna seduce you or something." I joked.
He chuckled tiredly. "Sounds to me that you're gonna seduce me."
"Nah, I'm fine. Now come here," I patted the side of bed. "After that hell of work, I think you deserve a good sleep."
He thought for a moment but obeyed anyway. He stood up from the sofa then carefully crawled on the bed beside me. The bed was huge enough that there was a wide gap between us that could fit another person.
"See? It's more comfortable here, isn't it?" I asked once he was comfortable on his side. He just nodded. "Alright. Good night, Arthur." I said then rolled over to my side with my back facing him.
"Night, Thea." I heard him said behind me.
Damn, we did it. We finally slept in the same bed for the first time in 6 months. That was a huge progress and I couldn't help but smiled at the thought.
*****