Sahara's POV
Hunter being this close to me was the best feeling I've ever felt since mom died. It's weird that I found solace in his presence. We've only met less than a month but he had saved my life so many times. I found it so stupid that he would actually care for someone like me.
"Why are you here?" I asked when there was too much silence between us.
He let out a short breath and looked down to his hands, "There's something important I need to tell you."
Well, this is a pleasant surprise. But I don't think I'm ready to take in more surprises. Not right here, not right now.
"What is it that's so important, Hunter?"
"I know that you've been living with your mom all this time and she'll always be there for you in whatever situation..."
"That doesn't answer the question." I glared at him.
"I think I'm..." he paused, like he was scared of what's coming.
"What? You what?"
"I think I'm falling in love with you."
WHAT?! Am I even hearing this right?
Oh my God! Why is this happening to me? It keeps coming to me one after another. When will it stop? He shouldn't have done that. He shouldn't have said that on an already traumatic girl like me.
"W-What did you just say?" I quivered, afraid of a little truth.
"I love you, Sahara." he blurted, kept hitting me with the most unexpected truth. I never imagined those words would put an ultimate effect on my mind and soul.
"It's impossible." I shook my head. I stared into his eyes and I could tell that he was being honest with himself, both of us knew his words held the truth.
Every time we're together, I felt the love and affection surrounding us. I'm just not strong enough to face it. Even if we want to deny them and fight about them, in the end they are still true.
"Please, just hear me out." he pleaded, those green eyes afraid of my reaction.
"No, I don't believe you."
"It's the truth, Sahara. Just think about it for a second..."
"After what we've been through, I'm always there to protect you. Doesn't that make it clear enough for you to see?"
"See what, Hunter?" I began to sob.
He didn't answer the question, instead reaching out for my hands and took them in his, "Sahara. I love you. I want to love, cherish and protect you for the rest of my life. Share the rest of your life with me. Marry me."
No! This is getting even worse. They are all messed up. Do I even love him back? What makes he think that I would marry him? That I would accept his proposal?
I jerked my hands away and attempted to scramble out of bed but he had already blocked me before I could escape this nightmare.
He got both his arms around me and I collapsed onto the floor with him. I couldn't stop crying and screaming for him to let me go.
"LET ME GO, HUNTER!?" I cried out and clawed his arms, trying to break his embrace.
"No, not a chance!"
"YOU'RE INSANE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!?"
"That's where you're wrong, Sahara. I've been thinking about this the whole fucking time and I was telling you the truth all along."
"Think about it. You have no one else in this world. No father, no mother, no family, no one left to live for, to care for you."
"You're wrong, Hunter. I still have Jameela." I screamed, even though I knew it hurt like a thousand knives just pierced through my heart to even say that name but I had to free myself from his possession.
"Oh really, Sahara? You wanna talk about her? Do you really think you can count on her? Who knows where she could be right now?" he spoke. I hated when he said that but most of his words were true. Jameela isn't reliable for anything. She never cared about mom. What makes me so sure that she would care about me?
"Stop! Just stop it!"I cried.
"Just tell me, Sahara. Are you pushing me away because you're afraid of me? After what you saw the other day?" he tightened up his grips around me. I knew he was talking about Jake. To be honest, I wasn't thinking about that at all. I knew that it was an incident and he did that to save me.
"You don't understand, Hunter. It's not about that."
"If you're trying to tell me that you're not sure about your own feelings, that you don't love me, I don't give a fuck about that, Sahara."
"We can learn to love someone just like what happened to me. Believe me, we can make it work. I can make it work, the hell I can." he said, his voice dripping with confidence.
Believe him? I'll tell him what I believe in, I believe that every time Allah creates a soul in heaven, He will create another to be its special mate and then once we are born, our eyes begin to search for our soulmates.
That's what I truly believe in.
I doubted very much that he's the right person for me. How long does it takes for you to fall in love with someone?
However...
It is entirely possible for me to say that I don't love him. If I have enough courage inside of me, I would have said it. I would tell him that I was falling for him too. But I chose not to. I wasn't sure with myself or him yet.
At the moment, I felt my body loosened and I have no strength left in me to fight him. Thus, I just let myself fell into his arms.
"Please, Sahara..."
"If you want some time to think about it, then fine. Take your time, as long as you want." he whispered into my ear and finally freed my body from him.
All this pressure building inside of me made my head hurt and what I want was for him to leave me alone. Why can't I escape this tormented world of mine for a little while?
"I want you to go, please." I pleaded with tears streaming down my face.
"Okay. I'll go. I'll leave you alone. But please, please just think about it."
"Just go." I pointed towards the door and he seemed disappointed in me.
"I'll leave this room but not before I put you back to bed." he said.
What? Back to bed?
When I finally got what he meant, I aimed to run away from him but he was too fast, he had already swept my legs out with one arm and cradled my back with the other, hoisting me up in his arms.
The urge to fight him was there, inside of me but the tiredness had overpowered my physical and mental. I can feel the tiredness inside me like a worm, slowly draining the energy out of me. I'm alive, but I'm not really living. I hear, but I'm not really listening.
I just let him carry me to the bed and he put me down gently onto the bed and removed his arms from me. I turned over to the other side and pulled the sheet over my body.
"I'm sorry, Sahara. I didn't mean to make things worse for you." he apologised but I refused to look at him.
"I just want you to know that I meant every single word that I said to you."
Those words were enough to make the butterflies inside my stomach flutter freely but I made an effort not to show any further emotion in front of him.
I ignored him and tried as hard as I could to shut my eyes and let the sleep take me to some place other than here.