A Noble Marriage - Chapter 37

Chapter 37 – For a Lifetime (2)

Anna snuggled her face into Karenin’s neck so she couldn’t see his expression, and neither could he see hers; that gave her courage to speak her mind without being embarrassed.

“I have the best husband in the world, you know. He is very straightforward and sometimes cute. Sometimes he is a little serious, but I know just how good he is. I like him very very much!” Anna closed her eyes, her tender, white ears were flushed red at the tips, as she awaited a response from her husband, whom she’d just confessed her love to. However, she didn’t get one.

Just suddenly, the hands on her waist changed positions and she looked up at him. Seeing his cool expression, she could only smile.

At that moment, Anna was convinced of one thing. That sometimes, some love needs no words.

You can’t ask the sky to give you the colour blue and the grass for the colour green. You can’t ask the wind to give you gentle care and yet, keep it still and quiet.

He had his own way of expressing his affection, which wasn’t frivolous or flamboyant, he just believed in giving a sincere response to a sincere heart. He had already got what he needed, why would he ask for more?

Before meeting Karenin, Anna had many definitions of love which included poetic and secular, ever-changing adjectives.

But now, she began to understand that if there truly was a language in the world that could accurately describe the word “love”, it was these blue eyes in front of her, which embodied it.

That night, Anna’s last thought before falling asleep was: If this is the biggest response he can give me, I’m content and will stop asking.

It takes hundreds of millions of light years for the light of stars to reach the earth. It takes even more effort and energy to fall in love with the other person than the starlight reaching the earth.

What Anna didn’t realize was that her lack of demands was actually the root of their happiness.

She had entered this marriage with no expectations at all. She was completely mentally prepared to brave this marriage alone and had embraced her singularity in the pair that they made for the world to see.

To actually find mutual love, understanding and respect in a relationship in which she had never expected to, was a miracle for her. How could she ruin the beauty of this gift by asking for or expecting anything more?

*

That night, Karenin once again violated his routine. After Anna fell asleep, he turned over, propped his head on his palm and watched his wife in silence for a long time in the moonlight, as if to look into her soul.

She was indeed very odd. How could a smart person like Karenin not sense that his wife was sometimes different in her behaviour? If Anna hadn’t been his wife, he was certain he’d have found the answer to her oddness at once. All he had to do was investigate objectively.

But the truth was that Anna was his wife. How could he be objective when it came to matters involving his own heart?

Therefore, as an ego defence mechanism, to protect both of them, instead of exploring the truth by questioning and distrusting, Karenin just attributed everything to his wife’s uniqueness, to her character, and to her being Anna.

She was the most unique person in the world, his wife.

He had sworn in the name of God, took the vows at the wedding, he had promised, this relationship will last a lifetime. Suspicion and distrust will never ruin it’s beauty. He wouldn’t let them.

He will always trust her and lay bare his soul to her, it was after all, hers now.

No one knew that during the conversation that day, he had accidentally lost an access card to her, that allowed her access to the heart of Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin.

A young girl named Anna had picked up this card and she was determined to engrave her ownership on the card forever, using her strange and bold words, shy and sometimes bright smiles, to freely enter and leave the kingdom of his heart.

The king had looked at the young girl, from her stretched eyebrows like willows, to her grey and kind eyes, to the corners of her lips, and then granted her permanent access, thinking he hadn’t a choice.

This girl will never even know how precious what she had was. After all, some people had exhausted their lives and could not gain even a temporary residence permit, while she had easily obtained a permanent residence permit.

‘I’ll give you a lifetime of trust and support.’

‘Always only care for and protect you.’

‘Single-mindedly be yours and will never betray you.’

He didn’t say it easily, but it didn’t mean that he didn’t love or cherish her. He just needed a little time. From being a silent man, he had started to understand that as a husband, he needed to do more than to love her from the heart. He had to make her know it.

He was aware that it took a tolerant wife to adapt to his ways, and a loving wife to coax him into saying it. He was certain, that one day he will.

The very next day, Anna ran into a big problem, and had to ask her husband for help.