Chapter 73 - Girl Talk (1/2)

Franz had largely moved his base of operations into their shared bedroom so he could watch over his wife but once he saw that I was in a bad mood he kissed her briefly and headed back to his office, leaving us alone to talk.

”What did Alpheus do this time?” she asked with a light laugh.

She knew me too well. He was the only person in this place that could really get a rise out of me.

”He won't stop teasing me about having children,” I complained. ”He knows I'm not ready for that but keeps giving me a hard time.”

Mariela didn't understand where I was coming from. Her world had always been about getting married as a political tool. Children were an incidental but natural part of that.

If her baby wasn't under threat, she would have been proud to bear offspring. As it was, her worry couldn't hide her maternal glow. It was obvious she loved the baby already.

I did my best to explain that things didn't work that way in my homeland without mentioning medical tech like birth control that she wouldn't understand.

I could tell she was trying to be supportive even though she didn't get why it was such a touchy topic for me. She had been thrilled when I accepted Al's position as my husband but couldn't comprehend my thought process about it.

Even if the pregnancy thing wasn't an issue, I needed to go through the stages of dating first for the sake of my own sanity. I didn't have exact terms to explain my situation but it was basically like I was trying him out as a boyfriend to see if I could develop feelings for him.

A heart could be stubborn. Since I hadn't liked Al first and had friendzoned him for so long it was as if there was a dam holding back any potential romantic feelings.

Our relationship right now was kind of like a subdued version of friends with benefits. Not that Mariela or anyone in this world would know what that meant. Trying to explain my muddled feelings was exhausting.

”Katie…you think about things differently because of your home country. For Alpheus, talking about these things as a married couple is perfectly normal.”

”I know,” I said sourly.

I just wanted to complain, okay? Was that not allowed anymore? Girl talk back home always involved ranting about something or other.