I try to gather up some spit to talk. “You asked me why I did it. And I had a few reasons.”
“Because you hate Ayan?”
I chuckle. “Yeah, that’s one.”
“What else?”
Our crystallized breaths collide in the air.
“I, uh…I wanted to tell you that I…” This is way harder than I expected. Even with the liquid courage. “President Damon gave me my appointed…and, well, it’s…you.”
There’s not much change on her face. Perhaps her eyes widen slightly. “Oh.”
Suddenly, I feel the overwhelming urge to apologize to her. She got hosed by getting someone likemeand not a wealthy bastard who could make her smile at the news. I rub my forehead with the back of my hand and try to come up with some words to soften the blow.
“Okay.”
“I—Okay?” I ask. That’s it?
She shrugs. “Yeah. Okay.” Her eyes turn fierce as she stares up at me. “But you need to understand something. I’m going to medical school. And I want Hopkins.”
“Fine,” I blurt out, still stunned by her lack of reaction. I havenoidea what a Hopkins is, but I figure I can find out more about him later. “Anything else?”
She studies me, and under her scrutiny, I feel the most vulnerable. Like I suddenlywantto prove her wrong about me. I can’t give her a bunch of money or probably discuss anything with her that she’s into, like science shit.
But I can be an amazing husband.
That IknowI can do.
“No. Not that I can think of right now.”
“Okay, so here’s the deal…” I brace for a war. “The president also wants us to get married next Wednesday. To be the example of the POT’s new masterful abilities to make a good pairing or something.”
Instead of anger, she nods. No expression on her face. “I want a chocolate cake.”
“Yeah… I like chocolate.”
We have chocolate! She likes chocolate!Ilike chocolate! My insides rejoice at the commonality. There’s alwayschocolate…
“You can plan the wedding, if you’d like,” I tell her. “Or we can plan?—”
“No, no. I’m too busy for that. But I’ll show up. Just give me a time.”
“I haven’t gone that far yet, but I’ll let you know. And they also want us to, um, produce as soon as possible, too. Just a heads-up.”
She jolts like I slapped her. “I’m sorry, what?”
Ohshit. “The, um, committee? The president? They want us to give them new life for the, uh, baby program? Like, with the hormones and stuff, and I…” The more I say out loud, the more terrified I become. Her skin turns from the shade of a piece of paper to nearly purple.
She recoils, the bear ears flopping down on her cap. “Absolutely not. I justtoldyou that I’m heading to medical school. I can’t have a baby right now!”
“But they told us to.”
Her eyebrows stitch together as if that’s the most absurd thing anyone has ever said to her. “We can do your wedding. We can do the ceremony and the elders and vows and all of that. I don’t care… But I’m not having a baby right now.Possibly ever.”
“We have to, you know…commiserate the marriage.”
“Consummate.Caliphylla,help me.”