The Royal Contract

"Are you sure of where we are going?" She asked him as she saw the dark clouds closed down on them.

In a few minutes, she was sure that the rain would drop on them, and they would have nothing to cover them against it.

"We are almost there. I don't want to speed up because I don't want us to end up in a ditch." He yelled over his shoulder so she would hear him.

"Ok, but we do need to hurry because the rain is almost here." She could also hear a thunderstorm not far from their location.

She knew she was right that they should have taken a car, but there was no use in blaming him when there was nothing he could do about it now. He was only thinking of saving them some time when he thought of using his bike. Besides, nobody could predict the weather.

"It's just over there." He finally pointed at a house not too far from them.

He remembered this place when he once volunteered to help in the restoration back in his youth. But it had been years since he had been here. He had no idea of the state of the structure if it was still the same.

"Ok." She answered, almost relieved to see the structure, even if it was still a bit far from them when rain was about to fall.

However, they were not so lucky as the rain poured down on them, even before they reached the house. It was almost at their reach, but still, they ended up soaked by the time they entered the door.

"I'm truly sorry for this." He indicated their drenched appearance with their clothes sticking on their skins. "You can blame me if you get sick." He was ready to accept whatever she had to say to him. It was his miscalculation that led them in this condition anyway.

"Well, you are sorry. I think that is good enough. You could not have predicted the weather would be like this. We left with the sun in full strength, so who would have thought that it would suddenly rain like this." She was not going to make blaming him some, sort of, an exercise. She was not going to get used to that while they were pretending to be a couple. Blaming each other and acting like cat and dog would only harden their situation.

"Thanks, Dani." He was glad that she was taking this lightly. "Now, let me see what we can do to dry up and keep warm." He went around the shed, which was full of tools and some supplies. "At least the roof is intact. That should keep the rain out." He said as a consolation prize.

"Yeah. At least I had the foresight to bring some extra clothes." She stated as she took her small bag and opened it. Unfortunately, the extra clothes were also wet. "Damn. I forgot that my bag is not waterproof."

"Let us look around. Maybe there are work clothes here that we can temporarily use while we dry our clothes." He instructed her to go to the other room while he searched the other one.

"Ok." She agreed, not having any other choice. It was either they found other clothes or go naked. She believed the latter was not a good idea and would never be an option.

She went inside the other room, while Alex went to the next one. Besides the main room, which consisted of a table, three chairs, and shelves of tools, there were only two rooms in this single floor shed.

The room she entered had a single bed with a thin mattress and one pillow. It was probably used by the caretaker, in case of an emergency, like this.

"Did you find anything?" Alex shouted through the thin wall that separated them.

Alex could not find anything that he thought they could use to replace their clothing when he rummaged to the other room. It was more shelves, equipment, and supplies used to repair the castle.

"Not yet." She shouted back. She was about to move to the cabinet when she noticed the door. Alex was already standing just outside the open door.

"There was nothing in the other room. Have you checked the cabinets?" He asked, seeing it behind her.

"Well, I was about to when you interrupted me." She told him as she moved to open the cabinet. "Yes! There are several clothes here." She felt relieved to find something they could use. She was already feeling the chills in her bones. This time, not because of Alex, but due to the wet clothes on her body.

She took out two shirts and two pairs of pants from the cabinet and tried to look for some towels from the lower shelves and anything that they could still use, like blankets. She was not sure how long they would be staying in this shed.

"Do you need any help?" Alex stood behind her as she scooped down lower to check the bottom drawer.

"Can you hold on to this?" She handed him the clothes and other things she found in the cabinet that they might need.

"I think this is more than enough." He checked the things in his hand.

"Wait. I am looking for a bedsheet." She pointed to the mattress of the bed.

"Oh, nice thinking." He only replied. A man usually would not care for such things. Any flat dry surface would be a good enough place to sleep on, so a need for a bedsheet was not necessary.

"Here." She finally found a clean white sheet that she could use to cover the bed if she had to sleep in this place. She just wanted to be prepared, in case they found themselves stranded overnight.

It was going to be dark soon. Dani had no idea of the scope of the thunderstorm if it would stop anytime from now or would last all throughout the night. She thought that it was better to prepare for any eventuality.

Then she placed the sheet on the bed before facing Alex, who still had their change of clothes in his hands. She suddenly felt suffocated with him standing close by in the small room with the bed beside them.

"You go change here. I can use the other room to change." He offered, feeling the awkwardness of the moment and knowing that they should get out of their wet clothes soon before they both caught a cold.

He still felt worried that they ended up in this situation, seeing Dani drenched with rainwater, shaking with the cold. They needed to change fast. Then he should start a fire and prepare something hot that could warm them.

He saw a stove and a kettle in the small kitchen when he scanned the place. He hoped that there was a tea or a coffee that he could use inside the cupboards.

"Thanks." She intended to take this room in the first place while he could have the other room. It was no first-class accommodation, but at least they were safe from the rain and other things that crawl out there, she thought.