Bound By Love pt.11 (penultimate)

They were on their way across to Slough on the train when they heard the news. Neither Sid nor Nell took interest in current affairs especially, so the couple never bothered to buy copies of the newspaper. Without the paper, they couldn't read the headline 'MARRIAGE LAW REVOKED BY WORLD LEADERS'. They had no way of knowing, so set off for Slough the very same day in the hope of answers from 'Uncle Enc'.

Nell stared blankly out the window past Sid. As soon as she saw in her periphery that his eyes weren't on her's, she glanced at him furtively from the corner of her eye, memorising his features. She didn't know why precisely- perhaps an elusive strand of foresight engrained in her mind- but she sensed the presence of an ending lurking soon. Occupied as she was in this voluntary process, she hadn't notice the babble of conversation spouting from the lips she was so keen to remember. It took an elbow to her stomach, layered in shell-blue cotton, to make her lucid again-

'Did you hear a word of that?' Sid asked irritably. Nell thought for a nanosecond.

'Not as such' she admitted, concluding with the childhood lecture that honesty is always the best policy.

'I asked what you thought of my new t-shirt' he turned to showcase the white fabric in all its finery, spanned with a troll face. In his eagerness at her reaction his expression morphed into one not dissimilar to that of the one printed on his chest.

Again, she thought for a mere fraction of a second.

'I don't like it' she stated simply.

Sid turned away to face the seat in front of him, averting his gaze in an attempt to disguise his hurt. It didn't work. Perhaps honesty isn't always the best policy, Nell questioned internally. She also acted as such, and fixed her gaze blankly on the scene beyond the carriage windows once again, squirming as a newly tense atmosphere rolled in between their seats.

The air was like this for the best part of the journey. It took an abrupt, dull throb of pain in Sid's head to change this. His immediate reaction was to turn further from Nell, in the hope that she wouldn't notice. Again, no such luck. Unfortunately for Sid, there's only so much one can distance themselves from the person they are cuffed to.

'What is it?' she asked, concern lilted in her tone.

'Nothing' Sid answered belatedly, 'It's over now'. He smiled graciously at her, prior bitterness replaced by an assured sense of her care for him. He eyed her almost incredulously, gaze flickering from feature to feature as she readjusted her neckline, unabashed.

The intercom sounded the arrival at a new platform and a man sat near to them rose, leaving something behind on his seat. Sid lurched to swipe it off the seat, yanking Nell's wrist awkwardly in the process. He scanned it- thrice- and, after processing the information, sat down heavily enough to send a tremor through Nell's seat. Nell turned to catch sight of the discarded newspaper, then looked back at her husband, somewhat bemused.

'It's over' was all he chose to say.