#got problems?

Solving Your Problems…in the Light

Hey you, you got a problem? Yeah man, I got a few problems and I’m not sure how to solve them! Maybe not the response you’d expect when the aforementioned question is usually posed in a moment of bravado. But, if you’re honest, you know you’ve got a few and they are dragging you down! By definition a problem becomes a problem because you don’t know how to solve it. Sure, you’ve given it a lot of…

Shoulders: My character helping to share a burden with yours.

Marriage was something Hina didn't particularly care for. 

From a young age, she knew she'd marry who her parents thought was most suitable. Her union was not that of two people in love. A person was just the pawn of one's family. And marriage was the union of two houses. Happiness - hers or her husband's - was not considered in the equation. 

Life after her wedding had been wonderful. That was something she had not expected. As mistress of her own household and a husband who hardly glanced her way, she had full control of the servants and her life. She went where she wanted and reorganized everything in her husband's sprawling estate to suit her needs. 

The Duke was a mysterious figure in the public sphere and even more so at home. Though Hina could hardly call this new place her home just yet. So far, she'd only seen him a handful of times, always in the early mornings. They ate separately and slept separately. If it weren't for the occasional presence of his butler delivering instructions for her to follow, she'd thought he had abandoned her completely. Hina didn't mind. He was rich, he was noble so he was afforded quite a bit of leeway. 

She happens across him by complete coincidence, two months after their marriage. He was slumped over a heavy tome in the library, sheets of paper everywhere, and it looked like he'd slept there overnight. She knew for a fact that the study was where the Duke attended to his accounts. This wasn't work then. But what was it? She didn't know this man. She doubted she'd ever know him.  

She left for the kitchens and returned with tea. She slipped into the library quietly and made her way towards his dozing form. The library was her favourite room. It was well-stocked on all subjects but boasted a collection of fantasy novels. She'd found them outrageous and had started reading them in her spare moments. The Duke, she could tell after reading a few, was fond of tales of travel and adventure. But a man like him, weighed down by society's expectations, a bloodline to maintain and an estate to oversee, could never be free to journey to far-off places like the heroes of these novels. 

Was this his greatest wish?

She was close enough to make out words now. Scratched out and scrawling as the writer tired, she could see it was the beginning of a story - an epic. Hina smiled. Her husband was one of those then - a melancholic, reclusive lord who preferred the written word over the presence of all company, including his wife. She'd just have to get used to it.

She rested one hand gingerly on his shoulder to alert him of her presence. She placed the cup of tea down silently. "You need to rest, Your Grace." With her set task completed, Hina pulled away, allowing her hand to linger for only a fraction of a second. 

But her departure was stalled when he caught her hand with his. Surprised, she glanced back and was stunned to see a smile. Tired and weary, but a smile, nonetheless. "Just call me Sabo." Those were the first words she'd ever heard him say. He sounded so young.

"Of course..."

"Sit with me for a while, Hina?" 

Perhaps, this reclusive lord wouldn't mind just one more person in that melancholic world of his.