More Than You Can Imagine

Bella's Pov

The guards had left and now she was alone in a small corner of a farm the size of a small country. With acres of vegetables and fruits and trees as far as the eye could see. And herself now seemingly a small dot in the universe. Holding a shovel in hand and a mountain of worry in her heart. As she stood amongst a group of other workers now heaving hay and poultry seeds, in units of two and defined by special uniforms.

Hers being green and the boots she was given, tight and gripping her ankles and toes like a trap noose around a boar's neck. She had been here for only an hour yet the hard labour made it feel like twelve years. With dust in her eyes and shards of hay sticking to her face and skin. All over her gloves and inside her hair, making her look like a scarecrow but with animation.

Her mind struggled to process her new reality and her body the pain that somehow sat below her waist and stayed there making her knees weak. The shovel in her hand the only reason she was still standing up straight as she was now using it for support. Holding firm and seemingly for dear life. The bones in her feet aching and her hands themselves shaking.

“Hey there…” a voice called out.

And Bella was unresponsive the first time. Then the second, and even the third. Finding it too much of a task to turn her head to answer the voice that was calling. Her head facing the ground in a slump and her breathing heavy. Before the voice turned into a hand, that now rested on her shoulder in a gentle tap.

“Hey… are you okay?” came the question. And Bella thought of raising her shovel and hitting whoever asked it upside the head.

She didn't in any way look okay yet here was someone asking if she was. Her eyes rolled inside her head, as she gradually craned her neck towards the voice. Now seeing something totally unexpected.

Her eyes widened in slight shock at the man in front of her. His chiseled jaw and subtle eyes as they stared into her soul. His hands that still rested on her shoulder strong and veiny. And her mind baffled by how he was even real?

“Are you alright?...” he asked again now.

But Bella was still reeling from the shellshock. Her mind trying to process who the man was and how he was here? As he didn't look like the rest of them. His clothes were the same as their uniforms, but weren't as dirty? And he looked like a model more than a farm hand?...

“I…I…I'm okay…” she said shaky. Finding it hard to maintain eye contact. Her fingers gripping the shovel tighter, with her body trying to lean away from his palm that rested soft on her arm.

She looked from his hand to his face, then his hand again. As it stayed there and his thumb started rubbing gently in a circle. Bella was uncomfortable and wondered what he was doing? But then she started feeling tense and suddenly jerked back and away from him. Losing her balance and falling to the floor in a thud, blowing up a cloud of dust and pickles of hay in a combined show of nervousness.

The man himself moved over and now stood above her as she laid on the floor, a smile across his lips and a gentle frown across his face. As he wondered what made her fall just as he reached a hand out to help her up.

“You're clumsy aren't you?...”

But Bella was skeptic and her mind was worried as she stared at the Adonis in front of her. Her heart beat turned erratic as she saw his complete physique from the ground up. His seemingly carved arms and trimmed legs. His height towering above her and blocking the sun that stood behind him. His hands that had touched her now reaching out to touch her again. And she was afraid…

He was just too much. And too much of everything. His eyes were mesmerising and his body enticing. Yet the pain and aches that ran through her body made her too tired to fully enjoy this eye candy. As a part of her head was filled with migraines, and the other stood occupied in trying to figure out where in the world he came from?

She begrudgingly took his hand and got raised back up to her feet, still barely stable as she now slumped over him and on his chest. Immediately regretting the decision and jumping back in shock.

“Why are you so antsy?” the man asked now, chuckling slightly.

And Bella looked at him squinting, her hands crossed across herself like a mummy, surprised that she had touched him. And his face smiling, surprised that she saw it as a problem?

“The name's Arnold…” he said now, reaching out a hand again, but this time for a handshake. His smile standing strong amidst teeth whiter than the clouds.

His smile was a solid one but Bella only grew more and more skeptical seeing a god like man just appear out of nowhere? Her mind waivered wondering if he might be her guardian angel? And if she was the only one actually seeing him? As everyone else around her simply continued with their work as the two of them stood locked in some distant embrace.

She looked from his face to his open hand and held it limply. Watching her arm jerk as he shook it firm and in a wider smile.

“What are you in for?...” he asked.

And the question surprised Bella more than his appearance. As she didn't understand how she was in for anything when this wasn't prison? They were all here working on a farm yet he was asking what she was in for?...

And Arnold smiled, sensing her confusion as he smirked and said:

“There are secrets here more than you can imagine…”