Chapter 86

[Third-Person’s POV]

All the air seemed to have gone still in the room. Alexander felt his heart hammering in his chest. His entire future seemed like it was on the very edge of falling apart.

All he could do was hope as he waited for Evelyn to give him some sort of an answer. He wanted her to say ‘yes’. Unfortunately, he could understand why she may not want to bother giving them another chance.

It wasn’t as though their first attempt was anything memorable or decent to start off with. If by some miracle, Evelyn was willing to give them a chance, he knew he would have to be better. He would be better for her.

Alexander had to swallow his pride. He reached out to rest the tips of his fingers on her arm one last time. With a softened gaze, he spoke.

“Don’t answer me now,” he told her. “It’s late and you need to rest. How about you take the time and think everything over?”

Evelyn gave a silent nod and picked up her almost forgotten tea on the counter.

“Wait, one last thing.” She stopped. “If you choose to ignore me, fine. But could you please reconsider your stance with Nina and Wendy? They miss seeing you terribly.”

Evelyn didn’t respond. He knew that her main reason for distancing herself from everyone was due to the shame and embarrassment that came from her outburst. He wished he could take that awful feeling from her.

“We’ll see,” she whispered.

Alexander watched with a heavy feeling of lead in his stomach as she left the kitchen.

Please, please reconsider.

...

The following day, Alexander had woken up with a sore head and an empty pit feeling in his gut. For a moment, he seriously thought that his whole interaction with Evelyn had been nothing more than a dream.

He got out of bed and readied himself for the day ahead, dreading the thought of having to go back to his office. His office, which was once his sanctuary, was now his newfound hell.

He didn’t want to work and lose countless hours in piles of paper and books. The only real thing he desired was to see Evelyn again.

[Evlyn’s POV]

I truly debated about leaving my room that morning.

Some would have considered it silly, but I didn’t feel as though I was brave enough to face the world beyond my bedroom door. But the longer I drew this issue out, the more likely I was going to end up turning into some kind of closet case.

It wasn’t the life I wanted. Alexander’s last words to be about Nina and Wendy hit hard. They missed me as much as I missed them. Even more so, I missed tending to my poor plants that have been terribly neglected since shutting myself away.

I need to do this.

I got dressed and slowly made my way out to the hallway. A feeling of fear and uncertainty buzzed through me. I let my feet lead me toward the kitchens where I came face to face with a small group of staff.

They all wore similar looks of shock as I stood there, not knowing what to do or say. One of them greeted me with a wondrous smile.

“Good morning, Evelyn,” they said. “It’s so good to see you out.”

Another woman spoke out. “Why don’t you go and sit in the dining room? Breakfast will be out momentarily.”

My voice was still rough from my lack of speaking these last several days. I lightly shook my head in refusal.

“No, thank you. I’m just going to make some tea and head out to the greenhouse,” I said quietly.

I felt all of their eyes remain on me as I moved about the kitchen. As soon as I had my tea together, I made it outside with heavy hope that my plants weren’t all too damaged.

Just another possible reason for me to feel guilty. I left my poor plants to suffer—

Right as I entered the greenhouse, I was struck with an unexpected sight of Wendy carefully watering my various groups of plants and flowers. I stood frozen, not knowing what to do.

Wendy must have sensed that she was no longer alone and she turned her head to find me standing there. Her features instantly softened and she quickly placed the watering can down.

An overwhelming feeling of gracious warmth came over me. She had made sure that plants were still alive and well because she knew how much they meant to me.

“Y-You...You kept my plants...” My voice trailed off as I fought to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

Without a single word being said, she came over and enveloped me in a strong hug. I sob tore from my throat.

“Oh, dear.” Wendy’s soothing voice rolled over me in tranquil waves. “It’s alright.”

“I’m sorry,” I cried.

She pulled back to glance down at me with a confused look. “Sorry for what?”

“I b-basically abandoned my responsibilities. I blew up i-in front of everyone. I l-locked myself away...”

“Shhh,” she hushed. “You did what you needed to do in order to help yourself.”

Did I? It certainly didn’t feel that way.

“I feel horrible,” I admitted.

“I know. But I’ll be honest with you. I think that this whole mess between you and Alexander was bound to reach its peak at some point.”

I stepped back to wipe the corners of my eyes. “Really?”

“Oh, yes. There was too much that had gone unsaid between the two of you and it needed to come out,” she explained. “Alexander, as you’ve well uncovered, is an insanely difficult man at times. But underneath that stoney mask is someone with a very big heart.”

“I don’t know what to make of him,” I said. “Every time I think we’re making progress, there’s something that happens which immediately causes us to take several steps back...I saw him last night. We spoke.”

Wendy raised her brows. For a short time, she seemed to be choosing her next words wisely.

“And how did that go?”

“Alexander...He apologized and tried to explain his behavior. He asked if it were possible that I would consider giving us another chance.”

“Would You?”

I brought my arms up and held them close to my chest. “I’m still trying to decide what I wish to do about our relationship. If I were to say yes, there is a lot that needs to be mended. Is he capable of that?”

I had a hard time imagining Alexander agreeing and the kind of relationship that I always had in mind. It wasn’t as if I was demanding that he change his whole personality for me. What I would want is for him to be more open and inclusive.

He was still a private person and I couldn’t fault him for that entirely. His work meant everything to him. But, as if his wife, I wanted to be the most important thing in his life.

The Alexander I had spoken to last night was a version of him I had never truly encountered to such a severity. Upon further examination, I came to the swift conclusion that I didn’t want to witness that side of him on only rare occasions.

Was something like that even possible?

“Why don’t the two of you try to discuss it more together?”