Chapter 901: Rowena & Julian
Rowena wasn"t blind when it came to conventional attractiveness. However, just the thought of looking at Julian as a man finally sunk in, it left an awkward feeling in her stomach.
She tried to imagine what it was like to be close and intimate with him—for him to reach out and touch her cheek, but she didn"t feel anything. There was no stirring in her heart nor did she feel embarra.s.sed or ashamed.
It was just normal.
Something that might have been a friendly pat on her cheek, or like when he messed with her hair and had a mischievous grin on his face. The thought of Julian smiling also made her smile.
However, the thought of it didn"t give her any gooseb.u.mps or b.u.t.terflies in her belly as Lady Liz once claimed to her.
Rowena gulped and folded her hands together. "Maybe Julian had a point?"
Perhaps the reason why she didn"t know if she loved Julian was because she didn"t love him?
Rowena instantly shut down the thought earlier because she hadn"t been able to think through emotions of love or the idea of marriage before. She wanted to give it further thought, but now that she had some s.p.a.ce… nothing came to mind.
She could imagine holding his hand and Rowena didn"t sweat.
The thought of him on his knees with flowers made Rowena grimace. She was filled with the idea that Julian was only trying to mess around if he ever did something like that—and he did before.
Julian once collected her favorite flowers in the valley they lived in, tied them together, and gave them to her. However, Rowena at that time only happily accepted it and mentioned that they should get a vase for them.
She had also kindly suggested to Julian at that time that maybe the two could water the flowers and not pluck them anymore.
"What did I say back then?" Rowena rubbed her forehead. "That it"s nice of him to get flowers, but it"s better to let them grow and not kill them? That… that was rude now that I"m thinking of it in the context of romance."
It was almost like she had let him down even though Rowena wasn"t aware of it at that time.
The thought of it made her a bit sad. However, Rowena couldn"t think or feel anything else. She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. "Uh… is it better if I give him the chance? I might feel something else… or I won"t."
Rowena didn"t want to hurt Julian"s feelings at all, but one way or another, she probably already did.
That was why Rowena also actually wanted them to go meet other people, because maybe if Julian got the chance to talk with others instead of simply just her… then his feelings might change.
The thought of that actually made Rowena feel relieved as she imagined that.
***
Julian was now alone in his room and he stared out of the window for
an inordinate amount of time until he finally flopped back on his bed and rubbed his face tiredly. Despite it still being early, it felt like several hours had already gone by.
That was how much time felt like when he was with Rowena.
"Pretty stupid of you to just say this out of nowhere Julian," he berated himself. "Now things are going to be awkward between you and Rowena. What"s gonna happen then?"
The thought of his childhood and true origins was important too… and Julian looked at King Xander and wished that his father might be someone like him. However, when it came to Queen Serena and even Prince Liam, Julian didn"t know what to feel.
He couldn"t get his mind off his confession to Rowena earlier. It felt like he blew his chances and didn"t even get the opportunity to properly relay it to Rowena before she excused herself and promised him that she wanted to think about it more.
"She"s someone who"s lived all cooped up in the palace, and then she ended up with me… of course, she wouldn"t know what love is beyond the familial and platonic kind."
Julian sighed.
"I may have helped her learn the ropes of surviving the world, but it"s not like I could be the one who could actually teach her when it comes to her own feelings, could I? I mean… maybe I could still show her?"
He thought about it some more.
Since Julian spent the last two years acting like an older brother, what if he changed the way he acted around her? If he acted and treated her less like a younger sibling and more of a woman that he wanted to court… would that make her rethink things?
"I probably never made her heart flutter before," Julian said to himself. "But if… if I could do things that make her think of me as a man, then she"ll understand what I mean, right? She never felt it before since she"s closed herself off… but maybe I can help her open up?"
That seemed like a good plan.
Julian sat up from the bed and felt a bit more invigorated than before. He wasn"t going to give up fast… If he did, he was sure that Prince Liam was going to sweep in and try to court Rowena.
"I mean, the look on that guy"s face is like mine… but even more infatuated," Julian said. "And well, he"s already helped her with the accommodations here, invited her to the royal library and they even went to the Wis.h.i.+ng Mermaid Lagoon yesterday. What can I do?"
Julian patted himself, checked his pockets, and sighed.
"It"s going to be kind of ridiculous if I ask for money from Rowena and then take her out for dinner or somewhere nice. This means that I"ll need to work and get a nice quick gig to earn some coin," he muttered to himself.
Since Rowena was the better one at budgeting, Julian always let her handle money matters. However, now that he needed money for himself, well, it now gave him an issue. He couldn"
t exactly steal from the palace. So, it was best for him to get to the city and look for work.
"Once I get some money then I"ll…"
Julian was still hopeful.
.
.
.
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From Missrealitybites:
Both are thinking in their rooms about their own feelings. I do feel bad for Julian because we all know that Rowena ended up with Raphael.
Please, don"t throw tomatoes at me... ahaha, I"m just a storyteller.
Btw, wow... 900 chapters!