Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 110

Two months later…

“Morning,” he greeted, his head propped up by his hand.

Sophia yawned.

“Morning,” she greeted in return.

He kissed her.

“Don’t kiss me now,” Sophia whined.

“I just woke up,” she said, brushing her hand through her hair.

Nicholas pouted, looking away.

She laughed before she wrapped her arm around him.

Hours later, Nicholas paced around his quarters nervously, awaiting the arrival of his brother – of whom he’d gotten closer with during the past month, even with his lack of time to spend with him, as opposed to Oliver who had arguably too much time to spend since Clarisse had been busy going on multiple dates with her now-boyfriend, Blaine.

“Called me to come to your quarters for what, a chat?” Oliver asked grumpily, rubbing his eyes.

“I’m not a morning person, you know that,” he said to Nicholas.

Nicholas ignored his brother’s protests.

He ordered, “Come here, I need to show you something.”

He pulled something out of his pocket.

“Why are you showing me that?!” Oliver exclaimed. He thought himself the last person he imagined Nicholas would show that to.

“How did you get that?”

“Shouldn’t mother and father approve of this?”

“They would if this was an actual heirloom.”

Oliver knitted his brows. He raised his brow and looked at his brother, intrigued.

“You’re–”

“Congratulations,” Oliver grinned, giving Nicholas a hearty slap on the back.

“Tell me that after her response, not before,” Nicholas said.

“I will never understand you,” Oliver shook his head in disapproval.

“You’ve got the… how do they put it?”

“Girl of your dreams,” he continued.

“And yet you’re still insecure.”

“Like a sad, insecure, did I use sad already?”

“What are you trying to say?” Nicholas asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Like a puppy,” Oliver finished.

“Look who’s talking,” Nicholas retorted.

“Are we going to pretend you’ve got no… bottled, pent up feelings or emotions you’ve been keeping from all of us the past month or so?”

Once he got no reply from his brother, he asked, “No?”

Oliver snorted, “Pft, where are you going with that?”

“She’s taken, she’s happy, I’m happy, everyone’s happy,” he made a gesture with his hands.

“Happy wouldn’t be a word I’d use to describe you,” Nicholas looked him up and down.

“More and more, you sound like Sophia,” Oliver noticed.

“And more and more you fall for her,” Nicholas retorted.

“You take that back!” Oliver exclaimed.

“We’re no longer kids, Oliver, we’re adults now.”

“We can’t take things back.”

Oliver stared at what Nicholas held in his right hand.

“Right,” he admitted.

“We can’t take things back,” he nodded.

“So are you completely sure this is what you want?” He asked him straightforwardly.

Nicholas looked at the item he held in his hand.

“I am,” he answered instantly.

“With her?”

Without further hesitation, Nicholas answered, “I wouldn’t rather do it with anyone else.”

Oliver inhaled and exhaled.

“Alright then.”

“Need me to threaten her?” He asked.

“Why would you feel the need to threaten her?” Nicholas knitted his brows.

“It’s what brothers usually do is it not?” Oliver raised his brow.

Nicholas appreciated the sentiment, but he interjected,

“That’s not what brothers do, Oliver!” Nicholas insisted.

“And besides, what are you going to do about them?” He asked Oliver.

“You could always… hurt him, as in beat him up,” Nicholas suggested.

“Fight for her,” he suggested next.

“Because when you say the words, ‘everyone’s happy’, it makes you seem like more of a fool than you actually are.”

“Only a fool would do nothing about it.”

__

“You didn’t tell me breakfast entailed third-wheeling, Claire,” Sophia said, her hand on the right side of her forehead.

Blaine smiled awkwardly, “I could leave, go and do…”

He hesitated.

“…anything else and be anywhere else other than here,” he finished.

“It’s fine, babe you can stay,” Clarisse insisted.

Sophia shrugged, “Don’t take it personally, Blaine.”

“I just miss spending time with my best friend.”

“Since I’m usually busy spending time with… Nicholas and my royal duties,” Sophia added.

“Are you guilt-tripping me?” Blaine asked.

Sophia looked insulted.

“I am not,” she insisted.

“I’m just saying,” she shrugged prior to taking a bite out of her croffle.

Nicholas was busy spending time with his brother to join her for breakfast, so she felt lonely whilst watching Clarisse and Blaine… flirt.

“You look hotter than usual,” she heard Clarisse praise Blaine.

Blaine made eye contact with her.

“Are you always in such a good mood in the morning?” He asked her, his voice husky.

Sophia winced.

She mumbled under her breath, ‘Please don’t make out, please don’t make out, please don’t make out. Anything except making out, I’ve already lost half my appetite, I’m trying to eat breakfast here.’

She watched as their lips neared.

She got up, interrupting their precious moment.

“I don’t want to interrupt your moment,” she said before she left without saying another word.

__

“What are you doing?” Sophia asked, Nicholas had covered her eyes with his hands and taken her somewhere private.

“I didn’t expect our first time to go this way,” she mumbled audibly.

“You told me it was a surprise.”

“It’s not what you think,” Nicholas assured.

“That’s what they always say,” Sophia took a deep breath.

“Do you want to know what I’ve got to ask you or not, Windsor?” Nicholas asked.

Sophia pouted, “Alright alright, I’ll stay silent.”

Nicholas grinned, “Excellent.”

She thought to himself, ‘That’s totally not creepy.’

He steered her to the outdoors, “Just hold on.”

“We’re getting closer,” he informed Sophia, whose heart skipped a beat once hearing the news.

She tried sniffing her surroundings to get a hint as to where she was, only to smell the scent of… blossoms, and candles. Scented blossom candles.

Darn him, he’d thought of everything.

He’d told her to come prepared.

She wore a pair of lilac flats, a cream-white tube top as well as a matching lilac coat and shorts.

“We’re here,” Nicholas announced merrily.

Sophia asked, “So are you going to show me what it is you’re planning to show me?”

“Please say yes, I have no idea how long I’ll be able to wait with the anticipation building up,” Sophia said to him.

It hadn’t been a long walk, but to her, it felt like forever for her.

What did he have in mind?

Was it dinner under the stars?

Or stargazing?

A picnic at the lakeside?

‘What is it?’ She wondered, ideas and theories swirling around in her head.

‘What could he possibly have planned that I haven’t already thought of?’

‘Was it a double date with Clarisse and Blaine?’

‘Or with Louis and Marcus?’

She realized that by then, Nicholas had taken his hands off of her eyes.

She let out a small gasp.

He’d listened to what she’d been saying all along.

(FLASHBACK)

“Are you more of a simple person or an extravagant one?” Nicholas asked her.

Sophia didn’t need to think about it, she answered, “Both.”

“When it comes to the little things, I’m a simple person. When it comes to my birthday parties, garden parties, engagements, and others, I think the bigger the better.”

“You?”

“I usually keep things simple since I don’t find how… overboard I went with the decorations or how many fireworks that were set important. It’s about the people, not about material objects,” he said, heaving a deep sigh.

(FLASHBACK ENDS)

It was moments like those she enjoyed most.

She had a stammer to her voice, “Wh-wha–”

“W-what is all this?” She blinked.

She nearly dropped her lilac clutch to the ground.

It was stunning.

She didn’t know how, but it was snowing, in the palace gardens. Snow fell in big, puffy flakes and around her was the biggest heart she’d ever seen made entirely out of burgundy red rose petals.

She spun around, and her heart sank – in the best way possible.

He did it all himself, something told her.

She whirled around in a matter of seconds, wondering where was Nicholas in all of this.

Across her stood Nicholas dressed in her favourite dress shirt of his and a pair of trousers.

All she could think to say was, “Why are you wearing that outfit here in the gardens?”

Nicholas laughed, staying where he was.

Sophia began, “I–”

“Shhh,” he hushed her.

“I’m trying to say something here,” Nicholas said, chuckling.

“Sophia Windsor, you and I have gotten to know each other very well over the last month, or so,” he began.

“I was never the wordy one, or the romantic one for that matter.”

“Not until I met you.”

Sophia was tongue-tied.

“You changed me for the better.”

“You made me the best version of myself, and with every moment we spend together, I simply can’t imagine living without you.”

He continued with his improvised speech, “I know I don’t deserve you, I know there are hundreds and hundreds of other men that are far more perfect than me in more ways I can state, but…”

He took a velvety box out of his pocket.