Everlastingly Loving You - Chapter 91

Sophia stared at the palace’s carpeted floors.

“Alright.”

“He seems decent enough,” she reasoned.

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t be keeping a close eye on him,” Sophia admitted.

Louis grinned, satisfied.

“Do whatever you must,” he said confidently.

__

“I’m willing to give this arranged marriage a try,” Oliver blurted out whilst he and his brother enjoyed breakfast.

Their parents had returned to Sanguis – not bothering to talk to their son or attempt to fix their already damaging relationship or anything else.

Nicholas was thankful he needed not to see his parent’s faces at every event; he’d gotten used to being without his parents.

“Funny joke,” Nicholas replied.

“It’s not a joke, dammit,” Oliver insisted.

“If you’d like evidence–”

“Please, go ahead,” Nicholas answered.

He sipped his coffee, the source of his caffeine for the day.

“I had a lunch date with her yesterday,” Oliver blurted out.

Nicholas spat his coffee.

He took his napkin and dabbed it around his mouth.

“You went on a date with Clarisse?” He asked, seeking confirmation.

Oliver nodded.

“Does Sophia know?” He asked next.

“What does she have to do with anything?” Oliver asked.

“You didn’t know?” Nicholas asked his brother amusedly.

“They’re close friends,” he elucidated.

“Why do you think she was invited to the dinner in the first place?” Nicholas asked curiously.

Oliver blinked.

“Because she’s your date to the dinner?” He answered truthfully.

He supposed Nicholas had a point, and come to think of it he noticed Sophia and Clarisse shooting each other glances throughout dinner.

“Are you telling me this to frighten me?” Oliver asked.

“That the duchess who kicked me that happens to be the same duchess you’re courting is her close friend?”

“They’re not close, they’re best friends, my mistake,” Nicholas corrected.

“So you are trying to frighten me,” Oliver tilted his head.

“Perhaps,” Nicholas said.

Oliver straightened his posture.

“I suppose it’s nothing as to how I treated you in the past,” he pursed his lips.

He’d treated his older brother horribly. He never regarded Nicholas as a brother, or as his equal.

Of course, what made it easier was how Nicholas was disliked by his parents; Oliver was their golden child, but that was before Olivia came along.

He lowered his head.

He always treated his brother differently than everyone else. Differently then Olivia, then his parents, heck, even Sophia.

And after years, he finally realized why.

He felt threatened by him.

Sure, Nicholas wasn’t perfect; no one was, but he was what his parents always wanted, in his eyes.

They never took the fact that Nicholas was the closest thing into account, loving their second son more than they did their first.

To them, he was easygoing, free-spirited, fun, Oliver.

He wasn’t anything like shy, smart, practically perfect, handsome and attractive Nicholas. He never would’ve thought Nicholas was flawed, just like he was.

But, there was one major difference between him and his brother, and that was that Nicholas had grown up with a rough childhood with parents that didn’t bat an eye at him.

Nicholas didn’t answer him.

Oliver averted Nicholas’ piercing gaze.

Nicholas spoke, “Good luck.”

“I’ll… I’ll leave you to it,” he said solemnly before he walked away.

He didn’t bother to greet his brother goodbye prior to leaving.

He walked past Sophia’s quarters, just in time to see Sophia leaving her quarters.

Nicholas asked, “Did you know Clarisse went on a date?”

“I do,” she nodded.

“What did she say regarding the date?” Nicholas asked curiously.

“Anything?” He asked next.

“Nothing,” Sophia answered truthfully.

“So he didn’t… try or do anything, right?”

Sophia asked dryly, “Why do you care?”

“So you’re worrying about Clarisse now?”

“Not really, I’m asking because he’s my brother.”

“And frankly, I still don’t trust him.”

Nicholas had expected her to begin with some he’s your brother crap, and ‘you should learn to trust him over time’ or something along those lines, but instead, she told him, “You have perfect reason not to.”

“So he’s your brother, that gave him no reason to treat you the way he did.”

“How he treated you was… on the next level, I have nothing to say to defend him,” Sophia shrugged.

Nicholas smiled at her, and Sophia felt her heart racing.

She heard her heart beating in her ears.

“Stop it,” she spat.

Nicholas’ smile widened.

“Stop what?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Sophia burst out laughing. When strangely, she hadn’t the slightest idea why she was laughing.

There was nothing hilarious about it.

She hadn’t realized she was smiling. She was still too busy wondering what was this flutter in her chest.

She pouted.

“Stop looking at me that way,” she mumbled, unable to meet his eyes.

His piercing gaze shone directly towards her.

He blinked, “I can’t help it.”

Sophia bit her lip.

“Then stop being so damn handsome.”

“You think I’m handsome,” Nicholas said smugly.

“So what if I do?” Sophia asked, averting his gaze not so subtly.

“So you think I’m handsome,” Nicholas said, a smile tugging on his kissable lips.

Sophia scoffed, “I don’t–”

“Look at you, getting all flustered,” Nicholas said.

“I– That’s not what’s happening,” Sophia sputtered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

“It is what’s happening,” Nicholas said aloud.

“If you think I’m handsome, just say it,” Nicholas said smugly.

Sophia wondered where his sudden burst of confidence came from.

She narrowed her eyes and pouted.

“Smug bastard,” Sophia cursed.

“Oh come on, don’t pretend you don’t love that about me,” Nicholas said, smirking.

Sophia shut her eyes.

“Why do I like this Nicholas better than the usual Nicholas,” she muttered audibly.

Of course, that only fed Nicholas’ growing ego.

If only they could see her like this, all flustered and blushing. If only they could see Sophia like this.

Nicholas placed a tentative kiss on her forehead.

He shot her a dazzling smile, “I’ve got to get going, I’ve got plans.”

Sophia opened and closed her mouth.

‘What just happened?’ She wondered.

She regained her senses and yelled at him, “YOU DON’T GET TO DO THAT TO ME AND WALK AWAY, EVEN IF YOU HAVE PLANS, NICHOLAS.”

Once hearing his name, he turned around, his dazzling smile still plastered on his face.

“I’ll be back,” he assured.

Sophia looked at him glaringly.

She whirled around and walked away, hoping no one had overheard their conversation, or worse, saw her all flustered.

__

Sophia took fast, deep breaths.

“Where does that man get off?” She sputtered indignantly.

She couldn’t get what he did out of her head.

“What am I going to do about him?” She asked no one in particular, scoffing.

“That man is dead to me.”

“So dead to me,” she mumbled; her back slid down her – locked – door.

Sophia had announced she and Nicholas were courting, and yes they hadn’t discussed or got to it yet, but at the moment, she’d like to enjoy the time they spent together without having to worry about their future. It was these little moments she remembered, that and all the dreadful things they’d gone through together.

It was her that’d kissed him, her that’d initiated it, her that forgave him once he told her the truth and once he admitted the love letter he wrote was anything but false.

She then heard a knock on the door – she snapped out of her thoughts and got up.

She opened the door.

“Guillermo,” she greeted, to which he reciprocated with a bow.

“Your grace,” he greeted in return.

He had a file tucked in his gloved hand.

Sophia’s eyes perked up.

“I suppose those are the results of the background check,” she assumed.

Guillermo nodded, “Indeed, your grace.”

He handed her the file.

“For you.”

“Thank you,” Sophia said before she shut the door in Guillermo’s face.

She’d been waiting for the results to come in, and now she no longer had to wait.

She carefully opened the file to find sheets of paper inside.

She took all of them out of the file envelope before she made herself comfortable on her bed and began reading them.

She scanned the papers, finding out things such as Marcus’ age, his birthdate, his allergies, his blood type, his phone number, his favourite foods and beverages, nothing out of the ordinary, that was… until she made it to one topic.

“Love interests,” Sophia read aloud.

She read his long, lengthy list of love interests.

Once she’d gotten to the bottom of the list, her jaw dropped. She let out a small gasp.

It wasn’t because of the number of people he’d been associated with in the past, or expectedly high body count, it was who was one of his last love interests.

She nearly fainted right then and there on her bed, before she blinked.

“Louis,” she inhaled sharply. How would she manage to tell him?

Or rather, how’d she get Marcus to tell him?

She read the next pages, albeit her attention was divided. Who knew what else he was keeping hidden?

She finished reading everything before she slumped down on her bed.