SEQUEL: THIRTY-FOUR

Alina hadn’t thought of how far she had intended to follow Roman but when he stopped in front of her room, she realized that she would have followed him all the way to his room just so that she didn’t have to be alone.
“So that talk?” She spoke up when it was clear that Roman was dropping her off.
“After you take a nap,” Roman said gently.
Alina nodded at this, somehow she didn’t want them to have the talk because she instinctively knew that she would have to leave afterward.
She quietly walked into the room and trudged to her bed, deciding to listen to Roman and take a nap. It was comforting being here and she wished she could sleep forever so that she wouldn’t have to leave.
-+-
Roman continued down the hallway, barely making it to his bedroom before Lou intercepted him. “Need something?” He cocked a brow at her, a hand on his doorknob.
Lou deflated now that she was face to face with her Alpha King, it had been really difficult to miss how attentive Roman had been to Alina during breakfast, it was something that she wouldn’t dare make fun of or question.
“Uh, Iyla and I will be going out later today…” She made up on the spot.
Roman had a lot of things to say about that but he decided that it was best to not address it so he hummed and went into his room. He had a little something he wanted to attend to so he needed to get dressed up.
When he got to the ground floor, his black trench coat swirling, it was empty and he guessed that Lou and Iyla had decided to leave for their date a few hours early. That was fine with him.
He quickly found out though that they were still very much around when he returned an hour later holding shopping bags.
He had driven up to a boutique and asked them to get clothes that Princess Alina could wear, ignoring their horrified reactions to this request. While he waited, a blue dress caught his eye and he picked it on impulse - he still couldn't provide a reason why he had done that.
Roman swept into the foyer of his mansion to find Iyla coming out of a hallway to the side, she froze, her pale green eyes brimming with questions that Roman blatantly ignore.
“Boss? Where did you run off to? Lou’s been looking for ya.” She sidled closer, curiosity literally shooting out of her eyes.
“I went shopping,” Roman said curtly, picking up the pace because the very last thing he wanted was Lou joining in to interrogate him.
Iyla focused on the perfumed bags that were clearly for a lady if the amount of ‘Vas’ branded shopping bags was anything to go by.
“For yourself?” She asked with a barely restrained smile.
Roman quickly swept up the stairs, “Lou’s teaching you the terrible habit of being nosy.” He said, not sounding the least bit upset.
“So who did you go shopping for, Boss?” Iyla called after him with laughter in her voice, not backing down.
Roman made his way to the third floor, stopping by Alina’s room first. He didn’t bother knocking, pushing open the door to find her fast asleep like he had suggested. He quietly made his way into the room, placing the shopping bags by the wardrobe and then stopping to check up on her.
All of her bruises were completely healed and she looked a little too cozy in his dress shirt, but that wasn’t his issue with it, he was more worried about how unperturbed he was about it.
He pulled the covers over her before leaving, heading straight to his office which was just opposite his room to get some work done for the day.
-+-
Alina woke up a few hours later to find that the covers had been drawn up although she didn’t remember getting under them. She sat up and got out of bed only to pause at the shopping bags placed in front of the wardrobe.
She walked towards them and a closer look told her that they were new clothes. She had been thinking of buying clothes but someone had beat her to it and she had a feeling she knew exactly who it was.
Alina emptied the shopping bags on her bed so that she could get a better look at the clothes. She had woken up groggy but the fact that Roman had gone out of his way to do something for her brightened her mood right away.
The new clothes were exactly like what she would wear, little minidresses and lots of leather skirts. But in the sea of black, there was a splash of color that caught her eyes, it was a sea blue sun dress with strings for sleeves and a frilly skirt.
It was an easy decision on what to wear, she neatly folded the rest of her new clothes in the wardrobe and then switched Roman’s shirt for the sundress. She still liked her minidresses and leather skirts but every now and then, she wanted to wear a colorful flower-patterned dress.
She folded up Roman’s shirt and placed it on her bed, leaving her room without it although she should be returning it to its original owner. She found that she didn’t want to let go of it just yet.
Alina started down the hallway, unsure of where exactly to go or if Roman was even in his room only for the door to her right to open and reveal Roman about to step out.
Their gazes met and held for a few seconds before Alina realized that Roman probably wanted to know what she was doing there.
“Um,” She cleared her throat nervously, “I wanted to say thanks for the clothes you bought me, and everything else.” She said sheepishly, glancing past Roman to see that it was his office that she had been in once before. “Can I come in?” She invited herself.
Roman had barely been listening to her, struck by the fact that Alina had chosen to wear that instead of what she usually did. “Sure,” He accepted, stepping back to let her in.
Alina walked in, a small accomplished smile on her face as she did. She was barefoot and her second time in Roman’s office was such a sharp contrast from the first time she was there. She sat on one of the chairs facing his massive desk and tucked her legs under her.
“So about that talk?” Alina brought up tentatively, not wanting it to be like she just came to Roman’s office to spend some time with him.
Roman sat down reluctantly, he had been avoiding the talk because he felt bad about bringing up the topic of canceling their contract while Alina was in such a delicate spot.
“I was calling to inform you that the contract is read but-”
“Where’s it? I’ll sign it!” Alina interrupted a little too eagerly. Amid everything that happened, she had almost completely forgotten about the contract.
Alina saw it in a different light now, she would probably regret it later but right now, regardless of her father’s influence, she wanted to sign the contract.
“Wait, what?” Roman said in confusion, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, that was another thing I wanted to discuss-”
“I’ll sign it,” Alina repeated.
Roman fell silent, “You’re aware that we’re required to sire a child if you do.” He said gravely, leaning back in his seat.
That didn’t terrify Alina anymore like it used to, “Yes, I’ll sign it.”
Roman was now certain that Alina had some kind of head trauma, “Why don’t we uh… discuss the further over dinner.” He suggested in a bid to stall the signing process.
It was ironic that he had been fighting to get her to agree to the contract and now that she was ready to, he was trying to convince her otherwise. He couldn’t help it though, her switch-up was too sudden to not rouse his suspicion.
Alina was ready to insist but the offer of dinner quickly changed her mind, “Sure.”
Roman relaxed visibly for a moment at this, only to realize that Alina had no intention of leaving his office, content to curl on a chair and exist. He glanced at the time, it was past one and as Lou and Iyla were out, lunch would be up to them.
“Are you hungry? We could order in or cook…”
“Cook?” Alina perked up, leaning forward.
“Order in then,” Roman quickly corrected, misunderstanding Alina’s tone.
“No, no, I don’t mind cooking.” She corrected, “Do you want anything in particular?”
Roman had a difficult time keeping a straight face, “No,” He managed to say without revealing his actual thoughts.
Alina hopped to her feet at this, happy to have something to do that involved Roman. She had never cooked for anyone except her dad and he hardly ate it because he was too busy, she had even taught herself to cook just so that she could do something for him.
Roman was stunned and silent for several minutes while he tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. It wasn’t after some time had passed before he shot to his feet and went after Alina.
If she was being nice solely because of some head trauma, it would be his fault if she killed herself in the kitchen for his sake because he was certain that she didn’t know how to cook.
He stepped into the large kitchen on the ground floor to find her focused on tying an apron around her waist. She paused at his appearance, looking up at him with doe eyes, her dark hair falling out of the messy bun she had hastily done.
Roman was sure he forgot how to breathe for a few seconds until Alina broke whatever spell she had cast on him by looking away. He had to take a moment to remind himself that this was Alina.
“You didn’t have to come down, you must be busy, I can handle the cooking myself.” Alina rambled, searching through cabinets in a bid to familiarize herself with the kitchen and getting nowhere because she was distracted by Roman.
Roman walked in and rested against the counter, “I can make time.” He shrugged, having no intention of leaving Alina to herself.
Alina gave up on the cabinets, shot a shaky smile at Roman, and then went to the sink to wash her hands to hide her trembling hands. Roman had just casually said the words she craved to hear.
She couldn’t wash her hands forever though and as much as Roman’s words made her want to bawl her eyes out in a good way, she straightened up and strutted to the fridge.
“What do you say to pancakes?” She managed to smoothly say without biting her tongue off.
“I’ll eat whatever you make,” Roman said, giving her leeway while having a delivery place on speed dial so that even if she set the kitchen on fire, they would still have lunch.
Alina beamed at this and returned to the cabinet she had seen flour in to take it out and then again to the fridge to get the rest of the ingredients out.
Roman watched her move with practiced efficiency, beginning to slowly admit to himself that the spoiled princess might actually know what she was doing. It felt odd just standing in a corner not offering any help so he silently went over to her.
“Let me-” The rest of his kind offer fell away when Alina startled while holding a bowl of flour, dusting them both with the white powder.
Alina froze in horror at this, about to start apologizing when Roman chuckled and took the bowl from her.
“It’s just the both of us in here, why are you so jumpy?” He asked lightly.
Alina would rather snort the entire bowl of flour than admit to Roman that she wasn’t jumpy because she was scared but she was jumpy because the cadence of his voice had sent electricity bolting down her spine.
“Sorry,” She murmured, reaching for the bowl.
Roman kept it out of her reach, “Let me help you.”
“Okay, help me cut the fruits and… start the coffee maker.” She quickly said, giving Roman tasks that would put some distance between them so that she didn’t run the risk of throwing herself at him and kissing him on the mouth.
As she spoke, she backed away, picking up two towels so they could both get the flour off their clothes. She only went back to the counter when Roman placed the bowl on the counter.
Roman noticed this and thought it odd but he wanted to confirm it. He walked closer to her to get to the rack of knives on the counter and she immediately scrambled away.
He swept after her as she did, trapping her by placing both of his hands on either side of her, “Scared of me?”