Emily woke up the next morning with swollen eyes, she washes off her face and freshens up before heading down for breakfast. Conrad and Jax are at the dining room already when she arrives there, she shifts uncomfortably when she sees him.
“Good morning, Jax and Conrad,” she greets.
“Good morning, ‘Em,” Jax replies.
“Morning,” Conrad mumbles.
She served herself some food on her plate and begins to eat, Jax notices the awkward silence between them and decides to say something.
“The recruits have been sent off to their duty posts, our security is now doubled and the old one will return for a new phase of training,” Jax announce.
Conrad remembers how hurt Freya was last night when she found out that he had pushed her away to the northern border for no apparent reason, his hands tremble with fear as he reminded himself that anything that would happen to Freya will be his fault.
“What about the recruits at the northern border?” Conrad asks.
“They are even the first batch to leave and your red haired girl is one of them. It’s quite unfortunate that there’s a slight squabble with the rogues at the northern border but they will be alright.”
Conrad’s heart skips a beat on hearing that the northern border is busy fighting off rogues, he prays silently for Freya to be safe.
“Emily, I figured out that you will like to be busy in order to get past some issues. So I’ve spoken with my Gamma and she agreed to make reservation for a gym instructor, you can start officially by tomorrow morning,” Jax says to Emily.
“Thank you for your help, Jax. I really appreciate it,” she says.
Jax finishes his food and leaves the dining room, Emily decides to use this medium to apologize to Conrad for her outraging behavior last night.
“Conrad…”
“Emily…”
They both call their names in unison. Emily’s cheek are reddened as Conrad stares intently at her, waiting for her to speak up first.
“I wanted to apologize for what happened last night. I did not mean to spill such nonsense and vent my anger on you,” she says.
“I understand the pains you are feeling and I would have appreciated it more if you were to open up to me and tell me what happened between you and Louis,” he says.
She bent her head and thought carefully, Conrad was right. It is about time that she confided in him and told him the truth about her and Louis.
“Alright I will tell you after we are done eating.”
After breakfast, they walked out to the garden and relaxed. Conrad has no busy schedule today so his time is dedicated to listening to Emily as she talks. She snuggles closer to him because his body is warmed up and the breeze in the garden is cool.
“As you are aware, Louis and I dated for nine years. We’ve known each other since childhood and our relationship blossomed as each year passed, Louis prepared for our coronation and officially making me his Luna. But I discovered that he has found his fated mate, Louis gave me the assurance that I am the one he wants only to be rejected on the night of the coronation ceremony. After being embarrassed by his mate, I decided to come here and start up a new life.”
Conrad’s heart is heavy with this revelation, Louis has broken Emily’s heart to pieces. He left her in a state of despair and there was nothing he could do to him to make him pay, but he vows to help Emily out of the depression.
“Louis is a fool for choosing a stranger over you, he wasted nine years of relationship with you only to reject you at the last moment. Emily, I want you to understand that you are not alone in this.”
“I know that I am not alone. I have you and Jax to help me out in any situation I find myself in. With my new job as a gym instructor, I can think less about him and focus more on my life.”
Conrad would have jumped into asking her out, but he is fully aware of how bruised she is. The last thing on his mind is destroying his friendship with Emily, he plans to take things easy with her.
He pulls her closer to him and hugs her tightly, assuring her that she is not alone in this. Emily smiles in satisfaction, she is glad that Conrad understood her feelings and is there to help her out.
“Would you like to join me on a special cooking class tonight?” Conrad asks her.
She beams with smiles, “Yes.”
She rests in her room until the night falls, then she and Conrad goes to the kitchen.
“I want to make pasta with grilled chicken breast for you, the chicken is already grilled so we just have to get the pasta ready.”
He begins cooking while Emily simply watches him as he does the cooking. She takes notes of how flexible his hands are and for the fact that he looks good while he’s cooking, she wonders why she has not taken record of him like this before.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” he asks her suddenly.
She looks away and grins, “Nothing.”
They sit at the dining table and enjoy their meal together with a glass of wine on their table.
“Let’s make a toast, Emily. To a better future ahead,” Conrad raises his glass.
“To a better future ahead,” she says.
They clink their glasses together and take a sip of their wine, Conrad decides to use this opportunity to ask her out on a date.
“I know that you will starting your work tomorrow but I will love you to hang out with me when you are less busy,” he says.
“Sure, as long as it does not affect my schedule.”
Conrad retires for the night with a huge smile on his face, the progress he made so far with Emily is remarkable. He is slowly warming his way into her heart, he swears that he will make her forget about Louis soon.
For a long time, he only watched Emily from a distance. He had observed her only to be told that she is in a relationship with Louis, that was the only reason why he despised the guy. He felt that Louis would not be able to be what Emily wanted him to be, but Conrad was willing to do anything to make her Emily.
Emily on the other hand, couldn’t stop blushing and thinking about Conrad’s kind gesture so far. She feels like it has been ages since she felt such way meanwhile it’s been only weeks, she thought it would take her a while to heal but she is wrong.
‘You should not put your feelings out because you think a guy is cute,’ Ingrid snaps at her.
Emily does not care about what her wolf thinks, she has already made up her mind to go on with Conrad if he asks her out one day.