A Tale of Shadows - THE OUTDATED VERSION

Chapter 25 - Frost

The night after the ball, Malcolm did not allow himself to rest. There was much to be written and done, as evidenced by the stacks of papers he was carrying in his hands. He had woken up early and did not have a proper breakfast - only an apple, and was focused on nothing more than rushing to the study.

As he had just woken up, with very little sleep the night before, he was yawning, and his vision was blurry. It caused him to bump into the door of the study, after which he got a better view of what was in front of him. A moment later, he heard someone walking in there, certain that he was not imagining it. Reluctantly, he opened the door, wondering what he would see in there.

And he had quite something to see. Melinda was there, and she was doing something strange, even for her. She was kneeling, and when he came closer to her, he noticed a broad smile on her face and a little dark red box in her hands. His eyes filled with sorrow, hoping that she was not doing what he thought she was doing, although he did not know what else she could have been doing.

"Melinda, what is this?", he stammered.

"I have devised a brilliant idea," she said dreamily. "If Maguire can leave me for his true love, then I can reciprocate the favour. I am sure my citizens will understand if given a proper explanation."

He blinked twice. "Am I hearing everything the right way?"

She laughed, sounding like a songbird. "Yes, you are, my dear Malcolm. How could I refuse the opportunity to make our love eternal? If we were to marry, I would become the happiest woman in the world, because just having you by my side brings me serenity. Also, I am aware that this feeling must be inside you as well, despite all the issues we have. Everything we are going through will be easier together."

He swallowed. "This marriage could never last."

Melinda tried to think of an argument, to tell him that it would be alright, but for a while, nothing came out of her mouth, and her heart dropped. It was not as if she suddenly lost faith, it was merely the problems she had put a carpet over resurfacing. She could not give her everything to him, and in the past few months, it seemed as though Malcolm had something to hide as well.

"Do you agree that this proposal was useless?" he asked, staring blankly at her.

"No. Why would it be?"

He scratched his neck. "Well, how long have we known each other? I mean, I have been in love with you for a long time, but only from afar. You have fallen for me rather recently, so much so that not even two years have passed, and it occurred mere weeks after Jeffrey died."

She crossed her arms. "I may have fallen for you quickly, and I know that it is unhealthy, yet what does that change? I consider myself blessed with having so much passionate love inside my heart, finding it easier to face all the obstacles in front of me. Is that to be judged, or to be appreciated?"

He bent his head. "I am sorry if I sounded like a moral arbiter. It is not my place to do so."

"Your concerns are valid, but in a world like this, morality is something you should not concern yourself with at all," she said, putting her hand on his heart.

He shrugged. "Perhaps you are in the right."

"So, are you accepting my proposal or not?" she chirped.

Those words burned through his heart like heated coal. Even as his mind wandered into a daydream, wherein the spring blossomed at its fullest, butterflies danced and birds sang in the sky without a care in the world, the air was filled with the scent of chamomile tea, and the rays of the sun illuminated the lovely woman as she smiled at him most pleasantly, he could not ignore the rumble of the thunder in the distance. Thus she gave him a blank stare while he was shivering as though severe cold winds blew inside.