A Lily Among Thorns

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝚈-𝙴𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃

✞ J U L I A N   W E S T B R O O K ✞

Julian glances down at his watch and concludes Celai should be meeting him at the coffee shop any minute. And because of that, soft words of prayer begin to leave his lips. "God, I declare that the temptation I once felt so strongly for Celai has vanished in Jesus' name. While I'm blessed You have given me an opportunity to go out with her last night, You and I know what ensued afterward."

In short, he fought off tempting thoughts about Celai the entire night, even after their date had ended. In fact, it got worse when he was by himself trying to get some rest. He didn't lose the battle, but he did lose sleep, hence why he's in a coffee shop.

"Order for Julian!" a barista calls.

"Please, Lord, let this day be better. In Jesus' name, Amen," he whispers quickly as he stands to his feet.

He goes over to the barista, who had been previously flirting with him, and he takes the two coffee cups from her. She's eyeing him once again, but Julian doesn't care. His eyes are only on one girl— one woman— and she's walking in the coffee shop.

Celai's eyes land on him and they brighten. He smiles back and his heart thumps in his chest. She doesn't know all that she did to him.

He keeps his composure as he walks back to his seat, Celai following. They sit in a corner and he looks at both the coffee cups before taking a sip of one. The involuntary smile on his face converts into a tight frown and he slides the cup to Celai. "That's yours," he says weakly.

"You know I don't like coffee like that," she says. He knows that, but he also knows what other drinks she likes. When he ordered, he thought of those and came up with the coffee concoction that he felt would best fit her.

"Just try it," he urges, confident she'll like it.

Her lips are curved down as she holds the cup to them, but upon tasting it, the frown vanishes and she takes a longer sip— or more of a gulp. "It's not bad," she shrugs.

Julian chuckles softly and notices she fails to allow the cup to leave her hands. "So why did you feel the need to wake me up at six in the morning to meet you at a random coffee shop?" Celai asks him.

He pulls out a notepad he brought in his bag and he sets it on the table. "I want you to help me come up with plans for Disciples of Truth. For when it's mine."

Last night, Julian was blessed to have a small break from thinking of Celai to think about what he'd do when he took over the church. He talked to God about it, but he never received any ideas, or he just had a hard time focusing for obvious reasons.

So, he wants to ask Celai what she thinks since he knows she's his other half. He was praying God sent ideas to her in his failure to take back his mind.

"Why are you asking me? It'll be your church," Celai says.

"True, but I want and value your opinion," he explains. "Plus, it will be yours as well since you'll be the First Lady," he almost says. He bites his tongue to tame himself though. A smirk is firm on his face, however.

The tips of her ears turn bright red and she takes another gulp of her coffee in trying to hide her shyness. Julian smiles at it. "So, do you have anything you want to see in the church?" he asks.