Tempest // Sebastian Sallow

Chapter 76

"Anne asked me to be a bridesmaid," Rosie said casually over lunch one day, perched on the corner of Sebastian's desk eating her chicken and rice.

Sebastian's eyes snapped up from his work, practically snatching the glasses off his face.

"What?"

"Yeah! Last night while you were working late. She said she doesn't really know anyone well enough anymore and I'm practically her sister anyway, so–"

"You're not her sister."

Rosie frowned.

"I–I mean, don't we have to be married for you to be... her sister?" He backtracked.

"Technically, yes," Rosie said, setting down her food, "But she said practically her sister. Do you not want me to accept?"

"You can do what you want."

"Didn't James ask you to be a groomsman?"

"He did." Sebastian muttered.

"And... your problem with me being a bridesmaid is... what exactly?"

"There's no problem, Rosie!"

"Then good. We'll look charming as a couple at their wedding, I'm sure." Rosie huffed, sliding off the desk and picking up her food.

Without a word, she left his office, slamming the door a little harder than necessary.

Sebastian groaned and dragged his hands down his face. He was trying, he really was. But now the engagement had settled and Anne was in full, complete wedding planning mode. He'd come home from work to a table full of "wedding shit" as he so affectionately called it, it was all she talked about and he was getting incredibly frustrated.

If that was what getting married was, he didn't want it.

He wanted life to be easy. His work was challenging and dangerous enough, he didn't need his home life to be the same.

And he had assumed Rosie was okay with that. But the more he resisted having anything to do with the wedding, despite accepting the role of a groomsman, the more frustrated Rosie seemed to get with him.

God, he hoped he wasn't screwing everything up.

So instead of chasing after her, he let her have the space she clearly wanted and dove back into his work.

He forgot to eat lunch that day, pushing thoughts of his home life out of his brain with runes and archaic symbols and latin translations and all other things that challenged him and made his brain tick.

And it worked. Until a very unimpressed Rosie turned up at his office at 5pm.

"You didn't eat today," she huffed.

He peered down at his watch and brought his eyes back up to hers. "How do you know?"

"You didn't pack anything from home and you haven't left this office all day."

She was right. He hadn't.

Sebastian sighed, pushing his chair back and standing up. "Alright, fine. I didn't eat."

Rosie crossed her arms. "You need to take better care of yourself, Sebastian. Skipping meals isn't going to help you deal with anything."

"I know, I know," he said, running a hand through his hair. "I've just been... distracted, okay?"

"Clearly," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Look, I get that work is really important to you. But is it more important than your sister? Than me?"

"No! No, definitely not."