"Eclipse"

CHAPTER 47: NICOLE SAVOY POV

“Yes!!” He exclaimed with enthusiasm, holding me tightly. “A million times, yes! I love you too.”

I pulled back from the embrace and gazed at him. “Really!?”

He nodded, his eyes locked onto mine.

Suddenly, I became aware of how awkward the situation was, so I gently moved to sit beside him. His right hand intertwined with my left.

“Since when do you, um—”

“Since when do I like you?” he interjected, completing my sentence.

I nodded.

“It wasn’t the first time I saw you that I fell in love,” he remarked. “It was when we started talking, and it wasn’t until you had to leave that I realized how time slipped away when I was with you.”

I blushed. This was the first time I had heard him speak like this.

“The second time you came, you brought that bottle of wine with you,” he chuckled. “You confessed that you’d lied about your identity, and I had to gulp down my glass to accept that someone like you existed here. We had dinner where I pretended to be Prince Rushford.”

“To be honest, that wasn’t my favorite part. I didn’t like not being myself with you, so when we were walking under the moonlight, I dropped our pretense.”

He remembered every detail. My heart skipped a beat.

“Soon, you began visiting every other day, and I never realized how easily you became part of my routine,” he observed, looking at me. “I realized I had fallen for you when we were at the bookstore. The way your eyes lit up while searching for a book, the way they sparkled when you found my favorite book, and your pure heart welling up in tears over a folk tale.”

“It was really sad,” I admitted.

He chuckled. “In that moment, as I wiped your tears, I thought to myself how much I wanted to stay in that moment forever.”

“From that moment, I began ignoring every sign that I had feelings for you, brushing them off as just friendly gestures. But I couldn’t keep it up. It wasn’t until my friend made me understand that what I was feeling wasn’t wrong that I finally accepted that I truly liked you.”

He released my hand and walked over to the counter, retrieving something from underneath it.

He returned with a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers.

“If you hadn’t confessed today, I would have,” he said. “I wouldn’t have forced you because I know you aren’t mine to keep. Your radiance is too much for someone as humble as me, but I still wanted to take one last leap.”

“Ruki,” I murmured. “You’re everything and more than I could ever deserve. I’m sorry for hiding my feelings for so long. Thank you so much.”

“I’ve never told you anything about my past,” he remarked. “But please, wait a bit longer for me. Just a little while longer so I can gather the strength to tell you everything. Please tell me you’ll wait.”

“I will,” I promised. “I’ll wait for as long as you need. But I have just one question.”

He looked at me, waiting for me to ask.

“Why the sunflowers?” I asked with a laugh.

“Well, I hate to admit it, but I don’t know your favorite flowers, so,” he said, placing the bouquet on my lap and sitting beside me, “I brought the flower that, like me, lights up at the sight of the sun.”

I playfully hit him. “You’re so cheesy.”

“But seriously, what’s your favorite flower?” he inquired.

“I like water lilies,” I replied.

“Water lilies?” he asked in astonishment. “Are there water lilies in Alveria?”

“No, not really,” I explained. “Alveria has lots of rivers, but almost no ponds, hence no water lilies, so I never really saw them in my country. But I remember once, during the war, when my troops and I lost communication and I was alone for several days, wanting to quit. In a frightening forest, I came across a single water lily thriving in muddy water. It was the only time I ever saw one.”

“But I realized that if such a delicate flower could bloom in the harsh conditions of mud, then as a warrior, I could take up trekking through the forest and surviving.”

“It served as my motivation, and I fell in love with its beauty ever since.”

“Seeing how optimistic you are only proves my theory that you aren’t human but an angel,” Ruki teased.

I chuckled at his words as he gently rested his head on my shoulder.

“Let’s stay like this for a while.”

Shivers sent down my spine.

Am I dreaming right now? Who cared, I just wanna stay like this forever.