Unfortunately Fated

Chapter 21

Jonathan

      I woke up with the sun shining right on my face, making me squint. I stretched, and I slowly sat up in the bed. I turned around and looked to see Maxwell no longer in the bed. I did smell something incredible; he must be cooking breakfast. I followed the smell of food, trying to find my way around this gigantic mansion. I finally found the kitchen, and Maxwell was standing over the stove. His pajama pants were hanging lowly on his hips; he was wearing a black crewneck sweater that was loose fitting on him. It was so weird seeing him with short hair, I kind of missed the long locks. I went and sat down at the island and watched him in admiration. How he moved with ease, and everything he seemed to do was so effortless. "You hungry?" He asked me, not even turning around to see that I was sitting there. "Yeah, what are you making?" I asked him, trying to peek around him to see what it was. "Pancakes, blueberry pancakes." He turned around and smirked at me. "How did you know they were my favorite?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "Taylor told me. She told me a lot about you."

      He grabbed a plate and put three big pancakes on my plate. "Like what?" I grabbed the butter and syrup and started cutting into the pancakes. "She told me that you love ice cream, but only cookie dough. Mrs. P's is your favorite restaurant, but I kind of already knew that. You are secretly a goofball, but I have yet to figure that out. You love the ocean and the mountains. You've always wanted to travel the world and vacation, but feel as though you'll never get the chance to." Maxell took a bit out of his pancakes, and I looked at him in awe. "She told you all of that?" I looked at him questioningly. "Yes, she did actually. I wish you had been the one to tell me, but I guess learning about you through other people is just going to have to do." He gave me a sad smile, and my heart squeezed in agony for him. I could see that he was hurt that he had to learn about his mate through other people. "Well, what are some things about you?"

      He looked up in surprise that I asked that question. "What are some questions you want to be answered?" I looked up and locked eyes with him. "All of them." I wanted to know everything about him. "Well, I prefer beaches. I'm not a breakfast person; I prefer dinner. I don't have a favorite restaurant; I didn't eat out much growing up. Only because we always cooked and I knew how to cook. Ice cream is excellent, but I am lactose intolerant, so I can't eat much dairy without my stomach exploding for future reference. I have pills though that I can take, I always forget I have them." He shrugged and we continued eating our food in silence. "When are you the happiest?" It was an abrupt question, kind of random. No, very random but now I wanted to know the answer. I wanted to know what makes my mate happy. "When I'm with you." He said softly, his green eyes softening as we made eye contact. He cleared his throat and broke eye contact with me.

       "Do you want to do anything today?" Maxwell asked as he grabbed our empty plates and put them in the sink. "Not really, I kind of want to stay here. I don't think I am ready to face the real world yet. It's kind of embarrassing what I went through." I stood up from the chair and grabbed my arm shyly. "You shouldn't be embarrassed J." He started washing the dishes and I started to clean up the ingredients used to make the pancakes. "I just feel like people are going to make fun of me." I shrugged at him. I guess that made him angry because I heard plates clash in the sink and he turned around immediately. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to him. His hands-on me burned, us not touching for so long made the electricity between us worse. Each touch now fighting to get us closer and do what needed to be done a long time ago. "If anyone says anything to you, I will take care of them, I promise you. No one is going to say anything to you." I tried listening to what he was saying but I couldn't focus. He was so close to me that it was hard to focus.

      Maxwell noticed and he pulled away from me. I frowned slightly but quickly fixed my face and walked toward the living room. "I have some pack work I need to get done. But I will be in the office, so if you need anything just let me know." He walked past me and head up the stairs leaving me alone, again. I didn't want him to go away but I wasn't going to ask him to stay. It was just weird. I grabbed a book and sat down on the couch grabbing one of the throw blankets and sat there.

       I sat on the couch for about two hours so uncomfortably alone. I was fighting with myself and my instincts, whether or not to stay on the couch, or go up to his office and sit with him in there. Reluctantly I forced myself up and followed his scent throughout the house and finally found his office. There were two huge oak doors and his scent was strong in there I could tell. I knocked and slowly opened the door. Maxwell was sitting at his desk with his hair thrown everywhere. His eyebrows were squinted together showing he was focused. He looked up and confusion filled his face. "Everything okay?" I slowly walked in and looked around and found a brown leather chair in the corner. "Yeah. I was just wanting to come to sit in here with you. If that's okay with you?" I stood in the door frame nervously waiting for his answer. "Sure, yeah. You can sit wherever." He went back to his work and I sat down in the chair. His reaction seemed so nonchalant, it caught me off guard. Once I sat down I wrapped myself in the blanket and continued what I was reading.

        Every once in a while I could feel his eyes on me but anytime I looked up he was focused on his work. I closed the book and looked over at him and just stared while he worked. "What are you working on?" I asked him, he seemed so focused that it must be important. "The coronation is coming up next week and I need to start taking over my dad's responsibilities." My eyes widened in surprise. "Your coronation? Next week? When were you going to tell me?" I felt hurt that I didn't know this sooner. "I didn't know when the right time would be to tell you something like that." He never made eye contact with me and it was making me angry. "Okay well, are you excited? How are you feeling? Do you have any idea of what you're going to wear?" I started to list off questions. "Jonathan, I don't know okay? Why do you care so much?" He slammed his hand on the table and I jumped slightly in surprise. "Okay, my bad I just thought we could talk. But I'll just leave you alone since it seems I'm being such a bother." I grabbed my things and ran out of the office to the bedroom but I heard him right behind me.

       "Jonathan, stop, please. I didn't mean to yell." I just kept walking and ignoring him. Maxwell caught up to me and grabbed me and pinned me against the wall. "Maxwell, I am trying here. I am asking questions and trying to get us back to normal but it seems that everything I do annoys you. And I don't want to be a burden so I'll just leave you alone." I crossed my arms looking away from him. "This isn't easy for me. I am trying to get used to this new normal. I didn't think it would be this hard." Maxwell sighed. "I was just asking questions, Max. You didn't need to explode on me like that." I shrugged and tried to move away but he grabbed me and pushed me back on the wall. He stood very close to me and the tension was intense and magnetic. "Look, the reason I snapped was that I'm not excited about it. And you just seemed so happy about it."

     "Okay, why couldn't you just say that? What's so wrong with coronation?" I was curious, these days are supposed to be the happiest days of royalties life. "From what I've been is that coronation day is the best day of your life. Finally being who you were born to be. But how can I be happy when I can't even be in the same room as my mate without it being extremely awkward? How can I be happy when I haven't even touched my mate in months? How can I be happy knowing that all of this is my fault?" Maxwell's eyes started to water and I could see all of his guilt, it truly broke my heart. "You shouldn't feel guilty..." I tried consoling him the best I could. 

       "No I do, this is my fault and I will never forgive myself. This all started because I can't communicate and I left when you needed me most. When I needed you most. I just want us to be better." I grabbed his hands in my hand and I let the electricity bolt through me. "How can we get better if you don't trust yourself around me? I know you can't promise to not hurt me again because that's just part of a relationship. But we can promise each other this, no matter how hard things get we will always fight for us." I moved my hands to his face and moved his head so his eyes were facing mine. "Come on, let's go eat and relax a little bit okay?" I grabbed his hand and led him down to the kitchen. This was going to be hard, and we weren't ever going to be we were before. But our new normal will hopefully be better than we could have ever imagined.

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