Chapter 61: Chapter 61

Tonight, Lanceil will confess his feelings to Agatha.

This morning, he received a text from his maid, saying that she’d be home at night. And all day, Lanceil did nothing but wait.

Time went slowly. Lanceil felt like a marathoner, waiting in the starting line with strained adrenaline, and his heart was pulsing at a fast rate. What made his anxiousness even worse is that he could not help but worry if Agatha was fine going out with her professor – A.K.A, her fiancé.

Lanceil hated it so much. Nonetheless, he would not back down. Just like what he said to Lawrence, Agatha would come back to his side at the end of the day.

‘So, I had to confess tonight.’

“Why is she still not here, though? It’s late,” Lanceil murmured after glancing at the wall clock above.

Click.

Lanceil looked in the direction of the entrance with widened eyes. He knew it would be Agatha, but instead of staying in his position so he could greet her, the boss frantically ran inside his office.

He seemed like the male version of Cinderella who even left a pair of shoe rags in the living room. Unlike Cinderella, Lanceil didn’t bother looking back and just went straight inside the office. He closed the door and sat on a chair, pretending to be busy.

On the other side, Agatha pulled her luggage inside the condominium and looked around.

‘Sir Lanceil isn’t here yet?’

There’s a breathless silence sweeping the space. Agatha thought that the house was empty not until she noticed the lights coming from Lanceil’s office.

Slowly, she approached the door. Agatha took a deep breath before she held the doorknob and pushed it open.

“Sir Lanceil?”

Behind the slightly opened door, Lanceil was seen reading a newspaper.

“You’re back,” he said in an unbothered tone.

Agatha hesitated to answer Lanceil because she noticed that Lanceil was holding the newspaper upside down. Nevertheless, she replied.

“Yes, Sir. I came back.”

“I see. It’s late. Go and sleep.”

That’s all?

Agatha was disappointed that after being away for days, Lanceil acted apathetic.

‘The mood between us was really good before I went on the field trip. Did he have a change of heart?’

Agatha worried that during her absence, Lanceil’s budding feelings and interest disappeared too.

She was sad about two things. First, the slave contract won’t end, and second, her feelings won’t be reciprocated. Two different reasons which wouldn’t be collided. Must not collide, rather.

“O-Okay, Sir. Good night.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go now.”

“Okay.”

Agatha said that she was going, but she was still standing in her place. Seeing her, Lanceil asked, “Why are you still here?”

“Just curious, Sir.”

“About what?”

“How can you read the newspaper? It was upside down.”

'It was?!' Lanceil asked himself.

Although bewildered, Lanceil’s fast-reasoning skills saved him.

“I’m p-playing a crossword puzzle. Turning it upside down helps me.”

For a calm man like him to make such mistakes, Agatha wanted to believe that maybe... Just maybe... She's the reason behind these. Even if she was not 100% sure, her guess made her feel satisfied.

"Okay, Sir," she responded. "I’ll toast the bread. Would you like some?"

"N-No."

"Hmmm. Goodnight, Sir."

She was about to close the door for good.

“Agatha.”

She looked back and through the closing door, she saw his silhouette approaching her side. Her legs were paralyzed. Agatha watched the door open and next saw her boss standing in front of her.

Their eyes met, and they stared there as if they were talking without words.

The temperature arose. In the midst of the silence, Agatha felt her heart beating so fast while looking at her boss.

There was something more unusual tonight than before. Lanceil’s eyes have a resolution, greed of the unknown.

Just when she parted her lips to ask why he followed her out of the office, Lanceil’s voice returned.

“I’ll ask one question. Can you promise to answer me honestly?”

Agatha’s hands shook. She quickly hid them, afraid that Lanceil would find out that she was penitent. From day one, she lied to Lanceil and was never honest.

‘No. There’s one time I became honest and that’s when I told him that I like him.’

Unfortunately, after she told her feelings, she backed out and said that she likes him as a person, but not in a romantic way.

Mouth as dry as a desert, Agatha gulped nothing, almost just air. She looked up to Lanceil and gathered the courage to reply.

“I will try my best to be honest, Sir.”

‘If by chance he finds out that my surname was fake, I doubt I can do the job of being honest, though,’ Agatha added in her mind.

“When you told me that you like me,” Lanceil uttered.

Agatha’s eyes widened.

‘Wait. I didn’t expect this!’ she gasped inwardly.

“Were you really talking about how you like me as a human being, just like how you feel with your friends and the other people out there?”

Her heart began to beat nervously.

Lanceil moved closer. The sound of his footsteps stepping on the floor rang dimly in Agatha’s ears. Agatha fiddled with her fingers as she looked at the tall man standing before her.

She was speechless.

“Answer me, Agatha,” Lanceil demanded, raising his hands and cupping her cheeks.

The heat from his palms was transferred to Agatha’s cheeks, and her heart burned wildly. She wasn’t sure if it was because of his hands, the desire in his eyes, or the words he spoke before coming in contact.

The mind processes slower than how the body reacts.

“Do you like me… as a man?”

Agatha figured out that she was cornered. There was only one path, and she was being forced to follow the desire she had in her; physically and emotionally.

“I like you,” she said.

The hands on her cheeks twitched. But she did not shy away and kept her eyes fixated on Lanceil.

“I love you, Lanceil.”

She watched how his eyes widened, subsided, and narrowed thinly like crescent moons. He looked happy to hear the honest answer, and somehow, that joyful expression made Agatha feel so relieved.

“Thank you for being honest,” Lanceil said before he pulled her closer and kissed her lips.