After their intense lovemaking, Charlton repositioned themselves so that Serena was lying on top of him as the couch was not large enough to accommodate them side by side.

He was drawing circles on her back while she had her head pressed on his chest, enjoying the rhythmic sounds of his heartbeat. She smiled, thinking that this moment was like a dream, and she wondered how she lasted 4 months without him by her side. Giddily, she raised her head up to place a close-lipped kiss on his lips.

Charlton pleasantly surprised chuckled and when she moved her head back to his chest, he embraced her as he whispered, "I love you."

Serena enjoyed the moment and the rumbling of his chest. "I love you too." She replied. Then, recalling his words from earlier, she tried to untangle herself from his hold.

Charlton feeling her wriggle out of his embrace held her tighter, "Not yet, let's stay like this for a few more minutes. I missed you…" He said, as he inhaled the floral scent of her hair that he missed so much.

"Hmpft! I think I should have been tougher on you. You almost let me slip away!" she said in mock anger.

He chortled hearing her words. "Yes, you should have let me grovel first. I guess I'm really lucky that I was born with this face and body."

Serena successfully moved out of his embrace and playfully hit his chest, "Lord Daniel, how conceited of you, and here I thought you were a martyr for love."

Charlton snorted and he laughed out loud. Then, he embraced her again as he kissed her hair. "Serena, I'm sorry. I know I have no excuse, but I promise to spend my lifetime making it up to you."

She embraced him back, his words making her happy, so much so that her cheeks were hurting because of the grin she was sporting. But then again, she knew that relationships never go that smoothly, so she shook her head.

"I want to say that I'll hold you on to that, but I don't want you to think that you owe me anything. Charlton, I know I was also at fault, and I'm sorry. Though I do feel bad that you never tried to reconciliate with me even once…"

Charlton furrowed his brows, "Did you not receive my letters?"

"What letters?" she asked as she moved to look him in the eye.

"Just as I thought." He replied as he sighed. "Leonard that brother of yours… ugh… Serena, I don't want you to think that I'm making excuses, but I want you to know that I sent you over a dozen letters during winter break. I also sent a card to visit and got rejected. In fact, despite that, I went to visit and… I saw you with Geoffrey…"

Serena's eyes widened, "how come you never told me? How could Leonard do that?"

Charlton shook his head. "I thought you knew… but it's all in the past now. We're here now, and that's all that matters…"

"Still… I will talk to him about it later."

"Serena, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I do understand where Leonard's coming from. At first, I was also angry but after thinking it through, he did what he did with your best interest in mind. So, I have long stopped blaming him."

She sighed as she moved to sit, "I'm sorry. Honestly, if I knew things would turn out this way, I would have talked to Geoffrey about breaking our engagement at the time when he was still in a relationship with Emily. Perhaps, he would have agreed right away."

Charlton also rose from his position and sat, "Please, don't blame yourself. I am also equally at fault for what you said before appealed to my greed. However, we should move on from that, for even if we came clean at that time, there's no guarantee that he would have let you go. Now, things have come to this and I feel guilty because I know that he genuinely likes you."

"I too feel guilty. However, I already told him that I don't see him that way."

Charlton smiled. Although he understood that Geoffrey would not back off, it still felt good to hear those words from her mouth. "How did that work out?"

"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I want to tell him that I want to break the engagement. However, I can't come up with a legit reason. Anything I say would be irrelevant as it was a royal decree, and aside from that, I can't really tell him that it is you who I love." She explained.

"I too want to tell him, but I know that nothing good would come out of it." He said, recalling the number of times Geoffrey seemed to have warned him.

"I thought of asking my parents on breaking the engagement, but…"

"Yes, I understand, and you shouldn't. Knowing how things work, if it's your parents that should break it, the consequences will be even more dire."

Serena sighed, "So, in the end, just keeping things between us is still for the best."

"Serena, I don't want you to think that I'm being cowardly, but I already came to terms with the fact that from where I'm at now, I can't protect you, can't protect us. What we're committing is a lesse majeste and I can't count the number of times it kept me awake at night worrying about you. However, as I said earlier, I will work my way around this predicament we're in."

Serena nodded her head in understanding, "I know."

Charlton can only give her a wry smile.

Serena chuckled seeing his expression, "don't pull that kind of face. You're not in this alone. Remember, I told you that I will be right beside you to help. So, tell me, how do you plan to make all those things you said work?"

--

TBC