•︎ •︎ •︎

━︎━︎ IN WHICH SHE DOESN'T HATE HIM

Edith ran her finger against the soft fabric of the dark green curtain that hung above the window, which led to a view of the outdoors. She lingered her eyes on the smoke that illuminated in the moonlight, erupting from the chimney opposite the building they were currently standing in as she pushed the curtain slightly to the side with her finger.

The room was way more elegant than the lodging house her and Enola had stayed in before and definitely didn't have a rat running around the bare floors of the room, which was a major plus.

The walls were beige and had a few beautiful paintings displayed on the clean walls. The floor was hardwood and wore a small, circular rug in the middle. The dresser matched the colour of the floor with a dark brown colour that included elegant and circular handles as a small mirror was attached to one of the doors. A bouquet of carefully arranged flowers stood in a clay vase on the side table next to the bed — which had thin, white sheets and a pillow covering its squeaky mattress.

"It's quite nice, I must say" Edith told Tewkesbury as she slowly tore her finger from the curtain, causing it to drop back down and cover the window as she turned her body to face Tewksbury — who was leaning against the door.

"Better than the woman you boarded off?" He asked, a barely visible smirk displaying its way onto his pink lips.

"Well, there's only one bed" Edith pointed out, ignoring his question.

"I will sleep on the floor if I must" Tewkesbury stated without second thought.

"No, no. You are paying for the lodging room, I'll sleep on the floor" Edith told the boy, as her eyes looked around the room once again before looking back to the boy.

"I cannot let you sleep on the floor, Edith!" Tewksbury insisted as he leaned off of the door and stood looking Edith straight into her deep blue eyes.

"Well, I don't want to be a burden!" Edith argued back as she connected her eyes with his.

"What will that make me if I let you sleep on the floor whilst sleeping on the bed myself?!" He asked rhetorically in exclamation as his voice cracked at the end.

"A person who listens to me?" Edith suggested with her eyebrow raised, her lips put into a thin line as Tewkesbury sighed and lent back onto the door, his shoulder slouching slightly.

"You're a stubborn one, Ainsley". He said, his head turning to look at the beige wall on his left whilst putting his hands in the pockets of his blue overcoat.

"And so are you, your royal highness" Edith said with the roll of her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest, straightening her posture as the corset she wore dug into her back.

. . .

Somehow, Tewksbury got Edith to sleep on the bed instead of the floor. So now Edith lay on the bed, whilst Tewksbury laid on the hardwood floor, shifting around on it, making an excessive amount of unnecessary noise.

"Would you stop moving?" Edith asked quietly in a killing calm with her eyes closed and a hand splayed over her stomach.

The shuffling sound suddenly stopped as the young lord laid down still on his side, facing the window with his eyes wide open, looking out at the barely visible stars that danced around the inky blue London sky that was usually covered with smog from the pollution in the city.

"Thank you" She said, her soft and tired voice echoing through the room as her eyes fluttered shut in desperation of sleep.

Silence filled the room for what seemed like hours of trying to fall asleep until Tewksbury's husky voice spoke up "are you asleep?"

"No".

Another moment of silence filled the room until he spoke again, his voice quite and almost hesitant "Do you hate me?".

Edith thought for a second, making sure she answered the question truthfully as the room went back to being silent again until she replied with "Depends".

Tewksbury replied with a soft hum and a smile on his face as her simple 'depends' to his question sprung relief throughout his body, he didn't know what he would do if the girl's answer ended up being a 'yes'.

After all, he knew her 'depends' meant 'no'.

"Edith?" He asked to which the girl replied with a hum. "I'm sorry" Tewkesbury apologised quietly, almost impossibly to hear as his smile dropped. "I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier". He said and waited a bit for the girl to answer with anything more that the sound of her steady breath, but she didn't reply. "Edith?" Tewkesbury asked again as he slowly pushed himself off of the floor, walking over to the bed only to see the girl's eyes shut and already in a deep slumber.

Tewksbury couldn't help but let his lips tug into a small grin as he watched the girl's lips part in her sleep and soft snores emit out of her mouth.

He sat down on the edge of the bed, carefully taking hold of her hand — that rested on her stomach — and pressing a soft kiss onto the knuckles of her hand as his honey brown eyes closed, his soft lips lingering on her hand for a moment longer before lowering her hand and placing it back on her stomach as his eyes opened, his own stomach circling with an unusual tickling feeling.

Tewksbury carefully stood up from the bed before laying back down on the cold floor as his eyes fluttered shut, dozing him off into his much needed sleep.

08/11/2020

I kinda like this chapter ngl but that's just my 23:37 opinion so I'll see tomorrow and publish this later.

Also for any potterheads out there me and my friends have created a book called "alternative" on our joined account so check that out maybe?

09/11/2020

I'm in Chem rn and I'm dying

Yeah I changed most of this chapter and now I know I shouldn't write at almost midnight :/

Also Skskjshusbsjss thank you sm for 20k reads! Woah that's amazing I literally love every single one one you guys and hope you're enjoying this book as much as I'm enjoying writing it!