Erik sat behind his expansive mahogany work desk, which was situated in his personal office upstairs, whilst he continued to involve himself in work. Over the past hour, Erik had successfully managed to respond to an endless list of emails, schedule a handful of important meetings and even make time to begin planning a special surprise for Rosaline. His only hope was that she would be as excited by the spontaneous idea as he was. Just as Erik was about to turn off his laptop and check in on Rose, he felt her presence behind him before he even had the chance to turn around.

"Good morning handsome." She softly purred beside his ear.

"Good morning my love. Did you sleep well? " Erik asked her, while soothing his hands gently over her forearms that were currently wrapped around his shoulders.

"I slept like a baby actually. Your bed is pure magic." Rosaline lightly chucked, before letting out a shrill squeal as Erik manipulated her body so that she fell into his lap.

Erik paused for a brief moment, so that Rosaline could contain her nervous giggles. He then swooped in and cheekily kissed her right on the mouth, startling Rose even further.

"Someone is in a brazen mood this morning." Rosaline observed.

"Maybe I'm like this all the time, but you just don't know because this is the first time that you've woken up with me." Erik easily retaliates, despite his knowledge that the only reason he's as happy as he is this morning is because of the woman sitting in his lap.

"I find that kind of hard to believe." Rosaline unconvincingly quipped back, whilst gazing up at Erik with a hidden smile.

"Well there's only one way to find out? Stay with me again, tonight?" Erik pleaded with his version of puppy dog eyes.

"How can I say no to that face?" Rosaline retorted, as she moved her hands up to Erik's face so that she could squish his cheeks in a childish way.

"You can't resist me, admit it?" Erik seductively spoke, once Rosaline had removed her hands from his face.

"I can, I just choose not to." Rosaline answered with a flirtatious wink, before light-heartedly chuckling into Erik's mouth as he kissed her again.

After spending a portion of the early morning upstairs in Erik's office, he and Rosaline eventually made it downstairs for breakfast. Although Erik had asked Rosaline to simply make herself at home, she insisted on helping him in the kitchen. Between casual conversation, they eventually got to plating up delicious servings of waffles, berry compote and a vanilla bean parfait. Sitting at the dining room table opposite each other, Erik couldn't help but think how domestic the entire morning seemed. Waking up in the same bed, followed by cooking breakfast together and then sharing the meal while exchanging easy banter. Erik didn't think anything could ruin this perfect moment, that was until Rosaline received a phone call.

"I have to take this, sorry." Rosaline quickly apologised to Erik, before stepping out of the room.

While she was gone, Erik wondered deeply as to who the caller was. He assumed it was probably her parents, as she hadn't come home last night, but he figured she was a grown adult who could look after herself. In thinking about her parents some more, Erik suddenly came to a number of realisations. Despite their obvious love for their daughter, it also seemed as though her family were restricting and holding Rosaline back from making her own decisions in life. They watched over her as if she were a broken bird and it made Erik wonder whether Rosaline ever noticed it herself. He assumed she would tell him that her family were just looking out for her, but for reasons of his own, Erik seemed to think differently. Before he could allow his thoughts to cloud his judgement any further, Rosaline walked back into the room with an anxious expression on her face.

"Everything alright?" Erik questioned, while forking another pillowy bit of waffle.

"Yeah, that was just my mother." Rosaline responded, but did not make another attempt to resume eating her food.

"What's wrong?" Erik deliberately suspected, based off Rosaline's discomfort.

"Rose, tell me?" Erik gently added, whilst moving his hand to grasp her fingers.

"Remember how I said that I would ask my parents to invite us over so that they could officially you?" She slowly explained.

"Yes." Erik acknowledged with a nod.

"Well it turns out they want to see us this afternoon." Rosaline timidly concluded.

"Okay, we'll see them today." Erik nonchalantly replied with a small smile.

Erik was relieved to find out that Rosaline's nerves were evidently disproportionate to the reality of the situation. In no way was Erik upset or frustrated by the news, because he knew himself sooner of later he would have had to meet her family regardless. He had to admit though, it was a little troubling that Rosaline assumed he would have reacted less willingly.

"That's it? You're not going to argue about it?" Rosaline persisted.

"That's a rather presumptuous thought don't you think? Why would I possibly argue?" Erik challenged, suddenly feeling as if Rosaline truly lacked all faith in him.

"I just thought that...never mind. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed the worst." Rosaline instantly apologised, feeling guilty for even voicing the ludicrous idea.

"Rose, I've told you before. Nothing can possibly come between us. At least not for me." Erik regrettably confessed the last part.

Erik hung his head lowly in an attempt to obscure his vision from Rosaline. For the first time ever, he wondered if she felt as strongly towards him as he did for her. He never considered himself as the vulnerable type, but with Rose he wasn't sure he felt as confident in himself as he probably would have had she been just like any other woman he had previously been with. The complexity of the situation had finally taken its toll on Erik and he wasn't sure if for how much longer he had to wait around until Rosaline would eventually tell him that she was leaving. Erik was just about to stand to clear their dishes when Rosaline stopped him by coming to sit beside him. She delicately held onto one of his hands, which she placed on her lap and used her other hand to stroke his cheek.

"Erik, I'm truly sorry if I made it seem like I don't love you as much as I know you love me. That was never my intention darling, I love you so much, in fact it scares me sometimes because all I want is for my family to see how perfect we are together and to understand that nothing will come between us. I want to share forever with you Erik." Rosaline confidently spoke.

After allowing Rosaline to express her deepest thoughts, Erik felt a sense of hope overcome him. He knew that nothing would be set in stone, at least until Erik and Rose finally met her parents but for the moment he was grateful to know that Rosaline felt the same way passionate love towards him as he felt for her. Even more than that, it appeared that Rosaline also thought about a future together, which was more than Erik expected from her. Instead of answering her directly, Erik claimed Rosaline's hand that was stroking his cheek and leaned forward so that he could seal their lips in a tender kiss.