A Growing Bond

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The next few days went by in a blur for Aelia. She had been bombarded with too many things at once. Fortunately though, her brothers were just about to recover. However, since her father had a much more lethal intake than his sons, he had quite some time to recover. This had left all the household work to rest upon Aelia and her mother. Aelia had requested that her mother remain by their side so she could look after them much better. After some protests, she finally agreed as Ezekiel promised to pitch in and help Aelia with everything. The two were getting closer by the second as they worked together, mainly it was him teaching her about things she did not know. Despite her lack of knowledge, Aelia was able to make up for it by bringing helpful innovations on how to do a certain thing which left Ezekiel speechless for he had never thought of that.

"I must say, Aelia.. you are a woman of many talents," his voice was kind and gentle as he complimented her for the tenth time today.

"And I must say, Ezekiel.. no one would think of you as such a romantic," a soft chuckle escaped her lips. "Not that I mind, of course, I'm much more relaxed around you and for that I must show you my gratitude." Aelia smiled at the man who sat beside her as they went through letters. "Thank you, Ezekiel."

He went speechless for a few seconds as he stared at her, "It's.. no problem. This is the bare minimum a man should do for his fiancée." 

"My.. if you were a character in a book, everyone would be head over heels." 

"Would you?"

His question left Aelia speechless as she turned her gaze from him to the letters, "We have work to do.." She avoided answering him by talking about the pile of letters.

This notion caused Ezekiel to let out a laugh as he looked at her, his eyes never leaving her being, "Yes, we surely do, my dear. And I will take your silence as a yes for my earlier question.." He gently took a strand of her long hair to place a soft kiss upon it. 

"Ezekiel!! Work!! Now!!" Aelia turned around to face him. Despite a glare etched upon her face, the blush that had been coloured on her cheeks was enough to betray what she truly felt.

Seeing that, Ezekiel went quiet, a sly smile appeared on his face, "Alright, alright. Back to work, my dear."

He let go of her hair. The two then focused on replying to different noble families that were of relevance. A few hours passed as the two remained engrossed in their work, diligently finishing it. 

After responding to the last letter, Aelia stretched her arms, "We did it!"

"Yes, yes we did." He chuckled as he watched her stretch.

"Good job and thank you Ez!"

"Ez?" His eyes widened slightly at what she had called him.

"Oh.." She looked at him, worried, "Am I not allowed to call you that?"

"No- you are.. you can call me anything." Ezekiel looked away, his ears red. "It was just too sudden and out of nowhere."

"Oh, I see." Aelia smirked as she saw his ears blushing red, "I can't believe that the great Grand Duke of the South can blush and act shy like that..."

"Must you tease me, my dear?" He turned to face her, looking into her eyes deeply.

"Well... I am an opportunist, Ez." 

"I'll keep that in mind."

There was a silence that hung in the room after his words as the two continued to look into each others' eyes. It wasn't an awkward nor a tense atmosphere. It was rather calming. Even without speaking the two were able to express all that was hidden deep in their hearts just by a single look.

Aelia cleared her throat as she finally broke the eye contact, "Um.. let's go check up on how my father and brothers are doing!"

She got up so abruptly that Ezekiel was forced to stand up and follow her. 

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