Chapter 116: Relationship Advice

Elara:

Violet’s eyebrows had practically disappeared beneath her hairline, while Myra was staring at me over the rim of her mug with an expression that made it painfully obvious she was trying to decide whether she had heard me correctly.

I quickly raised one hand before either of them could speak. "Don’t ask me questions," I warned them, already feeling heat creeping up my neck. "I’ll tell you what’s going on when I’m ready."

Myra immediately nodded, respecting my request without hesitation, but Violet was a different story. She stared at me for what felt like an entire minute, her violet eyes narrowing as though she could somehow interrogate the truth out of me through sheer willpower. I stared back, refusing to give her anything. Eventually, she released an exaggerated sigh and leaned back against the couch.

"Fine," she finally agreed, though she pointed a finger at me threateningly. "But don’t keep things like this secret from us forever. You know you can talk to us."

I gave her a small smile and promised that I would tell them once I had a better understanding of the situation myself.

Violet and Myra exchanged a glance before the former finally turned her attention back to me. "Alright. Then the answer is actually pretty simple," she said, settling comfortably against the cushions. "The answer depends on one thing - whether you like the man or not."

I frowned. "That’s it?"

"Pretty much." She shrugged before continuing in the confident tone she always used whenever giving relationship advice, which was frankly ridiculous considering how frequently her own romantic life changed. "If you don’t like him, make it clear. You don’t owe anyone your attention simply because they are interested in you. Be polite if you want, but don’t encourage something you don’t want. But if you do like him, even a little, then you have to ask yourself why you are fighting it."

I looked at her thoughtfully. "What if I’m not sure whether I like him?"

Violet didn’t hesitate. "Then don’t force yourself to decide immediately." She took a sip of her hot chocolate before adding, "Attraction doesn’t come with a deadline, Elara. You can spend time with someone, get to know them, and see whether your feelings grow or disappear. You don’t have to announce that you are in love with him just because you agreed to have coffee."

That actually made sense. More sense than I had expected from someone whose romantic history could probably fill an entire book. "So you are saying I should just see where it goes?" I asked.

"I’m saying you should stop treating every spark of attraction like it’s a life-changing decision."

Her words stayed in my mind for several seconds before I finally decided to reveal a little more. "What if..." I began carefully, staring down at the fire again, "the problem is that I might have similar feelings toward more than one guy?"

This time, I was prepared for the reaction. Or at least I thought I was. My stomach tightened as I waited for them to laugh, gasp, or bombard me with questions. Instead, Violet simply blinked once while Myra blinked twice. Then they both looked at each other. I could practically see a silent conversation passing between them before Violet looked back at me.

Somehow, the lack of immediate chaos made me even more nervous. I sat there with my hands wrapped around my knees, trying not to fidget while waiting for someone to tell me what exactly I was supposed to do with the confusing mess I’d somehow created inside my own head. Thankfully, Violet didn’t ask who the men were, how many there were, or why I was suddenly attracted to multiple people. Instead, she asked the one question I could actually answer.

"Are you talking about having an interest in more than one guy," she asked carefully, "or are you specifically talking about a certain guy who’s showing interest in you?"

I looked at her, confused. "Is there a difference?"

"A huge one," she replied.

She shifted to face me more fully, apparently entering serious-advice mode. "If we are talking about you being interested in more than one guy, then we are discussing your feelings and whether you actually want to explore them. But if we are talking about one particular guy who’s showing interest in you, then the question becomes whether you want to give that guy a chance and how you should handle him."

I considered her explanation. Somehow, separating the problem into two different questions made everything feel slightly less overwhelming. "Then give me advice on both," I finally said.

Violet smiled. "Now that’s something I can work with."

"If you like that particular guy too," she began, "then why not give him a chance?" I opened my mouth, but she continued before I could interrupt. "I’m not saying you need to date him tomorrow. I’m saying you don’t need to run away simply because he likes you. If you enjoy talking to him, if you like his company, if you find yourself thinking about him when he’s not around, then spend some time with him and see where it goes." She paused before adding, "And if you don’t like him enough, you’ll figure that out too."

I stared at my hands. "And what about liking more than one guy?"

She shrugged as though I had asked whether I wanted marshmallows. "There’s nothing inherently wrong with it. You are single. You are allowed to find more than one person attractive. You are allowed to have chemistry with more than one person. Feelings aren’t contracts."

My eyebrows rose and she just grinned. "If it were me, I’d probably spend time with each guy I’m interested in and figure out which connection actually works. One at a time, obviously. If something develops naturally, great. If it doesn’t, then I move on. I’m not going to marry a man in my head because he made me smile twice."

I couldn’t help smiling. Considering how I’d watched Violet change the men she was interested in almost every month, her answer wasn’t exactly surprising. Yet somehow, beneath the humor, there was wisdom in it. My situation still felt completely different. I wasn’t sure I could casually experiment with relationships when the men involved were some of the most powerful people in Starfall. Five men whose lives were already tangled with mine in ways I didn’t fully understand. But Violet seemed to sense the hesitation returning because her expression became more serious.

"There’s one thing you should remember, though," she said quietly. "Don’t give someone a chance because you are afraid of missing out, but don’t reject something good simply because you are terrified of what it might become either."

I looked at her.

She continued, "Sometimes people get so obsessed with knowing how something will end that they never allow themselves to experience the beginning. You don’t have to decide whether a person is your forever. You just have to decide whether you want to know them a little better."

I remained silent, letting her words settle somewhere deep inside me. "What if it becomes complicated?" I asked.

Violet smiled knowingly. "Everything becomes complicated eventually. That’s not a reason to avoid it." She nudged my shoulder gently with hers. "If you like someone, enjoy liking them. If they make you happy, let yourself be happy. If you discover you don’t want anything more, walk away. You don’t need to turn every attraction into some grand, terrifying decision about your future."

My gaze once again dropped toward the flames dancing inside the fireplace. For the past week, I’d deliberately avoided Kairo. I’d kept conversations short, found reasons to leave whenever he appeared, and convinced myself that distancing myself was the responsible thing to do simply because I couldn’t decided how to reciprocate his feelings. Maybe I’d been making it far more serious than it needed to be.

Maybe I didn’t need to decide anything yet. Maybe I could simply give Kairo a chance.

And perhaps that wouldn’t be wrong at all.