The Royal Contract

"Do you know what you are doing?" She asked herself as she touched the petals of the red roses. 

She had been staring at the flowers and the note he had sent earlier. It was a thoughtful gesture coming from him. Although this was not the first time, she believed it was sincere.

Nonetheless, she felt like they were barely back together, and he was reverting back to his old ways. But should she even consider last night would be anything better than the last time they were in a relationship? 

She could feel it in her heart that he meant his apology. After last night, she truly felt that he cared about her. But was it enough to appease her heart? He never did mention anything about love.

"Wow! Where did those come from?" A voice suddenly startled her, making her abruptly look up from her position. He walked straight to her desk and stopped to admire the flowers. "A new admirer, perhaps." Evan teased her.

They had been, sort of, friends, but he had never gone beyond that out of respect for Marcus. In another circumstance, he would definitely have dated her.

He always saw her as attractive, sexy as hell, beautiful, and humorous. However, he did not go after what already belonged to someone close to him. He could not mess up with the bro code.

"Marcus." She answered, but lacking the enthusiasm she should be feeling for receiving such a gift.

As much as she wanted to rejoice that they had finally resolved their issues. Being neglected on the first day of their relationship was not exactly the way she had envisioned her day would go.

She woke up feeling excited about going out to dinner and seeing him again. She even tried several dresses for tonight before settling on a new one. However, she did not expect that he would cancel on her.

"Marcus?" His eyebrows rose in question, unsure if he heard the name right. "Are you two back together?" He questioned her.

He had not seen Marcus since the wedding or talked to him either. He did not have any idea that he planned to win her back. But he had noticed him watching her when he thought that she was not looking. 

He was not surprised about the news anymore. He figured it was just a matter of time before Marcus realized that he could not live without her. 

It would appear that all of his friends had caught the love bug. He would soon be flying solo on their gigs. Suddenly, his future looked so gloomy.

"Maybe you should ask him. He seemed to have lost the memo." She sarcastically said, returning her attention to the papers in front of her.

She had been sulking for far too long, waiting for him to call. She understood that he was busy, but she deserved more than the flowers, a note, and a brief text message.

She straightened her shoulders and sat upright on her chair before looking up at him. She might as well deal with what brought him to her station.

"Oh! Do I hear a hint of trouble in paradise?" He asked when she sounded like she had the world on her shoulders. "I thought that you would be ecstatic you two have reconciled."

He was not expecting this turn of events. He could only wonder what Marcus did to make her feel this way. He always thought that once Marcus won her over, he would do everything he could to mend his ways.

He had seen his friend change since she would not take him back. He had been witnessed how Marcus had blamed himself for losing her.

"I am. It is just that we are barely a day back, and he already canceled our date." She confided in him, feeling frustrated as she inhaled deeply, trying to shake off the feeling.

Not that she did not trust him. But she hoped that he would put more effort into making their relationship work this time around. She just felt disappointed that he had already put her as his last priority.

"Did he tell you his reason why he could not make it?" Evan asked, suddenly feeling sympathetic toward her issue. 

He did remember his friend to be just like that back in the old days. He was also no different from his friend. He could not care less if he did not show up on a date. 

He still believed that either they would understand, or he could just find another one. As the saying went, there was plenty of fish on the sea. All he needed was a hook and a bait.

"He only texted that he was swamped with work and back-to-back meetings. But he promised to call me later." She told him, asking him if that should be enough excuse.

She realized that falling in love was easy but being in a relationship was hard. But nothing in life was easy, she knew that. She had learned that the hard way.

"Maybe he is. He will call and make up for it. Just give him some benefit of the doubt this time." Evan gave her some advice, smiling and comforting her. "I assure you, he had changed to a better man."

He laughed at himself after hearing those words coming out of his mouth. He was giving relationship advice when he did not even believe in commitment. 

"What is so funny?" She was surprised, hearing him chuckle. She did not notice anything laughable in what he said, recalling his words. In fact, she found it sweet of him to support his friend.

"Of course, it is not you, but me. I just did not see myself as a love guru, giving relationship advice." Evan admitted to her, shaking his head.

"Oh, that!" She could not help but laugh too. She also found it funny, now that she had time to think about it. 

"But seriously, Marcus would not do anything to hurt you. Not intentionally. He must have a valid reason for it. Give him a chance to explain." Evan again felt amazed with himself.

"I guess you are right." She finally felt a little bit better. She needed someone to talk to now that Dani was unavailable, and Evan was a big help.

"Anyway, enough about me. Why are you here, Evan?" She decided to change the topic. 

He only came to her if he needed something from her boss or wanted something done that her secretary could not do. She did have a reputation for being a miracle worker.

"I am just wondering if you were able to get in touch with Dani. We had tried calling Alex, but he seemed to be unavailable to take our calls." Evan informed her of his purpose for seeking her out.

They tried to ask Marcus, but he said that the two were unreachable. If they needed anything from him, he would be more than happy to deal with it. Alex did leave him in charge of everything.

However, there were some legal issues they had to discuss with Alex personally. Even if Alex had appointed Marcus as his attorney-in-fact.

"Unfortunately, I have not heard anything from Dani too. I was going to call her last night but changed my mind. I did not want to ruin their honeymoon." She admitted, but she realized now that Dani did not try to call her either.

She grabbed her phone and checked it. She began to think about it. Usually, Dani would have, at least, told her if they had arrived at their destination or texted her this morning that she had the wildest night of her life. Maybe not the last part, but there was nothing.

"Well, I thought that you might have spoken with her. Anyway, just in case she called, can you tell her that we needed to speak with Alex immediately." Evan requested, seeing that there was nothing much he could do about it.

Although he felt odd about this entire situation, even David felt the same way. But he hoped that his gut feeling was wrong, but knowing Alex, he would not have abandoned his business if it was under attack.

But Marcus assured him that the couple was just taking advantage of their moment of bliss.. It would seem the newlyweds were enjoying their honeymoon by putting a do not disturb sign on the door.