“Viola, I’m home!”
One afternoon a few days after I had met with Phil, I was peacefully working on my embroidery while sitting on the sofa in my room when suddenly, a knocking sound rang through the air. Before I could even get up to answer the door, it swung open with a loud bang.
When I turned and saw the man standing in my doorway, I had to blink a few times to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me.
“Alan?” I said after an uncertain pause.
“In the flesh,” he said with a big smile and a nod. He ran right up to me and grabbed me in a tight embrace. The familiar scent of expensive cologne and tobacco emanating from his clothing was nostalgic and soothing. “Long time no see!” he continued. “I missed you.”
“I missed you too! Wow, what a surprise. When’d you get back?”
“Yesterday. As soon as I arrived, I headed straight for House Westley.”
“Oh, you. I’m sure grandpa and grandma would love to see you too.”
“I was staying in Kilteria for a while last month so I’m sure they’re tired of seeing my face.”
After he said that, Alan took a step back and gave me a big smile before he affectionately ruffled my hair. Alan Slade was my uncle. He had a handsome face that paired well with his beautiful, shiny black hair and ruby-red eyes. Though he was my uncle, he was fifteen years younger than my father, who was his older brother. At twenty-eight years old, he was more like an older brother to me. The feeling was reciprocated, as Alan had always spoiled me as if I was really his younger sister.
“Spoiled” was a bit of an understatement. I had countless memories of how he’d go overboard with making sure I was treated well. Ever since I was born, he’d treated me as if I was the royal princess. Thanks to his job, Alan was living in the foreign nation of Kilteria. He only ever returned home a few times per year. Every time he did so, he came straight to House Westley to see me. Since I’d always been fond of him, this made me happy as well.
However, there was a problem with this visit.
“Speaking of, Viola, have you broken off your engagement with him yet?” Alan asked me with a cheery smile as he shrugged off his jacket and placed it over the back of the sofa.
“Um, well...” I looked away from him and mumbled.
“Him” referred to Phil, of course. Alan had been against our engagement from the start since Phil and I weren’t on the best terms.
“How can you let Viola marry that guy?! She’ll never be happy with him!”
Alan always got angry at Phil on my behalf because he was cold and taciturn toward me. There was no doubt in my mind that Alan loathed Phil. More than once, he’d attempted to break into House Lawrenson’s manor to try and break things off himself. I remembered doing everything in my power to stop him, since I had no idea what he was going to do. Alan was probably the same as me; he likely never realized that Phil had always been in love with me.
“Viola? What’s wrong?”
Upon seeing me fall silent, Alan tilted his head to the side, his expression tight with worry. His movement was so cute and unexpected from the way he normally looked that your average woman would fall head over heels at the contrast.
I kept in contact with Alan through letters apart from the time I was pretending to have amnesia, but I never told him anything about Phil and only updated him on myself. I kept quiet about Phil because I knew that if I suddenly wrote him, “Phil and I are in love with each other!” he’d rush to my home no matter how busy he was. Hence I’d decided that I would directly inform him about Phil and I upon his return.
So the time’s finally come. I stood up and gestured for him to sit near the table for now. “Anyway, I have lots of things I want to say to you, so please, have a seat. I’ll go pour us some tea.”
“Ah, right. You’ll be the one preparing it? That’s exciting.”
“Yes. I practiced quite a bit, so I’m very good at it now.”
I didn’t want one of the more talkative maids to bring up Phil so I would pour us the tea myself. Alan was staring at me with a smile so bright it was blinding. Where should I start the story? I pondered that as I prepared the tea. Because I didn’t expect him to return so soon, I hadn’t had time to plan out everything.
If I told him about how I faked amnesia and Phil lied to me the entire time I was doing so, it would definitely cause some complications. Because of how soft Alan was on me, I felt like he would only blame Phil for everything, even if both of us had been dishonest. But even so, he would definitely find it suspicious how we were suddenly in a mutually romantic relationship when we’d been on such bad terms. I knew he would start coming up with wild theories and worry about me. My mind raced as I worked to come up with the best solution.
“Speaking of which, you were working on some embroidery earlier, weren’t you? I thought you didn’t like it very much. Did something happen to change your mind on it?”
“Ah, yes. A little something... Actually, a major something...”
“You’re so much more beautiful than the last time I saw you. Did something good happen? I’m excited to hear about what’s been going on in your life.”
He gave me a bright smile, which only made it harder to tell him about everything.
“Here you go,” I said, placing the cups of freshly brewed tea on the table.
“Thank you. It looks great.”
I sat in the chair across from him. Despite his cool exterior, Alan had always had a sweet tooth. After I placed two sugar cubes in his cup, he grinned, looking very happy.
“You remembered! Well then, it’s time to enjoy some tea.”
“Yes.”
First of all, I had to tell him about all the misunderstandings between Phil and I, and that I was in love with him now. These were my true feelings and I wanted Alan, who was an important part of my family, to know about them. With that thought in mind, I watched as Alan held the teacup to his lips and opened my mouth.
“To tell the truth, I—”
“Heeeeyo, Little Vio! How’ve you been?”
“Huh?”
Someone had knocked on the door and immediately afterward, they burst into my room, announcing their arrival in a much too cheery voice. The intruders were, to my surprise, my cousin Rex, along with Phil. I hadn’t heard anything about them dropping by today, so why were they here?
Since you’re all entering a girl’s room, I wish you would all be a little more considerate, I thought. I wanted to cradle my head in my hands at their terrible timing. Then, I fearfully peeked over in Alan’s direction.
The “Huh?” had been from him, spoken in a deep voice. His smile from earlier was completely gone, and he was looking at Phil with eyes as cold as ice.