Silence was not what he expected from her after his proposition. It was said with all the limited acting capacity that he had. Though it lacked genuine emotions, it sought to invalidate her perception that the man she would be spending a lot of her time with wanted badly to have nothing to do with her. It sounded like a good idea when he thought of it. His seemingly change of heart was supposed to be romantic. Something much less would have worked well with most of the ladies, but then most of the ladies did not need much persuasion. He was, after all, the most eligible bachelor in the kingdom. 

Then why did it not work? Was his choice of words off? Was the expression on his face insincere? 

The silence stretched on until after he held the door to their shared apartment open for her. The space was instantly filled with light upon their entry. Thanks to the cleaning service, it was perpetually spotless. The glass that he left on one of the kitchen counters had been taken care of, but in its place was a couple of boxes.

Luke went straight to the bedroom to find more comfortable clothes to sleep in. He had promised to call Sophia, but he was distracted by the mystery of the commoner who was repeatedly turning him down. The latest attempt happened while he was inside the walk-in closet, busy putting on sleepwear. Maybe he needed to let go of his pursuit and listen to the tiny voice in his head saying that there were other methods to make her more miserable, because the evidences were visibly against his goal that night. The farmer girl may be flustered by the physical attention he was giving her, but she was obviously not ready to be in a genuine relationship that involved feelings and emotions. There had to be a plethora of reasons why a lowly commoner would reject a crown prince. The answers may be in her write-up, which he should have already read, but honestly couldn’t find enough interest in.

There was one more trick left though. “I did advise you against self-deprecating remarks.” He emerged from the closet barefooted and bare chested, with dark blue pajama on, and ready to rebut when he found her bare back on him. Luke paused. He was tempted to repeat his comment about her style of seduction. Instead, he pointed to the sliding door with his thumb, reminding her, “Your clothes are in here, if you ever need something to wear.” 

He stepped out of the bedroom to fetch a box that his sister said she brought. The prince chose one that was not obviously tampered, because knowing Cally, she would not leave without taking a sample of the goods. It was the final move for the night. If the box of dessert would not have the same effect as the one given to her that morning, then there was clearly something wrong with the woman.

“Before I start arguing with you again, because of your opinions that I do not agree with,” the prince stepped back into the bedroom, catching Rhiane before she went into the walk-in closet, if she ever even considered doing so. He sat on the bed before her and presented the box. “This is for you. Don’t mind the what the nutritionist says. It is fine to eat sweets at midnight before bed. We’ll just run together to burn the excess carbs.” His sentence was punctuated with a stifled yawn.