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Gwen forks her scrambled egg lazily and pops it into her mouth, chewing it without interest. She is tired; after working late throughout last week, she accompanied Morgana to visit her sister Morgause last night and been trang chủ only this morning. Elyan was still asleep when she arrived and only Percival realised her arrival, because she bumped into him when he was preparing to have his early morning jog, a routine he follows without fail. She asked him to keep her arrival a secret from Elyan and he gave her his word, but not before some sound advice. She thanked him for the favour and the Lời khuyên and managed to get a couple of hours sleep before the sun springs to life. She has to work today; there’s the eagerly anticipated launch of the new store and she wouldn’t miss it for the world. Especially when she has to oversee the entire preparation for the launch. However, she is feeling like a zombie. The weight of her weariness and fatigue is pinning her down and she could use a nice long sleep. She wished she could skip her work and have that peaceful sleep she badly craves, yet she can’t. If only Morgana was around. Morgana had to return back to her sister today and has been excused due to the emergency but what reason Gwen can give to excuse herself? Gaius is already deprived of Morgana’s service and would he accept Gwen’s absence? She doesn’t think so.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Elyan pats Gwen’s shoulder softly, pecks her cheek and sits down opposite her.
Gwen smiles at him and keeps forking the egg lazily. Percival is busily cooking in the phòng bếp, nhà bếp and the pungent smell of món cà ri, cà ri was swirling all over the house.
“Hmmm… Something definitely smells good, what is it?”
“You’ll find out in a bit,” Percival các câu trả lời from the kitchen.
“I can’t wait,” Elyan các câu trả lời and turns back to his sister.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Gwen… are bạn all right?”
“I’m fine… just a bit tired though.”
“Working late again last night?”
“You can say that…”
“I heard bạn come in… this morning”
“Morning?” Gwen straightens up and looks towards the kitchen, obviously looking for Percival.
“He didn’t tell me, trust me… but I know bạn did.” Elyan seems to read Gwen’s mind and happens to know she is looking for Percival.
“Elyan…” Gwen struggles with the truth. How is she going to start her clarification, she wonders. It was bad she came in late but she made it worse bởi hiding it from her brother and now he found out it himself. What is he going to say about this? What will he think of her?
“You can tell me, Gwen… I won’t bite!” Elyan jokes, trying to ease the pressure from Gwen and Gwen smiles, forking her eggs. The trick worked. “Besides, I saw bạn coming in myself,” he adds.
“You saw me?” Gwen is surprised. She only bumped into Percival and didn’t realise her brother was awake all along. She thought she managed to sneak into her room quietly. Apparently she wasn’t quiet enough.
“Yup.”
“Why didn’t bạn ask me then?”
“I knew bạn were tired and I thought bạn could use some sleep, so I decided it could wait till morning. It wasn’t anything important.”
“Thanks, Elyan, and sorry,” Gwen is ashamed. Elyan reaches forward, clips her chin and lifts her head to meet him.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart… as your brother I understand how important your work is to you, but one word of advice, don’t overstrain yourself. I hate to see bạn falling sick, yeah?” he advices and winks at her. Gwen feels her tim, trái tim hát happily.
“Right, Elyan,” she says, sighing in relief.
“So, want to tell me all about it?” Elyan inquires, after a một phút hoặc so.
“About? About what?” Gwen is confused. Everything has been clarified, has it not? Did she leave anything out?
“Obviously there’s something on your mind hoặc bạn wouldn’t be playing with your eggs for hours… thực phẩm seems to be secondary at the moment, so obviously something else has occupied your mind and I know it must be serious. Want to tell me all about it, hoặc is it personal?”
“It’s about Morgana,” Gwen didn’t want to lie to her brother further. Besides, Morgana is like family too and Elyan has every right to know what is happening in her life.
“Is she all right?”
“She’s fine and last night we visited her sister.”
“Morgause?”
“Yeah… it’s about Modred. He’s been in trouble again and Morgause is upset about him. She asked for Morgana’s Lời khuyên and that’s why we paid her a visit but unfortunately it took longer than we thought.”
“That kid is giving his parents trouble quite often lately, isn’t he? He’s a mess if bạn ask me,” Elyan pours himself a cup of coffee.
“He seeks attention Elyan… he doesn’t listen to anyone but Morgana.”
“Used to be such a sweet kid… what happened to him?” Elyan says thinking back to his fond memories of Modred.
“No idea! Even Morgana is confused bởi his transformation… and he seems sickly.”
“Sickly?”
“Yeah, he looks malnourished; pale and very thin… he hardly looks like the Modred we use to know. But the moment he saw Morgana, he was relieved. We spent hours trying to give him Lời khuyên and all the while he hardly threw any sort of tantrums like we were told he did. He listened, agreed and even promised to change his ways. Morgana was happy with what she saw but he is seriously unhealthy.”
“Haven’t they been feeding him?” Elyan asks, sipping his coffee.
“According to Morgause, he Mất tích interest in thực phẩm a couple of months ago.”
“And they left him be?”
“They tried everything, Elyan… every trick and method, yet he’s such a stubborn boy. Can’t fault them for not trying, yeah. Poor soul, he must be really tortured inside hoặc else he wouldn’t have turned so pale and thin. I think he’s troubled.”
“I think there’s thêm than that,” Elyan suggests.
“What do bạn mean?”
“I think he’s not just troubled, I think he might be sick… like seriously ill, perhaps?”
“Ill?” Gwen repeats, dropping the fork and crossing her arms across her chest. Modred did look pale and sickly but is he really ill?
“Perhaps. No one turns pale and thin just bởi being in trouble alone, Gwen. I think that boy must be sick, hopefully with nothing terminal, but I’m sure there must be something.”
“I’ll talk to Morgana today and find out if Modred is sick like bạn said, Elyan. It does make sense though… but I really hope you’re wrong.”
“So do I. I like that boy, Gwen. Sorry to hear such troubling news about him.”
“Yeah, so am I, Elyan… Morgana has gone back there today. She returned with me to pack her clothing and will be there for almost a week. At least her presence will give her sister and her brother-in-law some peace. And hopefully revive Modred back to the old self again.”
“Oh, that means… bạn have to be on your own?”
“Yup… and it’s the launching of the new store today. How am I going to cope without her, I don’t know?”
“That’s today?” Percival asks as he joins them with a clay pot in his hand, brewing with a delicious broth. He sets the clay pot carefully in the middle of the bàn and removes his mitt.
“Yeah, it starts at eleven. Gaius is inviting a good friend of his to launch his new store. A party follows up after the launch and after that it’s all about shopping. bạn should drop by, both of you, as there’s special discounts storewide since it’s the opening. Everything is sold at special rates just for today and there are mystery gifts to be won for mystery shoppers. There are vouchers, coupons… so much going on I can barely remember. bạn really shouldn’t miss it.”
“Sounds pretty interesting… maybe I’ll come over,” Percival says, sitting down. “What about you, Elyan?”
“I have some work to attend to, but perhaps later in the evening?”
“You’ll be sorry if bạn miss it… just make sure bạn come bởi today as there’ll be no thêm of these privileges tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Elyan promises.
“You are going to be extra busy I guess?” Percival asks.
“Yeah… now that Morgana is on holiday I have to work on my own.”
“What about that guy, what was his name? Lan… Lank…” Elyan scratches his chin, trying to remember the name Gwen mentioned some weeks ago.
“Lancelot?”
“Yeah!” Elyan snaps his finger.
“He’s around, yes, but he’s not an assistant of mine Elyan. He’s mostly the superior type; overlooks the work and so on… can’t be asking him to assist me.”
“Why not, he should know you’re short of helpers, wouldn’t hurt to help, right?”
“He should know that himself, Elyan, it’s not my duty to remind him. Besides, he’s Gaius’s nephew and I bet he will be in the VIP’s presence so… he’ll be less interested in anything else. After all, he’s been quite helpful in setting up the system prior to the launch so I can’t be asking for anything more.”
“If only I could help,” Elyan says, looking sadly at Gwen and Percival. The latter pats his friend’s hand reassuringly.
“You’ve done so much for me, Elyan, bởi enquiring about my work each day… that’s thêm than what I can ask for. Thank you, and I just want bạn to drop bởi and enjoy yourself today.”
“I promise we will.”
“Can’t wait to see bạn both there,” Gwen các câu trả lời with a smile.
Elyan smiles and looks at Percival. ‘Ask her… what are bạn waiting for?’ Percival seems to be thinking, and Elyan understood the look and turns back to his sister.
“Gwen?”
“Yeah…” Gwen was finishing her eggs so she answered him without looking.
“Actually there’s something I need to talk to bạn about,” Elyan starts off.
“What is it?” Gwen mouths a forkful of egg and chews vigorously. She casts him a quick look and arches her brow questioningly.
“It’s about your future.”
“What about it?” her follow up is casual but didn’t surprise Elyan anyway.
“I think with Dad gone, it falls to me to ensure you’re properly and safely… bạn know… settled down.”
“Elyan, I understand what you’re trying to do, and it’s sweet of you, but I’m not ready to settle down yet. I have a career to take care of and there’s still plenty to be done in my life, so… matrimony will have to wait.” She finishes her egg and wipes her mouth with the napkin.
“But age is catching up, sweetheart.”
“I know, but…”
“You have met someone?” Percival chips in, his eyes excited.
“No, of course not, and if I do, both of bạn would be first to know that. But sorry to disappoint you, Percy, I don’t have a boyfriend at the moment.”
“Then…” Elyan starts but Gwen cut him off first.
“I just don’t have the appetite to marry at the moment. I want to excel in my career first and then meet someone and fall in love… bạn know, let it happen spontaneously, not planned.”
“Ahhh… love. I like that,” Percival nudges Elyan with his elbow and winks at Gwen.
“Fine with me, Gwen, just don’t wait too long ’cause no one likes to marry an old lady!” Elyan warns playfully.
“I know, I wont, I promise you. But Elyan… what about you? Perhaps bạn can settle down first.”
“Actually…” Elyan begun but Percival beats him to it.
“He’s got a girlfriend, Gwen, and he wants to propose to her in the coming months, but he’s afraid with bạn still not settled, it’s unfair for him to go ahead,” Percival blurts out. Gwen gapes in astonishment while Elyan can’t believe Percival just slipped his well kept secret.
“Thank bạn so much, Percival… bạn just made me feel so much better!!” Elyan hisses.
“Is that a compliment, hoặc do I sense a hidden wrath underneath?”
“You are an arse!!” Elyan slaps Percival’s shoulder in anger. “I can’t believe bạn told her!”
“She is bound to know sooner hoặc later,” Percival tries to parry the slaps which keeps coming from Elyan.
“Yes, but it didn’t need to be told this… quickly!”
“Elyan! Elyan, come on… Is it true?” Gwen reaches phía trước, chuyển tiếp and grabs Elyan’s hand and restrains him. “Is it?”
Elyan sighs, glares at Percival and turns back at his sister. “If it comes from Percy’s mouth, then it must be,” Elyan replies. Percival smirks from beside him.
“Who is she?” Gwen releases Elyan and sits back, her excitement showing.
“A friend whom we worked together with… she’s a lovely person, Gwen, and you’ll tình yêu her.”
“I think I do already. Anyone who can change my brother’s mind about marriage has a special place in my heart… why didn’t bạn bring her here?”
“She wanted to, but with me and Percival gone, she has to take over the duties so unfortunately she couldn’t follow us. Maybe tiếp theo month… we’ll see,”
“And when’s the proposal? Don’t make her wait too long, Elyan!”
“I won’t… but I was hoping to get bạn settled first…”
“I can wait, Elyan, but she won’t… oh please propose to her soon, will you? And bring her here so that we can meet her.” Gwen pleads joyfully. She can’t believe Elyan finally found a girl to settle down with. Her father had been trying to get him to settle down for almost a năm and now that Elyan finally has, he’s not here to share the happiness.
“I will… I promise.”
“This is great news, Elyan, and thank you, Percival! Forget Elyan, I really appreciate bạn breaking his secret… Ohh, crap. Look at the time… need to run. See bạn both later,” Gwen circles the bàn and pecks both Elyan and Percival on the cheek and leaves for work.
“Lovely kid,” Percival says, looking at her rushing off. Elyan smiles proudly and agrees with Percival.
“Yes, never been thêm proud, Percival,” he says.
Lancelot presses the enter button on the keypad of his laptop and gets to his feet. Holding his wrist, wincing in pain, he walks over to the window and peeks down from where he stands. Gaius is busily chatting with a tall man, dressed elegantly and seems to be around in the age group of late forties. Lancelot didn’t know who he was but who ever he is, he must be a very important guest of Gaius hoặc his uncle wouldn’t be showering him with special care. The launch is a success and his uncle is a happy man. He is beaming proudly at the achievement and his smile never ceases as he greets and entertains everyone personally.
Lancelot sighs happily to himself and walks back to his chair, still clutching his wrist. After spending all night resting on the keyboard his wrist has swollen like a balloon; red and puffed up. And it hurts each time he tries to touch it but he hasn’t shown it to anyone else, he didn’t have the time to. There are other important issues at hand that needs to be looked into and his injured wrist can wait. He was working on a last một phút program to get all POS counters to track any malicious threats that come in the form of viruses. This isn’t part of the program coded in their server but Lancelot took the liberty to create the program for his uncle and got it loaded into the server just an giờ shy from the opening. He did the test run almost three times so he expects no error today and hopefully it will help in barring viruses that threaten the core program of the server.
He deciphered the program into multiple coding and taught Gwen the various methods to load them into different terminals and pos counters. She caught up with his teachings fast and managed to do it all bởi herself, without his aid. Lancelot leans back and his thoughts dart back to Gwen. Coming from a family of three, Lancelot always finds it hard to listen to anyone else, let alone obey. He has always worked alone and only known to give orders, not take any. That’s why he chose software engineering as his profession. Here he can be in control of everything; man and machine alike and he will be the one giving out orders, not the other way around. He has worked in multinational companies and smaller scaled offices and in all of that, he was the man in charge; in control of his work. No one đã đưa ý kiến hoặc asked anything, just listened. That’s the way his life has been all this while until he came here. He thought he could apply the similar strategy but he was wrong; especially in Gwen’s case. She was feisty, Công chúa tóc xù and bold in her words. She was realistic and confident of herself.
Lancelot realized he never came across anyone like her before in his entire life and she taught him to add a new word to his vocabulary: humble. The word humble bore no significance in Lancelot’s life before but after the first ngày confrontation he had with Gwen, the word humble bears new meaning in his life. And it’s forever etched in his memory. Lancelot still feels ashamed how rudely he behaved in hers and Gaius’s presence. Imagine what his uncle must have thought. He hardly gave any thoughts to Gaius and went on behaving as if the store was his. He forgot his manners, he forgot his boundaries and he forgot to respect. And he still feels ashamed bởi the behaviour. But thanks to Gwen, he remembers his position and got to tread the path carefully, as not to annoy anyone further. She reminded him of his place and cautiously warned, saying should he choose carry on with his arrogance, he will face complete isolation.
In the beginning it didn’t sound much of a threat but as days passed, Lancelot began to feel the isolation. Realising Gwen meant her words, Lancelot opted to change his ways. He needs the team to complete the tasks and isolation isn’t good for the work. It was slightly harder than he thought, but Gaius, Gilli, Bedievere and the rest of the lads helped him to accomplish his change. They were helpful and thankfully he didn’t chịu, gấu any bad memories with them. Despite the change, Gwen still isn’t convinced and Lancelot felt her skeptism while they worked together. Though she đã đưa ý kiến nothing, Lancelot knows she doesn’t believe someone like Lancelot could change overnight. Well, he doesn’t blame her. After all, he had been a prick to her on the first ngày and anyone in her shoes would feel the same. And he caused it!
The laptop buzzed again. Lancelot ignores the buzz and swings the chair from left to right and vice versa. Again his thoughts dart back towards Gwen. Why is he so distracted bởi her? Why now? Why him? Lancelot doesn’t know the answer to all those questions, but lately he’s been drawn to Gwen quite frequently. Lancelot has never been a ladies man; neither did he have any time for relationships hoặc commitment. That explains why he is still single and unmarried. But he is also one who doesn’t believe in relationships hoặc the word he hates so much in his life; love.
Lancelot has known only one tình yêu in his life, his career, and so far he’s made good of it. Apart from that, every other type of tình yêu has taken either a back ghế, chỗ ngồi hoặc been completely absent from his life. So when he first met Gwen, he didn’t feel anything for her, neither did he have the time to do so. His mind had been solely focused on his job and he wanted to complete the task as soon as possible and leave. But what should have been a week’s stay extended beyond that due to unforeseen circumstances. Lancelot was irked. He had plans for the remainder of those weeks, but since his stay here was extended, he had no choice but to grant his uncle’s wishes. But it also proved to be the turning point in his life. He worked closely with Gwen and began noticing her for the first time. He noticed her intelligence, her feistiness, and her positive attitude towards everything. He also noticed her beauty. She isn’t a model-type beauty who makes heads turn immediately, and neither is she the type who strikes bạn at first sight. Her beauty lies inside her; balancing between intelligence and loveliness. She doesn’t need to flaunt her beauty to gain attention; it’s there to be discovered, one only has to understand her to eventually see that beauty for themself. And he saw it, all the time they worked closely, he noticed that beauty. And it disturbed him. He never felt like this before and he didn’t like it. It was making him lose his concentration on his job, yet he also likes to work closely with her thêm now than he did before. It was puzzling him. Should he even feel like this?
Scratching his chin, he felt his stubble. He hasn’t had the time to shave for a week because of work and last night, the injury on his wrist delayed the shaving further. There was a buzz from his laptop. Lancelot purses his lips, nears his laptop and các lượt xem the coding that’s been uploading for hours. He inspects the coding, satisfied, pushes the chair back a little and rests against it. Pain creeps up as his wrist accidentally knocked against his thigh. He bites his lips in pain, controls himself to allow the pain to ease and holds it back against his body, shielding it against any thêm knocks. The pain eases down and Lancelot sighs in relief. Resting against the chair, he thinks of Gwen again. He remembers talking with his uncle regarding work and he questioned about his feelings but he didn’t mention whom. It was a general topic and Gaius was least helpful in that matter. His opinion was that it may be infatuation and Lancelot will need to interact thêm with humans than machines to discover the true nature of this feeling.
As he leans back against the chair, he wonders what Gwen thinks of him. Obviously she must be still reeling after what happened between them both, but after a tháng working together, she can’t be holding a grudge against him further, right? According to Gaius, Gwen isn’t the type to hold grudges, so Lancelot is hoping to make his di chuyển today. Nothing drastic, just an approach, some friendly chat and perhaps some drinks hoặc bữa ăn tối, bữa tối, bữa tiệc ly late in the night if she wants. He wants to know her better. He wants to become her friend and allow her to have good memories of him. He wants to strike a better understanding between them both on and off the field. Will she agree to that? Someone knocks the door, startling Lancelot and he jumps in his seat. Blowing at his silliness, he straightens up and instructs to come in. The door pushes widely and Gwen pokes her head in. Lancelot’s tim, trái tim flutters at her sight and he doesn’t hide his excitement. He showed it through his smile.
“Hello,” Lancelot greets. Gwen smiles and nods back.
“Are bạn busy?” she asks him.
Lancelot looks back at the coding and then back at Gwen. “Well, I can spare a một phút hoặc so. Why?”
“Gaius asked bạn to meet him, right now because there’s someone he would like to introduce bạn to,” Gwen informs, still only poking her head in.
“Me… now?” Lancelot asks, looking surprised.
“That’s what he said”
“He’s the celebrity for the day, why would he want to rope me in?”
“You’re his nephew and that makes bạn half the celebrity as well, come on,” Gwen steps in and grabs Lancelot’s wrist and attempts to pull him up. But Lancelot’s sharp cry stops her in shock. She drops his wrist and looks at him with her wide eyes, in shock.
“Arghhhh!!!” Lancelot mutters painfully to himself, holding his wrist tightly. Gwen is scared. What did she do?
“Oh my God… did I do something?” she asks as Lancelot hangs his head down, still clutching his wrist and soft cries escaping his mouth. Gwen nears him, crouches bởi his chair and softly lifts his chin, meeting the honey brown eyes which at the moment seems to be darkening in pain. “Lancelot?” she calls softly.
Lancelot looks back, presses his lips together and forces a soft smile to assure he is allright but Gwen knows he isn’t. He was still in pain and that much is obvious. But where is his pain coming from? Gwen searched and notices he is clutching his wrist. She looks back at him, her eyes softening in sympathy.
“I’m sorry, Lancelot, what ever it is I did… I am so sorry,” she says, clasping her hands together and pressing it against her lips.
“It’s… all… right” Lancelot is still in pain and he shakes his head vigorously. He removes his clutch and the wrist now has swelled badly. Gwen gasps and cups her cheek.
“Oh dear… did I cause that? Oh, I’m sorry, Lancelot!” her voice trembles. Lancelot reaches up and clutches her hand, holding it assuringly. He shakes his head.
“No… bạn didn’t… do this. Don’t worry” he assures and releases her hand, going back to clutch his wrist.
“Here, allow me…” Gwen pillows his wrist in her own palm and softly lays it back against his thigh. She looks around for a cloth hoặc something but didn’t find anything. “I’ll get some warm water…” she gets up but Lancelot catches her first, grabbing her hand. She turns around.
“It’s all right,” he says and releases her hand.
“Are bạn sure… look at your wrist, Lancelot! It’s all swelled up… what happened?”
“I was using the keyboard way too long I believe and my wrist didn’t get proper rest. And last night I hurt it bởi knocking it against the table, which explains the swelling,” Lancelot các câu trả lời as the pain begins to ease.
“It’s bad, Lancelot… maybe we need to get bạn to the doctor.”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
“Or a warm water massage, perhaps?”
“Later perhaps, but not now… I still have work to do”
“That work can wait, genius… now let me go get bạn some ointment so that bạn could at least di chuyển that wrist. It seems to be in pretty bad shape!”
“Gwen!!”
“No thêm words from you, Lancelot. Wait till I return,” Gwen says and leaves him alone. Lancelot calls for her again but she was already out of the door.
Gwen returns back with a jar of ointment in her hand and a towel. She sets the towel aside and unscrews the lid of the ointment.
“What’s that?”
“It’s an ointment, for your swelling. Gaius gave it to me,” she pulls a chair and sits down beside him.
“Gwen?”
“Shhh…” Gwen silences him and starts rubbing the ointment onto his wrist, softly massaging the swollen limb. Lancelot winces but keeps his pain in check while the ointment sinks into his wrist. Gwen doesn’t know how bad it is, and doesn’t want to worsen it further so she stops short of massaging it gently around the swelling.
“Here bạn go.” Gwen says with a smile. “This should do the trick until bạn visit the doctor later,” she closes the lid and wipes her hand with the towel she brought along. Lancelot twists his wrist slowly and a sharp pain pierces his hand, stopping him.
“No, carry on, bạn have to di chuyển it hoặc else it’ll cause sharper pain, don’t stop!” Gwen encourages him. He presses his lips, and twirls his wrists again. This time the pain was lesser than before and as he increases his twists, the pain eventually eased. Lancelot laughs to himself and looks at Gwen in astonishment.
“You are a genius, Gwen!!” he laughs at himself and twists his wrist again. “How did bạn do it?”
“Is it painful anymore?”
“Less so, much less now… thank you, this is… remarkable. Yesterday I could hardly lift the chuột and now, I think I can lift a book!” he các câu trả lời and pokes his swell.
“Be careful, though, bạn don’t want to hurt it any more. This is a good ointment and Gaius swears bởi it.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Lancelot says and turns back to his laptop.
“Now, let us go and meet Gaius,” she says, hands on her hips.
“This is a wonderful achievement Gaius, I am proud of you,” Uther Pendragon says, looking around.
“I owe it to my staff, Uther. They worked their socks off to see this ngày eventually happen and I couldn’t have asked for better employees than them,” Gaius các câu trả lời proudly. “Everything bạn see around bạn is a contribution from each of them and I don’t think I’ll swap my workers with any one,” he responds with a short laugh.
“But sometimes bạn need to be ruthless to get achieve your goals Gaius, tình yêu alone doesn’t cut it,” Uther warns. Gaius smiles and tilts his head.
“For bạn perhaps, Uther, but I don’t have any problems here. Look around, every boy and girl, man and woman in this room are like a family to me. We share a special bond and understanding that requires an open mind. I have never treated them less than equal and they know that too. That’s how I build my trust.”
“But bạn can never judge a book bởi its cover, Gaius; not all women and men are innocent. bạn need to be cautious, I’d hate to see bạn falling apart.”
“I won’t, Uther, not with my family here. I trust them with all my tim, trái tim as they do me.”
“That’s how it all starts off. They build your trust, pretend to care about bạn and later when the time is right they strike… behind your back. I’ve seen some in my life and been cautious since then. There’s always a backstabber in the midst if you’re not careful and thankfully I found mine and dealt with him as it should be. Punishment was severe, I must agree, but it served the purpose. It sent out proper warning to the rest and now I get work done efficiently. That’s how I expand my empire Gaius, not through love!”
“Uther, Uther,” Gaius laughs and shakes his head. “That’s how bạn get your work done and I don’t blame you. bạn have your reasons and I have mine. I still stick to my ways, Uther… bạn can argue to your heart’s content, but I still believe in my way. tình yêu builds trust and I have mine all around me, in this room. Too bad bạn can’t see it in your team.”
“I’d rather not, Gaius. They call me names in my empire and I don’t care. My ways may hurt but they reap the benefits and that’s all I care about. The end result is all I need, not tình yêu and care hoặc what ever it is bạn call it.”
“What ever Uther… anyway, I am thankful bạn made it. Was beginning to fear bạn might turn me down.”
“You are a good friend to me, Gaius and I’d hate to let bạn down,” Uther smiles and pats Gaius’s shoulder.
Someone touches Gaius’s shoulder. Gaius turns and smiles broadly at Lancelot.
“Uther, this is my nephew and he is part of the reason why the launch is such a success,” Gaius introduces Lancelot to Uther.
“Pleasure to meet bạn sir,” Lancelot shakes Uther’s hand.
“Your uncle hasn’t stopped talking about you, son. He is proud of you.”
“As I am of him,” Lancelot smiles.
“You’ve done well, I must say. The system’s impressive.”
“Oh I don’t deserve the credit alone sir… there’s someone else in the frame, too, and she’s been a vital part of the entire success,” Lancelot informs and looks around.
“Ahh yes… another trusted member of this family,” Gaius informs, clasping his hands together.
“I can’t wait to meet her.”
“There she is… Gwen!” Lancelot calls from where he stood. Gwen is busily in conversation with Alice and Lancelot calls again. This time she turns around. Lancelot waves for her to tham gia him. Gwen excuses from Alice, nears Lancelot and arches her brow in question.
“This is Gwen and she’s the main reason why the system is impeccable. If bạn need to credit anyone than it should be her, not me,” Lancelot says, grabbing her bởi the shoulder and turning towards Uther.
“Ahh… pleased to meet you,” Uther says and extends his hand.
But Gwen is petrified. The man in front of her is the very man she saw in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. The man behind Arthur’s misery. The father who hated his own son, the man who refuses to acknowledge his own heir and the man who ran the life of his only son like a dictator. The tyrant, the bull… the monster! Gwen hates the sight of him. She wants to reach up and tear his face down, pull out his eyes and pluck each tooth from his mouth. She wants to spear his tongue, clip his fingers to his chest and extract his nails one bởi one. She wants to torment him, she wants to see him suffer… she wants him out of here.
“Gwen?” Lancelot whispers softly, shuddering Gwen from her thoughts. She turns and looks at him and he points towards Uther with his eyes. She turns back towards Uther and smiles apologetically.
“Sorry… pleasure to meet you, too,” she accepts his hand and shakes it. Uther smiles back.
“Let me compliment bạn on such remarkable work you’ve done around here. At such a tender age, bạn have được trao some of your best work for Gaius and the store. Well done!”
“Thanks… if you’ll excuse me, I have to attend to some thêm guests,” Gwen excuses herself and leaves. Gaius and Uther nods but Lancelot senses some uneasiness in her and follow her with his eyes.
Gwen walks as fast as she can and approaches the giải khát, làm mới counter. She orders a cocktail, gulps it down at one go and orders another. Another gulp and she feels head spinning. She sits down and holds her head.
‘Of all people in the world, Gaius has to invite him!!’ she thinks to herself, cursing under her breath.
‘Couldn’t Gaius pick a better friend?’ she thinks again.
“Are bạn all right?” Alice asks, holding Gwen’s shoulder. Gwen looks up in surprise.
“Oh, yeah, of course, yes… just tired, that’s all.”
“Aren’t we all… can’t wait for the ngày to end so that I can get back to my kids,” Alice says.
“Yup… thanks Alice, bạn go and have fun. I think I’ll head back to my work.”
“Don’t strain yourself too much, sweetheart,” Alice says and leaves.
“Yeah…” Gwen sighs and turns back to the trio she left behind. They were still around, but Lancelot was no longer with them. That’s odd, she thinks and searches around the place, looking in every corner and không gian there were yet he was no where to be found. Sighing deeply, she looks back at Uther one thêm time; finds him chatting happily with Gaius, makes a disgusted face and climbs down from the ghế đẩu, phân she’s been sitting on. As she turns to her right speedily, she crashes into someone and sends the man skidding to the floor. She staggers a few steps back herself and quickly holds on to the counter hàng đầu, đầu trang to regain her balance. The guests around her turn in her direction, murmuring at the sudden turn of events while others were astounded with the crash. A man steps phía trước, chuyển tiếp and helps Gwen, assisting her while she straightens up. Another man rushes towards the man on the floor, kneels bởi him and checks if he is all right. Gwen turns towards the man bởi her side, thanks him softly with a smile and looks back at the man she had just crashed into. He was on his knees, head hanging down and arms rubbing against the floor; searching for something. The other man who was helping him too seems to be assisting with the search.
“Oh my…” Gwen adjusts her dress and rushes to the man and kneels down. “I’ll help him, thank you,” she thanks the man who arrived to help and the man nods back and leaves. As he does, he also ushers the crowd to get back to their own business, allowing Gwen to settle the issue bởi herself. Gwen touches the man on the floor.
“I’m sorry,” she says and the man looks up at her, his expression confused and sad. The moment Gwen sees his face, her tim, trái tim skipped. She clasps her mouth and falls back, seating down on the floor. ‘NO!’ the word plays in her mind over and over again.
“It’s all right… I shouldn’t have wandered on my own… sorry,” Arthur các câu trả lời and continues to tìm kiếm the floor with his hands. Gwen was both happy and shocked to see Arthur in front of her. She’d been longing to meet him at least one last time and here he is, right in front of her, yet she is petrified at his sudden appearance. She thinks back of her lie. What will she tell him now? How will she convince him she is not the nurse like he assumed? How will that go down with Arthur? She hated the thought of crushing him with the truth yet it has to be told. But she fears how he might react. Should she tell him? hoặc should she ignore it for another ngày hoặc two?
“Have bạn seen my cane?” Arthur asks as he still searches the cane.
‘Cane?’ Gwen looks around and tries to tìm kiếm for the cane but she didn’t see it anywhere. She turns back to Arthur.
“Hello?” Arthur calls. Gwen shuts her eyes in frustration. She wants to help him but she fears he might recognise her through her voice. But it’s been weeks since they’ve met and it’s impossible he might remember her voice. Yet, he is a sharp listener. And with his eyesight gone, his ears are probably thêm keen. Gwen reopens her eyes, sighs and watches sadly as Arthur continues to tìm kiếm for his cane. As his hand closes the không gian between hers and him, she crawls back; avoiding his touch.
“Arthur!! What happened?” Merlin pushes through the crowd, settles down beside Arthur and helps him up. He didn’t notice Gwen’s presence. But she noticed him.
“I knocked onto someone, Merlin, and I hope I didn’t inflict anything serious on whoever I crashed into,” Arthur says, draping his arms on Merlin’s shoulder and getting to his feet. “I think I Mất tích my cane” he adds sadly.
‘Cane!’ Gwen looks around frantically once again. This time after a couple of guests di chuyển away, she spots the cane lying underneath the table. She scrambles to her feet, rushes to the table, squats down and pulls the cane out from underneath the table. Holding it tightly in her hand, she walks back towards Arthur and Merlin.
She clears her throat and Merlin looks up, his face surprised just as hers had been a while ago. Gwen hands the cane over to Merlin. He smiles at her, takes the cane and helps Arthur with it. He turns back towards Gwen and opens his mouth but she silences him bởi placing a finger on her lips, asking him not to say her name. Merlin’s smile fades but he agrees.
“Thank you,” Arthur says and tightens his hold on the cane. Tapping it on the ground, he asks, “Merlin, who is it?”
“Who is what?”
“The person I knocked into … I think it’s a girl, is she around?”
“No, she left…” Merlin lies and Gwen thanks him silently. Merlin didn’t like lying to Arthur and he shows it on his grim face.
“Oh, that’s a shame… I wanted to apologise.”
“Maybe tiếp theo time… come on,” Merlin says and leads his friend away from there. He nods at Gwen on the way out without any smile and she does the same. She doesn’t blame him for the sudden change of behaviour though. She crosses her arms and watches them leave.
“Gwen? Here bạn are. I have been looking all over for you. Where have bạn been?” Lancelot calls from behind, jolting Gwen. She spins around quickly and covers Lancelot’s mouth with her hand but it was a little too late. In front of her, Arthur’s steps stopped, urging Merlin to do the same. Both turns around.
‘Damn!!’ she shakes her head. ‘Lancelot… why now? Couldn’t bạn have waited?’ she thinks again.
“Guinevere?” Arthur calls the name, his face brightening with hope. “Is she here Merlin? Are bạn around Guinevere?” Arthur keeps asking, releasing Merlin and tapping his way forward, towards Gwen.
Gwen looks at Merlin in panic, her eyes widening and as Arthur nears her, she steps back, pushing Lancelot behind as well.
“Guinevere?” Arthur still calls and taps closer. She takes another step back.
“Arthur… what are bạn doing?” Merlin calls and nears his friend. He didn’t like Gwen avoiding his friend but he also respect her wish not be known. So if Arthur isn’t stopped right now, he will find out about her presence. He grabs Arthur’s hand, halting him. “What are bạn doing? Where are bạn going?”
“I heard her name, Merlin… it’s Guinevere. I know I heard it right… is she around?”
“No!” Merlin says shortly but Arthur wriggles his arms off Merlin’s clutch and taps towards Gwen.
“Arthur!” Merlin scolds yet Arthur wasn’t listening. Merlin looks back at Gwen and his determined look says it all. Gwen knows she can’t escape any more. She pulls her hand down from Lancelot’s mouth and turns around. Arthur closes in on her.
“Guinevere?”
“Hello, Arthur,” she replies, looking at Merlin and grabbing Arthur’s hand as he covers the distance between them.
Gwen forks her scrambled egg lazily and pops it into her mouth, chewing it without interest. She is tired; after working late throughout last week, she accompanied Morgana to visit her sister Morgause last night and been trang chủ only this morning. Elyan was still asleep when she arrived and only Percival realised her arrival, because she bumped into him when he was preparing to have his early morning jog, a routine he follows without fail. She asked him to keep her arrival a secret from Elyan and he gave her his word, but not before some sound advice. She thanked him for the favour and the Lời khuyên and managed to get a couple of hours sleep before the sun springs to life. She has to work today; there’s the eagerly anticipated launch of the new store and she wouldn’t miss it for the world. Especially when she has to oversee the entire preparation for the launch. However, she is feeling like a zombie. The weight of her weariness and fatigue is pinning her down and she could use a nice long sleep. She wished she could skip her work and have that peaceful sleep she badly craves, yet she can’t. If only Morgana was around. Morgana had to return back to her sister today and has been excused due to the emergency but what reason Gwen can give to excuse herself? Gaius is already deprived of Morgana’s service and would he accept Gwen’s absence? She doesn’t think so.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Elyan pats Gwen’s shoulder softly, pecks her cheek and sits down opposite her.
Gwen smiles at him and keeps forking the egg lazily. Percival is busily cooking in the phòng bếp, nhà bếp and the pungent smell of món cà ri, cà ri was swirling all over the house.
“Hmmm… Something definitely smells good, what is it?”
“You’ll find out in a bit,” Percival các câu trả lời from the kitchen.
“I can’t wait,” Elyan các câu trả lời and turns back to his sister.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, Gwen… are bạn all right?”
“I’m fine… just a bit tired though.”
“Working late again last night?”
“You can say that…”
“I heard bạn come in… this morning”
“Morning?” Gwen straightens up and looks towards the kitchen, obviously looking for Percival.
“He didn’t tell me, trust me… but I know bạn did.” Elyan seems to read Gwen’s mind and happens to know she is looking for Percival.
“Elyan…” Gwen struggles with the truth. How is she going to start her clarification, she wonders. It was bad she came in late but she made it worse bởi hiding it from her brother and now he found out it himself. What is he going to say about this? What will he think of her?
“You can tell me, Gwen… I won’t bite!” Elyan jokes, trying to ease the pressure from Gwen and Gwen smiles, forking her eggs. The trick worked. “Besides, I saw bạn coming in myself,” he adds.
“You saw me?” Gwen is surprised. She only bumped into Percival and didn’t realise her brother was awake all along. She thought she managed to sneak into her room quietly. Apparently she wasn’t quiet enough.
“Yup.”
“Why didn’t bạn ask me then?”
“I knew bạn were tired and I thought bạn could use some sleep, so I decided it could wait till morning. It wasn’t anything important.”
“Thanks, Elyan, and sorry,” Gwen is ashamed. Elyan reaches forward, clips her chin and lifts her head to meet him.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, sweetheart… as your brother I understand how important your work is to you, but one word of advice, don’t overstrain yourself. I hate to see bạn falling sick, yeah?” he advices and winks at her. Gwen feels her tim, trái tim hát happily.
“Right, Elyan,” she says, sighing in relief.
“So, want to tell me all about it?” Elyan inquires, after a một phút hoặc so.
“About? About what?” Gwen is confused. Everything has been clarified, has it not? Did she leave anything out?
“Obviously there’s something on your mind hoặc bạn wouldn’t be playing with your eggs for hours… thực phẩm seems to be secondary at the moment, so obviously something else has occupied your mind and I know it must be serious. Want to tell me all about it, hoặc is it personal?”
“It’s about Morgana,” Gwen didn’t want to lie to her brother further. Besides, Morgana is like family too and Elyan has every right to know what is happening in her life.
“Is she all right?”
“She’s fine and last night we visited her sister.”
“Morgause?”
“Yeah… it’s about Modred. He’s been in trouble again and Morgause is upset about him. She asked for Morgana’s Lời khuyên and that’s why we paid her a visit but unfortunately it took longer than we thought.”
“That kid is giving his parents trouble quite often lately, isn’t he? He’s a mess if bạn ask me,” Elyan pours himself a cup of coffee.
“He seeks attention Elyan… he doesn’t listen to anyone but Morgana.”
“Used to be such a sweet kid… what happened to him?” Elyan says thinking back to his fond memories of Modred.
“No idea! Even Morgana is confused bởi his transformation… and he seems sickly.”
“Sickly?”
“Yeah, he looks malnourished; pale and very thin… he hardly looks like the Modred we use to know. But the moment he saw Morgana, he was relieved. We spent hours trying to give him Lời khuyên and all the while he hardly threw any sort of tantrums like we were told he did. He listened, agreed and even promised to change his ways. Morgana was happy with what she saw but he is seriously unhealthy.”
“Haven’t they been feeding him?” Elyan asks, sipping his coffee.
“According to Morgause, he Mất tích interest in thực phẩm a couple of months ago.”
“And they left him be?”
“They tried everything, Elyan… every trick and method, yet he’s such a stubborn boy. Can’t fault them for not trying, yeah. Poor soul, he must be really tortured inside hoặc else he wouldn’t have turned so pale and thin. I think he’s troubled.”
“I think there’s thêm than that,” Elyan suggests.
“What do bạn mean?”
“I think he’s not just troubled, I think he might be sick… like seriously ill, perhaps?”
“Ill?” Gwen repeats, dropping the fork and crossing her arms across her chest. Modred did look pale and sickly but is he really ill?
“Perhaps. No one turns pale and thin just bởi being in trouble alone, Gwen. I think that boy must be sick, hopefully with nothing terminal, but I’m sure there must be something.”
“I’ll talk to Morgana today and find out if Modred is sick like bạn said, Elyan. It does make sense though… but I really hope you’re wrong.”
“So do I. I like that boy, Gwen. Sorry to hear such troubling news about him.”
“Yeah, so am I, Elyan… Morgana has gone back there today. She returned with me to pack her clothing and will be there for almost a week. At least her presence will give her sister and her brother-in-law some peace. And hopefully revive Modred back to the old self again.”
“Oh, that means… bạn have to be on your own?”
“Yup… and it’s the launching of the new store today. How am I going to cope without her, I don’t know?”
“That’s today?” Percival asks as he joins them with a clay pot in his hand, brewing with a delicious broth. He sets the clay pot carefully in the middle of the bàn and removes his mitt.
“Yeah, it starts at eleven. Gaius is inviting a good friend of his to launch his new store. A party follows up after the launch and after that it’s all about shopping. bạn should drop by, both of you, as there’s special discounts storewide since it’s the opening. Everything is sold at special rates just for today and there are mystery gifts to be won for mystery shoppers. There are vouchers, coupons… so much going on I can barely remember. bạn really shouldn’t miss it.”
“Sounds pretty interesting… maybe I’ll come over,” Percival says, sitting down. “What about you, Elyan?”
“I have some work to attend to, but perhaps later in the evening?”
“You’ll be sorry if bạn miss it… just make sure bạn come bởi today as there’ll be no thêm of these privileges tomorrow.”
“Sure,” Elyan promises.
“You are going to be extra busy I guess?” Percival asks.
“Yeah… now that Morgana is on holiday I have to work on my own.”
“What about that guy, what was his name? Lan… Lank…” Elyan scratches his chin, trying to remember the name Gwen mentioned some weeks ago.
“Lancelot?”
“Yeah!” Elyan snaps his finger.
“He’s around, yes, but he’s not an assistant of mine Elyan. He’s mostly the superior type; overlooks the work and so on… can’t be asking him to assist me.”
“Why not, he should know you’re short of helpers, wouldn’t hurt to help, right?”
“He should know that himself, Elyan, it’s not my duty to remind him. Besides, he’s Gaius’s nephew and I bet he will be in the VIP’s presence so… he’ll be less interested in anything else. After all, he’s been quite helpful in setting up the system prior to the launch so I can’t be asking for anything more.”
“If only I could help,” Elyan says, looking sadly at Gwen and Percival. The latter pats his friend’s hand reassuringly.
“You’ve done so much for me, Elyan, bởi enquiring about my work each day… that’s thêm than what I can ask for. Thank you, and I just want bạn to drop bởi and enjoy yourself today.”
“I promise we will.”
“Can’t wait to see bạn both there,” Gwen các câu trả lời with a smile.
Elyan smiles and looks at Percival. ‘Ask her… what are bạn waiting for?’ Percival seems to be thinking, and Elyan understood the look and turns back to his sister.
“Gwen?”
“Yeah…” Gwen was finishing her eggs so she answered him without looking.
“Actually there’s something I need to talk to bạn about,” Elyan starts off.
“What is it?” Gwen mouths a forkful of egg and chews vigorously. She casts him a quick look and arches her brow questioningly.
“It’s about your future.”
“What about it?” her follow up is casual but didn’t surprise Elyan anyway.
“I think with Dad gone, it falls to me to ensure you’re properly and safely… bạn know… settled down.”
“Elyan, I understand what you’re trying to do, and it’s sweet of you, but I’m not ready to settle down yet. I have a career to take care of and there’s still plenty to be done in my life, so… matrimony will have to wait.” She finishes her egg and wipes her mouth with the napkin.
“But age is catching up, sweetheart.”
“I know, but…”
“You have met someone?” Percival chips in, his eyes excited.
“No, of course not, and if I do, both of bạn would be first to know that. But sorry to disappoint you, Percy, I don’t have a boyfriend at the moment.”
“Then…” Elyan starts but Gwen cut him off first.
“I just don’t have the appetite to marry at the moment. I want to excel in my career first and then meet someone and fall in love… bạn know, let it happen spontaneously, not planned.”
“Ahhh… love. I like that,” Percival nudges Elyan with his elbow and winks at Gwen.
“Fine with me, Gwen, just don’t wait too long ’cause no one likes to marry an old lady!” Elyan warns playfully.
“I know, I wont, I promise you. But Elyan… what about you? Perhaps bạn can settle down first.”
“Actually…” Elyan begun but Percival beats him to it.
“He’s got a girlfriend, Gwen, and he wants to propose to her in the coming months, but he’s afraid with bạn still not settled, it’s unfair for him to go ahead,” Percival blurts out. Gwen gapes in astonishment while Elyan can’t believe Percival just slipped his well kept secret.
“Thank bạn so much, Percival… bạn just made me feel so much better!!” Elyan hisses.
“Is that a compliment, hoặc do I sense a hidden wrath underneath?”
“You are an arse!!” Elyan slaps Percival’s shoulder in anger. “I can’t believe bạn told her!”
“She is bound to know sooner hoặc later,” Percival tries to parry the slaps which keeps coming from Elyan.
“Yes, but it didn’t need to be told this… quickly!”
“Elyan! Elyan, come on… Is it true?” Gwen reaches phía trước, chuyển tiếp and grabs Elyan’s hand and restrains him. “Is it?”
Elyan sighs, glares at Percival and turns back at his sister. “If it comes from Percy’s mouth, then it must be,” Elyan replies. Percival smirks from beside him.
“Who is she?” Gwen releases Elyan and sits back, her excitement showing.
“A friend whom we worked together with… she’s a lovely person, Gwen, and you’ll tình yêu her.”
“I think I do already. Anyone who can change my brother’s mind about marriage has a special place in my heart… why didn’t bạn bring her here?”
“She wanted to, but with me and Percival gone, she has to take over the duties so unfortunately she couldn’t follow us. Maybe tiếp theo month… we’ll see,”
“And when’s the proposal? Don’t make her wait too long, Elyan!”
“I won’t… but I was hoping to get bạn settled first…”
“I can wait, Elyan, but she won’t… oh please propose to her soon, will you? And bring her here so that we can meet her.” Gwen pleads joyfully. She can’t believe Elyan finally found a girl to settle down with. Her father had been trying to get him to settle down for almost a năm and now that Elyan finally has, he’s not here to share the happiness.
“I will… I promise.”
“This is great news, Elyan, and thank you, Percival! Forget Elyan, I really appreciate bạn breaking his secret… Ohh, crap. Look at the time… need to run. See bạn both later,” Gwen circles the bàn and pecks both Elyan and Percival on the cheek and leaves for work.
“Lovely kid,” Percival says, looking at her rushing off. Elyan smiles proudly and agrees with Percival.
“Yes, never been thêm proud, Percival,” he says.
Lancelot presses the enter button on the keypad of his laptop and gets to his feet. Holding his wrist, wincing in pain, he walks over to the window and peeks down from where he stands. Gaius is busily chatting with a tall man, dressed elegantly and seems to be around in the age group of late forties. Lancelot didn’t know who he was but who ever he is, he must be a very important guest of Gaius hoặc his uncle wouldn’t be showering him with special care. The launch is a success and his uncle is a happy man. He is beaming proudly at the achievement and his smile never ceases as he greets and entertains everyone personally.
Lancelot sighs happily to himself and walks back to his chair, still clutching his wrist. After spending all night resting on the keyboard his wrist has swollen like a balloon; red and puffed up. And it hurts each time he tries to touch it but he hasn’t shown it to anyone else, he didn’t have the time to. There are other important issues at hand that needs to be looked into and his injured wrist can wait. He was working on a last một phút program to get all POS counters to track any malicious threats that come in the form of viruses. This isn’t part of the program coded in their server but Lancelot took the liberty to create the program for his uncle and got it loaded into the server just an giờ shy from the opening. He did the test run almost three times so he expects no error today and hopefully it will help in barring viruses that threaten the core program of the server.
He deciphered the program into multiple coding and taught Gwen the various methods to load them into different terminals and pos counters. She caught up with his teachings fast and managed to do it all bởi herself, without his aid. Lancelot leans back and his thoughts dart back to Gwen. Coming from a family of three, Lancelot always finds it hard to listen to anyone else, let alone obey. He has always worked alone and only known to give orders, not take any. That’s why he chose software engineering as his profession. Here he can be in control of everything; man and machine alike and he will be the one giving out orders, not the other way around. He has worked in multinational companies and smaller scaled offices and in all of that, he was the man in charge; in control of his work. No one đã đưa ý kiến hoặc asked anything, just listened. That’s the way his life has been all this while until he came here. He thought he could apply the similar strategy but he was wrong; especially in Gwen’s case. She was feisty, Công chúa tóc xù and bold in her words. She was realistic and confident of herself.
Lancelot realized he never came across anyone like her before in his entire life and she taught him to add a new word to his vocabulary: humble. The word humble bore no significance in Lancelot’s life before but after the first ngày confrontation he had with Gwen, the word humble bears new meaning in his life. And it’s forever etched in his memory. Lancelot still feels ashamed how rudely he behaved in hers and Gaius’s presence. Imagine what his uncle must have thought. He hardly gave any thoughts to Gaius and went on behaving as if the store was his. He forgot his manners, he forgot his boundaries and he forgot to respect. And he still feels ashamed bởi the behaviour. But thanks to Gwen, he remembers his position and got to tread the path carefully, as not to annoy anyone further. She reminded him of his place and cautiously warned, saying should he choose carry on with his arrogance, he will face complete isolation.
In the beginning it didn’t sound much of a threat but as days passed, Lancelot began to feel the isolation. Realising Gwen meant her words, Lancelot opted to change his ways. He needs the team to complete the tasks and isolation isn’t good for the work. It was slightly harder than he thought, but Gaius, Gilli, Bedievere and the rest of the lads helped him to accomplish his change. They were helpful and thankfully he didn’t chịu, gấu any bad memories with them. Despite the change, Gwen still isn’t convinced and Lancelot felt her skeptism while they worked together. Though she đã đưa ý kiến nothing, Lancelot knows she doesn’t believe someone like Lancelot could change overnight. Well, he doesn’t blame her. After all, he had been a prick to her on the first ngày and anyone in her shoes would feel the same. And he caused it!
The laptop buzzed again. Lancelot ignores the buzz and swings the chair from left to right and vice versa. Again his thoughts dart back towards Gwen. Why is he so distracted bởi her? Why now? Why him? Lancelot doesn’t know the answer to all those questions, but lately he’s been drawn to Gwen quite frequently. Lancelot has never been a ladies man; neither did he have any time for relationships hoặc commitment. That explains why he is still single and unmarried. But he is also one who doesn’t believe in relationships hoặc the word he hates so much in his life; love.
Lancelot has known only one tình yêu in his life, his career, and so far he’s made good of it. Apart from that, every other type of tình yêu has taken either a back ghế, chỗ ngồi hoặc been completely absent from his life. So when he first met Gwen, he didn’t feel anything for her, neither did he have the time to do so. His mind had been solely focused on his job and he wanted to complete the task as soon as possible and leave. But what should have been a week’s stay extended beyond that due to unforeseen circumstances. Lancelot was irked. He had plans for the remainder of those weeks, but since his stay here was extended, he had no choice but to grant his uncle’s wishes. But it also proved to be the turning point in his life. He worked closely with Gwen and began noticing her for the first time. He noticed her intelligence, her feistiness, and her positive attitude towards everything. He also noticed her beauty. She isn’t a model-type beauty who makes heads turn immediately, and neither is she the type who strikes bạn at first sight. Her beauty lies inside her; balancing between intelligence and loveliness. She doesn’t need to flaunt her beauty to gain attention; it’s there to be discovered, one only has to understand her to eventually see that beauty for themself. And he saw it, all the time they worked closely, he noticed that beauty. And it disturbed him. He never felt like this before and he didn’t like it. It was making him lose his concentration on his job, yet he also likes to work closely with her thêm now than he did before. It was puzzling him. Should he even feel like this?
Scratching his chin, he felt his stubble. He hasn’t had the time to shave for a week because of work and last night, the injury on his wrist delayed the shaving further. There was a buzz from his laptop. Lancelot purses his lips, nears his laptop and các lượt xem the coding that’s been uploading for hours. He inspects the coding, satisfied, pushes the chair back a little and rests against it. Pain creeps up as his wrist accidentally knocked against his thigh. He bites his lips in pain, controls himself to allow the pain to ease and holds it back against his body, shielding it against any thêm knocks. The pain eases down and Lancelot sighs in relief. Resting against the chair, he thinks of Gwen again. He remembers talking with his uncle regarding work and he questioned about his feelings but he didn’t mention whom. It was a general topic and Gaius was least helpful in that matter. His opinion was that it may be infatuation and Lancelot will need to interact thêm with humans than machines to discover the true nature of this feeling.
As he leans back against the chair, he wonders what Gwen thinks of him. Obviously she must be still reeling after what happened between them both, but after a tháng working together, she can’t be holding a grudge against him further, right? According to Gaius, Gwen isn’t the type to hold grudges, so Lancelot is hoping to make his di chuyển today. Nothing drastic, just an approach, some friendly chat and perhaps some drinks hoặc bữa ăn tối, bữa tối, bữa tiệc ly late in the night if she wants. He wants to know her better. He wants to become her friend and allow her to have good memories of him. He wants to strike a better understanding between them both on and off the field. Will she agree to that? Someone knocks the door, startling Lancelot and he jumps in his seat. Blowing at his silliness, he straightens up and instructs to come in. The door pushes widely and Gwen pokes her head in. Lancelot’s tim, trái tim flutters at her sight and he doesn’t hide his excitement. He showed it through his smile.
“Hello,” Lancelot greets. Gwen smiles and nods back.
“Are bạn busy?” she asks him.
Lancelot looks back at the coding and then back at Gwen. “Well, I can spare a một phút hoặc so. Why?”
“Gaius asked bạn to meet him, right now because there’s someone he would like to introduce bạn to,” Gwen informs, still only poking her head in.
“Me… now?” Lancelot asks, looking surprised.
“That’s what he said”
“He’s the celebrity for the day, why would he want to rope me in?”
“You’re his nephew and that makes bạn half the celebrity as well, come on,” Gwen steps in and grabs Lancelot’s wrist and attempts to pull him up. But Lancelot’s sharp cry stops her in shock. She drops his wrist and looks at him with her wide eyes, in shock.
“Arghhhh!!!” Lancelot mutters painfully to himself, holding his wrist tightly. Gwen is scared. What did she do?
“Oh my God… did I do something?” she asks as Lancelot hangs his head down, still clutching his wrist and soft cries escaping his mouth. Gwen nears him, crouches bởi his chair and softly lifts his chin, meeting the honey brown eyes which at the moment seems to be darkening in pain. “Lancelot?” she calls softly.
Lancelot looks back, presses his lips together and forces a soft smile to assure he is allright but Gwen knows he isn’t. He was still in pain and that much is obvious. But where is his pain coming from? Gwen searched and notices he is clutching his wrist. She looks back at him, her eyes softening in sympathy.
“I’m sorry, Lancelot, what ever it is I did… I am so sorry,” she says, clasping her hands together and pressing it against her lips.
“It’s… all… right” Lancelot is still in pain and he shakes his head vigorously. He removes his clutch and the wrist now has swelled badly. Gwen gasps and cups her cheek.
“Oh dear… did I cause that? Oh, I’m sorry, Lancelot!” her voice trembles. Lancelot reaches up and clutches her hand, holding it assuringly. He shakes his head.
“No… bạn didn’t… do this. Don’t worry” he assures and releases her hand, going back to clutch his wrist.
“Here, allow me…” Gwen pillows his wrist in her own palm and softly lays it back against his thigh. She looks around for a cloth hoặc something but didn’t find anything. “I’ll get some warm water…” she gets up but Lancelot catches her first, grabbing her hand. She turns around.
“It’s all right,” he says and releases her hand.
“Are bạn sure… look at your wrist, Lancelot! It’s all swelled up… what happened?”
“I was using the keyboard way too long I believe and my wrist didn’t get proper rest. And last night I hurt it bởi knocking it against the table, which explains the swelling,” Lancelot các câu trả lời as the pain begins to ease.
“It’s bad, Lancelot… maybe we need to get bạn to the doctor.”
“No, that won’t be necessary.”
“Or a warm water massage, perhaps?”
“Later perhaps, but not now… I still have work to do”
“That work can wait, genius… now let me go get bạn some ointment so that bạn could at least di chuyển that wrist. It seems to be in pretty bad shape!”
“Gwen!!”
“No thêm words from you, Lancelot. Wait till I return,” Gwen says and leaves him alone. Lancelot calls for her again but she was already out of the door.
Gwen returns back with a jar of ointment in her hand and a towel. She sets the towel aside and unscrews the lid of the ointment.
“What’s that?”
“It’s an ointment, for your swelling. Gaius gave it to me,” she pulls a chair and sits down beside him.
“Gwen?”
“Shhh…” Gwen silences him and starts rubbing the ointment onto his wrist, softly massaging the swollen limb. Lancelot winces but keeps his pain in check while the ointment sinks into his wrist. Gwen doesn’t know how bad it is, and doesn’t want to worsen it further so she stops short of massaging it gently around the swelling.
“Here bạn go.” Gwen says with a smile. “This should do the trick until bạn visit the doctor later,” she closes the lid and wipes her hand with the towel she brought along. Lancelot twists his wrist slowly and a sharp pain pierces his hand, stopping him.
“No, carry on, bạn have to di chuyển it hoặc else it’ll cause sharper pain, don’t stop!” Gwen encourages him. He presses his lips, and twirls his wrists again. This time the pain was lesser than before and as he increases his twists, the pain eventually eased. Lancelot laughs to himself and looks at Gwen in astonishment.
“You are a genius, Gwen!!” he laughs at himself and twists his wrist again. “How did bạn do it?”
“Is it painful anymore?”
“Less so, much less now… thank you, this is… remarkable. Yesterday I could hardly lift the chuột and now, I think I can lift a book!” he các câu trả lời and pokes his swell.
“Be careful, though, bạn don’t want to hurt it any more. This is a good ointment and Gaius swears bởi it.”
“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Lancelot says and turns back to his laptop.
“Now, let us go and meet Gaius,” she says, hands on her hips.
“This is a wonderful achievement Gaius, I am proud of you,” Uther Pendragon says, looking around.
“I owe it to my staff, Uther. They worked their socks off to see this ngày eventually happen and I couldn’t have asked for better employees than them,” Gaius các câu trả lời proudly. “Everything bạn see around bạn is a contribution from each of them and I don’t think I’ll swap my workers with any one,” he responds with a short laugh.
“But sometimes bạn need to be ruthless to get achieve your goals Gaius, tình yêu alone doesn’t cut it,” Uther warns. Gaius smiles and tilts his head.
“For bạn perhaps, Uther, but I don’t have any problems here. Look around, every boy and girl, man and woman in this room are like a family to me. We share a special bond and understanding that requires an open mind. I have never treated them less than equal and they know that too. That’s how I build my trust.”
“But bạn can never judge a book bởi its cover, Gaius; not all women and men are innocent. bạn need to be cautious, I’d hate to see bạn falling apart.”
“I won’t, Uther, not with my family here. I trust them with all my tim, trái tim as they do me.”
“That’s how it all starts off. They build your trust, pretend to care about bạn and later when the time is right they strike… behind your back. I’ve seen some in my life and been cautious since then. There’s always a backstabber in the midst if you’re not careful and thankfully I found mine and dealt with him as it should be. Punishment was severe, I must agree, but it served the purpose. It sent out proper warning to the rest and now I get work done efficiently. That’s how I expand my empire Gaius, not through love!”
“Uther, Uther,” Gaius laughs and shakes his head. “That’s how bạn get your work done and I don’t blame you. bạn have your reasons and I have mine. I still stick to my ways, Uther… bạn can argue to your heart’s content, but I still believe in my way. tình yêu builds trust and I have mine all around me, in this room. Too bad bạn can’t see it in your team.”
“I’d rather not, Gaius. They call me names in my empire and I don’t care. My ways may hurt but they reap the benefits and that’s all I care about. The end result is all I need, not tình yêu and care hoặc what ever it is bạn call it.”
“What ever Uther… anyway, I am thankful bạn made it. Was beginning to fear bạn might turn me down.”
“You are a good friend to me, Gaius and I’d hate to let bạn down,” Uther smiles and pats Gaius’s shoulder.
Someone touches Gaius’s shoulder. Gaius turns and smiles broadly at Lancelot.
“Uther, this is my nephew and he is part of the reason why the launch is such a success,” Gaius introduces Lancelot to Uther.
“Pleasure to meet bạn sir,” Lancelot shakes Uther’s hand.
“Your uncle hasn’t stopped talking about you, son. He is proud of you.”
“As I am of him,” Lancelot smiles.
“You’ve done well, I must say. The system’s impressive.”
“Oh I don’t deserve the credit alone sir… there’s someone else in the frame, too, and she’s been a vital part of the entire success,” Lancelot informs and looks around.
“Ahh yes… another trusted member of this family,” Gaius informs, clasping his hands together.
“I can’t wait to meet her.”
“There she is… Gwen!” Lancelot calls from where he stood. Gwen is busily in conversation with Alice and Lancelot calls again. This time she turns around. Lancelot waves for her to tham gia him. Gwen excuses from Alice, nears Lancelot and arches her brow in question.
“This is Gwen and she’s the main reason why the system is impeccable. If bạn need to credit anyone than it should be her, not me,” Lancelot says, grabbing her bởi the shoulder and turning towards Uther.
“Ahh… pleased to meet you,” Uther says and extends his hand.
But Gwen is petrified. The man in front of her is the very man she saw in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. The man behind Arthur’s misery. The father who hated his own son, the man who refuses to acknowledge his own heir and the man who ran the life of his only son like a dictator. The tyrant, the bull… the monster! Gwen hates the sight of him. She wants to reach up and tear his face down, pull out his eyes and pluck each tooth from his mouth. She wants to spear his tongue, clip his fingers to his chest and extract his nails one bởi one. She wants to torment him, she wants to see him suffer… she wants him out of here.
“Gwen?” Lancelot whispers softly, shuddering Gwen from her thoughts. She turns and looks at him and he points towards Uther with his eyes. She turns back towards Uther and smiles apologetically.
“Sorry… pleasure to meet you, too,” she accepts his hand and shakes it. Uther smiles back.
“Let me compliment bạn on such remarkable work you’ve done around here. At such a tender age, bạn have được trao some of your best work for Gaius and the store. Well done!”
“Thanks… if you’ll excuse me, I have to attend to some thêm guests,” Gwen excuses herself and leaves. Gaius and Uther nods but Lancelot senses some uneasiness in her and follow her with his eyes.
Gwen walks as fast as she can and approaches the giải khát, làm mới counter. She orders a cocktail, gulps it down at one go and orders another. Another gulp and she feels head spinning. She sits down and holds her head.
‘Of all people in the world, Gaius has to invite him!!’ she thinks to herself, cursing under her breath.
‘Couldn’t Gaius pick a better friend?’ she thinks again.
“Are bạn all right?” Alice asks, holding Gwen’s shoulder. Gwen looks up in surprise.
“Oh, yeah, of course, yes… just tired, that’s all.”
“Aren’t we all… can’t wait for the ngày to end so that I can get back to my kids,” Alice says.
“Yup… thanks Alice, bạn go and have fun. I think I’ll head back to my work.”
“Don’t strain yourself too much, sweetheart,” Alice says and leaves.
“Yeah…” Gwen sighs and turns back to the trio she left behind. They were still around, but Lancelot was no longer with them. That’s odd, she thinks and searches around the place, looking in every corner and không gian there were yet he was no where to be found. Sighing deeply, she looks back at Uther one thêm time; finds him chatting happily with Gaius, makes a disgusted face and climbs down from the ghế đẩu, phân she’s been sitting on. As she turns to her right speedily, she crashes into someone and sends the man skidding to the floor. She staggers a few steps back herself and quickly holds on to the counter hàng đầu, đầu trang to regain her balance. The guests around her turn in her direction, murmuring at the sudden turn of events while others were astounded with the crash. A man steps phía trước, chuyển tiếp and helps Gwen, assisting her while she straightens up. Another man rushes towards the man on the floor, kneels bởi him and checks if he is all right. Gwen turns towards the man bởi her side, thanks him softly with a smile and looks back at the man she had just crashed into. He was on his knees, head hanging down and arms rubbing against the floor; searching for something. The other man who was helping him too seems to be assisting with the search.
“Oh my…” Gwen adjusts her dress and rushes to the man and kneels down. “I’ll help him, thank you,” she thanks the man who arrived to help and the man nods back and leaves. As he does, he also ushers the crowd to get back to their own business, allowing Gwen to settle the issue bởi herself. Gwen touches the man on the floor.
“I’m sorry,” she says and the man looks up at her, his expression confused and sad. The moment Gwen sees his face, her tim, trái tim skipped. She clasps her mouth and falls back, seating down on the floor. ‘NO!’ the word plays in her mind over and over again.
“It’s all right… I shouldn’t have wandered on my own… sorry,” Arthur các câu trả lời and continues to tìm kiếm the floor with his hands. Gwen was both happy and shocked to see Arthur in front of her. She’d been longing to meet him at least one last time and here he is, right in front of her, yet she is petrified at his sudden appearance. She thinks back of her lie. What will she tell him now? How will she convince him she is not the nurse like he assumed? How will that go down with Arthur? She hated the thought of crushing him with the truth yet it has to be told. But she fears how he might react. Should she tell him? hoặc should she ignore it for another ngày hoặc two?
“Have bạn seen my cane?” Arthur asks as he still searches the cane.
‘Cane?’ Gwen looks around and tries to tìm kiếm for the cane but she didn’t see it anywhere. She turns back to Arthur.
“Hello?” Arthur calls. Gwen shuts her eyes in frustration. She wants to help him but she fears he might recognise her through her voice. But it’s been weeks since they’ve met and it’s impossible he might remember her voice. Yet, he is a sharp listener. And with his eyesight gone, his ears are probably thêm keen. Gwen reopens her eyes, sighs and watches sadly as Arthur continues to tìm kiếm for his cane. As his hand closes the không gian between hers and him, she crawls back; avoiding his touch.
“Arthur!! What happened?” Merlin pushes through the crowd, settles down beside Arthur and helps him up. He didn’t notice Gwen’s presence. But she noticed him.
“I knocked onto someone, Merlin, and I hope I didn’t inflict anything serious on whoever I crashed into,” Arthur says, draping his arms on Merlin’s shoulder and getting to his feet. “I think I Mất tích my cane” he adds sadly.
‘Cane!’ Gwen looks around frantically once again. This time after a couple of guests di chuyển away, she spots the cane lying underneath the table. She scrambles to her feet, rushes to the table, squats down and pulls the cane out from underneath the table. Holding it tightly in her hand, she walks back towards Arthur and Merlin.
She clears her throat and Merlin looks up, his face surprised just as hers had been a while ago. Gwen hands the cane over to Merlin. He smiles at her, takes the cane and helps Arthur with it. He turns back towards Gwen and opens his mouth but she silences him bởi placing a finger on her lips, asking him not to say her name. Merlin’s smile fades but he agrees.
“Thank you,” Arthur says and tightens his hold on the cane. Tapping it on the ground, he asks, “Merlin, who is it?”
“Who is what?”
“The person I knocked into … I think it’s a girl, is she around?”
“No, she left…” Merlin lies and Gwen thanks him silently. Merlin didn’t like lying to Arthur and he shows it on his grim face.
“Oh, that’s a shame… I wanted to apologise.”
“Maybe tiếp theo time… come on,” Merlin says and leads his friend away from there. He nods at Gwen on the way out without any smile and she does the same. She doesn’t blame him for the sudden change of behaviour though. She crosses her arms and watches them leave.
“Gwen? Here bạn are. I have been looking all over for you. Where have bạn been?” Lancelot calls from behind, jolting Gwen. She spins around quickly and covers Lancelot’s mouth with her hand but it was a little too late. In front of her, Arthur’s steps stopped, urging Merlin to do the same. Both turns around.
‘Damn!!’ she shakes her head. ‘Lancelot… why now? Couldn’t bạn have waited?’ she thinks again.
“Guinevere?” Arthur calls the name, his face brightening with hope. “Is she here Merlin? Are bạn around Guinevere?” Arthur keeps asking, releasing Merlin and tapping his way forward, towards Gwen.
Gwen looks at Merlin in panic, her eyes widening and as Arthur nears her, she steps back, pushing Lancelot behind as well.
“Guinevere?” Arthur still calls and taps closer. She takes another step back.
“Arthur… what are bạn doing?” Merlin calls and nears his friend. He didn’t like Gwen avoiding his friend but he also respect her wish not be known. So if Arthur isn’t stopped right now, he will find out about her presence. He grabs Arthur’s hand, halting him. “What are bạn doing? Where are bạn going?”
“I heard her name, Merlin… it’s Guinevere. I know I heard it right… is she around?”
“No!” Merlin says shortly but Arthur wriggles his arms off Merlin’s clutch and taps towards Gwen.
“Arthur!” Merlin scolds yet Arthur wasn’t listening. Merlin looks back at Gwen and his determined look says it all. Gwen knows she can’t escape any more. She pulls her hand down from Lancelot’s mouth and turns around. Arthur closes in on her.
“Guinevere?”
“Hello, Arthur,” she replies, looking at Merlin and grabbing Arthur’s hand as he covers the distance between them.
