"Denzel, why are you back?" Juniper asked, clearly surprised to see him standing at her door so soon. She opened it wide, stepping aside to let him walk in.
As she followed him, she noticed a bag in his hand. He stopped in the living room and turned to face her. "Your adopted family won’t co to bother you," he stated firmly.
"Hmm? Did you give them so sort of order using your authority?" Juniper questioned, her eyes searching his face for a sign of what had happened at the palace or with Cillian.
"No. I didn’t," Denzel replied.
"Then?"
"You need to go to the family court and prepare a restraining order through a lawyer," Denzel explained. "That’s the legal solution to keep them away for good. If they step foot near you after that, the law handles it, not just a Gamma’s warning."
Juniper contemplated his words for a mont. She gave him a grateful nod.
"I’ll find a lawyer," she whispered.
"You don’t have to worry about finding soone. I have a friend who can help," Denzel said, reaching into his coat pocket. He pulled out a business card and handed it to her. "Call her tomorrow and set up a eting. I’d go with you, but my schedule at the office is packed."
"I understand. Besides, you’ve done more than enough already," Juniper replied, taking the card.
Denzel watched her closely. Her fingers were restless, constantly picking at one another, and her eyes remained red and swollen. It was obvious she had spent the hours he was gone crying.
He held out the bag of food he had brought. "Eat this. You haven’t had a proper al since you were admitted to the hospital."
"Oh," Juniper took the bag, the warmth of the containers grounding her. "Thank you. Will you stay and eat with ? I’d appreciate the company."
"Sure," Denzel said, following her to the kitchen. He paused near the counter. "How is your heat? Your pheromones have settled down."
Juniper looked away, her voice dropping to a murmur. "I’m sorry about that. I didn’t an to assert dominance on you."
"It’s alright. I don’t get bothered by them, anyways," Denzel answered and saw her taking the containers of hot food from inside the bag.
"Cillian was pressuring you to go with him. It’s good you didn’t give in," Denzel added as he watched her move around the kitchen.
"In the past, they even tried to accuse of a cri I never committed. Both Cillian and Daxton. Only the eldest one ended up with an imprisonnt," Juniper muttered, her focus fixed on setting the plates to avoid his gaze.
Denzel’s brows furrowed in confusion. He gathered the spoons and glasses, bringing them over to the table. "Why did they hate you so much? They were the ones who adopted you. Didn’t the orphanage check on those factors before letting them take you?"
"Mama was the one who wanted the most," Juniper stated, finally lowering herself into a chair. "After her passing, the rest of them didn’t care how I lived or what I did. I knew I should have gone back to the orphanage, but I was afraid. I realize now it would have been better than staying in that place, a house where love never ca my way. Besides, my adopted father didn’t want to go to the orphanage since my mother brought ho."
Denzel sat across from her, his eyes following her movents as she served the chicken and rice onto their plates.
"You know, I never told any of this to Nick," Juniper admitted with a regret. "I should have. But I was scared, terrified that he would abandon the mont he saw my family history. I made a huge mistake. He told later that he would have accepted if I had just been truthful from the start."
Denzel waited until she finished serving before he spoke. "If Prince Dominick was ant to understand you, he would have, even after the truth ca out. It’s true he wanted honesty, and you kept it from him for years, but I’m not saying you were wrong to be afraid."
He picked up his spoon, looking at her steadily. "What I an is that if the Prince truly had the capacity to see who you are, the revelation wouldn’t have changed his heart. If he had it in him to understand you, he would have, regardless of the timing."
Juniper paused, a bit of rice halfway to her mouth. The perspective was different from the guilt she had been feeding herself. Denzel wasn’t excusing her silence, but he was questioning if the Prince’s acceptance was as fragile as she feared.
"Eat," Denzel encouraged gently. "You’ve spent enough ti worrying about the past today." With that, he began eating.
Juniper nodded, feeling much better than before. As they ate in the comfortable silence of the kitchen, Juniper found her gaze drifting toward him more than once.
"How old are you?" she asked, the question slipping out before she could second-guess it.
"I’m turning twenty-five soon. Why?" Denzel arched an eyebrow, clearly amused by her sudden curiosity.
"Nothing. It’s just... you’re in your youthful days," Juniper replied, a trace of lancholy in her voice.
"Aren’t you?" Denzel countered, setting his spoon down.
"I’m already twenty-nine. And I spent my youth after..." She trailed off, the na Dominick hovering in the air between them. She didn’t finish the thought that her best years had been consud by a bond that ended in a scandal and divorce later.
"You’re still young," Denzel replied firmly, his gaze steady. "Age is just a number; it’s on you how you choose to spend the years you have left. Don’t let the past dictate the rest of your life."
Juniper looked at him, surprised by the lack of judgnt in his tone.
"If you want to see around San Ravendale, you can call any ti," he asserted.
"Sure," she agreed and had another spoonful of rice chicken.
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