A Promise Of Romance (MewGulf AU)

🌞Chapter 20🌻

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Gulf felt bad for Mew since they wound up walking around the zoo in icy weather for more than two hourd, freezing themselves solid. Mew's apartment was nearby, so they went there to take advantage of his fire place.

When they got to the place, Mild was there to meet them. It looked like he'd been staying at the apartment in its owner's absence. Mew didn't look particularly surprised. Gulf had heard that English people arranged things a month in advance when they wanted to visit each other's homes, but it seemed no such formalities restrained these two.

"You're a whole new person, Gulf" Mild said. "Transformed from a poor exchange student into a young lady. It's true that clothes make the man."

Gulf wasn't sure how to respond to this.

"Oh yes," the man continued. "A ton of packages came for you. You really went all out, didn't you Mew?"

"We're still not done," Mew replied evenly. He really seemed to think so.

"I had the maid put the things into a spare room," Mild said.

His friend nodded. "It's a good thing you were here."

"But why did you send it all here?" Mild asked. "Shouldn't you have sent it straight to Gulf's apartment?"

"My place is too small, so I wouldn't be able to keep it all there," Gulf said, a bit bewildered that Mild still so sounded so pit-out about having to deal with the packages. But having that many packages delivered would put any house into an uproar.

"Are you going to come here every time you need to get something?" Mild asked.

"Yes, I plan to," Gulf answered.

Mild grunted disinterestedly.

"Gulf, won't you reconsider my offer to let you live here?" Mew said suddenly. "If we lived together, we could get more comfortable with each other. And if we're tailed by a reporter like last night, the doorman here can  run them off. It's more secure."

"They already found out?" Mild raised his eyebrows, impressed.

"Yes," his friend answered dryly. "Ms. Mostern."

"That woman's a bloodhound." Mild spat the words out viciously. "I was sure I'd get the scoop on this one."

"Don't worry about it," Mew assured his friend. "We didn't allow the photos of the actual proposal at the Cafe Royal to get out."

"Thanks for your hard work," Mild said, sarcastically.

"Now, now, Mild," Mew said. "Weren't you the one who said you wanted to photograph the presentation of the ring?"

Gulf listened to their conversation in a daze. Apprently, a cameraman has been following them.

'Even when we kissed?'

He felt the blood drain from his face.

"What else did youbtake pictures of?" he asked, his voice shaking unexpectedly.

"We got pictures of everything," Mild said him indifferently.

Gulf felt anger boiling up inside him---they hadn't told him about this!

"Why didn't you tell me beforehand?" Gulf cried out, cornering Mew.

Mew couldn't seem to understand Gulf's anger. A strange look crossed his face.

But Mild was the one to answer. "But look, Gulf, you wouldn't have acted naturally if you'd known there was a camera."

Gulf couldn't respond. Mild was completely right. He had been nervous enough just walking around yesterday. If he had known that a camera was following them, he would have been even worse off. He hung his head.

Mild had a suddenly serious expression. "Don't worry, Gulf. The story wasn't actually published."

His friend's brows knitted together. "What do you mean?"

"The story was killed," Mild explained. "It seems stories about Lord Jongcheveevat's wedding are off limits."

"The old man's been busy," Mew huffed.

"No, I don't think your butler is familiar enough with the tabloid world to influence anything," Mild encountered. "Any other guesses?"

"If you mean other people opposed to me marrying, I've got a mountain of relatives I could name," Mew replied. "But this means Ms. Mostern's story was probably blocked too."

"I'll see if I can find out anything," Mild promised.

Mew smiled. "Thanks."

Gulf was relieved to hear that the stories about the 'engagement' were being blocked. He couldn't imagine seeing his own face in a gossip magazine. But he ought to get used to the idea.

He was getting a lot of money in return for exactly that. And Mew was using even more noney for food and entertainment.

"If I stay here, we won't need to stay at a hotels like we did last night, right?" Gulf asked hesitantly.

The amount they'd spent on clothes alone yesterday was so ridiculous that he felt it would be an outrageous waste of money to rent hotel suites all the time.

"That's right," Mew said a little glumly. "Didn't you like the hotel last night?"

Gulf quickly denied what was being implied. "That's not the problem!" He didn't undersrand why Mew's mood had suddenly deteriorated. "Well, I think I'll accept your offer to stay here. I want to make a clear that this will not be permanent. But this place is closer to my school too."

"I'd just like to remind you that if we live together, it might be easy to forget that we need to convince people that we're engaged when we go out," Mew warned. "That could lead to trouble."

"I understand that," Gulf said.

"Then welcome to my home," Mew proclaimed.

His mood seemed to have improve immediately.

Mild gave a lopsided smile. "That's nice. Maybe this will help leviate your boredom a bit, Mew. I can't be constantly coming over to see you."

"Is it really all right?" Gulf prompted.

"Of course it is," Mew assured him. "Use whatever room you want."

And so the issue resolve itself nicely.

TBC