The convenient marriage

Chapter 24. How to woo a woman

Opening the bedroom's door after a shower and a change of clothes, Zane went around the apartment looking for Aria.

'I made a cup of hot tea for you.' Aria said gently, when she saw him enter the living room. He  said he was not having a cold, but she still wanted to make sure. He had just gotten out of the hospital, so his immune system must be weakened, it was better to be safe than sorry. Placing the cup on the small table, she sat on the couch with the help of the armrest. It was getting increasingly harder these days getting up and sitting down.

By this time the awkwardness of last night had dissipated quite a bit, as Malcom had been between them when they saw each other for the first time in the day.

'I don't have a cold.' Zane reassured her of his perfect health again, seeing the cup of tea she made for him. His heart felt warm at her gesture, but he did not want to worry her. Then he approached the couch and sat near her, at just the appropriate distance to not increase her nervousness.

Hearing his reply, Aria tried to stand up and grab the cup of tea, intending to take it back to the kitchen, when Zane held her arm, gently pulling her back down. Even though the pull was gentle, it was enough to stop her movement because of the growing weight. 

'Sit down for a bit. Where do you want to go?' He asked gently.

'I thought to take the cup back to the kitchen, since you don't want it.' She replied slowly, a bit nervous because his hand was still on her arm. He hadn't retrieved it, though she was not intending to get up again.

'I don't have a cold. But since you made it for me, how couldn't I drink it? Leave it on the table.' He told her, sensing a small flinch under his palm.

Remembering Malcom's words, Zane pondered if it would really be alright going on like this. Being his usual blunt self, would it really make Aria fall in love with him? Well either way, it was not like he had a choice... he did not know how to act differently beside his normal self.

'Alright!' She agreed and obediently remained seated.

Satisfied that she listened to his words, Zane took a sip of the tea, and then directed his attention to the books in front of him, before grabbing a random one and opening it.

'Do you enjoy reading these kind of books? Is this about what you were talking earlier with Malcom?' He asked intrigued, turning the first page and seemingly skimming through the lines.

'Yes. Ahh... but the one in your hand is not about villainess, that one is about werewolves.' Aria replied noticing the image on the cover, glad that he had finally released her hand to grab the book and open it.

'Hmmm... what is it about?' He asked, not getting much out of the first few pages. Well, it was only the opening scene of it, so naturally he could not find much about the overall plot. Not that he was that interested in finding more about the book. 

But just as Malcom said, he did not have to share her interests, but asking about them, making her open up to him and talking more relaxed was still alright. He did not know if he could succeed like this, but it was still better than talking about the piano. What if she started to see him as a teacher? It would be worse than when she told the maids she saw him as a brother.

Unknown to him, this was exactly how Aria thought of him previously, but fortunately for him he was in the dark about it.

'It's about a world in which werewolves are real, and they live in a structured society based on packs with their members ranked by power, and with the packs united under the most powerful of them, the werewolf king. The main concept is that in the werewolf society, each member has a mate designated at birth, who would become their spouses.