𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃, theloise

𝟎𝟎 i am just a line without a hook

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━━━━━━ ⊹⊱ ♛ ⊰⊹ ━━━━━━

𝑆𝐻𝐸'𝑆 𝐴 𝐿𝐴𝐷𝑌
𝑨𝑵𝑫 𝑰 𝑨𝑴 𝑱𝑼𝑺𝑻 𝑨 𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑬
𝑾𝑰𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑨 𝑯𝑶𝑶𝑲

━━━━━━ ⊹⊱ ♛ ⊰⊹ ━━━━━━

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"—It's alright Miss Bridgerton. You dipped your toe into my waters, trying to make yourself feel better about the unearned advantages of your birth. Now you can go back to your life, and I could go back to mine—"

THEO SHARPE SHOULD have known better than to say such a thing in the heat of the moment. But in his defense, he was overwrought by emotions, by the dismay and torment over this short-lived —for the lack of a better term— "friendship".

It was an awfully vague way to call what others may believe to be a budding romance but Theo Sharpe and Eloise Bridgerton were both intellectuals; they knew better than to dive headfirst into uncharted waters.

Not that it had prevented them from treading carefully—

But alas, whatever they had, however precious it may be, was too good to be true.

He had been so caught up in the entirety of her being that he failed to remind himself of the differences in their status. So he said it out of spite, deluding himself in another fantasy —convincing himself with pathetic excuses— as if it were a way to alleviate the melancholic ache spreading in his chest.

He paints her out as the temptress who merely yearned to satiate her curiosity about the unknown despite being fully aware that Eloise was anything but.

He acts like he's offended by her because it was easier to succumb to rage instead of counting on naivety, hoping for the impossible, yearning for a chance—

Because the cold truth was:

Girls like Eloise Bridgerton don't wind up with boys who work to the bone; who have ink and dirt staining their clothes and calluses all over their hands; who they only meet in sketchy alleys noble little ladies shouldn't even be seen in.

Girls like Eloise Bridgerton were dolled up to snatch the most eligible bachelor, destined to marry above them or at least a man with well standing; something he knows he'll never be.

Girls like Eloise Bridgerton were not supposed to be perfect in every sense. They were not supposed to be unique, not supposed to have the qualities he'd yearn for in a woman.

But Eloise Bridgerton had brazenly entered his life and destroyed all those prejudices because as it turned out she was not like the other pampered noble ladies.

Instead, she was well-read and quick-witted; more than just a pretty face. She is brazen and outspoken; something he found himself often in awe of. She had opinions; so many damn opinions that were near impossible to keep track of. She challenges him and points out the little details that were rather so easy to miss, widening his horizons; the girl had been absolutely brilliant that way.

Yet as incredibly aggravating as it was, the truth still remains:

A girl like Eloise Bridgerton would never end up with someone like Theo Sharpe.

And perhaps that was what made the pain all the more drastic as it should have been compared to a mere passing fancy.

Though, once again, as it had been continuously said: Theo Sharpe should have known better than to say such words because a girl like Eloise Bridgerton was never one to back down from a challenge.

Thus why he supposes that it was in that hasty declaration that everything had begun.

After all, no matter how positively different she could be, who would have thought that Eloise Bridgerton would once again prove him wrong by deciding to jump full force into those waters?