Chapter 182: A Date

The room was unusually quiet when Amelia opened the door.

Mira was curled up on her bed with a novel balanced on her knees. The moment she looked up and saw Amelia's expression, she snapped the book shut.

"Well?"

Amelia laughed. "You always know when something happened."

"You've got that face."

"What face?"

"The one that says, 'I have news and I'm pretending I don't.'"

Amelia dropped onto the edge of her bed, still holding the bouquet Nathan had given her.

Mira's eyes immediately found the flowers. "Oh.”

She pointed dramatically. "He brought flowers."

Amelia nodded. "He also took me to dinner."

Mira gasped. "And?"

Amelia looked down at the flowers in her hands.

"He asked if I still wanted us to keep pretending."

Mira leaned forward. "What did you tell him?"

"I didn't answer."

Mira blinked. "You... what?"

Amelia slowly told her everything. How Nathan had confessed. How he had spoken about falling in love with her. How he had asked if they could become a real couple.

When she finally finished, the room became very quiet.

Mira stared at her. Then she threw both hands into the air. "Amelia!"

Amelia couldn't help smiling. "What?"

"You didn't answer him?"

"I told him it was too soon."

Mira fell backward onto the mattress with exaggerated frustration. "Oh, this is painful."

Amelia laughed loudly. "I wasn't trying to hurt him."

"I know you weren't." Mira sat upright again and looked at her friend carefully. "But if you care about him." She shook her head. "You should've given him something."

Amelia lowered her eyes. "I wasn't ready."

"I understand that." Mira's voice softened. "But don't make the mistake of letting a good man keep wondering whether he's enough."

Amelia was quiet for a long moment. Then she spoke honestly. "There are still things that scare me."

Mira waited.

Amelia twisted one of the flower stems gently between her fingers. "Nathan has a reputation."

She smiled faintly. "Half the girls on campus used to talk about him."

She looked up. "What if one day he goes back to being that person? What if I'm only seeing the version of him he wants me to see?"

Mira didn't answer immediately. Instead, she reached across the space between their beds and lightly squeezed Amelia's hand.

"Then ask him."

Amelia frowned. "Ask him what?"

"Everything." Mira smiled gently. "If you're worried about his past.” She shrugged. "Don't create answers in your own head." She leaned back against the wall. "Let him tell you."

Amelia remained thoughtful.

Mira tilted her head. "Maybe there's something he hasn't been ready to share." She smiled. "People don't become different overnight.They become different because something changes them."

Her eyes softened. "And from everything I've watched these past few months." She gave Amelia a knowing look. "I think that something might be sitting right in front of me."

Amelia laughed quietly and threw a pillow at her.

"You always make everything sound dramatic."

"I prefer the word accurate."

The pillow bounced harmlessly off Mira's shoulder.

She hugged it with a grin. "Just don't make him wait forever."

Amelia looked toward the bouquet resting on her bedside table. A small smile slowly found its way back onto her face. "I won't."

The days that followed settled into a gentle routine.

Nathan never mentioned his confession again. He never asked Amelia whether she had changed her mind. He never tried to pressure her into giving him an answer.

Instead, he simply continued showing up.

Some mornings, Amelia would step out of her hostel and find him waiting beside his car with two cups of coffee and her favorite meat pie.

Other afternoons, he would appear outside the journalism building carrying a bouquet of fresh flowers, insisting they looked happier in her hands than in any flower shop.

When lectures ended, he often drove her into town for lunch.

On busier days, it was dinner instead. Sometimes they ate at restaurants. Sometimes they bought takeaway and sat beneath the old tree near the lake where they could watch people pass by.

When Amelia had late classes, Nathan walked her back to the hostel without complaining, even if it meant crossing campus after his own exhausting hockey practice.

If she had an early lecture, he made sure she reached class before driving to training.

None of it felt forced. None of it felt like someone trying to win an argument.

Nathan wasn't trying to convince Amelia with grand speeches anymore. He was simply loving her in the quiet ways that asked for nothing in return.

And although Amelia still hadn't given him the answer he hoped for. Every single day, she found herself looking for his car before leaving her hostel.

Looking for his smile across crowded hallways. Looking for the familiar bouquet of flowers that somehow never failed to brighten even the longest day.

Without realizing it, waiting for Nathan had quietly become one of her favorite parts of every morning.

The Saturday morning sun poured through Amelia's hostel window long before her alarm had the chance to ring.

She was already awake. Not because she had somewhere urgent to be. Because Nathan had sent her a single message barely fifteen minutes earlier.

“ Be ready by ten. Wear comfortable shoes. Don't ask questions.”

She smiled before a second message appeared.

“And don't let Mira interrogate you.”

Almost immediately, another notification popped up.

Mira: Nathan just texted me not to interrogate you.

Amelia laughed.

The door swung open before she could reply.

Mira walked in carrying two mugs of coffee. "So."

She handed one to Amelia. "Where's Prince Charming taking you today?"

Amelia shrugged. "He refused to tell me."

Mira narrowed her eyes dramatically. "That means it's either very romantic." She paused. "Or he's getting you arrested."

Amelia laughed. "I'll take my chances."

At exactly ten o'clock, Nathan's car pulled up outside the hostel. He stepped out wearing a simple black T-shirt, faded blue jeans and white sneakers.

Nothing fancy. Nothing that suggested he had spent twenty minutes deciding what to wear. Yet Amelia still found herself staring for a second longer than she intended.

Nathan noticed. His smile widened. "What?"

Amelia quickly looked away. "Nothing."

"I know that look."

"You don't."

"I do." He walked closer. "You were admiring me."

She rolled her eyes. "Your confidence is exhausting."

"It has to be." He opened the passenger door for her. "I'm competing with half the campus."

She laughed as she climbed into the car. "Nobody's competing."

Nathan closed the door gently. "I like pretending they are."

The drive lasted nearly forty minutes.

Nathan refused every attempt Amelia made to guess where they were going.

She tried shopping malls.

He shook his head.

She guessed the beach.

Another shake.

"The botanical gardens?"

"No."

"The museum?"

"No."

She folded her arms. "I've run out of ideas."

Nathan smiled without looking away from the road.

"Good."

"You enjoy being mysterious far too much."

"I think I like the title, Mr Mystery or Mr Mysterious."

Finally, the car slowed beneath a huge colorful entrance decorated with lights, banners and music drifting through the air.

Amelia's eyes widened. "Nathan..."

He parked before turning toward her. "Welcome."