Proposal

"Yeah, Louis!" 

Valerie raised her voice in reply to the question placed in front of her, confirming that she had indeed packed up everything in her room- every belonging of hers- neatly in her bags, so that no trace of her presence would be left in the room she had been occupying for so long.

Although she really did not want to leave the hostel, she had not been given an actual choice in the matter in the first place. She had already exhausted her only option by having tried her best to convince Romera to not to do this to her, but why would she have listened to her! 

So of course, everything that had just happened was making her feel guilty, because no matter how unfairly she had been treated, Nora was not the one to be blamed. After all, she was also a victim of circumstance, that even after being a Princess, she had to make do with staying in the dorms.

However, the frustration of having no option left in her hands was making her feel so pathetic that it was getting on her nerves. And this had resulted in the outburst she had never planned or wanted, but Louis' voice had acted as water on the raging fire, and she felt herself calming down a little.

So after replying to him, she was about to pick her bags up and step out, when she heard Nora's voice once again. There was an earnest and genuine pleading note in her voice, that struck a chord with Valerie and made her stop in her place. 

"No, please, don't go! I will feel really bad if you will have to vacate your quarters because of me. Please don't, I will manage something in exchange if you just wait here."

Saying this, Nora stepped out of there without waiting or listening to whatever anyone was saying after her. She kept moving forward, not paying heed to the voices calling out to her ; she not only wanted to ignore Louis, but she also wanted to meet the principal at the earliest to discuss this with him, after calling her father.

All this time, she had held on to a very negative image of her father, thinking that he did not love her at all. But the foundations of her firm beliefs about him had been shaken deeply in the last couple of days, especially after she had seen the drops of tears ready to jump out of his eyes the moment he had bid her goodbye that morning.

Of course, she had no problem admitting to herself how immature her judgement of him had been. She was an utter fool for not knowing this earlier, and for being ignorant of his reality all this time. But all was not lost yet : she could still make a change, because now, she did know! She could make her decisions based on this valuable piece of knowledge ; and she would undoubtedly be letting her father know the same, too. He deserved to be assured through her words, that she was aware of his love for her and moreover, she also loved him.

Engaged with her thoughts where every new turn brought on new avenues of opportunities to repair old relationships, she was walking straight while retracing her steps to the entrance of the building. 

This was when she barged into someone, and before she could have gained her strength and gained some relief after rubbing her forehead at the sore spot, she heard a voice which was the last thing in this entire universe she wanted near her. It was none other than David, who spoke ;

"Do you really think those big eyes of yours are there for a decorational purpose only! Or have you ever considered using them to see?"

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"And how exactly are you planning to present the deal that would be beneficial for all three of us?"

Frederick took the bait and asked this question, even after knowing that Francisco was really not happy after hearing about this deal from Carl.

While it was indeed true that he was there due to matters related to business, but he had never considered Nora as a part of his business dealings. Rather, he had genuinely wanted Nora and Louis to be good friends, and he would have been more than happy if she turned out to be Louis' mate as well.

But he had never entertained the idea of treating her like she was something which could be considered as an item or a bargaining chip for a business deal. He was a man who always placed family above business; he knew that Louis had the same characteristics as him, and the two of them had become good friends in his knowledge! 

However, no matter how strongly he felt about this transactional manner of referring to Nora, there was nothing he could do about how her own father was considering her as a part of the business deal. Regardless of how much he liked her, he could not go against her own father in any circumstance.  

He held onto his silence, and watched as Carl Holland revealed his cards to the table, leaning forward as he spoke ;

"My son Ryan really likes your daughter! And I think it is much more than the level of a casual crush, too. He was not just willing to leave the Alpha palace for her, but he is actually ready to stand by her side at any point of time, in all the ups and downs of her life! And if had we not been werewolves, then I might have asked you to let Nora marry Ryan.

But I know that since we are wolves and our mates are pre-destined, I can only request you to let Nora and Ryan be friends, because he did not want to cross the boundaries of the royal protocol, even though they are studying together and encounter each other almost every day."

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