Louisa's POV
"What color does Gianna like?" I asked Lucian, going through some beautiful woolen shawls on the shelf.
Lucian looked a bit confused. I guessed I caught him off guard.
"Every girl has a favorite color. You should ask her." I said.
"She doesn't really talk to me these days. I've been away from her for too long." Lucian said.
"What color was she wearing when you were on your first date?" I asked.
Lucian thought for a while and said, "She's in a white dress. But that's because white is my favorite color."
"You have never asked her about her favorite color?" I frowned.
"She's not that talkative," Lucian said.
"So you don't talk to her when you're together?" I asked.
"Not really," Lucian answered.
"So how do you tell her that you love her?" I felt confused.
"She knows. She's my mate," Lucian said.
"OK. So she stops talking to you. What are you going to do about that?" I said.
"I tried to talk to her on mindlink, but she didn't reply," Lucian said.
"What kind of stuff did you say to her?"
"You know, the weather, what I've been working on, Luke's mood swing, ambassadors, horses... Everything."
"You see what the problem is?" I raised my eyebrows.
Lucian stared at me, leaning against the shelf.
"You didn't ask anything about her." I couldn't believe that I had to literally point it out to him.
"What do you mean?" He looked confused.
"She's carrying your baby and she's angry at you for being away from her. And what you were telling her was basically everything about you. You've never asked her about how she felt."
"I know how she feels. She feels angry at me," Lucian frowned, looking more confused.
I covered my forehead.
"Mister, you are... OK. Let's do this. One step at a time. Can you mindlink her now and ask about how she feels and her favorite color?"
Lucian shrugged and said, "I don't think that will make any difference, but I'll try. She'll be here in a few days, anyway."
"But she will still be angry at you and refuse to talk to you," I said.
"I know, but..." Lucian took a pause and said, "I can't believe it. She's talking to me!"
"What did she say?" I became interested.
"She wants to know why I'm asking her about her favorite color," Lucian said. "Well, that's easy. I'll tell her I want to buy her a white woolen shawl. The price is 3589 krons after a discount and I buy it here in a shop called... What's the name..."
"No! Lucian! Please don't do anything about that! You'll ruin everything!" I pulled his arm and said.
"So what do you want me to say?" Lucian asked.
"All you have to do is to tell her that you're going to give her a small surprise," I said.
"Gianna doesn't like surprises." Lucian frowned.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"She told me once. I was about to bring her a bunch of flowers and she said she doesn't like surprises."
I rubbed my temples and said, "OK. One thing you have to know about girls is that we sometimes say that what we say doesn't literally mean what we say."
"So how am I going to figure out what she means?" Lucian asked.
"Well, you'll know when you know. I mean... Let's just focus on what we're dealing with right now. Did you tell her that you wanted to give her a small surprise?"
"Yeah. I just did," he replied. "... She told me that she doesn't like surprises. See, I told you so... And she told me her favorite color is red! I can't believe it. She actually sounded delighted now. I mean, how did you do it?"
"Well, we'll work on that later." I picked several red shawls from the shelf, "Now, you have to keep the conversation flowing. Ask her about the baby. How's the baby doing?"
"But he's still a fetus. He can't feel anything and..."
"Lucian, please, ask her." I pleaded.
"OK." Lucian sighed.
"What did she say?" I asked.
Then, I saw the sparks of happiness in his piercing blue eyes.
"She said that the baby's fine... And he had just kicked her! The baby kicked her!" Lucian whispered.
"Tell her that you can't wait to see her and hold her in your arms. Tell her that you miss her so much and you wish you could be there with her. Tell her all the beautiful things you see, be it the sunshine, the moon, the rain, or the crystal dews on the tip of rose petals, remind you of her. Tell her that you're with her despite thousands of miles apart and most importantly, tell her that you love her."
Lucian looked melted in my words and lost in the conversation with Gianna.
I stroked the soft texture of the woolen shawls, feeling so relieved and happy that I could help Lucian and Gianna.
Even though I haven't met her, I already had the feeling that I'm going to like her.
Maybe I should buy her something as a present.
Maybe I should pick up something for the baby.
While I was going through the merchandise in the shop, Lucian walked to me and held me in his arms.
"Thank you, Louisa! Gianna's so happy now! She's talking to me and she's going to be here within three days! This is so incredible!" He smiled at me and said.
"Lucian, how could you be so knowledgeable but know so little about women? I mean, how did you manage to get Gianna to marry you in the first place?" I asked with a wry.
Lucian said, "Well, we met and I proposed to her. And she said yes."
Yeah. Just like that. I thought to myself. Because, of course, no girl in their right mind can possibly say no to such a smokingly hot, charming, tender, warm, and powerful man like Lucian.
"Now, let's get to business. Come on, pick a shawl. Which one?" I picked up two shawls.
"They're red and red. So I guess I'll go with the red one." Lucian said.
"Come on, they look very different! This one is carmine and this one is vermilion. They look so different!" I looked at him and said.
Lucian looked hopeless.
"Well, what color is Gianna's hair?" I asked.
"Blonde."
"Champagne or strawberry blonde?" I asked.
"Great, keep asking me things that I've got no idea of." Lucian shrugged.
"OK..." I looked around and saw a red-headed woman walking into the shop, "My blonde or that lady's blonde?"
Lucian took a glance at the woman and the smile on his face immediately disappeared.
"Oh, Beta Lucian! What a coincidence! I haven't seen you for ages!" That woman exclaimed as she was walking towards us.
Her way of walking in the scale-like tight dress reminded me of my stepmother Rosalie.
"Lady Akela," Lucian said in his signature detached voice, "I haven't been informed of your presence in town."
"That's because nobody knows I'm here. I ran away from my brother. He's so dreadful! How's Luke doing, by the way? I know it's inappropriate for a bride to meet her broom prior to the wedding, but I just can't wait to see him! "