Chapter 980 - What Happened To Rose?

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"You want to introduce Rose to us?" asked Aleksis in a probing tone.

That evening, Rune went to visit their mansion after he had worked all day at Aldebar's laboratory in New Jersey. They were enjoying tea while talking about Rune and Rose's progress. When Aleksis heard Rune plan to bring Rose to meet Aleksis and Alaric, she furrowed her brows. "Do you think this is the right time to do it?"

"Well .. I believe there is nothing wrong with me starting to introduce my family members to her one by one. Rose is not from the lower class who will be intimidated by other people's wealth," replied Rune. "I can feel comfortable taking her to meet you both."

"That's right," said Aleksis. "Besides, if she's wondering about me, you can tell her that I'm just lucky to bag myself a rich husband ... hehehe."

"Yes. I'm not going to introduce Alaric as Elios Linden. Your husband's name will give away our identities immediately," said Rune with a laugh. "I don't want to reveal my identity until Rose opens up to me about hers."

"Hmm .. okay, if that's what you want," said Aleksis, nodding. The beautiful woman pondered for a moment, and then she touched Rune's arm. "I truly think Rose is a nice girl. I would love to see you happy when you find someone you like."

Rune raised an eyebrow and asked," But? "

He knew there must be something behind Aleksis' attitude that made his sister suddenly look concerned. Was there something wrong with Rose that Aleksis knew but Rune didn't?

"What did she say to you when you first met?" Aleksis asked back instead of answering Rune's question.

"Hmm .. she said a lot of things." Rune shrugged. "Which one are you referring to? I don't remember every single word she said."

"Well.. Didn't she say, if you can make her fall in love with you, she would be happy?" said Aleksis, staring deeply at Rune.

Aleksis' words made the man stunned.

Did Aleksis know something about Rose's past? Was it related to men?

Hold on ...

Rose said she did this to protect someone.

Did she want to protect that man?

Who was he? Why did Rose have to protect him?

There were so many questions raging inside Rune's mind. Now he was really tempted to find out who Rose really was.

"If you investigated Rose now and you don't give the girl a chance to open up to you on her own .. I think you'll regret it, Rune," said Aleksis in a serious tone as she saw her brother's curious expression. She kind of knew what Rune was thinking.

"Why did you say that?" asked Rune. "Wouldn't it be better if I back down now if I know all the facts and make the assessment and come to the conclusion that a relationship with her would never work out?"

"Why did you come to the conclusion that your relationship with Rose is not going to work out?" asked Aleksis in puzzlement. "Rune, love is not a math equation. You cannot treat it that way. The only reason a relationship won't work between you two is if one of you is already married. If that's the case, I'll be the first person to advise you not to pursue Rose. But that's not what happened. Then why would you decide to quit before you even tried?"

Aleksis has never seen her younger brother fall in love like this. Rune looked very cheerful and happy after he met Rose. Aleksis only wanted Rune to find his soulmate. That's why, after she investigated Rose and found out about the girl's background, Aleksis decided to support their relationship.

But ... if Rune was deliberately investigating everything about Rose and making one-sided judgments, without giving the two of them a chance to interact more closely, then her brother might just back off. She didn't think it would be fair to Rose.

When Aleksis conveyed her point of view, Rune finally took a deep breath and nodded in agreement.

"You're right. I don't think it's fair that I have access to all sources of information and can find out everything about Rose, but she doesn't have the same access," the man confirmed. He tapped his long fingers on the table, looking thoughtful. "Rose said she's going to take me to see her friends this weekend, and in two weeks, we'll see her family. I think I'll just wait for that time to come."

"Good idea," said Aleksis, smiling broadly. "Good luck."

"Then when should I invite Rose to dinner here?" asked Rune.

"I think before you meet her family, you and Rose can have dinner here so we can get to know each other. What do you think?" asked Aleksis.

"Good idea. I'll talk to Rose later."

***

When Rune came home from the Lindens, he found Rose painting on the balcony. The girl was sitting on a bench facing a large canvas with a wooden easel, and her hand was holding a brush, covered in blue oil paint.

Rune couldn't recognize what kind of picture Rose was painting because it seemed the girl had scribbled the image on her canvas with blue paint until it was out of shape.

"Hey .. Rose, why are you painting outside?" asked Rune anxiously. He walked over to Rose and touched her shoulder. "Isn't it cold?"

He gasped as he felt Rose's shoulder shake lightly under the touch of his hand.

"What happened to you?"

When Rune walked over to Rose to see the girl's expression, he was very surprised to find Rose's beautiful eyes filled with tears.

Rose looked up, and she was surprised when she realized Rune caught her crying. The girl hurriedly rubbed her wet eyes and shook her head, "I've got something in my eyes. Haha ... you think I'm crying, huh? I'm not, okay. Wow, you look so worried. That is so cute. Really, I'm fine. It's quite dusty out here. They got into my eyes..."

Rune frowned. At that moment, he could not believe that Rose was fine. Why did this girl want to hide that she was crying earlier? What made her so sad?

"I'm not going to ask you anything, so don't feel like you need to lie to me," Rune whispered understandingly. "You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

Rose was stunned at Rune's words. At that moment, it felt as if the dam she had been holding back had finally burst and overflowed out. The girl nodded slowly and wiped her tears that kept streaming down hard. Even though she was really sad, she was also relieved because this man didn't pressure her to say anything.

"Thank you," said Rose. She looked at the brush in her hand and sighed. "I think I've done enough damage to one painting today. I'll stop now."

"I'll clean up your painting gears. You can take a shower and clean yourself. Your face and clothes are full of paint splatters," said Rune with a chuckle, to break the ice. He took the brush from Rose's hand and pushed her into the apartment. "Get in. It's cold outside. You'll catch a cold."

Rose nodded and immediately disappeared into the apartment while Rune cleaned up the girl's painting equipment. He felt that something had happened to Rose that made her very sad.

Although he was very curious, Rune tried to hold back from asking Rose anything. He figured that Rose would just lie to him to avoid further questions, so why would he force her to talk?

After he cleared their balcony and made hot tea in a pot for the two of them, Rune sat waiting for Rose in the living room, reading some news on the internet.

Ah, Spacelab was about to launch their first commercial aircraft to the moon. He remembered that SpaceLab was a space exploration company that was initiated by Rhionen Industries, which was owned by his brother-in-law.

After SpaceLab appointed a new leader two years ago, it had become so much more progressive. Every few months, Rune would read wonderful news coming from there. He believed that in no time, humanity would expand its reach to outer space.

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IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR:

I am so sorry for my slowness in replacing the contents in the privilege chapters. Apparently, all the insomnia I've been having for two years had taken its toll on me and I now got a stomach ulcer. It never happened before in my 40 years of time walking this earth, so I was actually quite shocked. 

Yesterday it was so bad that I was in so much pain. Today, I thought I was better but apparently not. I have to rest a lot and take medication. Since I don't wanna die and leave my two young children to fend for themselves in the world, I now have to focus on my health and stop overworking myself.

Thus, I decided to slow it down with writing until I get REALLY better. The stress of having to publish daily for several books added to my health problems. 

I am now begging you for your understanding if you see me still publish filler chapters for the next few days. I really want to go through December winning Win-Win event so this book could get features.

You know how this book was overlooked for 22 months by (they just have too many books and this book was overlooked by accident), and now the only chance it could get featured was if this book goes through Win-win. Well, the only way to win Win-Win is by publishing 1500 words every day until Dec 31.

I will slowly replace the contents after I recover. Please check back on December 15 to see if the contents are already replaced. I think they would be updated by then. Any chapters from now on with the sign X means it's a filler chapter and once the content is updated, it will have the word "Updated" in the title, just like this chapter.

Thank you so, so much for your understanding and support. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience in your reading p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. I hope to get better soon and I can resume writing actively again since this is something I love doing.