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Rose let Matti help her sit up with the tension of a rag doll. She had suddenly lost any motivation for anything what so ever. She wanted to melt into the ground, become the dirt itself and forget about everything in the world. Screw responsibilities. Everything was just way too much to handle right now.
She gave a gentle squeeze of his hands when he grasped them as he apologized. She knew exactly what he was feeling-- they were both sorry. There was no answer, at least not one that would blatantly make everything happy and good in their lives. There really was no easy solution. Even so, they had only professed and figured out they loved each other like what, a few minutes ago? It was a quick step to go from that to trying to figure out what was going to happen in their lives. But did Rose really think they could be going on like this forever to begin with, friends or not? Eventually she would have to step up to 'the royal bat' as she called it. Her father, for as long as he would live, would fight their friendship. Both of them had just been living in rebellious ignorance. This was just the catalyst.
Looking into his eyes for a few beats, Rose didn't reply to his question. She felt a lump start forming in her throat and she was trying to keep the tears at bay. She refused to cry. There would be no use in it. "I'm not sure..." she finally replied, hearing the faintest crack in her voice. "These things are usually fast. Couldn't be more than a month or two, maybe? If I'm lucky,
longer." she sighed, flicking her gaze to their still clasped hands. Rose was sure her father would let her know tomorrow when her and Stellan were to be married. No doubt he'd already planned a lot of the wedding and now only needed her input on a few choice things that she'd get to decide.
"I-" Rose started to say, before stopping herself slightly feeling the lump in her throat grow more prominent. "We need to tell Leo about this. I can't keep it from him, Matti." No doubt Leo would notice something off about the two anyways and start questioning things. Then again, what happens now? She wasn't ready for Matti not to be in her life, but all this just complicated things more. Quickly Rose's sadness started turning into panic as the wheels started turning in her head. Looking up to Matti with wide eyes, she blurted, "Matti I don't want to lose you, I don't want this to ruin our friendship, I need you!"
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Nodding at his profession that he was generally the only one who spent time here, he said slightly quietly, "that's a shame. It's a rather nice library." Then again, generally it was the same at his home. He was the only one who took up the library space on a regular basis.
Lifting up his eyebrow as the cat walked towards him and cuddled at his side, his lip quirked up into a half smile. Scratching lightly on the top of his head, the cat began to purr gently before he moved his hand back to his lap, letting the cat sleep in peace. Maybe once the wedding ordeal was over he could get a dog from one of the shelters hopefully around.
"Gatsby is good. As a kid I had a fish named Daisy. It died within a few months and I think I was more devastated over it because I was attached to the name. Now every time I read the novel I imagine Daisy Buchanan as some walking fish." Never again would he name a pet after a literary character. At least not an obvious one, that is.
Taking a sip from his drink, he let out a low chuckle. "You promise me that now but just you wait. You'll end up in the same support group all my childhood nannies are apart of." Setting the drink down once more, he sunk lower into the chair, his hand going back to absentmindedly stroke the cat's soft fur. "You and Rose are close then, huh? You're lucky. Not a lot of royal or socialite siblings are. It's all rivalries and bullshit." Stellan and his brother got along just fine as kids, but into adult hood it all sort of dissipated into responsibilities and blah blah blah.