Irresistible Touch

Chapter 6

Lilian:

"I'm sorry, William. You're my best friend, always have been, and always will be."

I did not want to lose a friend, but I could not find it in me to accept him half-heartedly either for fear of hurting him, so my only option was to reject his advances.

I worded my rejection as mildly as possible. At the very least, I thought it was mild. Still, William looked very upset at my answer, even shocked.

"Oh, William, don't be like that. I…" It hurt me just as much to see him like this, but I had no idea how to console him.

Oh God, I was completely hopeless when it came to comforting someone, especially when I was the source of their pain.

When I was racking my brains over what to say to him, William suddenly smiled at me. It was a bitter smile, but I saw something more in it that I could not understand.

"You're right, Lilian. I'm your best friend, just as you are my… best friend." He suddenly paused there, then his brows furrowed as if he were thinking about something. After that, he turned back to me and looked at me with an earnest gaze. "This won't affect our friendship at all, will it?"

"Of course not, William. You'll always be my greatest friend." I nodded and spoke affirmingly.

If this could blow over without me losing my friend, it would be more than I could ever ask for. Finally, I could set my worries aside.

William told me that he had work to do and had to excuse himself. As I watched him leave, I crossed my hands in a silent prayer. “Dear God, please grant William a nice and beautiful girl so that he may find happiness soon.”

When I returned home, my parents were anxious to know about the progression between William and I. It seemed like they were both very eager to see me married off finally.

"Mother, Father, I'm sorry… both William and I think that we’re far more suited as friends than lovers." I shrugged with feigned indifference.

My mother sighed with regret. "What a shame… that boy seemed to be trying so hard, I was sure that he wanted to pursue a further relationship with you."

"You must be overthinking it, Mother."

"I guess you're right, dear. It truly is quite a shame. William is a fine young man."

I nodded in agreement. She was right; William truly was a fine man, but we did not suit each other.

Father eyed me curiously for a moment before asking, "Is there somebody you fancy, Lilian?"

At that, I exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "Father! What are you saying? How could that be possible?"

Me? Fancy someone? What a joke. I had no love for anyone who was not my mother or father.

"Is there truly no one?" Clearly, my father was reluctant to believe me.

I shook my head firmly. "No, there's no one at all. I swear to God."

Seeing how determined I was, my father compromised and sighed. "I thought you had someone else you liked outside of town, and that's why you rejected William."

Before I could explain myself, my mother said incredulously, "What? You rejected William? Didn't you say..." After a pause, she frowned in disapproval at me. "My dear, why did you lie?"

I hugged her arm and tried to diffuse the situation. "Mother, I just didn't want you to worry, that's all. I don't feel butterflies in my stomach with William. It would be terrible of me to accept him knowing my feelings say otherwise, right?"

My mother sighed and patted me on the head. "You always have the most logical excuses, don't you, darling?"

With the crisis averted for now, I breathed a sigh of relief.

There was never any doubt that William was a good man who would make a good husband, and it was no surprise that my parents would like so much for us to be together either. In fact, if what happened three years ago had never come about, then I might have chosen to try things out with him, but right now...

Thankfully, my parents were very reasonable and never forced me to do anything I did not want to do.

They would be happy if I accepted William today, but they would also understand if I rejected him and would not try to push the matter further.

See, these were my parents, the best parents in the world. I loved them.

Day by day slowly passed since then.

Even though the card that Arthur had given me still had a significant balance on it, we were not the kind of family to sit on our laurels. So, we decided to save up the money for the time being just in case of any emergencies.

My father's leg made it so that farming was impossible, so our land has been rented out since long ago, while he took on simple leatherwork to earn a living, constantly hammering away each and every day, working hard to keep the family afloat.

My mother was very good at baking pastries, so at my suggestion, we decided to set up a stall in town, selling all sorts of pastries.

I loved the pastries that my mom baked, but I was clumsy so my work always looked pitiful. However, my loving father would always praise me no matter how shoddy my creations were.

Since it was painfully obvious that I had no talent in that area, I chose to give up.

Instead, I helped my mother with the deliveries. Otherwise, I would have become the most useless member of the family.

Thank God for giving me legs that were so good at running.

The weather was not very good today. The sky had darkened and it seemed like it was going to rain soon.

There were pitifully few people on the streets. All of them were probably worried that they may get caught up in the rain and decided to stay home instead.

When I looked down at the pastries that had barely been touched today, I suggested, "Mother, I don't think we'll be getting any more customers today. Why don't we head home? It’ll be better than getting caught up in the rain later and ruining the pastries."

My mother looked up at the sky and agreed.

We were about to close up our stall when a young girl suddenly walked over to us and pointed at our stall. "I want all of these pastries, but you'll have to deliver them for me."

Wow, a big customer.

With a big smile on my face, I nodded at her. "Sure, that will be no problem at all. Where do you live?"

Nonetheless, my mother seemed hesitant. "Sweetie, I think you should just refuse if it's too far. What will you do if you get caught up in the rain later?"

"Don't worry, Mother. I'm a fast runner. Let's hurry up and wrap up the pastries. How could we brush off such a generous customer?"

Soon, the two of us were able to wrap up all of our stock. My mother even gave me her cloak and forced me to put it on.

"Listen to me, sweetie. We're not very far away from home, so I'll definitely make it home before the rain falls, but not you, so you better put this on!"

My mother who was always a gentle and soft-spoken woman rarely ever used such an assertive tone with me. I had no choice but to comply.

The girl handed the money readily to us, and then I followed the girl with several bags of pastries in hand.

The girl had said that she lived a long way from here, in the far north of the town.

I was a little surprised to hear that. As far as I could remember, the northernmost part of town was full of mountains. I had never heard of anyone living there at all.

Perhaps someone moved in there while I was away. There were bound to be some eccentric people here and there who liked living in secluded places without any neighbors.