Even though Lena had said that she would be back come dinner, both her and Zane were missing when the call for dinner came. Samuel would've been more worried about it if anyone else at the table had seemed alarmed by their disappearance.
Julian, Zane's younger brother if Samuel remembered it correctly must've noticed that he seemed perplexed by their absence and explained that it wasn't uncommon for something to come up every few weeks or so that would cause them to be absent for a few hours or a day or two depending on what was going on. Samuel wasn't sure how to reply so he just nodded his head to let the other know he had heard him. He wasn't as comfortable talking to other members of the family aside from Leo as he hadn't gotten much time to get to know them this week.
"Don't worry too much. Your princess will be back before too long." Leo told him, partly teasing to try and lighten the mood. Samuel turned his attention to him as he was the only person who he was comfortable with.
"I'm mostly just curious about what she's busy with since she said she would be back by now." He replied to the other who shrugged his shoulders in response.
"Probably business related. They've been working on some taking over and expanse on the business side and that stuff can take days and hours to sort out depending no the size of the other company and coming to an agreement."
Leo kept the conversation going for a little while, explaining certain things about what business they dealt in and how some of that worked. Keeping to everything that was legal so he wouldn't risk getting yelled at if he said too much. Otherwise though, the table was rather quiet.
Once dinner passed though, Lena still hadn't reappeared nor Zane. The rest of the family left the table as everything was cleared up without any mention of them. It was going to bother Samuel if this type of silence and lack of enlightenment about what was going on was retained once he and Lena were officially engaged.
By the time he had finished packing everything up which really wasn't much more than he had came with and called his parents to talk with them one more time before he would coming home tomorrow, Lena still hadn't come back from what he was aware of which was a bit of a disappointment for him as he ended up going to bed without seeing her again.
Next morning when he woke up however, he was surprised to find the princess curled up in his chair. Her legs tucked up against her chest and her head resting on the arm of the chair in what looked to be a rather awkward rather than comfortable position to fall asleep in. She was still dressed in what he guessed was work close, a blouse and jeans which made him wonder at what time she had come back last night and since when was she allowed to sleep in his room at night?
"Is it time to leave already?" She asked from her position without opening her eyes. Her voice sounded tired still as though she had just woken up.
"Almost, shouldn't you sleep more though? It looks like you didn't come back until rather late last night." Samuel replied as he slipped out of bed, slipping the sandals onto his feet. He felt compelled to be quiet as possible since it seemed as though the little queen wasn't fully awake yet.
"I don't know what time it was last night. There was some last minute stuff I had to clear up last night that took longer than it was supposed to, but I'm fine with leaving on time." Lena replied blinking a few times to help her wake up further.
"I'll ask Ryan to make something for us to take with us since it'll be a long drive." She told the other as she got up. Stretching lightly to get rid of the stiffness she felt from sleeping in such a bunched up position, she left without saying anything else.
Samuel stared at the closed door for a few seconds. He wasn't as worried about leaving on time as Lena had been. Sure it was going to be a drive, but even it took them an extra hour or two, it wouldn't be that bad. Regardless though, he had to shower and get dressed.
Similar to what had happened when he first arrived there, Clive had helped to load his stuff into the vehicle and made sure it fit securely so that nothing will create a mess while they were driving. Aside from him, Lena, and Ryan, the only other person who was awake that time was Zane. Who shook his hand and bid him goodbye, saying he looked forward to seeing him again soon.
Samuel couldn't help but wonder how quickly the two weeks would go by as they walked out to the car. Lena had changed into something more comfortable, but still seemed tired as Clive held the back door open for them to get in. He was surprised that she decided to sit in the back with him rather than taking the front seat.
The drive back to where he lived was a mostly quiet one. Samuel unlike Lena had gotten plenty of sleep the night before and wasn't feeling tired in the slightest.
The ate a little ways into the drive with Lena asking a few brief questions about his family which he was happy to answer. She didn't ask too many follow up questions as he answered her questions and instead mostly opted to making a noise that let him know she was listening to what he was saying.
The rest of the ride was mostly quiet however as Lena stayed in the corner of her seat with her arms crossed across her chest and eyes closed as she head rested squarely against her head rest. Samuel wasn't sure if she was sleeping since her eyes were closed and her breathing seemed calmer than normal if she was still awake.
Had she not been there, he would've probably made conversation with Clive, but he didn't want to risk waking her up so he instead opted for texting his family and Roger that he was on his way back and managed to entertain himself with some brief conversation before they stopped replying because they had other things to do.
Even though he was trying not to make too much noise while on his phone as he looked for something to preoccupy himself, the low setting of his volume must've still been too loud as he was suddenly startled by Lena grab the arm of his shirt and pulled him against her. He hadn't been expecting this time and the sudden movement made him stiff.
"Breathe and relax. You don't need to fidget so much when there isn't anything to do. Try to just enjoy the silence." She told him, her voice was low as she spoke which told him she was still half asleep as he kept him pressed against her side. Samuel put his phone down but didn't bother saying anything as he was certain the other had fallen back asleep.
The rest of the ride except for the last thirty minutes was spent with Samuel being stuck against Lena's side while she slept. She wasn't one to cuddle, but she certainly didn't mind keeping her arm tucked around him.
She didn't fully wake up until they were close to his house and she knew he would be leaving soon.
"Stay in touch while you're here." She told as she handed him a piece of paper with her phone number on it.
"Will you be available to talk often?" He asked as he took it, she shrugged her shoulders.
"Depends on the day but I'm sure it won't bother you too much." She replied as she shifted position to look out the front, she was curious about what the house he lived at looked like.
It was smaller than she had expected, but then again everything was smaller to her after having lived all her life at the estate. Noticing that no one was standing out front also helped to alleviate a certain amount of tension she had initially felt about agreeing to go with him. The house didn't look particularly special compared to all the others around it. Just a typical red brick house with a gray shingled roof. No wonder it was such an adjustment for him to move to a place that was so much more elegant than what he was used to living in.
"So I guess here we part ways until the next two weeks pass." Samuel said the car stopped near the front of his house. Clive was willing to assist him with unpacking, but he had already told the older man he would have no problem brining in everything himself.
"It won't be that long. Time will probably go by rather fast since it is almost your birthday." She replied. The other just nodded his head in response to this. Clive got out of the car to help at least pull everything out of the trunk, but Lena remained in her seat as she didn't risk bumping into his family if she got out to help, she wasn't ready to meet them yet.
It took mere minutes to pull everything out and stack it out front. Rather than opening the car door again to say good-bye as she had expected him to do, Samuel instead tapped on her window asking her to roll it down, which she did. The second unexpected event was that rather than speak to her, he leaned over to make the distance a bit less awkward between them and kissed her on the cheek.
"Aren't you going to say goodbye?" Samuel asked as he pulled back. Lena paused for a second before replying, a small smirk on her lips.
"Goodbye is only for people I don't intend to see again. Considering we'll be meeting again in less than two weeks, there's no reason for it to be said here." Was he reply causing him to smile.
"Well then I guess the same goes for me." he replied as he stood up and moved back so she could roll the window up. He needed to get inside anyways since his parents would be expecting him soon.
Lena didn't want for him to go inside in case his parents came out so instead she waited until he was near the front door and turned one last time to wave at her before she returned the gesture and then told Clive to leave.
Two weeks would really end up passing by quicker than she had expected. Unlike Samuel, she had take care of while they were apart.
*Author note* So this is the end of the first volume. Thank you for all your support up to this point. I will be getting the second one up soon. In the meantime, those of you who are here for romance may wish to check out my spirity novel - Romance Among Humans for something a touch different but slightly similar.