Philip didn't show up for breakfast the next morning, so it was to be assumed that he would have breakfast either in his room or in the study. Which meant he was either really busy with business related stuff or was avoiding Willow. She surely was hoping that it wasn't the latter.
Back in her room after she had breakfast downstairs, Willow wondered if she should just give her brother some space or if she should go looking for him. Just a quick check up to see if he was alright. For all she knew he could be ill and in bed. Although one of their servants would have probably mentioned that to her.
She didn't want to seem too noisy though. Even though, if she were honest, she was quite curious what he was doing all day in that study and who that guest had been the other day.
One thing was for sure though. If she decided to go and check up on him, she would have to make it seem like she wasn't really there to see him and to interrogate him, but wanted something else and he just happened to be there and it would only be normal for her to start a conversation then.
It was past nine already so Willow assumed that her brother was no longer in his room. He'd show up in the study around this time at the very latest. She could just pretend to go look for another book. She hadn't finished the one she got yesterday, but she doubted that Philip would notice that it was just an excuse to go and see him. He would probably be busy with work already.
Willow could just hope that he wouldn't get mad at her for interrupting him. But if she knocked, he couldn't really get mad at her now could he? He didn't forbid her from coming to the study today and by knocking she was sticking to his rules. Even if she were to interrupt him in his work, there would be no reason for him to get mad. And if he did, she could always just leave before it ended in another fight, right?
Maybe he was glad to get a break from all that business stuff and chat with his little sister for a while. That was possible, right? Okay, the chances were slim - like, really slim but it was possible. Theoretically.
Alright, she'd go. She wouldn't keep him long. Just knock, enter, a quick hello, stroll over to one of the shelves, ask him how he's doing, maybe apologizing for being noisy yesterday (depending on his reaction of her showing up in the study) and leave again. If he by some miracle was in the mood to talk to her, they would of course keep the conversation going. She could tell him about her plan to go up to the attic today and look through some of the stuff up there. And maybe he would tell her what he was planning on doing today. He probably wouldn't though. He'd probably be very eager to end that conversation and get her out of the study again.
Willow tried not to mind that he built such a high wall around him. That he was showing her the cold shoulder constantly - well except for the start of yesterday's conversation over dinner - and that he was shutting her out like that. She forced herself to keep in mind that this was his way of dealing with the loss of his father. That he would not let the grieve, or any feelings at that, take over. Instead he would focus all of his attention on the work at hand.
Prepared for another rejection from her brother, Willow finally made her way over to the study. Her head still undecided on whether this was the right or the wrong thing to do. Shouldn't she just let him deal with the grieve his way? But he couldn't push his feelings away forever, now could he? Maybe by asking how he was, she could get him to open up a little and to let go of some of those bottled up feelings, bit by bit.
Stopping in front of the door to the study, Willow took a big breath before knocking and opening the door. Her mouth formed a silent oh, when she noticed that her brother wasn't alone. There was another man, sitting in the chair in front of the big wooden desk. Both his and her brother's eyes now on her.
This was not how things were supposed to go. Panic started to rise within Willow, as her brother's expression turned from surprise to anger.
Before he could have even said a word, Willow had already turned around and left the office, closing the door behind her in a hurry. This was bad... He would be really mad. Really really mad. Willow was on the way back to her room in a quick pace, but didn't get much further than a few steps, when she heard the door behind her being yanked open again.
Stopped dead in her tracks by that noise, the young duchess bit her lip, desperately searching her head for some way to prevent this fight that was obviously about to happen. But she was left with nothing when her right upper arm was roughly grabbed and she was spun around to meet her brother. And he was fuming.
"How many times do I need to tell you to knock on that stupid door before you learn!" Philip pressed out between thin lips, obviously trying to keep this quiet and not let the whole house hear in on their conversation.
"I... I did knock." Willow stuttered out in a quiet voice, noticing too late that that probably hadn't been the smartest thing to say at that moment.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Philip yelled, not a thought wasted on keeping quiet anymore. "Do I really have to explain to you, how knocking on a door works?! First you knock and then you wait to be asked inside! It's really not that freaking hard, Willow!"
"I'm sorry, I was just-" Willow tried to explain why she had come there in the first place.
"You had no business being in the study today. No business at all. You just got a new book yesterday morning. You cannot possibly have finished it all in one day!" Philip interrupted his sister, his yelling voice ten times louder than her small apologetic one. Willow ducked her head, clearly wanting to disappear into thin air. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, she could say or do right now to calm her brother down and resolve this situation.
"You need to stop being a noisy little brat and behave. I am sick and tired of you bursting into MY study and wasting my time! You are to keep out of that room from now on, understood?" Philip continued, his head by now read from anger and yelling. "Yes." Willow replied, her voice not more than a whisper now, not daring to look up to her brother.
He pressed out a short "Good." and stormed off, back into the study, slamming the door in the process and Willow was left by herself in the hallway.
It took her a moment to pick up her courage again. This was not how she had imagined things to go. How did this go so drastically wrong? Yes, she should have waited for him to answer, it was wrong of her to just open the door right after knocking, but she couldn't have known that he had company. She didn't hear anyone coming in.
Ever so slowly Willow made her way back to her room. Her head hung low in disappointment.
Why did she always have to mess things up? She really did seem to have a talent for that. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, saying the wrong things at the wrong time. It was not surprising that her brother thought of her so lowly.
She should have just stayed in her room. She should have given him some space. But no! She had to go and try to make things right at that very moment. She couldn't have waited till lunch to ask him how he was. She was stupid - so, so stupid!
Now back in her room, Willow was not in the mood to go up to the attic anymore. She was not in the mood for adventures and discovering treasures. If she were to be honest, she wasn't in the mood to do anything at all. And so she just started out her window. Watching the wind that had picked up today pulling on the branches of the trees. Watching the clouds floating by so much faster than they normally would. And feeling defeated and disappointed. Not even so much at her brother's reaction. It had to have been expected. But disappointed at herself, for messing this up again.
She really had felt like they had made some progress last night, but with that stunt that she just pulled they were just as far from each other as before she had started her efforts to change things.
Maybe they were just not supposed to get along. Maybe she should just keep away from her brother. It would probably be the best thing to do. Like that, at least they wouldn't constantly be fighting.
With a sigh Philip dropped back on his chair behind his desk. "I'm sorry about that." he apologized to his best friend Charles, smoothing his hair out with his hands. "See, this is exactly what I have been talking about. She just doesn't have any manners. It's our father's fault really. He has always been way too easy on her." Philip looked up at his friends again. He had invited him over to talk to someone uninvolved about the deal that he made with the Grand Duke.
"You shouldn't have been so hard on her." Charles replied in a calm tone. "I'm sure she didn't mean to interrupt our conversation. I mean you haven't even told her that I was here, now did you?"
"No, I didn't." Philip confessed grudgingly, noticing that he might have overreacted and that his best friend was probably right. "But I did tell her a million times to properly knock on the door." Philip felt in need to defend his actions.
"Did you see the expression on her face? How it turned from surprise to sheer panic, when she realized what was going on? She shouldn't be that scared of you. She's your sister, Philip!" Charles argued back, trying to talk some sense into Philip. He couldn't understand why his friend got ticked off so easily these past weeks.
"I know!" Philip replied, trying not to get into a fight with his best friend too. "I know. I'll make sure to apologize to her later. It's just been a lot lately. Our father's death, taking over the estate and..." He trailed off there. He still had to tell Charles about the deal with the Grand Duke and he wasn't too sure if Charles was agreeing to it being the right thing to do.
"And what?" Charles asked, already suspecting that there was more on his best friend's mind than what he had previously told him. It had to be something that distressed Philip quite a bit, if he was even hesitant to tell his best friend about it.
Philip took a deep breath to gather some courage, before he started to tell his friend all about the deal with the Grand Duke. How he had received the letter. How he had not known whether to accept the deal or not. How the Grand Duke came there the other day and what they had talked about.
Charles had been listening closely to his friends portrayal of the past days events, taking a sip from his glass of whiskey every once in a while. Philip had told him about the huge amount of debts that they were in previously so he had been up to date till the part where the Grand Duke had been added to the story.
"Well..." Charles started, once Philip was done explaining and looking at his best friend expectantly instead. "Just to get this clear, you accepted the Grand Dukes offer?"
Philip nodded at that.
"And you didn't even mention it to your sister yet?"
"No I haven't." Philip replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck with his left hand, as he always did when he was nervous about something.
"You know you should have done that, right? You should have talked to her about it and before you accepted that offer too." Charles said in a slightly scolding voice, placing the glass of whiskey on the desk now.
"This is by no means fair on her. I totally understand that you feel guilty about it, as you should and I hope you realize that she has every right to be mad at you." Charles took a moment to look into his best friends eyes and made sure that his words hit home. "If you want her to behave like a grown up, you have to start treating her like one too. You never involve her in any decision making. You don't even tell her about it. You never mention when someone is coming over or why. All you ever do is scold her and yell at her, as far as I know of at least."
Philip felt really bad now. Charles was right and he knew it. But at the same time he felt like it was not as easy as Charles made it seem. It wasn't all his fault. It had not been just him making the mistakes. Willow had been making mistakes too.
"It's not all my fault though." He argued back. "If Willow would have acted like a grown up I would surely have treated her as one. But she is just so stubborn and noisy."
"And you want to claim that you aren't stubborn?" Charles questioned, raising an eyebrow at his best friend.
"No I'm not stubborn!" Philip stated as a matter of fact. "But I am defending my opinion when I know that I'm right." There was nothing wrong with doing that and this by no means was the same as the way his stubborn sister was acting.
Sighing Charles accepted that arguing about this would go nowhere. He knew Philip was at least as stubborn as his sister. It was something that had run in their family for generations. Their father had been just as stubborn as the two siblings. At least that's how Charles knew him.
"Alright, but back to the topic at hand." Charles guided the conversation back to what it had actually been about. "I don't necessarily think that the deal itself is bad. You have never been too excited of having to take care of this estate for the rest of your life anyways."
Philip nodded, glad that his best friend agreed that the deal with the Grand Duke had been a good decision to make.
"Thanks. I really appreciate your opinion."
"And about your sister-" Charles continued, but was interrupted by Philip.
"I know. I know. I have to tell her. And I promise that I will." Someday, Philip added in his head. Not today and probably not tomorrow. But he would tell her. When the time was right. "Good." Charles replied, realizing that that was the best he would get from Philip today and not wanting to argue about it either.
After throwing a quick glance at his pocket watch, Charles declared that it was time for him to get going. He had promised his family to be back for lunch and wasn't going to risk a scolding from his mother for being late. They both got up from their seats and Philip walked his friend to the door, before they said their goodbyes and promised to meet up again soon to go hunting together.
Philip made his way back to the study, still thinking about the conversation he had with Charles. He knew that he should have talked to Willow about the whole offer beforehand. But he didn't. And now it was too late.
At this point, Philip thought it didn't really matter if he told her about the deal now or later on. She would get mad at him either way. So he might as well procrastinate that talk for a little while longer. Also there were other things more important right now. He still had to take care of the debts and go over all of them with the Grand Duke so they could be paid back.
Arriving back in his study Philip's gaze landed on the mess of papers that were scattered all over his desk. With a sigh, he made his way over there, in no mood to look through all of those papers and sort them out, but also knowing that he had to. The sound of the window rattling in its anchoring, made his head snap into the direction of the noise. He hadn't even noticed how windly it was that day.
With two large steps he had reached the window and made sure that it was closed properly. His gaze wandering around the gardens. Of course, his sister wasn't out there today. The weather was anything but pleasant. He imagined her, clinging on to her book, while her hair would be thrown around her face wildly by the wind. She would try to keep it out of her face with her hands in order to be able to see, but her efforts would be useless. A soft smile spread on Philip's face at the thought of his sister.
He had always adored her fierce nature. He could picture her stomping through the gardens in this weather because she wanted to get as far away from him as possible, when he had said something wrong again. She had done that before. Philip had to send Thomas after her, to collect her and bring her back inside. She had been furious about it, when Philip had only been worried that she could get hurt.
A knock on the door brought Philip back from his daydreaming and into reality. After a short "Come in." the door opened.
It was Thomas informing him that lunch was about to get served. For a minute Philip debated if he should just have lunch in his study, but came to the conclusion that he wouldn't be able to avoid his sister forever.
And so he made his way downstairs into the dining room, where Willow was already seated at the table. Her gaze lifted towards him for a moment when he entered, but there was no smile or nod in acknowledgement. She didn't say anything and neither did he. They just sat there in silence, eating their lunch. Both busy trying to ignore the tension between them and get this over with as quickly as possible.
---------------------------
I would highly appretiate it, if you take the time to leave a comment.
Let me know what you like and dislike and feel free to point out mistakes.
Thanks!