What Love Does
Connor stopped as he stared at his brother.
'Does Penny know about this?' He asked worriedly.
James nodded curtly.
Right before Connor was about to say something, Emma stepped in to intervene.
"Sorry to barge into the conversation, but we have to start our assignment or we won't be able to submit it for extra credit," she reminded James.
Connor seemed impressed, while James grinned at her.
"You're right. Let's do this," he said as he brought her away from Connor and to the private study room each dorm housed.
Connor being genuinely impressed by how she held herself would be a mere understatement. Him being a Carrington and a prince of Amaris meant he was always surrounded by girls that couldn't care less about intelligence, and only about their looks. They wanted to snag the title of princess of Amaris, so they tried their best to woo or court him.
Too bad Connor was not one to fall for those kinds of girls.
Being the son of a consort and the King of Amaris, he wasn't ahead in the line of succession. It was James being the first in line, then his sister, Carina Cristal Carrington, before it was him, Connor Jones Carrington. With that in mind, not as many girls tried to woo him as much as they tried to woo his younger half-brother, James.
James was two years younger than him, making him the older brother.
Connor was a wise prince, though he was known for his looks more than his clear sight.
Yet even though he was clear-sighted, he had never expected his younger brother to change his usual arrogant, unpleasant and cocky attitude just for the sake of a girl, and in less than two days, no less.
His first impression of Emma was immaculate. She was gorgeous, smart, intelligent, polite, and she also was of royal title.
But knowing his brother, who already set sights on her, he knew his brother would do anything if it'd make her reciprocate her feelings.
He chuckled.
"My, my, brother. You've surely found one amazing woman. Who knew that was all you needed to start changing. Mother and father would be delighted," he muttered to himself as he returned to reading his textbook.
Back to Emma and James...
While what was supposed to be difficult was the assignment, James found it difficult to focus on it. Especially not because of the woman who sat beside him. He watched as Emma brushed a strand of her hair every time it fell and disrupted her progress. He watched as she pursed her lips as she found a small mistake at what she had done.
She looked amazing under the dormitory lights. Even if her hair was messy, and even if she was the very girl that got him into trouble, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat when she was around. It drove him crazy, which was something he had never imagined of feeling towards a girl he had just met.
If he was with anyone else, he wouldn't have cared about how he presented himself, or even being polite. Heck, he wouldn't have cared how others thought of him, but when she was around, he tried his best to suit his attitude to her liking. Now, he always felt that pang of jealousy whenever the girl he had feelings for talked to any other person she talked to that wasn't him, be it her best friend, or his own childhood friend. When anyone other than him monopolized her, he always felt this unrestrainable feeling of rage. He hadn't realized it, but he was changing. He was going to have to learn that these were the effects of love.
His usual arrogant demeanour had gone AWOL and seemed to be restrained, leaving him with the most polite and sweetest of attitudes whenever he was around her.
Emma was having similar problems, but she had decided to bury herself with work and not be distracted by the handsome beauty that sat on her right.
She couldn't care less if he helped her for the assignment. Her main focus was not to seem shy in front of the prince.
She had finished her assignment, and she decided to ask James for his opinion on whether or not to change anything she had done.
"Well, anything you'd like to add to the assignment, James?" Emma asked shyly as she looked at him.
James remained quiet, as he stared at what Emma had done.
"Emma, you're amazing," he blurted out.
"I MEANT YOU DID THE ASSIGNMENT AMAZING!" He yelled as he corrected himself.
From the outside of the study room, Connor chuckled.
"So this is what love does to even the most problematic of people," he said as he casually sipped on a beverage.
Back with Emma and James, Emma couldn't hold back her laughter as she burst out in laughter.
"Well, it's not perfect," she admitted while still giggling.
As much as James would love to call Emma perfect all day, he resisted the growing urge and shook his head.
"Em, I doubt there's anything we need to change. You did it perfectly. Now, all we have to do is to submit this first thing in the morning during arithmetic class," James said.
"But what if I got the laws of arithmetic incorrect or mistaken? It'd have a huge impact on my grade, are you sure about-
James smirked as he pressed a sweet kiss against Emma's lips as a way to shut her up. Time seemed to have stopped when his lips met her, and the flutter in her chest intensified as her heart pounded in her chest as her knees got weaker and weaker. If she hadn't been sitting down, she would've fallen to the ground.
All her thoughts about the assignment she had done disappeared as she focused on how soft his lips felt against her mouth, and how addictively he invaded all her senses. Her whole body tingled as the feel of his frame leaning on her as his arms wrapped around her. By the time Emma had become aware of where her fingers were, they were halfway close to slipping under James' suit.
It was said that one kiss spoke a thousand words. This kiss seemed to have. All their emotions for each other were crystal clear as the room turned a sizzling hot.
As for James, it seemed as if he'd never been shy with her to begin with. While his face rivalled the reddest of tomatoes, his only focus was trying to resist another urge to do something much more amorous with her.
"James...I-I have to go and visit Lily," Emma stuttered as she parted from the steamy kiss.
Her cheeks were ablaze as she straightened her sweater.
James' sadness for the kiss ending was hidden by the layers of red on his cheeks. He pouted, but he nodded as he smiled.
"I'll keep the assignment, I won't forget to bring it to class," he said.
Emma grinned at him one last time before she took her leave, leaving the study room as quickly as possible.
Emma bid Connor goodbye, and Connor couldn't help but notice her reddened face as he greeted her goodbye in return.
From the other side of the dorm, beeping sounds were heard as the other two roommates of the dorm played video games.
Connor, having an inkling to why Emma was like this when she left in a hurry, went to his half-brother for answers.
James, on the other hand, stared at the very chair Emma sat on, suddenly aware of his doings.
"I kissed her. Again," he muttered.
"She didn't pull away," he continued on muttering.
"She blushed," he observed.
"Yes, yes she did, James," Connor said as he leaned against the frame of the doorway.
His arms were crossed in an upset manner, but the smile on his face said otherwise.
"It only took twenty-three years for you to find a girl that seems to return those feelings of yours," Connor stated.
James narrowed his eyes and glared at his older brother.
"Well, you do know I'm right. It took twenty-three years to find someone that actually suited your tastes in the first place, and for them to return their feelings, that itself is rare," Connor reasoned.
"Don't think of letting someone like her go. She's one rare case, and I doubt you can find someone like her as easily," he said as he looked at his still-blushing younger brother.
James had a glint of determination in his eyes as he said those words he'd never go against.
"I will never let her go. No matter what separates us, no matter how."