Chapter 349: Her Dream Man

Rebecca’s POV

​I opened my eyes and turned my head toward Rola. She had lowered the book onto her lap and was looking at me with a strange hesitation that immediately made me suspicious.

​"Sure."

​She hesitated for another second, resting her chin on her knees. "How well do you know Kaden?"

​My fingers tightened slightly around the edge of the blanket. Of all the questions she could have asked me in the middle of the night.

​"What do you mean?"

​"Are you two friends?"

​I swallowed down the lump in my throat before looking up at the dark ceiling. "Not really."

​"Oh." Rola nodded slowly.

​I glanced back at her. "Why are you asking?"

​"Because you seem comfortable talking to him." She shrugged softly. "Most of the candidates can barely look him in the eye without becoming nervous, but you argue with him like he’s just another person."

​Well. That was one way to put it.

​"I’ve known him for a while," I said carefully, forcing my voice to stay even. "He stayed at my mother’s pack for some time a few years ago, so we’ve met before."

​It wasn’t technically a lie. It was simply missing about ninety percent of the story.

​Rola nodded as though that explanation was enough, but then she let out a soft, heavy sigh and stared down at the book in her hands.

​"What is it?" I asked.

​"Tomorrow is Kaden’s birthday."

​My heart gave a strange, sudden flip in my chest.

​Tomorrow?

​I hadn’t known that. Then again, why would I? I had spent the last three years deliberately avoiding anything that had to do with Kaden.

​"Oh," I said quietly. "I didn’t know."

​"I’ve been trying to figure out what to get him." Rola placed her book aside and leaned against the headboard. "I’ve already bought him a watch and a few other things, but they don’t feel special enough. Kaden is difficult to buy gifts for because whenever I ask what he wants, he says he doesn’t need anything."

​That sounded like him. I pushed the thought away almost immediately.

​"I don’t think I’m the right person to ask about gifts for Kaden."

​"I wasn’t going to ask you that." Her expression suddenly brightened with enthusiasm. "Actually, I need your help with something else."

​I didn’t like the sound of that. "What?"

​"I want to surprise him with dinner tomorrow night. Just the two of us. There’s a private glass garden behind the west wing, and I’ve already spoken to the kitchen staff about setting everything up there." She sat forward eagerly. "But if I ask Kaden to meet me there, he’ll know I’m planning something. I need someone else to lure him there around eight."

​It took me a second to realize what she was asking.

​Then I sat up, shaking my head instantly. "No. Absolutely not."

​"Rebecca!"

​"No."

​"Please!"

​"Why don’t you ask Kane? He’s literally his twin brother."

​"Because Kane can’t keep a secret to save his life."

​"Then Logan."

​"Logan will tell him too!"

​"You don’t know that."

​"I’ve known them long enough to know neither of them can keep anything from Kaden." She gave me a pleading look. "Besides, Logan would probably inform Kaden out of habit because he thinks surprise events are a security risk. The second either one of them suddenly asks him to go to a garden at night, he’ll know something is wrong."

​"And somehow I’m better?"

​"Yes."

​I stared at her.

​Rola smiled sheepishly. "You can tell him you need to discuss something about the training. You could tell him Drake sent an urgent message or that there’s an issue with the candidates’ schedule. He won’t suspect anything because you’ve already argued with him about the unit several times."

​I shook my head. "No."

​"Please, Rebecca." She clasped her hands together. "You’re the only person among the trainees who can actually get him somewhere after hours without making him suspicious. Just get him to the garden. I’ll handle everything else."

​I wanted to say no again. In fact, every sensible part of me was screaming at me to walk away. But Rola was staring at me hopefully, her face bright and earnest. She had been nothing but nice to me since arriving, and she had even helped me earlier when I was panicking on the field about Stephanie. She was just a girl trying to do something special for the man she cared about.

​I let out a long, defeated breath and rubbed my temples. "Fine. I’ll get him to the garden at eight. But after that, I’m leaving."

​Her entire face lit up. "Deal! Thank you! You are an absolute lifesaver, Rebecca!"

​I nodded numbly. The silence settled over the room again, but a question had been sitting on the tip of my tongue all day. Before I could stop myself, the words slipped out.

​"Rola?"

​"Yes?"

​"Are you and Kaden really dating?"

​Her reaction answered me before her mouth did. A soft blush spread across her cheeks, and a small smile appeared.

​"Yes. We started dating about four months ago."

​Four months.

​I wasn’t sure why my brain decided that number needed repeating, but apparently it did.

​Rola tucked a strand of silver-blonde hair behind her ear. "Although, technically, I’ve liked him much longer than that. I confessed my feelings to him about a year ago."

​"And?"

​"He turned me down."

​That surprised me enough to make me look at her properly.

​Rola laughed softly. "Not cruelly. He just told me he wasn’t ready for anything, that he had too much baggage from his past and couldn’t be emotionally available for anyone. Then we met again at a royal gala four months ago, and I told him my feelings hadn’t changed. I made my intentions clear again."

​My throat suddenly felt dry. "What did he say?"

​"He was honest with me." Her smile softened with nostalgia. "He told me he still wasn’t sure he was ready for a relationship. He said there were things from his past he was still dealing with and that he might not be able to give me everything I wanted emotionally. But I told him I wasn’t asking him to promise me forever. I told him I didn’t mind taking things slow. I could wait for him to become comfortable with me, as long as he was willing to try. Eventually, he agreed."

​I stared down at my hands resting on the blanket.

​"And he’s been really sweet," Rola continued, completely unaware of the wreckage her words were causing. "He sends me gifts almost every week. He calls me every day when we’re apart, even if he’s busy, just to check up on me and ask about my day. Sometimes it’s only for five minutes, but he always calls."

​I swallowed hard, keeping my face buried in the shadows.

​He calls every single day. He sends her gifts every week.

​My chest tightened.

​Maybe this was the Kaden I would have known if we had met under different circumstances. Maybe if there had been no Helen, no accusations, no prison, no choker, and no hatred between us from the beginning, he would have sent me flowers too. Maybe he would have called just to ask about my day. Maybe he would have courted me properly, taken me to dinner, and given us the chance to fall in love without all the pain that came first.

​For a brief moment, I found myself wondering what we could have been if our story had started differently.

​But it hadn’t.

​And now another woman was getting the version of Kaden I had once wished I could have known.

​"He hasn’t told me he loves me," she admitted softly. "Not yet. I know he’s still carrying things from his past, and maybe I’m silly for being willing to wait. But..." She smiled to herself, her eyes shining in the dim light. "He’s my dream man, Rebecca. I’ve wanted him for a long time. If he needs time, I can give him time."

​"Oh," I managed again, my voice sounding hollow even to my own ears. "That’s... really sweet, Rola."

​Rola reached for her book, placed it on the bedside table, and switched off her bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

​"Thank you again for agreeing to help tomorrow," she murmured, pulling the blanket over herself. "Goodnight, Rebecca."

​"Goodnight, Rola."

​Within a few minutes, the steady, peaceful rhythm of Rola’s breathing filled the room as she drifted off to sleep.

​I lay back down on my mattress, pulling the blanket all the way up to my chin, and stared blankly at the dark ceiling.

​Four months. Kaden had been dating someone for four months, and tomorrow, on his birthday, I was going to help his girlfriend surprise him with a romantic dinner.

I turned onto my side and pulled the blanket closer around me, staring at the wall as everything Rola had just told me played over and over in my head.

The flowers. The gifts. The calls every single day. The way she had smiled when she called him her dream man. But what stayed with me most was the thought I couldn’t seem to push away. Maybe this really was the Kaden I would have known if we had met differently. Maybe somewhere in another life, without all the pain that had come between us first, I would have been the woman planning his birthday dinner.

I squeezed my eyes shut and buried my face deeper into the pillow. I really needed to stop thinking about this.