Page 108 of That Prince is Mine
“Did you give him an answer when he proposed?” he gently prodded.
“No.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I needed time to think.”
“Did you have an answer for him when you saw him the next day?” Her dad took both her hands and enveloped them between his own, lending his warmth and strength.
“I don’t know,” she whispered as tears rained down her cheeks. There was no more hiding from her thoughts. “I didn’t want to lose him. I wanted to find a way. Then Marion let slip that he had a fiancée, and I got so angry. I couldn’t believe he had a backup plan.”
But she couldn’t dredge up any anger. Was she even angry, then? Or did she just need an excuse to run?
“Kind of like your backup plan?” Her dad didn’t pull his punch. He knew this was too important. “Didn’t Soo have men lined up to meet you whenever you were ready?”
“That’s beside the point, Appa. Do you realize what Michel was asking of me?” Her words took on a shrill note. “He was asking me to leave behind everything I know and love to move to another country—another continent—to be with him. He was asking me to give up everything while he risked nothing.”
“So what you’re really angry about is the fact that he asked you to marry him—not that he has a fiancée who he doesn’t want to marry?” His expression was stern as he pushed her to face the truth.
“Yes.” She jumped to her feet and paced the floor. “No.”
“Or are you just scared, Emma?” He stood and held her by the shoulders, not letting her look away. “Because it’s okay to be scared. I’d be scared, too, in your shoes.”
Emma stopped breathing. She stared unblinkingly at her dad, blood pounding in her ears. He was right. She wasn’t angry. She was scared… about everything. But most of all, she was scared of losing Michel.
“What if I leave everything behind to be with him in Rouleme and he…” She cried into her hands, unable to continue for a moment. She finally raised tear-soaked eyes to her dad. “And he stops loving me? What if he realizes I’m ordinary and… and boring and stops wanting to be with me?”
“Not possible.” He gathered her in his arms. “You’re extraordinary and always interesting.”
A sound between a sob and a laugh broke past her tears.
“I’ve seen the way that young man looks at you—like his world begins and ends with you. That kind of love doesn’t change as long as you both choose love above all else.”
“Promise, Appa?” she whispered through trembling lips, tears coming down in torrents. “I’m so scared his love will fade. I don’t think I can bear to lose him.”
“Ask yourself this.” He paused as though to emphasize the importance of his question. “Would you ever stop loving him?”
“No.” She jerked back in surprise. She knew in the depths of her soul that her love would never change. “Never.”
“Then why do you doubt his love for you? If you believe he loves you with all his heart, then love him back with all of yours.” Her dad wiped her face dry with his handkerchief, snot and all. “That’s the key to forever.”
She let her dad’s words sink in and realized what she had to do—what she should’ve done all along. “Appa, I have to go.”
Emma would always love Michel, so she had to love him with jeongseong—generously, wholeheartedly, and fearlessly. If anyone deserved her very best—her everything—he did. And it started now.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Emma showered and changed in record time and marched down the stairs, not intending to stop until she was back at Michel’s side. As she reached the living room—where her dad sat cradling a mug between his hands—the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get that.” Her dad put his tea down on the coffee table and squeezed her shoulder as he passed. A moment later, he said, “Emma, you have a visitor.”
“Is Auntie Soo back?” She hurried to the front door, thinking she should’ve called her. But it wasn’t her godmother who stood in the entryway. “Gabriel, what are you doing here?”
“I need to speak with you,” he said in a low, tense voice.
Her stomach swooped to her feet, then clogged her throat. “Is he okay?”
“Yes, he’s fine.” Gabriel dragged a hand through his hair. “Fine isn’t the right word. He’s a right mess. Let’s just say he’s alive and unhurt.”
“That’s good.” Emma almost sagged with relief. “Dad, this is Gabriel, Michel’s cousin.”
“Mr. Yoon, I’m sorry for barging in like this,” Gabriel said with impeccable manners. “But I need to speak with your daughter quite urgently.”
