Liam looked down at his hand with a hurt smile and slowly closed the door. He took a deep breath with his back against the wall. With every day that passes, his time was getting wasted waiting for her acceptance.

"Mr. Hale, I am sorry," he remembered the words of the doctor ringing in his ears. He tightly held his jaw and swallowed hard.

After a series of slowly inhaling and exhaling, he pushed the door open in a more noisy manner than he did earlier.

"I will excuse you now," Leah said as soon as she saw Liam.

"Please come back some other time," Rose begged looking away from Liam as she spoke.

"Sure, I can't let you get bored," Leah agreed immediately when she saw the lonely look in the girl's hazel green eyes.

"Thank you," Rose appreciated.

Leah bowed respectfully to Liam before walking out of the room.

"How do you feel?" Liam asked giving her a soft gentle smile.

"I think . . . better?" she asked looking down at her hands to avoid looking at him.

"I am happy to hear that you feel better. Your lunch will be here soon."

"Oh, thank you," she appreciated.

"Do you still think I planned it all?" he asked sitting on the stool and watched her with his face now expressionless as she moved to the other side of the bed.

"I don't know. I don't know what to believe. You are so unreadable," she replied still avoiding his gaze.

"I saved your life, isn't that enough of an assurance?"

"Uh?" she asked with her eyes now saucer-shaped. The feeling of guilt that gripped her heart when she realized he heard her conversation with Leah was something she did not like.

"I don't know what sort of assurance you want," he said shaking his head helplessly.

"I . . .," Rose began and looked at him unsure if she really heard helplessness in his voice but when she saw his face which was very void of emotions she dropped her gaze back to her fingers and sighed. 'What was I even expecting?'

"I really want to know what sort of assurance you need to make you trust me," he said watching her as his mind went through a lot of reasons why her sigh sounded disappointed but he could not come up with any reason.

"I can't trust you or anyone," she replied shaking her head.

"You do. You trust your foster sister and friends," he replied.

"I don't trust them. They don't know anything about me apart from what I let them see. I love them, I believe they are good people but that does not mean people won't change. You have changed yourself," Rose said looking up now letting her gaze rest on his grey eyes that she found to be too beautiful.

Liam was glad she was willing to talk to him. He remained quiet as he looked back into her eyes to avoid missing any detail.

"When I heard of you, I found you really attractive and when Jace told me to date you, I thought it was inappropriate in a way but I was also happy. I wanted you to come for the dinner but you did not come. I have seen you a lot of times and you acted so cold.

"What made you change?" she asked but continued without waiting for him to answer, "What made you make breakfast for me? What makes you smile to me as though we have always known each other? What made you go into a burning building to save me?

"There has to be a reason and how sure am I that you won't change and go back to being the cold boss you have always been just like you changed into the nice guy you pretend to be?

"What did my mother leave for me that you and your dad are fighting to get? What are you two so desperate to get through me that you are willing to help me get revenge?" Rose did not like the annoying truth that for once his expression did not waver away from being so expressionless.

She had poured out almost everything about herself to him including the fact that she once had a crush on him and that she was unhappy when he did not attend the dinner he was invited to.

When he still remained quiet and expressionless, she regretted telling him all she did. "You know what? Just forget it all. Forget I ever said anything. I don't need your help and I need to go back home. I will work hard and pay you back all you spent. I must have been a fool to fall for those acts of kindness," she said and got down from the bed through the other side of the bed.

Liam stood up and very fast, he was by her side to support her but she slapped him hands off. Liam was so confused. He had not idea what to say after she spilled out her mind.

He thought he doing good at expressing his feelings now but when it was time to tell her how he truly felt and the reason he felt that way, he could not form the words and let them out of his mouth.

He was happy she did not hate him totally when he thought he did but it seems his lack of reaction only made her hate him for real.

Rose closed the door of the bathroom a little too hard and pressed her back against the closed door. "What did you just do?" she murmured letting her fingers through her hair.

Was that a love confession? She was not sure. She only had a crush on him and she seemed to like him more and more with every act of kindness of his. She just told him all she felt towards him and he remained so calm and expressionless.

He did not even smile at her like did when he made breakfast for her. All those smiles were gone and it seems like she was seeing the cold distant man who women and girls like her wanted but could never get.

Did he think she will gladly accept his help when he was a total stranger and it was as though he changed the more she got to know him. She would rather accept his father's help than accept his help.

A soft knock on the door of the bathroom as she tried washing her face at the sink startled her.

"Are you okay?" she heard a gentle voice asked from outside the door with so much worry that she could not believe what her ears heard.

"I am," she replied almost immediately to send him away from the door. She waited silently until she felt he must have gone then she looked at herself in the mirror.

Her face was pale but not bad, it was obvious that someone always took care of her during the three weeks she had no idea what was happening around and whether she was alive or not. It had been all dark and she had no memory of it.

When she stepped at out of the bathroom, she startled once again to see Liam waiting for her right in front of the bathroom.

He adjusted her blanket when she laid down but she was too tired and lost in thoughts to bother brushing his hands off.

"I want something from you in return for my help," Liam told her when she had settled properly on the bed and he sat down on the chair beside her bed.

Rose turned and looked at him while blaming herself for being a fool and hoping he remains steadfast that he does not want anything in return.

"There is only one thing I want in return for my help. It is not much but it is a price you have to pay for the help I will offer you," Liam explained unnecessarily. He was trying to stalk, trying hard not to say those words.

"If you help me avenge my mother's deaths and get the throne for me like soldier under my command, I will give you what you want in return if it possible for me to," she told him accepting that fact.historical

She made sure to hide her desperation and her pathetic helpless state she was in from him with the cruelty in her voice. Soldiers back in history never got the chance to ask the king for what they wanted in return for helping the king fight a battle.

The King's were usually kind enough to reward soldiers with outstanding accomplishments to encourage the others to do better and show their people how generous they were with people who worked hard enough for them.

She asked him what he wanted in return to know if she could trust him. She was not a princess yet and she had no importance. She wanted to know she trading and not being in debt. She felt she will only become a debtor if she keeps taking without giving anything in return.