Samuel did take a bath and eat something small for dinner even though he wasn't really that interested in food. He also took a small amount of time to talk with his mother who gave him a huge hug the moment that she saw him. There was a lot the two of them wanted to talk about after everything had happened, but they agreed that it could wait until the next day after everything that had just happened.
Samuel's disappointment only grew as the night went by and Lena didn't come out of her room to join them for dinner or even after to do anything else. It worried him but Zane insisted that he didn't bother her because she needed space after everything that had happened.
What Samuel didn't understand however was that by giving the princess space would somehow turn into three days without seeing her for even one minute. As far as he could tell, she hadn't even stepped outside of her room once since they came back. Which definitely was unusual for her since he knew the amount of work that she always had to focus on.
Zane still refused to let him go in and bother on the third day even after he had asked if this was normal to let her be after everything that had happened. What if something was wrong or something worse had happened that she didn't want to talk about, those were the top concerns going through his head as he tried to talk with the father.
"Look." Zane finally said when Samuel wouldn't leave him alone about the matter.
"There are things that happened in Lena's past, actually that affected the whole family. It's not my place to talk about it since the two of you are going to be getting married, but it's simply that everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours triggered strong emotions related to those events." Zane explained.
"I won't say too much because I'm sure that Lena will explain it to you herself once she feels that it is the right time and she's in a better headspace herself. Right now she just needs space to deal with everything."
"But what if what she really needs right now is someone to rely on rather than to be left alone to be consumed by all those emotions if what she dealt with in the past was so bad?" Samuel pressured. He understood what the other was saying, but three days without at least eating anything seemed like a bit too much.
"That's for her to decide, it's nothing something that you can push onto her just because you think that it is the answer to the problem." Zane replied as he continued to through the paperwork on his desk. He was picking up some of the work Lena would've been doing but he knew that she didn't have the ability to take care of at the current moment in time.
Samuel stood quietly in front of his desk but he could tell that the other wasn't pleased with the answer that he had been given. He didn't think that it was the right one and he wanted to be able to go and see the princess even if she wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone. He could tell that by the firm look on his face.
"Alright. I will make you a deal." Zane said after a few minutes had passed and it became obvious that the other wasn't going to leave until he could change his mind.
"Since it has been three days, if she doesn't come out for dinner tonight, you can try take something in for her to eat. If she rejects you however and doesn't want you in there at all, I expect you to respect that wish and let her be until she decides she's ready to come out." He told the younger man a sigh. Knowing his daughter, he didn't think that it was the right call, but he also understood such things were issues and boundaries that they would have to work out amongst themselves once they officially married.
That was the conversation that lead Samuel to now be standing outside of Lena's door with the tray of food in his hand. Ryan had made meat loaf and mashed potatoes with green beans and peas. He had shifted the menu slightly thinking that it would be better to make lighter foods that would be easier to digest after all the stress that had taken place.
Now that he was standing outside of Lena's door, he wasn't really sure what to say or do rather than just barging into her room without asking if it was okay. The light looked it was still off, but it had every other time that he had passed in front of her door and wondered how she was doing.
Now that he had said he wanted to talk with her and intended to bring her food, he couldn't back out now until he had done it. He really was worried about the fact that she hadn't eaten in the last three days. It wasn't healthy after everything that had just taken place.
Taking a deep breath, he gave a firm knock on the door to let her know that someone was standing outside before he just entered. When no reply followed after a moment or two, he decided to go ahead and enter the room and brace himself for whatever would happen.
It was completely pitch black in the room the moment he entered and closed the door behind making it almost impossible for him to see where anything was or where he should set the tray.
"Leave it off." He had just reached out to turn the light on in the room when he was stopped by the sound of what he could only presume was Lena's voice coming from where the bed was most likely located. Her voice however sounded far raspier than usually did.
