"Is there something we should do?" Julian was the slightest bit bemused. A woman's menstrual cycle was not a couple activity, surely?
"We can't have sex!"
"Ah."
"Don't cry," she said with a sniff.
Julian could barely control his amusement now. "I'm not, milaya. You are."
"I hate you!" Fleur ended the call with a huff but spent the next half hour crying over what she did. She had always had irregular periods, and they could either be light or heavy, painful or not. Since the past two months had been pretty moderate, she should've expected her period to get a lot worse sooner than later, and oh God, her longest period to date was ten days. That was practically the entire length of her contract with Julian! How could she make him fall in love with her when she was too busy swapping napkins by the minute?
Fleur fretted and worried so much that it was only when the sound of her doorbell ringing woke her up that she realized she had stewed herself into an exhausted sleep. She groaned as she straightened, having fallen asleep on the stool with a cordless heat pad on her belly.
The doorbell rang again, and Fleur forced herself to get up. What time was it anyway? She had forgotten to take her phone with her, and—-
"Julian?" She had just opened the door, and she rubbed her eyes right away, wanting to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
He gently set her aside so he could enter, and Fleur felt like she had drifted into a dream world as she watched Julian lock the door behind him. Was this really happening?
When Julian turned around, it was to see Fleur still staring at him like he wasn't real, and it was just too fucking cute. He carefully pulled her close to press a kiss on her forehead, and he had to hide his smile against her hair when he felt her start rubbing her cheek against his chest like a kitten demanding attention.
"What are you doing here?"
Fleur's muffled tone was yet another adorable thing, and so was the way she kept snuggling and wriggling like she wanted to be a part of his skin.
"After that call," he said wryly, "it was not that hard to guess you would want me here."
Fleur pulled away just enough to look up at Julian. "You're too cocky."
"Do you want me to leave then?"
There was a small pause, and then Fleur said, "I hate you." But since she had also wrapped her arms around his waist very tightly, Julian only chuckled and brushed his lips against her hair.
"I really hate you," Fleur mumbled, but this time she only uttered the words to keep herself from blurting out her true feelings.
"Whatever makes the pain go away, milaya."
She let out a little gasp when he suddenly swept her up in his arms, and she could not remember feeling more cherished as he carried her back to her bedroom. Her brothers were sweet, but they definitely weren't the type to treat their sisters like princesses every time they had their period.
After laying her down, Julian briefly left the room and returned with her heating pad and a cup of ginger tea.
Sitting on the edge of the her bed, Julian caught the suspicious look Fleur sent his way, and his lips twitched. "What a jealous little flower you are."
"I hate you."
"Google, milaya. That's how I know how to spoil you."
A moment passed, and then Fleur's lips broke into a smile, and she looked so pleased he simply had to steal a quick but forceful kiss. And it was quick, but it was still enough to ignite the fire between them, and left both of them breathing hard when Julian pulled away.
"Kiss me again," Fleur begged.
Julian's jaw clenched. "I need you to answer a few questions first."
She nodded eagerly, thinking that he would only utter the usual lines. Are you sure of this? Do you understand there's no turning back? Are you protected? She had heard all about it from her friends and sisters-in-law, and she was totally prepared to say yes, yes, yes.
But instead—-
"Do you have your periods regularly?"
"Uh...no?"
The succeeding questions were all medical nature, and Fleur's mood gradually went from wanting sex to just wanting an explanation. Why had he suddenly turned doctor on—-
"We can't have sex while you're having your period," Julian said finally.
"Oh?" It was all Fleur could manage, trying as she was to remember if she had asked him earlier to make love to her even when she was on her period. All she had wanted was a kiss?
"I've asked your doctor—-"
"What?"
"I called her on my way here—-"
"Oh my God, Julian."
"I needed an expert's advice, and I prefer to be as fully advised as possible when I encounter something new."
Fleur would have laughed and cried at that point, but since a particularly strong cramp hit her at that exact moment, all she could do was curl up with a groan, and Julian immediately reached for the heat pad. He gently lifted her up in order to strap the pad into place, and Fleur already had her eyes closed and her breathing slowing down by the time he pulled the covers up.