Chapter Five - Rewritten

                                    

                                          
Aurora and I spent the morning in my pack office working. She was filling out my pack's assessment report, and I was trying to do my normal work. However, I would be lying if I said having her doing her report so close to me didn't make it hard to focus. The urge to get up from my couch and peek over her should to see if she was writing anything bad was pretty strong. But if I actually did that, it would definitely reflect badly on me and my pack; so, I forced myself to stare at my own boring work.
Paperwork was always a good distraction from my issues, even when I couldn't focus. It was easy telling myself that my businesses and pack had to come before my own issues. As long as I was stable enough to run things smoothly and do my paperwork, everything was fine because it had to be. I had to be. Was it unhealthy? For sure, but at least I could admit it.
"Finally, I'm done!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together and doing a little dance at my desk. "My first report ever! That was hard but so exciting! I'm so nervous though... I really hope it's good enough."
I chuckled at her enthusiasm. She definitely was different than her brother.
"I would offer to help check it, but I'm pretty sure that would be against some rule. I'm sure you did good nonetheless. You asked a lot of good questions, learned a lot of essential things about my pack, and wrote things down. All that dedication will most likely be reflected on your report as well," I assured her.
She thanked me with an enthusiastic smile, while packing up her paperwork. Since she came to my pack with only a small purse, she didn't have anything to pack this morning and was ready to start some early morning paperwork like I was. I did wash her clothes for her last night though. I didn't think the princess would necessarily want to go back to the royal pack in dirty clothes. I doubt most people would. So, despite not packing anything but paperwork and whatever else was in her purse, she did have fresh clothes to wear this morning.
Placing my paperwork on my table, I decided to focus on my delicious coffee and Aurora, who decided to sit next to me on the couch. She peaked at my paperwork before quickly looking away almost as if she was embarrassed.
As if she sensed my thoughts, she apologised, "Sorry, I probably shouldn't pry on your work."
She probably noticed my facial expression and didn't actually sense my thoughts.
"It's okay," I shrugged. "It's just ordering and shit. Nothing anyone could do something with." I almost brought up the fact she was a princess so she didn't technically have to apologise for snooping. Even though I was a couple years older, she legally had more authority over me. But she was so nice, it was easy to forget so bringing it up didn't feel necessary.
"You do the ordering? Your companies are so big; I thought you had someone else do it for you," She inquired, glancing at the paperwork once more. Her fingers tapped her knees while looking back at me with a smile.
I could absolutely pay someone to do most of my work for me. But I budgeted everything very carefully, and while I do have money left over every year, it went into a savings account in case of any emergencies. Plus, maybe, perhaps, possibly, there's a chance, I may or may not overwork myself so I don't have to deal with my personal shit. But who knew for sure, am I right?
I knew...
But we don't need to talk about that.
I explained to her why I couldn't hire anyone extra, which made her hum thoughtfully. My eyes glanced at her fingers which were still tapping, before looking at her face. She was biting her lip and her eyes were looking at my paperwork again. I realised that her habit of biting her lip wasn't an anxious tic like it was for most who did it, rather it was a sign she was thinking. It was sort of rare for her to think deeply before speaking, at least from what I've observed. And while I won't assume she usually doesn't think before she spoke, it did seem that way.