XIII

XIII

More than two weeks had passed since the financial reporting happened. After Prince Alexander said that I should stay away from him, or else, I would get hurt. After he started his silent treatment. After everything had changed because of one kiss.

He was off somewhere last week, and I never heard a word from him. This week, he was in his office, yet he did not call me to ask about the budget. Always Clarissa did the negotiation as if she was the bridge between the two countries having a war.

This afternoon, I was preparing myself to go back in my room when Princess Victoria showed in our office. It had been a while since I talked to her. She was still pretty, but came back to be a cheerful royalty from the stiff I saw in the meeting.

"Have something to do after work?" she asked me and pulped her lips like a puppy asking for a food.

I smiled. "None. Why?"

"Great!" her beam ranged from ear to ear. She clasped her hands, "Come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"In some places where women really want to go," she held my wrist and excitedly dragged me out the office.

-----

We arrived in a high-class fashion area of England using a black Audi with a driver and a guard. There was another black car following us, and Princess Victoria told me that it contained four more guards for a freaking security. Those were her words.

There were different stores around. We entered to the nearest in the parking lot. Every dress was like worth my semi-annual salary. I was afraid to touch it because I might give it a stain or damage, and I didn't have money to pay for it.

Princess Victoria talked with a mid-twenty dark-headed woman that looked like the sales clerk of the store. She smiled at us when we entered and never hid her teeth when the Princess talked to her. I was observing every dress, thinking of what they made or calculating the profit of this store in each clothes, when one of the staff spoke beside me.

"Red will be fitted to your skin tone," she said.

I looked at her and shook my head. "Oh, thank you for your suggestion, but I'm only here because I accompany the Princess, she is the one who will buy."

"Who told you?" I heard Princess Victoria's voice interrupted our conversation.

I raised my eyebrow and stared at her then back to the staff and back again, "Your Highness, I don't have money to buy an inch of cloth in this store."

She wrinkled her forehead and looked at me as if I told her that she was not a princess. "Just choose one. I'll treat you."

"What?! No," I fully disagreed, "I mean, I'll buy one soon if I already got my income next month."

"Oh come on, Shirley, this is my payment to you for accompanying me today."

"But..."

"No more buts," she warned and came back to the woman she was talking with earlier.

The staff smiled at me, and assisted me in every rack of dresses. She handed me different styles and colors. From red to blue to white to green, back again to red until we ended up with five dresses. Two reds, two blues and one white. She brought me to the fitting area and left me alone inside a small room that made of mirror walls.

I tried all, but I could not decide what really matched my look. Princess Victoria came to me, and she was the one who decided for a suited dress for me. I wished I did not listen to what she wanted.

----

That evening, we went to a five star restaurant. Princess Victoria wore an elegant strapless royal blue dress, which was fitted to her upper body and baggy above her knees. She made me put on a red long-sleeve dress that the skirt stopped mid-thigh. It shaped the curves I had. As if I had one.

We sat at a table where we faced each other. Some people turned their heads on our table and went back to their own business afterwards. I curiously asked her why we were there and she enthusiastically answered.

"I have a dinner with Ben tonight."

I puzzlingly nodded. "Why am I here?"

She grimaced, and rolled her eyes, "Of course, to meet him."

Oh my gosh, this was not good. "Who is Ben?"

"My boyfriend," once she said that, I sighed with relief. I thought it was going to be a blind date or something. I was not used to those things. "We have dated since high school. If I'm not mistaken, I was only fifteen and he was seventeen when we began our relationship," she boasted.

"Really?" I should not be surprised because I never heard Princess Victoria linked in some random men, but knowing she was a stunning princess, having a long-time relationship was incredible.

"Yes," she grinned, "Actually, we were friends back then, and he had a crush on me," she covered her flushed face, "I never knew his feelings to me, until he said it one day and I realized I also like him. After a year, our relationship developed and I found myself crazily in love with him."

The girl in front of me, and his brother lived in opposite poles. It was a miracle if that Prince stayed longer than a week in one woman. I thought if he was like his sister, he was already perfect.

"He is your first boyfriend?" my question made her more difficult to remove her smile in the view.

"My first in everything," she bit her lower lip as if I have seen the meaning behind her words, "Don't tell my brothers about that. They might kill Ben."

"Huh?" was all I could say. Maybe, I should read more books in British so I could understand the words of everyone I was talking with. It became difficult for me to comprehend some of their words.

"You're so naïve. That's why I like you for my brother," my jaw dropped, couldn't respond to what she had said, "Anyway, what I mean is my brothers only knew that Ben and I never reached the above kiss level. Which is not true."

"Above kiss level?"

She gave me an exasperated sigh and before she could answer back, a man stood behind Princess Victoria and kissed her on the lips when she looked up at him. Once they finished with their intimate scene in public, the stranger looked at me.

"Ben," Princess Victoria started, obviously could not recover from their kiss, "This is Shirley. Shirley, Ben."

"Hi," I greeted him and he waved his hand.

Ben was an attractive big man. He had black hair that almost touched his shoulder, dark eyes that twinkled once he sat next to his girlfriend and faced her, and his bronze skin told everyone he was always outside their house. His frame was huger than Prince Alexander was.

I wondered what they looked when they stood beside each other. I was almost two inches taller than Princess Victoria was, it only meant that she was five-five, and Ben looked like six-five or six-six. They were like middle and pinky finger. Prince Alexander was taller for more than a half ruler than I. That was why when I stood in front of him, I could touch immediately his tempting chest. Oh wait, where those words came from?

The two were selflessly in love with each other. They looked unbreakable and once you saw them, you could see the word 'forever' in their expressions.

"Before you came, I am telling Shirley about our love story," Princess Victoria finally realized I was still with them.

"Ah," Ben smiled, "Tory had a great crush on me when we were still teenagers."

I laughed, "That's not what she told me."

"Wow, Ben! You're impossible!" the princess protested, "Don't believe him," she told me, "In my twenty-one years of existence I never told a false story to everyone."

Ben wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leaned closer, "Baby, I'm just making Shirley laughed, you know. I would die in that time if I didn't see you for one day."

"And, now, you can live without me?" she scowled.

"Do you think that is possible that I live the rest of my life without you?" he gave her a quick kiss and I smiled at them.

They were so adorable. I was starting to feel envy and thought of when I would find a man, who would love me truly, like Ben to Princess Victoria. A man, who wanted my heart, not my body. A man who would say to the whole world that I was his girlfriend and no girls could get near him again.

I felt out-of-place to the two lovebirds so I turned my head toward the glass window that viewed the lively Thames River, and the nightlife of London. I tried to imagine my family to be here and able to see those pictures. For sure, my youngest sister, Hana, would jump and cry for joy that finally she went to London which she was only seeing in TV.

What am I doing here, anyway? I was like a chaperon here.

I was so distracted observing the outside when I finally got an answer.

"He's here," Princess Victoria delightfully said, looking over my shoulder.

I followed her gaze and swallowed the lump in my throat when I saw him wearing his expressionless face. He eyed me like an eagle and me as a worm.