It’s been a couple of weeks since I left the palace. Remembering his face causes me so much pain that I cry and break down, so I try not to think about him for a while so that I can focus on my family and their happiness instead. It’s only been a few weeks, yet it seems much longer.
Mishelley tapped me on the shoulder and urged me to leave my lonely room and go out and meet new people. "Get your thoughts down, Gemma. We’re not going anywhere without you."
"Maybe we should leave her alone," Abel suggested, sensing that I wasn’t in the mood for conversation. "Mishe, she’s in a vegetative condition."
Mishelley scowled at Abel, who had no concept of what a vegetative condition was.
"What?" Abel held up both hands.
Mishelley switched her attention back to me and said, "If this is about him again, you need to move on."
"Yes, just move on," Abel stated again and again.
"His rumored engagement to the duchess’s granddaughter has been widely reported. They mentioned it numerous times throughout the article, on Facebook and Instagram."
"It’s kind of annoying to read those articles," Abel added. "Especially the bit where the king convinces everyone that Prince Augustus is in love with Felicity when, in fact, he was in love with..."
"The fuck Abel!" Mishelley stated it out loud, which made my mom come in to see what was going on. She sincerely expressed regret, saying, "I’m sorry, Tita."
"My fault," Abel murmured to Mom with a guilty grin on his face.
My mother slammed the door, which had been barely closed moments before, and I turned my back on them, facing the dreary white wall. I saw it too, Mishe, and it stings a gazillion times more than it did before.
Mishelley runs her hand through my hair, applying light pressure. "No, we wouldn’t coerce you into coming, but please let us spend the night here again."
"Can you go... please?" I pleaded as I continued to turn my back on them.
It was rude of me to tell them to leave after they traveled all the way to Zamboanga from the beach to check on me. They were gone, the door’s gentle slamming let me know.
I collapsed as tears of searing misery poured over my face. I’ll be waiting for you in the next hour. Every time I went to see my family, he would utter those exact words, as if he knew I’d be back in his room in no time.
As those two burst back into my room shrieking about the prince, I thought my heart was going to stop. I can see they’re weary. They have lost clarity in their speech.
"Jeez!" I arose from my supine position. "I said go, how come you..."
"Your mother just told me that the prince is here!" Abel exclaimed with glee.
Mishelley continued, with a beaming smile covering her entire face, "He wants to see you."
"You mean the prince, prince?" I questioned, skeptical of their claims.
"Yeah, your prince." and dragged me out of the room to prove she wasn’t fibbing.
To find that he isn’t the prince I had hoped for. "Prince Emmanuel?" The sound of my voice clearly conveyed my feeling of dissatisfaction upon learning that he was not Augustus.
"You sound disappointed, huh?"
I’ve confused him with Prince Augustus twice now.
In agreement, I gave a slight nod.
A chuckle escaped his lips. "You’ve learned to be forthright now." Prince Emmanuel gave me a cold, glaring look. "I can’t believe how awful you are.
"I kind of haven’t slept for days worrying about..." I halted. "School works."
"Well, you quit school, right?" Mishelley, who was standing next to me, chimed in.
I gave her a gentle prod with my elbow while coercing a grin out of the prince.
"You did what?"
"Nooo,"
"She did," Abel chimed in. "She did nothing except prowl her bedroom like a witch. Check out her skin. It’s quite pale, dude—I mean, Your Highness. I bet her veins have dried up, and she has no more blood."
I shot him a murderous glance. "How am I still alive if no blood is pumping through my veins?"
"Yeah," Abel said with a giddy grin.
Mishelley bowed her head. " By the way," when she gazed at the prince, her large, rosy cheeks appeared to be swollen, and she showed signs of being flushed. "Allow me the honor of formally introducing myself to Your Highness. Gemma’s gorgeous pal, Mishelley Alvez."
The sight of Prince Emmanuel’s hand above Mishelley’s head left her speechless. "Curtsying is unnecessary," When the prince so lightly touches Mishelley, she practically collapses. "Now, if you don’t mind, I need to talk to Gemma about something serious," Prince Emmanuel said as he dragged me out of the house.
He waited until we were out of sight and out of earshot. There is a moment of silence during which no one speaks. The silence, though, was too much for me. "Prince Emmanuel, what business do you have here?" I started.
"I heard about your condition," he said in response. "Aren’t you a little hard on yourself? "
"I’m good, I have no health problems."
"Pale skin, cracked lips, not eating much, and you being trapped in your bedroom for the entirety of the darn day does not indicate that you are healthy!" He spoke the words out. And that was the first time he ever yelled at me: "Are you going to be like this your whole life because of some petty prince?! "
"That petty prince was your brother!" I yelled back at him. His shouting did not make me mad. I can’t stand it when everyone assumes that he is the source of my crazy behavior. "What gives you guys the impression that everything is his fault?"
"Doesn’t it?" He questioned.
I can’t seem to get a single word out. Maybe—no, they’re correct. I’m behaving as though I were suffocating to death slowly.
"Don’t be like those people Augustus detested, those folks who made Augustus their world as if he were some kind of deity. Because, Gemma, he isn’t. He is Augustus, your Augustus," he said as he took my hand and placed a blood-red envelope on my palm. "I didn’t come here to yell at you."
"What is it?"
"I’d like to have you play at the show this coming Saturday."
"Show? But I’m no good--"
"Yeah, because you are incredibly talented. And I wanted to hear that melancholy piece of yours once more," he remarked, complimenting me as if I were a trained musician. "Better to be out practicing violin than bored in your room."
My question stopped him in his tracks. But all he said was that he was "Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday!"