We almost toured the entire vicinity of Simala Shrine Church and it was also close to twilight but until now Prince Arsh still doesn’t remember me. Soon we will go home and leave this church.
It's a pity because what I expect is that he will remember me while we are still here because this church design helped a lot to remember our memories when we were still in the Kingdom of Norland.
"Oh, why are you upset about that?"
I looked up at Kaith who was still busy taking pictures in the mini garden at the back of the church. I was sitting dejectedly behind her.
I didn’t answer her and the expression on my face still remained.
There seems to be no real hope that he will remember me.
I will have a harder time reminding him when we get back to campus. Only the History subject connects us and that ‘time’ was not enough to remind him who I was in his past life.
But what if he was right?
Maybe I was wrong. He wasn't really Prince Arsh.
That may be because I miss the Princes so much, I'm just looking for people who look like them or I'm just looking for someone like them. They may not even exist in the modern world.
They will just remain a good memory of the past.
"I feel like I'm not going to have a boyfriend anymore," I said without ejaculating.
My friend looked away when she heard what I said and burst out laughing. “Is that what you were thinking before? That you won't be together anymore?"
I just nodded.
"How did you say so?" she still laughed at the question.
“How? The man I want doesn't exist in our world." My face frowned even more. "That person I love, left in the past."
Kaith could no longer speak. I knew she could not understand me because she knew nothing about my trip to the Kingdom of Norland. And I have no intention of telling the story because she might even tell me I'm crazy.
“Okay, Class…” We all turned our attention to Ma’am who was a newcomer. “Get your things and get organized. After 15 minutes, we will go home.”
Some students still heard their weak complaints. It looks like they really don’t want to go home yet because they requested earlier from the very head of the Philippine History subject that if possible they just spend the night at the nearest hotel because they still want to take a walk tomorrow. We couldn't get around to other tourist spots near here because we spent the day walking around the church. But no matter what request we made, they still did not grant us. We have to go home tonight because that is what is stated in the memo approved by the President of the University.
“Zariya, stand there. We have to go to the front to wait for the bus,” Kaith ordered me.
I don't feel like standing up.
My friend confronted me. “Don't be a sad girl there. You know, before we go home, you already have a baby.” After she said that, she gave me a crazy smile.
For the last time, my eyes wandered throughout the church.
If Prince Arsh ever lived in this world, in this church I would like to marry him.
Kaith and I have already started walking. Other students, including Isagn and Kaleela, also followed us. We landed safely in front of the big gate of the church. We were told to wait for the others and complete before boarding the buses lined up right in front of us.
Ten minutes before five o'clock in the afternoon and almost everyone was already here. I, on the other hand, was indifferent and just remained standing while bowing.
“For the Class Mayor of each block, kindly check your classmates. Be sure that your block is complete before we board his bus,” Ma’am Castro announced.
The Class Mayors complied with the order. Our Class Mayor Shane started circling carrying her list of names listed on the bus we had boarded earlier.
I can’t wait to get on the bus. I want to go to sleep right away because I feel tired. Add to that my despair that Klein and Prince Arsh are one.
"Ma'am Castro?" Shane raised her hand. I just looked at her seriously and waited for what she would say. “Ma’am, we have less than five students in our block. Klein and Leslie, who were with me on the bus, are not there yet. Even Raven, Clarence and Warren that you transferred to our bus are still missing,” she said worriedly.
My eyes widened. The five names she mentioned were the five students I mistaken for reincarnations of the Princes.
I'm even more nervous because why are the five of them still hurt who haven't come yet?
"Where are those kids?" Ma’am Castro asked worriedly. "Perhaps those who went to church were distracted and were not told to go home. So who can find them inside?”
No doubt, the one next to me shouted. “Ma’am, it’s just me! I mean, Zariya and I will just look for them.” I looked at Kaith. "I am a cousin of one of them and I also know those four students because they are five friends," she explained, making my eyes widen even more.
Are they five friends? And does Kaith really know? I don’t think I knew that!
“Okay, just tell them to come straight here so we can go home. The same goes for other blocks that are not yet complete. Please find your classmates.”
Kaith pulled me back inside the church.
"Kaith, how do you know those four students?"
She gave me a reason to stop me too.
"Don't you really remember me, Zariya?" she seriously asked.
My forehead furrowed. "What do you mean?"
“You're very deceptive! Those five Princes did you meet in modern persona while I did not? Are we really friends, huh?”
I stared at her face intently. During the time Kaith and I have known each other and are friends, I just stared at her for a long time. Until an image of a woman appeared in my mind as I stared at her.
Ysabelle!
“Is this really true? Y-Ysabelle?”
She had a wide smile when I said that name.
"Finally! I'm about to sulk with you because I'm the only one you don't remember,” her voice showed a sulk.
I can not believe it!
My friend in the world of Norland is also a reincarnation of my friend in the modern world.
They are only one, Ysabelle and Kaith are one!
“I mean, you remember me too? Even if you have been reincarnated?” I asked curiously.
She smiled and nodded. “Before we became friends in this world, I already knew you. You were Amity who was my friend then and for the second time, you are still my friend as you are, Zariya.”
“But why Klein? Why can't he remember that he's Prince Arsh? Why doesn't he remember me?”
She did not speak immediately. She pulled me back and continued walking. "That's all you thought!"
I don’t know where we’re going. We just kept walking until we stopped because we had a rickshaw on the road.
How did they get a gig here inside?
"Ladies?" A man on horseback looked up. "Do you want me to take you where you are going?"
Spontaneously draw a smile on my lips. "Prince Dern!"
I remember our first meeting in Norland. I don’t know how I got into the gig that he also runs himself.
The first Prince I met.
“Correction, I am no longer Prince Dern. My name is Clarence,” he said with a smile.
He helped us get on the chariot. I boarded first and when Kaith was about to board, I was surprised because Clarence kissed my friend before finally helping him to board as well.
"Wait? Are you dating?" I couldn't stop gossiping.
Clarence nodded. “Yes, we are. The second time, I didn’t even let myself be cowardly in how I really felt. Because of my cowardice then, we could not share the love that we had been hiding for a long time.”
There is no equal joy I feel now for the two of them.
Ysabelle and Prince Dern's broken love is resumed in the second life.
We also did not take long to ride in the chariot because we were immediately dropped off at the entrance of the church garden.
Seriously, I feel like I'm in the Kingdom of Norland again!
I was in the shade of a tree while waiting for Kaith to come down. And just as he came down, my heart jumped in shock.
Something fell right in front of me!
I was even more surprised to face it. "Prince Nesh!"
Where is he from? Did he jump off the tree?
Our scene is familiar now.
“Hey, Zariya! I'm Leslie.”
The four of us just laughed.
This is what happened when I met Prince Nesh. The only difference is, I fell from the tree then.
We resumed walking. The road to the garden is what we are tracing now.
It must have been natural for the Princes to be surprised because in just a few minutes, someone blocked our path again. I almost fell because it suddenly appeared and something was pointed at my neck. I just looked straight ahead so I couldn’t see who that person was and what thing he was pointing at me.
"Warren, you still haven't really forgotten your power."
The male source of the voice slowly removed the object that was focused on me.
"Are you as nervous again as when we first met?"
Prince Cozen!
I slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Up to this point, are you still trying to take my life?"
"Relax, it's just a toy sword, look." I heard him chuckled. He showed that it was just a toy sword.
"Zariya," I turned to Prince Ravi whose name is now Raven. I don’t know where it came from. "You need to go there," he said while pointing to the mini garden we had planted earlier. "He's waiting for you," he added.
My heartbeat quickened. I have a strong hunch that the person I’m thinking of right now is the one Raven is referring to waiting for me.
Kaith no longer accompanied me to the garden itself. I left the three of them there. The only advice to me was don’t take us long because the instructors might scold us.
They said they really planned it before we came here. They had all known each other for a long time and knew for a fact that I was destined to be in the Kingdom of Norland to carry out the mission.
Their lives in the modern world depend on the mission given to me. That if I win, their memories will remain and if I do not win the mission, their memories of each other will fade.
And I never let them down. I won my mission! So the memories that were formed when I was in their world are not erased.
I have reached the middle of the garden and I cannot find even a shadow of him. The sun was about to set and we also had to go back to our classmates waiting at the gate.
"Prince Arsh, where are you?"
He still doesn’t show up.
Until I decided to turn around to see the whole area but also when I turned around, I did not expect that he was behind me. Out of shock, I could not balance my legs causing me to fall on his body and he in turn fell backwards on the grass.
Simultaneously with our fall the unexpected application of our lip. At those times, the whole world seemed to stop. I can only hear my heartbeat and it seems like we are the only two here in ‘this’ place.
This scenario.
Just like when I first felt an inexplicable feeling for him when I was still in Norland.
My eyes suddenly widened when we realized our position now. I quickly raised my head but I still remained on top of him.
“Do you remember this? This is how we started,” he said in a gentle voice.
I smiled at him. Thrill and fun dominate me now. "I really thought you forgot about me."
“Zariya, only the brain can forget. But this…” He pointed to his heart. "I will never forget."
We still don’t stand up until now.
"The story of the two of us was ruined then and now at the right time, the right world and the right person, can we continue? Zariya, I will do what I did not do before.” His stare at me was not taken away. “Can I court you?”
My smile widened even more. “Huh? Is there a courtship stage yet? Can’t we go right away?” I laughed jokingly.
“Hey, Zariya! You are so fragile! It's not like we're in the modern world, you don't look like a Filipina girl anymore, huh! ”
Klein and I turned to the speaker, Kaith! We saw them all standing in front of us. We suddenly felt embarrassed because I still remained superior to Klein. So I quickly got up and shook the dress, Klein did the same.
“There, it's good and you stand up. If the Sisters in the church saw us, we all dead! You really have big minus points in heaven.” Kaith whispered again.
At once we walked back to the front of the church where the rest of our comrades were waiting.
Klein and I held hands. Nothing has changed in the palm of my hand that I was used to when I was still in the Kingdom of Norland. In his palms ‘that’s when I found peace. By simply holding my hand, all my fears were dispelled.
"Zariya?" I turned to him. "I want to go back to this church."
"W-When?"
"On our wedding day."
I am happy because before we leave this place, we will bury the happy memories of the past.
The story that failed will continue again and this time, it will be given a happy ending.
I am Zariya Serein Cortez, an ordinary student from the modern world who was stranded a few decades ago.
Today I am about to close the book about my journey to the Kingdom of Norland.