The Princess

10.

EMRYS

I had always been too smart for my age. I knew that. My family got to know when I spoke my first word at four months of age. When I started reciting the previous night's poem when I was a toddler.

My father had me take the Mensa test and there I was, the youngest person to ever be in Mensa. With an IQ of 210, I was a peculiarity.

By the age of eight, I had graduated high school. At ten, I had my first degree.

Academics were never difficult for me. Nor was athletics. I was good at sports and I could play all the musical instruments because essentially, they were all Mathematics.

Never had I found anything intriguing in my twenty years of existence.

But, then she came and barged into me. Literally. Or I barged into her, as she says.

Aranyani Rose was a mystery.

One I could not get out of my head.

I had met the girl two months ago and she had me intrigued as if she was The Riemann Hypothesis.

There was something I could not figure out about her.

She was hiding something.

And then, there were these feelings that I would get when I see her. The rushing heartbeat. The goosebumps. The breath hitching. At first, I thought it was just epinephrine being released. Soon, I ruled that out.

I had figured out what these indications were. I had feelings of infatuation towards her.

She was the first person that made me want to get to know her. The first person I had not figured out just by their mannerisms.

I felt a deep connection with her. Like I had known her since forever, still, she was a mystery to me.

I had never had friends. The twins, Kyna and Asaiah became acquaintances through our parents. They ran in the same social circles and that had been a common denominator for us. We met through the years and became a group. I knew I rained on their parade. I never went to any fun outings with them. For the longest time, I thought that they hung out with me out of pity.

It was sometime later when I understood that they genuinely wanted to be my friends. They did not like me for my genius. They liked me for who I was. I am eternally grateful to have people like them in my life. But, I never felt as if I belonged with them. They were all outspoken and there I was, The Brooding Genius, as the media had dubbed me.

I rarely attended social gatherings, not even events arranged in my honor. When I did, it was because my father or my grandparents had forced me.

My family was the little light I had in my life. The only people I ever showed affection to.

And then she came. I knew it was a little fast. I had only known her for two months. But, the girl was slowly becoming an important part of my life.

Before her, I had never been interested in going out or having fun. I was as if she had turned on a switch inside of me. And there I was, with her and my group of friends in an arcade.

Never had I thought I would waste my time like this when I could be learning something new. But, one mention of her and I agreed.

"You never come out with us, man. Was it because of someone named Anya?" Asaiah inquired with a teasing smirk.

"Yes, it was," I replied bluntly.

"Always the blunt one." He muttered.

"I do not find anything wrong with stating the truth."