The Matchmaker: Wreck The Royal Wedding

Chapter 7

"I feel guilty."

"Don't be, Papii. You did what you think was right." Gun said, softly rubbing Off's back to comfort him.

"If it were me kissing you and somebody interrupted, things wouldn't be ending well for whoever disturbs us."

Gun snorted. His papii hated stopping Mix and Earth from enjoying an intimate moment during the after- party of their fashion show. But if it were Gun, he would have done the same because even if there are no cameras around, someone might see them and spread nasty rumors.

"Gun's right, Peng. If you didn't stop them, it would have been Mix and Earth being talked about by the entire country now. But it seems like Anya's plans are going well. Mix's appearance in your fashion show is the top searched item on the net since this morning. His interactions with the ladies last night is on the front page of newspapers, all of them speculating if the Prince is having too much fun enjoying the last of his days as a bachelor." Tay said.

"Do you think Mix is trying to stop his marriage so he could be with Earth?" Gun asked.

"I don't know, baby. Maybe, but being with Earth is going to be even more complicated than stopping the royal wedding."

The three of them remained silent at that thought. They were all too familiar with people making them feel that their love is wrong.

"Has anybody reached Mix yet?" New said while holding a bowl of salad as he sat with his friends and fiance on Anya's living room.

"I've been trying to call him since this morning. I even asked Win but he hasn't talked to Mix either." Off said, sounding a bit worried.

"I kinda hoped the Palace won't do it, but I half-expected them to keep Mix locked-up inside and cut-off his access to the public." Anya said, joining her guests with more snacks. It's going to be a long night for them.

"You think I should hack into the Palace's system to find a way to contact him?" New said, munching on his salad.

"Hin, we're already playing with fire digging places we shouldn't have access to while trying to find a deal breaker for this marriage. You don't need to - "

New cut off Tay's rambling by feeding him his salad. "I get it, I get it. Stop being such a worrier, Tay. I can always take the long route so it gets harder for them to track us. By the time they reach the end of the line, all of our traces would be gone."

If anyone is capable of slipping through the Palace's system, it would be New. The genius hacker almost caused Tay Tawan's DBK technologies to close doors when he breached through their security system about two years ago.

"I already told Win to keep trying to reach Mix, so let's not do any big moves for now. It's only been a day, and it's not like they'll harm the Prince. We need to use this time to figure out how to stop this thing altogether. Any interesting stuff, Newwie?"

New was smiling from ear to ear, as if a kid opening presents on Christmas Eve. "Oh, there's so much interesting stuff going on with the Royal Family. But I guess we should watch out for this Aran guy."

"Who?"

"Aran is the Prince's cousin. He's managing most of the Palace's international affairs. What's weird is his travel history. He's been to Italy six times in the last 10 months. Two of those for official business, the other times he went on detour when he visited neighboring countries."

"You think he has something to do with Alicia?" Anya mused.

"There's definitely something fishy about him but we can't connect his visits to Alicia yet. But we don't like how his funds are moving, too. He's transferring it to several accounts before disappearing to countries like Bahamas and Cayman islands where financial regulations aren't exactly tight." Tay explained.

"You think he's into some illegal business?" Gun wondered.

"Maybe, but where does the royal marriage fit in all that?" Off asked.

"That remains a question, Peng. It's harder to track Alicia herself because she's a foreigner and we have to translate most of her records before we make sense of it."

Anya's instincs are telling her looking into Aran is a good move, but she feels like there's more to this mess than a Prince trying to fight for his freedom and true love.

"Money's definitely involved. Alicia's family isn't doing very well." Anya confirmed.

"What do you mean by not doing well? Isn't she a duchess?" 

"She is, but they weren't as wealthy as before. They still have enough money to invest substantially in Thailand, but their family suffered a huge loss some years back because Alicia's brother made some risky business decisions. They had to sell more than half of their lands and real estate to save their business."

While most of the "research" work is done by Tay and New, Anya isn't the kind to just wait for results. She has to know her enemies specially if they're planning to directly compete with The Year.

The plan to spread rumors were meant to delay the wedding, but it also gave the Year a much needed boost. Having first hand knowledge as to where the Prince would be sitting, Anya made sure her team has the best spot to take photos of the Prince. She also had a team work in advance for the write-up, so The Year is the first one to publish a full length story accompanied by close-up photos of the Prince.

"Is it just me or nothing here is making sense anymore?" Gun asked as he rubbed his tired eyes and leaned on Off.

"Do you want to go home now, baby? It's been a long day and we really haven't rested since last night's show." Off said as he put his arms around his husband.

"Maybe you two should try to actually sleep when you're in bed instead of doing naughty things to each other so you don't always feel tired in the morning." Tay teased.

"Speak for yourself, Tay. You don't really do much sleeping on the bed either." Newwie said before stretching his body and yawning.

Tay smiled playfully and moved his face close to New so that the tips of their noses are almost touching. "That's not entirely my fault, Hin. Maybe you should stop looking so appealing every night."

"Ehem. May I remind you all that you're still in my house? I know it's late and as much as I appreciate our brainstorming session, I really think you should take your horny asses home."

With that, the couples went home and the group agreed to continue looking for clues and meet again as soon as someone gets a hold of Mix.

*****

Anya was already preparing for bed when an unregistered number flashed on her screen. She normally ignores anonymous calls, but she picked up anyway.

"I need your help."

Anya instantly recognize the voice on the phone but she can't think of a reason for him to call her at midnight.

"Earth?"