The Royal Series 02: The Royal Wooing

Chapter 22

LAURICE

It was weird, honestly. I have this urge to pretend na I don't know Philip but that would be a lie. But I had to set anything personal aside because this conference can greatly affect Great Crystal if I negotiate incorrectly.

That's why I was more than relieved when the meeting was adjourned...or maybe it was too early for me to celebrate.

"Can we talk over dinner?" Philip asked me with a smile and I nodded.

Philip stood near my seat as I stashed my things inside my purse. Binigay ko kay Kate yung files and I walked with Philip until we got a little stuck outside the building. The press is here; still doing their thing. And by thing, I meant being pushy literally and figuratively.

Our respective bodyguards were quick to keep them away from us and it seems na closer ang ride ni Philip so I just went in when he looked at me when one of his bodyguards opened the backdoor. We were on the road longer kasi we were having a hard time deciding on where to eat pero we ended up in another fine dining restaurant.

As usual, we were in a private room and even after a few minutes after we ordered, tahimik lang kami. Until Philip broke the silence with a fake cough.

"I get now why you were mad," he said.

"I wasn't really mad," I said, "just...shocked."

"The idea still isn't clear to me but I get it now, I asked a few people around me about it. And man I was so ignorant."

He kept on telling me about the things he's talked about with other people, his learnings as he said. Natahimik lang when our order arrived and only the sound of the utensils could be heard. Until I decided to say, "sorry."

"About?"

"About how I acted that day? I really did not know how to tell you about your apolitical stance but decided to confront you anyway. But I'm glad now you know."

"Definitely. Man, spoiled nga ako," he laughed. "But how do you assert things like this?"

"Hm...what's one of the things that you're very careful about when choosing?" I asked.

"Food definitely."

I took a bite of my food and thought of how to compare it. And then when I thought of something, I began to tell him. Na what if he's in a new restaurant where he doesn't have any idea about the food? He said na very careful s'ya when choosing his food so I thought about allergies.

Would he just order what's the best selling? Without asking if there's an ingredient there na he might be allergic to? Without knowing if his choice would be bad for him? It seems my explanation is poor since he still looked confused. So I told him na think of the food he was about to eat as the political candidate and their credentials and anything about them as the ingredients.

Wala na talaga akong maisip pa so I recalled one of the elections na buong Great Kingdom ata eh kabado. One of the candidates was really bad news and it took one vote for him not to win. Then I changed the topic na, kasi politics isn't really a pleasant topic but it has to be talked about. And I'm not talking about it to hear him change his mind just because I talked to him. I just want him to think.

Honestly, it was really relieving to hear this kaya by the time we were eating our dessert, nagtatawanan na kami.

"Do you want to watch this?" He asked and showed me his phone.

May poster doon ng isang play and I took my phone out to check the date, I'm free naman so I agreed. I messaged Kate na rin to add it to my schedule. And before ko pa malimutan, I took out one of my birthday invitations na nasa bag and gave it to him.