Her Royal Highness, Leonor

Apart In Between

El Dormitorio, near Universidad De Oviedo

Philippa

I lowered down my hand holding the phone and thoughtfully laid it back on the table.

I stood staring at it for the next couple of minutes as the apologetic voice of Aurelia kept on hovering over my reverie as she said to me the words that quickly saddened the rest of my day.

And may sadden me for the rest of November.

There has been a change in her schedule, and she needs to go back to Wales to keep up with the school schedule we've overlooked due to her busy schedules.

I abandoned the phone on the table and sat on my bed. I took my eyeglasses off and left it on the side, mulling over the thought. I'm glad Sylvia is not in the door room, or else she'd be noticing right away the change in my expression. Up on the wall, I caught sight of the beige red cap Leonor bought for me back in the tienda, and as if remembering things, I look back on the edge of the bed where the princess sat on that night we shared the coffee here, imagining her bright blue eyes sparking across the room.

I won't be seeing those blue eyes for another month or so.

Remembering this, the secretary's voice resonated in my mind.

The Princess may not have the chance to return to Madrid for a month or so, and she likes to apologize on behalf of the sudden change on the schedule.

I closed my eyes.

I even didn't get the chance to say goodbye.

I exhaled a sigh, and lay down back in my bed and opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. I wondered how the princess reacted to the poem I've written about her and wondered if she ever read it among her many gifts. I wonder what she thinks of it, I wonder if she kept it.

I wonder what she feels about it.

I kind of flinch remembering the content of the poem, and everyday since the evening stroll in the park, I keep on grimacing remembering how bold I have been expressing my feelings, the way I see her in the poem. I wish I could call her or send her a message or type her an email, but given the restrictions the monarchy has placed upon her, the only thing I can do to reach her is by relaying everything I can to Aurelia.

And it may be the last thing on my mind but I don't feel at all bold to relay to the secretary that what I'm feeling for the princess isn't about her as a princess.

But her as Leonor.

That night, I dreamed of me roaming down the park where we had been that night, hearing Leonor's hushed low tone voice, asking me to follow her. The next morning, I woke up on the far corner of the bed, and unconsciously looked back on the same spot where she sat back in that coffee night, still imagining that she was there.

I flipped the sheets wide open

She's not here, but I am.

I jumped out of the bed and tried to get on with my day.

The first week following that phone call from Aurelia seemed to be going as normally as I can observe, apart from the weird feeling every Wednesday where I finish my chores earlier, making time for the supposed to be session with the Princess. After completing my assignments for the day, I find myself in a similar state; alone in our room, staring at the ceiling. When I figured this is not how my new Wednesday afternoon can be spent, I gathered up my notes and walked back to the University where I spent a few hours pre-reading things on my upcoming quizzes on my majors.