Royal Love (F1 x LH44)

Thirteen

I was on my bed, staring at the ceiling, with my hand in front of me. I was staring at the black stone, the ugly black stone that was put on a golden ring. My engagement ring... I never imagined it to be so ugly. It was way too big and the black made it look like I was going to die soon. My dad was a step ahead after all. He knew I was plotting against him and he pulled the one thing I couldn't stop. A public engagement.

Tears rolled down my eyes, but the sobbing wasn't there. I was too tired to do anything. The only thing I wanted to do was putting this ring in the oven and let it melt away.

I got it off my finger and threw it to my nightstand. It landed in a empty water glass and I thought it was the perfect place. I stared at the ceiling again, still with tears in my eyes. The bed vibrated and I sat up. My phone.

I picked it up and looked at the name who was calling me. Lewis...

"Hi..." I said as I picked up.

"Hey, how did it go?" He asked and I immediately started sobbing.

"My dad was already a step ahead Lewis... I'm so sorry." I said through the sobs.

"What do you mean? How was he a step-" Lewis suddenly stopped talking and I looked at my phone, thinking I accidentally clicked on the end call button. But he was still there.

"Lew? Are you there?" I asked concerned.

"He really was a step ahead..." He said after a few seconds of silence. And he send me a news report.
Headline: 3rd in line betrothed to Duke Williams.

Tears were streaming down my face. "I'm so sorry, I wanted to tell you. I didn't know they were going to make it public this fast. It just happened 30 minutes ago, right before our main-meal.

"It's okay, Jude. You said it would happen..."
Lewis sighed and I wished I could hug him now.

This isn't how I wanted him to find out. I wanted to call him soon, when I had stopped crying fully, but now more of my plan had reached the bottom of the pool.

"I'm just so sorry, Lewis... I really thought we could be something." The tears were hurting my eyes and I couldn't keep the sobs inside.

"It's okay, Jude. We'll take some space and think this through. We're one right? We'll sort this out." Lewis said and I nodded, but I couldn't get a word out.  "We will, okay?" Lewis said again.

"Okay."

One month later
~~~

It had been a while since the whole fiasco with Grayson. And sadly it still was. The engagement was the only subject on the table and everyone talked about it when they were with me. They acknowledged the fact that I looked so happy and was looking fine, but deep inside I wanted to drown into the deep, dark ocean.

Nick and I have been thinking of some way to get out of this for a while. But time was short and within a month we didn't come any further.

My dad had said yesterday to the press that the wedding was in 2 weeks and I started to freak out. Only 2 weeks left with no plan or whatsoever.

And Grayson? Well I have been seeing him a lot for the last month. He demanded that I would go on dates with him, threatening that he would tell my dad about my misbehaving if I misbehaved at his side. Also he wanted more private moments. Little walks around my old grandma's garden, which was my safe-haven until Grayson showed up there a lot more often. And the heated moments in his room. He would drag me to his room and pin me against the wall, forcing me to touch him and kiss him sometimes as well. He devoured me like I was some peace of meat and I had to keep myself together to not fall to the ground and pass out every time from all the stress. He did have his boundaries, he wouldn't come to my room, nor would he assault me by forcing me to have sex with him. He was playing a smart game and I knew it. He wouldn't do anything illegal to me. Not noticeable at least. He started to hit me sometimes, only at places that could be covered, but they still hurt and sometimes made me physically uncomfortable.