Another way (Young Royals)

The interview

Simon had left for his big televised performance. The whole class was watching it on their phones at breakfast. His performance was really early, as he had been invited to some kind of morning show. He was sitting on the sofa, looking handsome as ever. I suspected Anton, Simon's manager, had gotten a hold of the stylist in time this time. He was perfectly styled. So pretty. I saw a golden eyeliner on his eyelid when the camera got close enough.

"Good morning. This morning we are accompanied by one of the rising stars in Swedish music. Welcome Simon," the male anchor said and smiled at Simon.

"Thank you for having me," Simon said with a polite smile. I smiled too.

"Look, Wille is so proud of his boy," Henry said teasingly.

"Shut up Henry," I replied. I did not want to miss even a word. This was huge. It really was.

"Let him sit there and drool over his boyfriend in peace, Henry," Walter said in the background. "It is big for him, you know."

"So you are quite a new artist, but you have been into music for a long time, haven't you?" the female anchor asked. Simon nodded.

"I have been singing for all my life. For as long as I can remember," he said. "And I am a part of my school choir. I have been the lead singer."

"But not anymore?" the male anchor asked. Simon was no longer lead singer of the choir. It was too much for him.

"No. Now that I am doing my own music I have decided to leave that to a classmate of mine," he said.

"As we all understand, you are still in highschool. How do you balance school and your music career?" they asked him. "We have heard that you are a pretty ambitious student on top of your career."

"So far it has not been a problem," he said. "My classmates are very supportive and so are the teachers." That was a truth with a modification. Mr Hellström had not been too happy with Simon for missing classes.

"We are going to watch a little video of you performing," they said and Simon nodded, before they disappeared out of frame. Instead we were shown a part of his performance at his release party. It was so pretty.

"That was from your release party, right?" the male anchor asked. Simon nodded.

"Yeah. We had a release party for my debut album," he said. He ran a hand through his perfectly styled curls.

"There were a lot of known faces at that party. And I have also heard you had a royal guest attend the party," the woman said. I cringed. Why did they have to ask about my mother? She was the Queen, so of course it had been noticed that she was attending.

"Yeah. Queen Kristina came by," Simon said as neutral as he could. I knew he did not want to talk about it. Why did they ask him questions about her?

"It is not everyone who gets a royal visit on their release party for their debut album," the female anchor said and pulled a strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"Well it is not everyone who happens to date a former member of the royal family either," the male anchor added. They both grinned. And Simon sat there quietly. Just looking at them. Had they not asked what was okay to ask him about before the interview? He was there to talk about his music. Not our relationship. Even if we were public about it, we still liked to keep our relationship private. At least from the media. "Because you are the boyfriend of former prince Wilhelm of Sweden, is that right?" I sighed. Poor Simon. He just wanted to speak about his music.

"That is correct, yes," Simon confessed. "But we like to have privacy, so I'd rather talk about the album or my music." He was blushing. I saw it all the way to Hillerska. My little baby. He was too polite to just ask them what the hell they had to do with our private life. He was of course scared of doing something wrong. Coming off as rude or controversial. That would not give him more interviews to support his albums. They cut for a commercial break. I called him. I sensed that he might need me. I wished I had been allowed to come with him.

"Hello baby," I said.

"Hey," he said. "Wait a moment, okay?"

"Okay," I replied. I heard him move. People in the background. He did not want to reveal it was me on the phone, I suspected. Maybe afraid of curious ears.

"Hi darling," he said when he was finally comfortable talking freely.

"Are they giving you a hard time?" I asked.

"All they want to talk about is us. And I don't want to reveal our love life to the whole nation of Sweden," he said. "I miss you so bad, Wille. I really wish you were here."

"Me too," I said and sighed. "I need to get to class now. I will talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. Love you, bye," he said.

"Love you too," I said and hung up. I would have to watch the performance after class. I went to class and just hoped that those media people would be nice to Simon. That they would not try to sell us as the new hot celebrity couple of Sweden or something. I wanted Simon's career to be about him. Not us. Everyone already knew I loved him.