Chapter 58
Pranpriya and Chaeng talked some more after their exchanges regarding Jennie and then went on to discuss about how each other had been during the past months and how they would communicate when she returns to Thailand, with Chaeng making her swear again and again that she would open her lines of communication this time. They also discussed about their future plans, especially Pranpriya, who laid out her plans to Chaeng about her intentions regarding her position in the kingdom, which honestly surprised and excited Chaeng – and she made no attempts in concealing it from Pranpriya – because "the Lisa I know wasn't really into politics and traditions, was she?" To which Pranpriya replied: "Well, the Lisa you knew was selfish. And oh, stubborn – as you've put it."
"Hence, you don't listen when I keep telling that you need to go home. And I really mean it this time, Shutterbug. It's almost morning. Aside from the obvious reason that you and I need to catch some sleep separately, you can't just strut in the street because anyone might recognize you now. Your face has been on the news too many times than I can count. It won't be safe," said Chaeng. She looked genuinely concerned. She feared the risk of the possibility of Pranpriya exposing herself to the public's attentions should the royal chose to return to her place at daylight, when everyone was already up and about. The least that they should expect was the press to get wind of the royal's presence in the country and mobbed the Thai in the street. She saw how they did it to Jennie several times on the news and it was never not appalling.
Thirty minutes later, Pranpriya was practically tiptoeing when she climbed the iron staircase to her apartment in the upper floor – pinks streaks already visible in the horizon – to avoid creating even the slightest of noise. The least she wanted to happen was to wake the lady captain from her sleep in the studio this early because then it would result to her explaining where she went and why she went out and she didn't want to explain herself to her guard if she can avoid it. It was exasperating enough that she had to reduce her dignity by acting like a burglar and moved about in stealth before she could reach her door and punched in her code as quietly as possible.
She even paused and winced after she slowly closed the door shut and the sound of the beep sliced through the silence of her place. She was afraid it might reached to the alert senses of her guard below and that it might rouse Jennie and the cats from their sleep. Which it did, because just before she could even take a step further into the cold embrace of her apartment, Leo and Luca had already presented themselves to her, fully awake and with eyes visible in the dimness, bright and wide from sleep, and looking at her as though they were questioning her motive of showing up earlier and leaving them again unceremoniously and now showing up again like a thief in the night.
"You two shouldn't be up this early," Pranpriya told them softly after planting kisses on the top of their heads.
"It's my fault. I was up this early."
"Jesus Christ!" Pranpriya hissed while clutching her chest as though she was suffering from a cardiac arrest. It was startling enough to hear Jennie spoke so suddenly. But seeing the dark figure of Jennie actually standing in the middle of the living room, still as a statue and with only the glow from the window illuminating half of her face and looking at her as though it was normal to look at her sneaking in like a robber at dawn had sent her wits flying.
"I knew I wasn't dreaming," Jennie said in a voice that suggested she had been rehearsing those words in her head for when Pranpriya would return finally. Her voice, surprisingly, was calm. So unbelievably calm that Pranpriya thought it was offensive. In the sense that it made her feel like she did something offensive when she was caught sneaking in, when she should be the one reprimanding Jennie instead because it was her place and Jennie was literally a trespasser and well, there were still unresolved issues between them – if Jennie even considered them an unresolved issue.
