You Got Me (JenLisa)

If This Were Enough

New York City, Present Day

"Hello!"

Jennie looked up and forced a smile to respond to the enthusiastic greeting. She was sitting on the couch, reading a book when Pranpriya announced her arrival to calm herself.

The Thai princess was wearing a fitted white tank top and a pair of loose jeans. Her long mousse hair was loose and a radiating smile was plastered on her lips. For someone who had just arrived from a twelve-hour flight, Lisa looked vibrant. She was holding her burgundy bag on one hand and carelessly threw it on the floor before she approached Jennie.

"I missed you," Pranpriya murmured lovingly as she buried her face on Jennie's hair after planting a kiss on Jennie's head and wrapped the Korean heiress inside her arms. "You smell nice," she said and chuckled.

Pranpriya smelled nice, too. She wanted to tell the Thai that she missed her immensely missed, too. But Jennie couldn't herself to say those words without feeling like she was betraying herself.

Jennie tried to return the affection but instead she caught herself sighing loudly more than she intended. She regretted it but there was nothing she could do to take it back. She knew Lisa caught it so instead of acting like the sigh never happened, she patted the Thai's arms, signaling that she wanted to be released from the embrace.

"That was enthusiastic," the monarch said while looking curious, hiding the worry in her voice. She stood up straight and looked at Jennie who was looking anywhere but at her. "What's wrong?" she gently asked, almost like a whisper.

Now that she had a clear look of Jennie, the Korean did look less enthusiastic. Jennie's brows were creased, her mouth was pressed, and her eyes looked wary.

Jennie sighed again and  stood up. She walked across the room towards the night stand. She pulled a drawer and picked a folded paper. She did not say a thing and tossed the paper on the coffee table before she positioned herself next to the large window of their suite in the Ritz-Carlton.

Pranpriya picked it up, unfolded it, and saw her face on the front page. The New York Times thought her business lunch meeting with a French billionaire in Sicily was frontpage-worthy. The headline was written in bold letters, as though telling the world that it was the most significant information everyone should know about the world this week—two people going out for a lunch while discussing business under the unforgiving Sicilian sun. They dubbed it a "romantic date" while subtly implying that a wedding might come sooner than "we are all expecting!"

"Who's expecting?" Pranpriya asked jokingly. "Are you expecting, Nini?" she turned to Jennie only to see the Korean glaring at her. "I guess you're not expecting," Pranpriya said and returned her attention to the newspaper.

Pranpriya huffed out of annoyance as she read the rest of the article. It was one thing that she was featured on a front page of a major newspaper; her father would love to read it. But it was another thing that it was a speculation on her private life by crafting a story so good you would have thought a famous best-selling author had written it. 

"We have witnessed the marriages of Wils and Kate, of Meghan and Harry, and decades before that, of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III. But today,  the attention turns to a different kind of courtship, one that stretches beyond empires of wealth rather than ancient thrones. Recently, there is a growing rumor of a burgeoning relationship between the heiress of one of Southeast Asia's wealthiest monarchies and the son of a French billionaire who is leading the helm of a European luxury conglomerate. Their many sightings on public spaces are drawing international speculation and quiet diplomacy alike.