Modern Princess

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Ren's POV

"I don't know what's going on with me! Well I mean I know that I must have gone crazy because I kind of like him, but how could I be falling for him? Was it the time he helped me with my panic attack?"

"I'm pretty sure it was before then," Gail responded with a wink even as I gently shoved her.

She laughed and flopped back on my bed. "I think you've had the hots for him for some time."

"The hots?" I said with a raised eyebrow as I held back a laugh.

"You know what I mean," she huffed, sitting back up and giving me a look.

"Your Highness, sorry to interrupt, but is this one staying?" My timid and youngest maid, Corinne, held up a baby blue dress that I had worn twice (more than I had worn most of my closet), but that I adored.

"Yes! I love that one. I think it has another wear in it."

Corinne nodded and continued filtering through the dresses in my closet. Alta was suppose to go through my dresses today to make room for more, but she became sick last night so I gave her the day off. She would never take longer than a day off of work so that's all I ever gave her. Since I was getting older and was soon to be queen, I needed many more dresses made and not closets so I had to get rid of some of my older dresses. Alta normally went through my dresses every two weeks or so (which the orphanages were very grateful for since they received my old dresses), but it would be Corinne today.

"Yes, Your Highness," she curtsied, dress in hand, then turned back to the closet.

"I think you need to talk to him," Gail told me.

"And tell him what? 'Hey Isaac. So I actually don't hate you, but really like you and even though we could never date or get married, I just thought you should know.' " I sarcastically said, toying with the blanket laid across my lap.

"Or...You could try looking at him as more than a non-royal and as a potential love interest," Gail reproved with pursed lips.

"I want to. I really want to, but I just can't afford to think like that...especially not now," I mumbled, looking down at my hands as they continued to fiddle aimlessly.

"What do you mean you can't afford to think like this? I know you're being expected to become queen a little sooner than previously anticipated, but you have time to have a little fun before then. To really figure out your life."

I shifted in my sitting position and let a couple of moments pass before finally spilling the beans.

"My dad's sick. And not like he has a cold sick, but like he's not going to be here for much longer kind of sick," I muttered, glancing up at Gail for a moment before looking back down at my hands.

"Ren...Why didn't you tell me?" She crawled over to sit next to me and wrapped an arm around me.

"I don't know. I guess I just hoped that if I didn't talk about it, it wouldn't be real. The more he wouldn't be..." I leaned my head on her shoulder and watched Corinne work from across the room.

"I'm so sorry Ren. I knew things were a little tense for you, but I didn't realize how tense," she murmured, leaning her head on top of mine.

"It's fine," I sighed, even though my life was anything, but fine.  

"I know it's not, but I'm going to let it slide for today since I want you to cheer up. Let's talk about happier things...like the charity ball coming up."

I groaned and sat up, removing my head from her shoulder.

"What's wrong with the ball? I thought you loved going to charity balls because you could basically do what you wanted because of all the people there," Gail said, scrunching her eyebrows at my sudden mood change for the occasion.