Restrained

Chapter 3

✡ ✡ ✡

The sun shining through my window the next morning forced me to get up. I wish it didn't get bright so early, even though it was about the darkest time of the year. I guess I just liked to spend more of my time sleeping. I glanced over at my clock. 9:30. I guess I could get up.

"You're not living your life! If you just sit in your room all the time, you're never going to do anything or meet new people,"

The words from last night replayed in my head just as I was sitting up. Who was I talking to yesterday? I didn't even know him. I only knew his name and why he was around my kingdom. I meant my sister's kingdom.

"Just because you're not a queen doesn't mean you're not as important,"

Not true. I didn't get to do anything here, I didn't even know why I lived here anymore. I should be old enough by now to move out. But he was right about not getting out enough, I could at least walk around the castle for starters. I hadn't even seen the whole thing in my 17 years of being here. Maybe only half of it.

I decided on wearing a white long sleeve shirt, black leggings, and a light pink cardigan. I also put on a few coats of mascara and blush. Nothing special but at least I wasn't just going to walk around in my pajamas.

I had made my way out into the hallway having no idea where I was planning to go. To my right was the staircase leading down to the main dining room, obviously I've been down there. The left was a hallway I hadn't gone down too many times, mostly only when I had been bored like today, but this time I had felt an urge to see what I have been living around. I noticed there was a lot more detail on the carpets and walls than I usually had paid attention to. It made the whole place seem a lot more important than it really was.

As I started down the hall I had remembered hearing that people worked down there. The kind of people who worked for the kingdom, who did thinks like make our food. Wait. Doesn't that guy I was talking to last night make our bread? Harry. He must be down there somewhere. Now I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep walking that way, I didn't really like him. He was okay. But If I ran into him I'd have no idea what to say. Whatever, there was a small chance I would even see him.

I made my way into a few rooms. Some looked as if they were guest rooms that were never used. Everything was new, nothing was touched. One of the rooms I had walked into was incredibly pink, the bed had lace pink sheets, the flowers on the wallpaper were pink, all the makeup on the vanity was pink, and all the stuffed animals were pink. I was thankful the floor wasn't pink, it would've drove me crazy. But who even needs this much pink? This room was way too neat. Who ever this room belongs to probably doesn't come here often.

I spotted a closet over at the left side of the room and quietly opened it. Of course. All the clothes were pink. Every skirt and dress involved lace and expensive fabric, and the closet went on forever, I could almost walk into it. I moved all the clothes to each side, suddenly exposing a white dresser with glass knobs. I ran my hand over the corners of the dresser, admiring the woodwork. I felt obligated to open it, to see what it was holding. I shouldn't. I wasn't my room and who was I to even be in here. Interrupting my thoughts, I heard footsteps down the hall. I could tell they were headed for this room. I rushed into the closet, trying not to be noticed as the door creaked open. I had to stand between the clothes to look through the keyhole. I had to see who's room this was. The door stayed open for about ten seconds, then slammed closed. I couldn't even see who was looking into the room from my angle. I took a few moments after the door was slammed before I climbed out of the closet. Did someone know I was in here? I probably shouldn't be in here anyways. I took one more look at the dresser before carefully closing the closet doors and rushing out of the room.

I was glad to see nobody in the hallway as kept walking the same direction I was earlier. The farther down the hallway I got, the noisier it became. I couldn't tell what kind of noise it was. It sounded like a mix of people talking and things being moved around. The room ahead's door was wide open, exposing the brightness on the inside. They must have a lot of lights on in there. I finally was standing under the doorway as I observed the room. I wanted to slap myself in the face. Obviously this is where they made food. It was a huge kitchen. Every possible baking tool you could ever think of had to be there. But it looked empty in terms of people, which surprised me considering I heard talking from all the way down the hallway. But I spotted someone taking something out of the oven. Bread. It was Harry. Before I could turn around, he beat me to it as we made eye contact.

"Hello Blair," his mouth immediately forming into a smile. That's the first time I'd seen him smile rather than smirk. It was nice. I didn't realize I had been smiling until he started walking towards me.

"Um hi," I replied.

"What are you doing down here? Did you like me so much that you wanted to see me again?" Finally he smirked and crossed his arms.

"No! I was just wandering around," I tried to play it off by making myself sound as sophisticated as possible,"what are you doing?"

"Making bread. It's my job remember?" He gestured towards the racks filled with new bread. Right.

"Whoa. When do you start working? That must've taken you forever to make that much,"

"Five in the morning, not too early," he shrugged.

"That would be early for me. I just woke up an hour ago," I watched Harry take note of the time.

"Wow, it must be nice to sleep in that late,"

"It's not really, it shows how little I have to do during the day," I reminded him.

"You should help me then!" He sounded pretty excited. Why does he like me so much?

"I don't think I'm even suppose to be here,"

"Well you can't get in trouble for having nothing to do and then actually doing work,"

"I think they just expect me to stay in my room,"

"They?"

"My parents. It's like there's something I'm not allowed to know or be involved with," I rolled my eyes.

"Fuck them. We can actually be productive,"

"I guess I could help..."

"I knew I could get you to say yes," he smiled.

"You know it's just because I have nothing to do," I smiled back. It was hard not to smile around him. It was like it was contagious.

"Yeah, but I like you so I don't mind," he said quickly, I realized we weren't keeping eye contact anymore. He likes me? What does that mean? I didn't bother asking. Instead we began working on making the bread. Harry began making more dough while I brought over more racks for the bread. But while we were working all I could think about was whoever it was that opened the door to the pink bedroom.