Totally Bubbly- Cheesecake's New Stories: The Second Series

Cheesecake's New Stories #5: Princess? Yeah, Right...

I can feel myself lying down on a bed, cottony sheets set down softly on top of me. In the distance, I can hear phones ringing, shoes tapping, and people talking peacefully. My hearing focuses on what is next to me; I hear a heart monitor beeping softly (but more fast than a usual human heart) and...breathing. Not mine but someone else’s.

My eyes flutter open to see the ceiling of my familiar but long-ago-visited hospital room. Everything looks almost exactly the same as before I left. I turn quickly, trying to find the source of the breathing. When my eyes meet the person beside me, the air gets knocked out of my lungs. My eyesight starts to get blurry, and I don’t know why. I rub my eyes, hoping my vision will focus, but when the back of my hand meets my face, I realize the blurriness is from tears. 

Sitting in a chair next to my bed, his head tucked into the side of my torso and his hand on top of mine on my stomach, is my boyfriend: Cherry. He’s here. He’s here! His red hair is a handsome mess, as usual, and his body radiates warmth, reminding me of the days when we were just servants. His green t-shirt is ruffled against my bed, his simple attire making the man look like a child. Everything about him brings back such wonderful memories: every moment we spent together. 

I forget about all my worries: Honey, The Darkness, six months of being away, the burdens of a princess, being morphed with a goddess, etc. All I can think about is my boyfriend and how much I love and missed him. I can feel my heart beating as I reach out to touch his face lightly. His warm cheeks make my fingertips feel cold. 

The second I touch him, his eyes flutter open, and his head jolts up to meet my eyes as if there was some sort of emergency, making me jump a little in my bed. Cherry’s deep green eyes look into my light brown ones, and his surprised face turns slowly into the mischievous smile I adore so much.

“Cheesecake Ambrosia Who,” he murmurs softly in a playful voice.

“Cherry-” I start, but before I can finish, his arms circle around me. I start to cry in his arms, burying my face in his chest. I don’t know what the tears are from. Maybe happiness. Maybe sadness. Maybe fear. But I don’t care. The rush of emotions was too wild to be identified.

Cherry wipes a tear from my cheek. “I’ve been searching everywhere for you. I don’t even know what to say.” 

I laugh. “You wouldn’t have known where to find me.” I frown, “Well, I guess you did, actually. How did you find me?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t find you. Where were you?”

“Wait, so you weren’t the one who found me? Who, then?”

“Cheesecake,” he talks more seriously, “where were you?”

“I-umm,” I shake my head, trying to remember, “I was in the Flavorful Forest.”

“The what?”

“Oh, well, I guess you’d know it as the Forbidden Forest. I changed it.”

“You changed it? Honey, you can’t just change a forest,” he laughs.

“Yeah, well, that’s a long story. I can go into detail about it if you want, but-uh-well, long story short, I’m kind of a princess now.”

It’s silent for the longest time. He sits there staring at me, his eyes concentrating on my whole being. He looks at me up and down. He examines my head, my back, my arms, my face...What the heck is he doing?

“Uh, Cherry?” I ask.

“Yes, dear?” He replies, lifting my chin and inspecting my neck.

“Why are you...” I try to find the words, “probing my body so silently.”