The Royal Proposal

Chapter 21

Emilia Ellis

"I don't know.." I said to him.

"We can get to know each other as friends..."He said.

I thought for a while. I don't have any friends and never had one before. It sounds super sad, but I was able to avoid dramas for a while. Was I ready to come out from my bubble yet? I like the idea of being alone, now. I can do whatever I want.. I don't have to worry about scheduling social meetings outside work. I can stay at home and do my works.

"I think you have been in the bubble for too long." He said.

I was going to argue with him, that if I feel comfortable inside the bubble space-it was none of his business, but it will be too rude and I know he's right. I need to get out of my bubble space. I want to have fun and I want to laugh and not have to worry about who is judging me. I want to do things that I love and not do things other wants me to do. I want to find the true me and what I love doing...

"Okay." I said.

"Okay?" He asked.

"Yes, okay." I said.

"Perfect." He said with a grinned. "Tomorrow, I will come to your place at 7 am sharp, so be ready."

"What's the plan?!?" I asked.

"We will go for a run in the neighbourhood."

"Why?" I asked. "You want to do some exercise? We have gym here.."

He laughed and shake his head, "We will try something different. We will go for a run and then grab breakfast together."

I was unsure of going for a run in the neighbourhood.

"Don't stress about it. We will go for a bit and if you don't like it. We can always change the plan."

"Change plans?" I asked. I'm a person who really like schedules and prefer knowing what we are doing ahead of times. I get really stress when things doesn't go as schedule or there is change in plans.

"You just have to focus in enjoying and having fun."" He said.

"Not sure how that will help, but we shall see." I said.

"You will be fine." He reassured.

After dinner, we walked passed the piano in the living room and he asked.

"Who plays the piano at home?"

"Me." I said all of a sudden shy about it.

"Can I hear you play?" He asked.

I hesitated before agreeing to it. "What would you like me to play?" I asked.

"Anything." He said as he stood across from me.

I pressed the key and played 'Autumn Finds Winter.'by Yiruma. His pieces and works are so beautiful and so raw.

"That was so beautiful." He said to me as soon as I finished playing.

"Thanks." I said with a smile. "How long have you been playing?"

"Since as a child." I said.

"Can you play some more?" He pleaded. "You played so well and you look so beautiful like always while you were playing. I think this will be my next favourite thing to do, is to listen to you play the piano."

"You missed the time I played in Teagan's reception."I said. 'You missed it because you were busy entertaining someone else.' my heart clenched at that thoughts in my mind.

"You played during the reception?" He was astonished.

"How come you were not in the wedding? I saw your family though?" I asked.

"I don't usually attend events like that, but I had to attend the reception because it was in our family's hall." He said.

"How convenient is that." I said.

"What?"

"You don't have to attend social events." I said with a scowl. "I can't even make any excuse."

"It takes a lots of bad reputations for you to be able to skip events like that." He sighed as he sat down beside me.

"So you did many crazy things?" I said, not wanting to say the word, bad.

"Endless." He smiled. "When I was a teenager.. I used to be very very bad." He emphasized on the word, bad. "I used to ruin social events ,that one time I was blacklisted in one of the event." He winced.

"Do you regret what you did?" I asked curiously.

"There are many things that I regretted doing, but no matter how much I tried and still trying.I can't seem to escape from my past. It keeps coming to my present."He said and stroke my hair.

This was the first time, I noticed how cruel the world must have been to him to break this strong man in front of me. His eyes was so sad and so dark. He has been nothing but kind and nice to me, always had a smile on his face and made it seem like everything was great, but deep down he was broken and lost too.

"What are you afraid of?" I whispered as I looked at him.

His eyes met mine and we stared at each other for a moment. "I'm scared of losing things that means the most to me because of my past."

I cocked my head to one side.

He tuck my hair to the back of my ear. I have notice, he likes stroking my hair and playing with it from time to time.

"Enough about me." He smile, but it doesn't reach his eyes. I wanted to ask him what he meant but I didn't want to push him any further.

"What you want to know about me?" I asked. "You can ask me one question." I teased. "And if I'm still in the mood, you can ask me another one."

He put his finger on his chin and looked thoughtfully at me. "Why did you agree to go on a date with me that time?"

"I didn't like your challenging look." I admitted. "Especially the smug look like you knew something and that made me mad."

"I hope you won't be making hasty decisions like these with anyone else." He said. "There are not so nice people in the world. I could have been a bad person."

"But you are not." I said.

"How do you know that?" He said. "You don't even know me that well."

"You have been nothing,but nice to me except the time that you lied to me about the brooch." I scrunched my nose in disgust. "I was very upset when I learnt the truth."

"I thought you were pretending you had no idea about the brooch." He chuckled. "I thought you studied the history of my family and know me from the social media.."

"I don't have social media accounts and I didn't really bother studying about your family's history." I said.

"Ouch." He said as he put his hand on his heart. "My Dad would be upset to hear that last part."

I laughed a little and then stop and looked at him."I'm sorry." I said.

"I don't think anyone should be reading my family's history. It's boring and very uncomfortable." He admitted.

"You must have had a good laugh after you realized I actually had no idea who you were or the meaning behind the brooch."