A Royal Beginning [Book 1 of The English Lion]

LI. Isabelle

Tuesday, 14th February 1933

"Where is he?" I complained for the umpteenth time, looking around the dining hall again, getting more restless by the second. Colette and Hugo glanced at one another, then at me, probably thinking the same thing. But screw what they think as my mind right now is currently thinking where on Earth would Alex be. As everyone began to leave the dining hall for their afternoon classes, I huffed as I got my bag. I followed Colette and Hugo to class, annoyed by the fact that Alex had broken our tradition of getting the other Valentine's presents. Never did it occur to me that Alex has something on his mind, like always.

As I walked behind Colette and Hugo, someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into an empty classroom.

Except it wasn't as empty as one would think it would be.

I turned to look at the person to find it was Alex who was smirking. I was internally squealing because his smirk is charming, and I have butterflies in my stomach. I immediately stopped, shaking my head ever so slightly.

"Missed me?" He asked cheekily, and I slapped him on his shoulder before hugging him. Alex hugged me back, smiling. We stopped and released one another.

"Of course, stupid. What do you think?" I teased him, and Alex laughed. His laugh is so charming.

"I've made excuses to our professors. Hugo and Colette will have our copies of the assignments," He replied, "In the meantime, we'll be spending the rest of the day here, or wherever. But, I have something planned for dinner, and we'll be having a light meal as of now. Wherever we spend after the light snack and before dinner is your choice."

I just stared at him.

'Every time it was his turn to Valentine's Day, it's always something special...' I thought.

"Alright. That's cool," I replied, smiling. We would be spending the rest of the day, enjoying each other's company.

Later that night, I received presents that are more than special for Valentine's. It was a handmade gift, but Alex didn't indulge me with who made the gift, so I was suspecting him that he made it.

It was a leather-bound book, and it contains different portraits, paintings and sketches that I have never seen before through our letters. There were notes, dates, signatures and comments in Alex's handwriting. I flipped through the book, and at the end, there was a blank paper, and in neat blocked letters:

THERE WILL BE MORE TO COME.

-ALEXANDER, DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE

"So, I guess that you'll cherish that gift from now on, Isabelle," Colette teased, as she came to sit next to me on the couch. I rolled my eyes as I gave it to her.

"Here... Look through it," I told her. Colette took it and looked through every single page. She stopped on one page and showed it to me. It was a landscape painting of me, Colette and Hugo at the dining table, talking and eating our breakfast. It's a flawless painting. I looked at the note:

BREAKFAST. 23RD MARCH 1933. I CAME LATE, AGAIN. ISABELLE TRIED TO SHAKE MY APOLOGY OFF. BUT, OF COURSE, WE ALL KNOW THAT I WOULD BE LATE TO BREAKFAST EVERY SINGLE WEEKDAY ANYWAY.

P.S. ISABELLE LOOKS CUTE WHEN SHE'S EMBARRASSED. HER EARS WENT BRIGHT RED. NO ONE - ESPECIALLY ISABELLE - WOULD THINK I DON'T NOTICE. BOLD OF HER TO ASSUME I WOULD NOT NOTICE BECAUSE I DO.

"He's a keeper, Isabelle. You got to keep him," Colette told me in an approved tone. I rolled my eyes

"Why do people always want me and Alex to be together? We're just best friends," I told her as I took back my book before I stood up, and headed back to my room, not wanting to hear any more of Colette's talks about Alex being in love with me and all of that shenanigans. Colette sighed and headed off to sleep.

I would lay in bed, after a period where I would be thinking as I went through the book, I fell asleep, with the book in my hands. I held it close to me.

Friday, 17th March 1933

Dear Diary,

It's been a month since Valentine's Day, and Alex and I acted every day since then as if nothing has happened. Of course, we would tell everyone that we're just best friends, and it just evolved into a tradition in terms of giving Valentine's presents to one another since we first met. I mean, everyone believed it, right? I mean... do they?

I might be in my third year of doing PhDs, but I do have quite a lot of work under my belt, so I better head off to sleep now.

-Isabelle