BEST REGARDS (a Niall Horan Fanfiction)

Chapter 8

A brief refresh of the Catalanan royal family.
Nicky has to marry Pierre (her cousin).
If she doesn’t then Rupert will inherit the throne.
Rupert is King Ludwig (the current king and Nicky’s dad)’s distant cousin.

Rupert shuffled his feet across the ceramic floors of the palace to a large fancy wooden door, a magazine gripped on his right hand tightly. He twisted the door knob, which was an impolite gesture as he was in the palace, but he didn’t care.

Pierre shifted his eye from the paper he was reading to the door when he heard the noise. Although annoyed by his impolite behaviour, he still greeted the visitor. “Hello Duke Rupert, to what do I owe this visit?”

Rupert came inside the study abruptly and threw the magazine he was holding in front of Pierre. “Looks like your future wife is cheating on you,” he said in an evil tone. The magazine showed a paparazzi picture of Niall opening the door of his car for Nicky the night after his album release at Arthur Records. The headline read ‘Niall Horan Has A New Girlfriend?!?!’

Pierre tried to keep a straight face as he looked at the picture and skimmed through the article. He had to give him a good answer. He knows Rupert wants the throne so bad that he’s willing to do anything. “Rupert, for God’s sake, she works at a music production company. She meets a lot of artists every single day. It’s normal for her to get a ride from someone here and there.”

Rupert wasn’t expecting this answer. He said, “I don’t know about you but it looks like she’s cheating on you. Have you been in touch with her?” He sat himself on the couch.

“Yes, every single day,” he lied, “and I know this guy, the person on the magazine. He’s her recording artist. Just her recording artist. I am her man and we love each other.”

“Very well then,” Rupert said, his evil smile still there, “I apologize for wasting your time, Duke Pierre. I’ll leave the afternoon to you.”

“No problem, always a pleasure to meet you,” he said politely. When the door shut behind Rupert, he let out a huge sigh. He knows he has not been in touch with her and he doubts that she’s in love with him. He’s definitely in trouble if these kinds of news about her shows up again.

Meanwhile back in Arthur Records, the tour crew were busy preparing the tour. A large map was placed on the wall. Every time they managed to deal with the promoter of a state or a country, they would place a marker on the map. They had 11 markers on the map so far. The target was to expand the tour to Europe and Asia. By the end of the day, lots of markers were placed on the map. The team did a great job and wrapped up the day. 

The employees are starting to leave the office. Niall said goodbye to the employees and thanked them for the hard work. He was really polite to them that the employees were happy to work with him. Nicky was looking at her phone, replying to the birthday wishes she received from her friends. All of the sudden, Niall said, “want to grab dinner together?”

“Sure. Can we go to In and Out? I have their membership card so I can get free fries for every burger purchase,” she said giddily.

“Let’s go,” Niall grabbed his car keys and headed to the restaurant.

 After they sat, some girls recognised Niall and asked him for photos and autographs which he happily gave. “They seem to love you so much! Must be nice, huh?” Nicky said as she dipped a fry in tomato sauce. 

“It’s nice sometimes, but it definitely robs away a whole lot of your privacy.”

“I understand,” she said. Back in Catalana, the royal family is always in the spotlight. She barely has alone time there. 

“It’s different, actually,” Niall said, oblivious to the fact that the girl sitting in front of him is actually extremely famous in her country, “I can barely go anywhere without anyone asking for a photo or something. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for everything and everyone in my life. But a day as a complete stranger must be absolutely nice.”

Nicky nodded in silence. After they finished their meal, they got into the car once more. "It's too early to go home on a beautiful Friday night," Niall said as he entered the main road, "would you like to come to my favourite place? Do you have any plans?"

Nicky thought for a while. She's in danger of falling in love with him. If she spent more time with him, she wouldn't be able to let go of him. Unconsciously, she said, "let's go."

They drove across the empty streets with the night road lamps shining above them. It was a quiet night despite it being a Friday night. The radio was on but you can barely hear it as it is set to the minimum volume. 

Soon, the car arrived at the top of the hill. Below them, they were able to see the sea with the moonlight reflecting. After Niall parked the car, they got out. The cold air was biting Nicky's skin so she wore her jacket. They sat on the hood of the car. Niall had his guitar with him.

"This place is so peaceful. I love it. I come here when I need to be alone. No work stress, no one to bother me," he said.

"Well you are not alone," Nicky stated.

"I know," he smiled, "but I love the fact that the person I'm not alone with is you."

Niall played a few chords on his guitar. Nicky immediately knew the song he was playing and started to sing along. Her vocals were not trained. She's more into the engineering past of music. But her voice was not bad. 

"You don't sound so bad," Niall said when she was done.

"Thanks, but you're definitely better. I mean, the whole world loves you," she exclaimed. 

"I'm not tooting my own horn or something but when the whole world loves you, you seem to struggle to find love yourself."

"Really?"

"I haven't been on a real date in three years," he said.

"Wow, really?" she said a bit shocked, "I didn't expect that."

"I guess haven't found a girl I'm really comfortable with," he said, starting to blush. There was silence for a while until he continued, "that is until I found you."

Nicky immediately looked at him. Did she hear him correctly? There was an awkward silence for a long time. Niall's heart was racing like crazy. He was about to regret what he said until Nicky started to say, "to save both our time, in case you're curious, yes Niall, I have feelings for you too." His heart skipped a beat when he heard her say those words.

"But I'm really sorry," she continued, "I can't. Things are complicated."

"Complicated how?" Niall said, not giving up the hope he has.

"I can't tell you, I'm sorry," Nicky said bitterly, "it's not you, Niall, it's me, really. I mean you're perfect in every way and anyone would be the luckiest girl in the world if she had you. But me, I just can't."

Something inside Niall is hurt. He was curious but he did not dare to ask her. "The we shall be best friends?"

"We are, and we shall be," she smiled.

Oh geez, Niall thought, he's stuck in friendzone. They wrapped up the night. Niall dropped Nicky at her flat. When she was alone in her room, she couldn't hold back anymore. She cried, she cried so bad. She loves him so much but she must let go. It hurts her. The pain is unbearable. With puffy eyes and runny nose, she cried herself to sleep.