BEST REGARDS (a Niall Horan Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

It was a Saturday. Nicky was forced to wake up when Micheal knocked on her door. As agreed, they would video call each other every Saturday morning. Considering how they left off at the last video conference, things should be interesting.

When they were connected, Nicky could see Pierre in his study. Pierre had one important matter to talk to her about. "What is this?" he said without a greeting as he showed her the magazine that Rupert brought.

Nicky squinted her eyes to see what exactly he was referring to. Her eyes immediately popped open when she saw the headline. Just as she thought it couldn't get worse, she saw the picture attached to the article. "How did they get that?"

"You tell me," Pierre started to raise her voice, "do you know what will happen if more people find out? Rupert was asking me about it the other day. I can see how much he wants the throne from his eyes"

"Nothing happened between us, I swear."

"I suggest you be careful. Stay away from him. Whether or not something happened between you two, things will get ugly."

"He's my recording artist, I can't not see him."

"I'm warning you." They ended their conversation with that. Nicky was so not in the mood to talk to him anymore. She wanted to scream. Scream all her problems away. Pierre's a good man, a good servant of the country, but him and her are not meant to be together.

She loves someone else. And that someone else is not Pierre. She can't pretend to love him, not in a million years.

To help her forget about the conversation she had with him that morning, she started to get ready. Even though it was a Saturday, Julia made the team work as the scheduled date for the tour is close. Greg specifically wanted Niall to go on tour one month after the release. There was a lot of work to do and so little time.

When she got to the office, Niall was there in the pantry with a cup of tea. She just stopped by to pour herself a cup of coffee to wipe away all the sleepiness. It was as if Niall knew what happened in the morning. He talked to Nicky about a certain article that was published by the paparazzi. "Don't worry, it'll go away soon. I've tweeted that nothing's going on between us and everything is strictly professional and job related."

Niall knows that she's not comfortable having spotlights shone on her. That's why he immediately made a bold and clear statement about the matter. Nicky appreciated his move and they resumed their day.

A month later, the tour preparations were finally done. Nothing important happened in this one month as she was always very busy. Of course she communicated every Saturday morning with Pierre as agreed but nothing changed. Her feelings for him remained plain and the same.

With bags all packed for a whole month, the crew loaded their stuff into the baggage check. Niall will be performing the first leg of the tour in Europe. The first stop was London. Then Dublin, Niall's home country, then Scotland. Nicky had lots of good fun with the crew and they became really good friends.

At their stop in Paris, Niall was getting ready to perform when Julia came to them. "Guys, guess what! I've just gotten off the phone with a promoter in Catalana. We had arranged everything and will squeeze a stop there before Berlin!" she said excitedly, "and tickets are sold out already! Isn't it amazing!"

Nicky was horrified. But Niall was smiling as widely as Julia. Soon, he went on stage when the opening acts had finished their performance. This is a nightmare for Nicky. Her whole cover could be exposed. Once she stepped on the grounds of Catalana, there's no guarantee that she would not be held back.

She couldn't stop panicking. There was nothing she could do. Tickets were sold, everything was booked already. Around 2 to 3 hours later, Niall said goodnight to the crowd and climbed down the stage. The crew cheered for him, except Nicky who was anxious as hell.

They had two buses, one for Niall and his band, another one for the crew. It was 10 pm. The buses leave for the next city, Barcelona at 12 midnight. Therefore, there was time to load the bus and buy some souvenirs for a while. As if Niall could read her mind, he approached her and said, "you seem to be anxious the whole time we're here. Something about this city, love?"

Nicky sighed. She said, "I'm fine, really, probably just a bit nauseous."

"Are you sure, Princess Nicolette?" he raised his eyebrow. Nicky's heart dropped. She double checked if Niall was the one saying those words. She double checked if she heard him correctly.

There was silence for a while, then she said, "shhhhhh.." even though there was no one there. "How did you..? I mean, how?"

Niall smiled and said, "Well.." and Nicky shushed him again.

"Not here," she said. Then she dragged him to the bus. It was empty as everyone was doing their own stuff in Paris. They were at the very back of the tour bus which has no windows.

"Isn't this too extra?" he asked.

"You don't understand, Niall," she whispered, "how did you know?"

"Remember when we were searching for famous birthdays? Well the princess seems awfully too fishy to not be related to you. Both of you have similar names, you are born on the same date, and you guys look alike. So I googled more about her when I got home," he said, "honestly love, I called you Princess Nicolette as a joke, but you freaked out so much and basically just confirmed my assumptions."

Nicky couldn't contain it anymore. She started to tear up. "I'm sorry Niall, I didn't mean to lie to you or anything." Then she started to sob louder.

"Hey, it's okay," Niall said and patted her bad to make her feel better. When she did, Nicky looked at him and whispered, "you can't tell anyone about this."

Niall shifted his look to this stern but sweet look. He grabbed her hands, "tell me more about yourself, your real self, because I have a feeling she's amazing."

In between her sobs, she started to tell him the real her, "my real name is Nicolette Marie Amabel Peason, yes a very long name. But members of the royal family usually have longer names," Niall chuckled, the air felt lighter but the burden was still on her chest. "I'm the princess of a small country called Catalana, which is going to be one of our stops. You see Niall, my father was actually against me going abroad because Rupert, a distant cousin of my father is onto the throne."

Niall was stroking her hand. Then she continued, "I have to marry Duke Pierre, my cousin, after I graduate because if not, then the throne will be Rupert's. We sure don't want that. I know, it's weird, and I hate it so much but it's been the tradition for centuries and there's no way in hell we can change it." Niall started to mentally put the puzzle pieces together. He realized that the only reason Nicky refused him is because she has to marry Pierre for the sake of the country.

"Are you worried that we'll be stopping by your country soon?" Niall asked.

"Yes!" Nicky exclaimed, glad that he understands her. "If anyone figured out that I'm on Catalanan grounds, there's no way I'll be able to leave. And Niall, please I want to be free, at least until I graduate."

"Don't worry," Niall said, "we'll hide you as much as we can. Therefore, you can be in and out of the country safely, okay?"

Nicky was hesitant, but she nodded. The next stop was Barcelona, and then Catalana.

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