Love Me Harder

Chapter 5

I take a deep breath and try to focus on my lesson. This old lady, who is sitting in front of me, hasn't stopped talking since she entered the room! I look away, staring out of the window and wondering;  Is Zayn still here? What is he doing here anyway? And why the hell am I always so nervous whenever I see him? 

My eyes stop when I see the garden. It all brings me back to last night, when I met him for the first time. It was an incredibly short and the simplest conversation I've ever had, but it was... magical. He makes me feel comfortable and above all, he cares. I don't know why I feel the need to point that out, it's just a small thing but it was something more than that to me.

It would be nice if we could be together. Knowing that there's someone who cares about me makes me feel so happy. Yeah, what if... What if we did end up together? 

"Princess?" My heart almost fell down when she called me. 

I sigh, "I'm sorry."

"Pardon me, but, with all due respect, please try to focus. Most of the materials are hard to understand so I need you to concentrate, princess." She says sarcastically.

I nod slightly and she starts talking again. My eyes glance at the clock for a second and then they focus back at her. She keeps talking and talking, I don't even know what subject I'm studying right now. Her shrill voice's echoing in the whole room, putting my brain in pain. 

"Princess," I just realized she caught me staring out of the window again. 

"I'm listening." I lie and try to defense myself. 

Her hands release her thick sunglasses and she effectively catches my eye. 

"I can see clearly that your mind is somewhere else, and I cannot continue if you're not one hundred persent focused. There’s no point to continue, so let’s just end the class for today, if you wish, princess.” For the first time in forever, she said that. She’s known as the fiercest and most disciplined teacher and hearing her saying that… Well, it’s a quite surprising and inelegant thing to do. But she makes the right decision, I’m so tired and I’m definitely not in the mood to do anything for the rest of the day. I just want to lay down on my bed and stay in my room all day long.

"I agree. You may leave." She immediately packs her stuff and then she bows and leaves the room right away. Just when she walks through the door, Trudy and Eve step inside the room.

"Princess, the King and Queen want you to join them for dinner," Trudy explains. Seriously? I was just about to take a rest but something always gets in the way of my plans.

"Wha-" I pause. Something -or rather, someone- comes to my mind, reminding me the fact that Zayn will be there too.

And he will be back to his country soon. I don't know when, but that's the problem. He could be back anyday maybe tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or even worse, tonight. 

"Okay. Let's get ready." I finally decide to attend dinner so that I won't regret it later.

I take a relaxing yet quick bath because I'd hate to run out of time of doing my make up. I choose to wear a classic black gawn. I don't care if it's too over-the-edge; I'm olny doing this for one thing. To impress him. 

"The King and Queen await for you, princess," the doorskeeper says after he greets me. I nod in reply and allow him to open the door. 

My heart beats very fast like it wants to jump out of my body when I see that Zayn is there. He's actually there looking very handsome like usuall. I sit infront of the Queen, right at the middle of the table. The Kings, looking at each other's faces, sit at both sides of the table. The oval shapped and length table make me somewhat difficult to see his face.

"You look beautiful tonight, my darling," the Queen starts conversation.

"Thank you, my Queen." My eyes glance at Zayn, waiting for him to say something about my present. Well, yeah, I'm doing all this just to impress him, but it seems like it doesn't work.

“So, King Zayn. If I can ask, how long you will staying here?” I try to pull up myself together. Still can’t believe I’m asking him.

“Tomorrow.” He replies. I’m waiting him to say something but no, he just ignoring me and keep eating.

That’s it?

Really?

Now, I regret joining the dinner with them. The whole conversation revolves around their countries and most of all, the food. How tasteful and unique it is. This is weird; I mean, looking at my dad, who seems very enthusiastic about introducing the food of our country to Zayn. It's so weird. Zayn doesn't talk and most importantly, he doesn't even glance at me. He just likes ignoring me and I don't know why he's doing that! As I remember, I didn't do anything wrong to him.

Why is he acting like this?

Or maybe he found out about my feelings for him.

Wait.

Do I have feelings for him?

"Princess," The King's voice interrupts my train of thoughts.

"Yes, my King."

He takes a deep breath, "Maybe I'm the worst father compared to other fathers given that my daughter celebrated her birthday last night, but I haven't given her any presents yet."

"That'-" he interrupts me, "So this is my present to you, my princess. You can take two weeks off for holiday. You can clear your mind and that could add up to your knowledge. Since you've never gone out of the country before, I want you to see the world and explore it."

Why he’s suddenly saying this? He never lets me go out of this country –ever! And now he wants me to leave? Is this some kind of a joke? 

“Why now, my King?” I venture to ask.

“I’ve known for such a long time that you wanted to travel. And I hate to be the one to keep you chained in this castle. You’re a grown-up woman now and I just have to let you live your own life. I want you to be happy.”

I freeze and take a small step back. Did he actually say this?

"What do you think, princess?"

"Yes! I would love to!” My lips curve into the biggest smile I’ve ever had. Finally, he understands me and lets me do something I like.

"Alright, it is settled then. Zayn, please take good care of my daughter." 

 My smile fades.