“I thought she was this innocent thing that needed protection, and slowly, we started a relationship. However, I knew in my heart that I was still not serious. I admit she gave me everything, and that was why I thought she was serious in our relationship. That got me rethinking our situation. After a month, she told me she was pregnant. I had my hesitations, but she was my girlfriend, and I owed up to it.” He ran his fingers to his hair and then to his face.
“Days before we were supposed to release an official announcement that we were getting married and expecting, Chad told me he saw her getting out from one of my guard’s chambers one night. So I investigated and learned she had been sleeping with a guard immediately after she slept with me so she’d get pregnant and claim I was the father. She wanted the throne so much, she’d do anything. She even charmed my parents, especially Dad. She got them to like her and believe her,” Drew continued.
“When I told them about what she did, my mom believed me, but Dad thought otherwise. He still thought I should marry her, but as she was pregnant with another man’s baby, he knew it wouldn’t be possible. When she learned I was not marrying her and that I know the truth, she got an abortion and told my dad the problem was solved. Dad apparently told her to lay low and not bug me. He then told Chad and his family to relocate as punishment for telling me. Yes, I know my dad was a jerk. That was when I met you. Wait, scratch that… I meant when I saw you,” he said.
“The main reason I went to see Chad in the first place was to get over my dad’s betrayal. He chose her over me. Little did I know that on that visit, I would see you,” he told with me with sparks in his eyes, making me smile.
“I thought Cath had already moved on. But then, the announcement of my betrothal came. My dad is so hell-bent on Cath because he’s a purist. He thinks members of the royal family can only marry someone with a title, and Cath, being the only daughter to the Duke of Erland, is qualified. The only other girl with a title is Margaux, and she’s the girlfriend of my brother, Alexander, and that’s a no-no on Dad’s books,” Drew said.
“Wait, before you continue, you have a brother? And I thought they thought you’re staying single?” I asked. This was news to me.
“Yeah, I do, but I never talk about him because we’re not close. He’s a year younger than me, and he only ever spends with Margaux. You’d probably meet him once we go to the palace, but maybe not. We’ll see.” Drew shrugged that topic off.
“And, yes, they did think I was staying single forever because I stopped dating after I saw you. Once Cath and I were over, I went back to my old habits and dated different girls for a while, so my parents felt sure that the breakup didn’t affect me, which was true. I was more affected by the fact that I was made a fool. I admit I was a jerk to her too as I didn’t really take her seriously up until our first night together when I found out it was her first. But then I quit cold-turkey on all the womanizing. At that point, my family thought if I’m not marrying anyone else anyway, why not just go back to Cath, who has been my longest relationship before. And she’s pure-blood so...” Drew dragged it out.
“So?” I said.
“So now you know why I have a rift between my family, especially my dad. He’s forcing me to marry a cheater just for the sake of that royal blood crap. And no, Liz, I know what you’re going ask: I never loved her. Please, tell me you don’t hate me because of my past,” he said.
I hugged him. I didn’t know how to make it better, but I knew I could be here for him and show him I didn’t care about his past. At least he had changed and had never given me any reason to think he would cheat on me. Plus, he was fighting for me. This was just a small bump in the road, and nothing else.
Well, my Prince Charming was not so perfect after all. And I didn’t care at all. The puzzle was slowly coming together, and we could now both move on and face other problems that were bound to come our way.
So give me your best shot, fate. Drew is with me, and I know we can make it.
Chapter 15
For the Whole World to Know
The next day, Drew made sure we were having fun and that the whole Cath situation was to be avoided like the plague. He was still pissed that she was coming to the island, but he decided to forget about it while on vacation.
We were on the beach when Drew decided to show me his favorite thing to do on the island: kayaking. He held my hand while I was trying to get on, then seated himself behind me and rowed. As we were getting further, I was able to appreciate why he liked it so much. I saw some corals below and tried to touch them but failed. I couldn’t reach them. The water was so clear, I thought I could. It was worth trying, though, as the water formed ripples as shiny as the finest diamonds. As I looked in front of me, I could see the entire ocean merging with the sky. It was a truly unique experience.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Drew asked, still rowing.
“Yeah, this is truly something, Drew. I feel like I can do this for the rest of my life. It’s a nice escape; It feels like it’s just me and the water, and nothing else,” I said, still mesmerized with the view.
“As much as I want that to happen, Liz, I’m afraid I’m too selfish to let you do this forever. I want some of your time too, you know,” Drew said, laughing a bit.
After the whole Cath discussion, something changed with Drew. It was like he was afraid I was going away, that if he was not with me, I was going to leave him. Fat chance of that happening. I liked him too much. He was being so sweet, but I had to find a way to make him feel secure like what he did to me.
I turned to him. I could see his blue eyes and remembered everything we went through. It might be insignificant compared to other relationships, but we had our own story. I needed to make him know I was not leaving him.
“Drew, you do know I’m always going to be here, right? I’m not going anywhere, ever. You’re stuck with boring old me,” I said while looking at him straight in the eyes to make sure he understood me. He looked back at me with love in his eyes.
“Yeah, I do. It’s just Cath and her evil plotting mind being around us. I don’t want you to be scared, but I know she’s going to do everything. I mean, who would think of sleeping with two men just to get what they want?” Drew said, shaking his head
“How did she plan to pull that off, though? The baby won’t look like you,” I said.
“She might have been planning to get it aborted and say she had a miscarriage and all. I am not sure, though. I didn’t really stick long enough to find out.”
I nodded and let my focus go back to the serene view of the ocean and sky.
We went back to the island after that and saw everyone playing a drinking game. They were counting, but every now and then someone would say a word. That was weird.
“Uhh…what are you guys doing?” I asked.
“Well, we count off until eleven. Then the next person will get to change a certain number into a word. We start counting again, and whoever gets the word wrong takes a shot. Then, every time we finish the count off, we all have to take a shot. It’s really fun,” Jam explained as Andie shook her head up and down like a crazy person.
“Andie, are you drunk or something?” Drew asked, teasing her. He just liked torturing her.
“Uhhh… No. Isn’t it obvious that I’m not?” she said, shaking her head from side to side this time.
Drew and I looked at each other and laughed so hard. Most of them were drunk or were about to be. Mel was holding Luke’s hands as she giggled at whatever Luke had said. Ryan was just being himself. Andie and Jam kept doing some weird movements to accompany the words in the game. Meanwhile, Rissa and Chad were busy laughing their butts off at how Andie and Jam were acting. If I had to guess who was behind this whole game, I was betting on those two.
Drew held my hand and dragged me out of the living room. Now we were in the balcony, overlooking the ocean. He placed his arm around me as we quietly watched the moon’s reflection dancing on the ocean waves.
We spe
nt the rest of the night looking at that view. Until we noticed that the gang grew quiet because they slept where they were. Rissa and Chad were sitting down on the couch with Rissa’s head on Chad’s shoulders, both were snoring. Jam and Andie were on each of the solo sofa looking like the pillow they were embracing was going away. The rest were nowhere to be found, which is why I assumed that they were in their respective rooms. Drew and I looked at each other and laughed quietly. We then went to our respective rooms to sleep.
I woke up quite early the next day and decided to pack my stuff. Drew went inside my room and brought me coffee.
“Do we really need to go back home?” I asked as I packed my stuff.
Drew laughed and embraced me from behind as I savored the island view one last time.
“Yes, I’m needed at the school for the final touches on the library extension. You also need to get back to school and graduate in a few months, and so does Rissa and Chad. We all need to go home, you know it,” Drew said even when his eyes were saying a completely different story.
I sighed, knowing I couldn’t get out of this. Why would I want to go back to a place where Catherine’s face would be waiting? Apparently, she was landing the same time as us, so Mel would be meeting her at the airport. I didn’t know what to think about it. I never really got a good look at her, so I was not sure if she was pretty or really pretty. Drew simply shrugged it off when I asked and said she was not so beautiful. But he did go out with her in the past, so she had to have some good looks.
We boarded the same yacht that brought us to the island and watched some movies. The next thing I knew, we were already heading to the airport.
Drew immediately dragged me out of the airport after we had said goodbye to Jam who was going back to France that same day. Unfortunately, we weren’t quick enough. Someone called out to Drew, ran towards him, and immediately hugged him. I was so stunned, I didn’t really know how to react. A very beautiful lady was currently hugging Drew like they were long lost sweethearts. Drew was stiff, not responding in any way to the hug; he simply squeezed my hand as reassurance. Once this hug was over, he was gonna have to introduce this lady.
She had blonde hair tied into a very neat bun, an angular face with minimal make-up, the latest Christian Dior shoes, and blue eyes glaring at me. She looked like royalty without even trying.
“I missed you so much, booboo,” she said before kissing Drew with so much passion.
I wanted to run away and not feel what my heart was feeling. It was slowly being torn into two. The only thing keeping me on my spot was Drew’s hand, holding onto mine with so much force that my hand was beginning to hurt.
The kiss got to Drew’s last nerve. He shrugged her off, got his hankie, and wiped his lips as if she had some contagious disease. Drew’s eyes, which were always playful and teasing, were now filled with hatred and venom as they looked at the girl who I now assumed to be Catherine.
“Cath, what the fuck are you doing here? I told you I didn’t want to see you anywhere near me. And what was that stunt you just pulled? Are you really trying to test every ounce of patience I have left?” Drew said in an ice-cold voice I didn’t imagine he had. If he used that to me, I would have been running away as far from him as I could.
I looked at Catherine and saw she was affected by Drew’s voice, but she refused to back down.
“Booboo, what are you talking about? I’m here to see my lovely fiancé, you dummy,” she said and started moving toward him again. Unfortunately for her, Drew had now regained his composure and sidestepped her. He then placed his arms around me and kissed me passionately. It suddenly felt like we were the last two people there.
People were wolf-whistling, but then I started hearing faint clicks from the background and my heart sank. When we stopped to breathe some air, we saw at least two dozen paparazzi taking pictures.
They were all asking questions.
“Who’s that girl you were kissing, Prince Phillippe?”
“Why is Lady Catherine here? Are you back together?”
“Are news of an engagement near?”
“Why have you been missing for such a long time?”
We were now attracting a bunch of people. Wait, who was I kidding? We caught the attention of the whole damn airport. It’s possible people were missing their flights left and right just to see if the elusive crown prince was really here and was caught kissing an unknown girl.
Drew looked at me with apologetic eyes. We both knew what would happen next, he was breaking his promise. And with Catherine being there, I really didn’t care about it.
People were murmuring left and right. As if it was possible, cameras were clicking faster and faster.
Catherine stomped her feet and dragged a stunned Mel out of the airport with a laughing Luke beside her. Ryan was silently fuming as he left and followed Mel. The rest of our party were smiling like Cheshire cats, happy for Drew and me. And that’s when I noticed Jam was still there gasping for air. I’m guessing she was one of the people who were missing their flights that day. It was time, and we all knew it. It was time to let the whole world know who I was in Drew’s life.
This was it, my last few seconds of being anonymous. I wished to have stayed that way a little longer, but fate always had a way of biting your ass, not that I was complaining. I looked in the eyes of everyone there that I knew: Andie, Chad, Rissa, Jam, and Drew, and knew that I would have them as I entered this new chapter in my life.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the press, I wish I had a more formal setting to announce this very special news, but since you are all here and there’s no reason to deny anything, I would like you to all meet my girlfriend, Ms. Elizabeth Samantha Donalds,” Drew said in an authoritative voice befitting a true royal. He then turned to look at me in the eyes and smiled. It was a smile that said everything will be alright, and for the second time today, he leaned over and kissed me. This time for the whole world to see.
Chapter 16
Support from the Crazy Bunch
Everything that happened after that was a huge blur. Immediately after Drew kissed me in front of everybody, I suddenly felt being transported somewhere else. The volley of questions continued.
“When did you guys get together?”
“How did you meet?”
“What does Lady Catherine has to say about this?”
I faintly remember me, Chad, Rissa, Andie, Jam, and Drew being dragged out of the very crowded airport by men dressed up like the MIB. I was thrown inside a black SUV. Thankfully, Drew was there squeezing my hand, making sure I felt his presence.
Honestly, I remembered everything that happened, but it felt like it was someone else living it and not me.
“Well, that was interesting,” Chad said, looking at Drew and me.
“I’m baffled. How the hell did the press know about us being at the airport? I thought you guys covered it up when Drew decided to stay here for a while?” Rissa asked.
Andie and Jam also nodded, trying to come up with a possible reason as to how and why the press were at the same airport as us.
“Isn’t it obvious, Rissa babe?” Chad asked.
I was still in a total shock and couldn’t even answer that simple question even when the truth was right there in front of my face.
“Cath,” was all Drew said, seething with rage. He couldn’t take it anymore and got his phone and dialed someone’s number.
“What the hell happened? I asked you for one thing… one thing, and you people couldn’t even do something about it. No press, that was a simple request. No press!” Drew said in a cold voice. He wasn’t shouting, but if I were at the receiving end of this conversation, I would prefer he was.
Chad was shaking his head and casually draped his arms around Rissa like this situation was as normal as ice cream. Andie was staring at the window; again, like this was a simple situation that she normally had to deal with.
Wait, who was I kidding? This was a common situation for these people.
They were royalties. They’re used to the press and paparazzi following them. I wasn’t totally sure about Chad, though. He had been living here press-free for the past three years.
Drew finished his phone call and took a deep breath. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking because I was still in shock. Most people would normally be over it by now, but I was still frozen to my seat.
“Uhhh, Liz, are you ok? You have been pretty quiet for the past five minutes,” Jam asked. Everyone suddenly looked at me, expecting an answer.
I shook my head and looked at the ceiling of the car. Right then and there, I exploded.
“No, not really. Catherine is trying to steal my freaking boyfriend. So, no, I’m not ok. Far from it! I’m not sure which emotion to feel first, jealousy or shock. She freaking kissed my boyfriend in front of me!” I said, almost screaming.
Drew might have thought he was in trouble because all anger suddenly left him. He hugged me tightly, like he was afraid I was going to run away from him at that instant.
“I’m so sorry, Liz. You know I didn’t want any part of it. I was just too shocked to see her there that I wasn’t able to stop her from doing what she did,” Drew said
I looked at him and shook my head. I understood that he didn’t want any off it, and he did show her who he really wanted to be with. Well, he announced it to the whole world by saying I was his girlfriend in front of all those paparazzi. What I was upset about was the fact that Cath kissed him in front of me—in front of me! She just declared an all-out war.
No one kisses my boyfriend and gets away with it, I thought.
“Wait just a damn minute. You mean to say, Lizzie, while the paparazzi were there taking your pictures, asking everything about your life, and taking away your precious anonymity, you were silently fuming because Cath kissed Drew in front of you? And here I thought you were thinking of your life changing as you knew it.” Jam asked, a little bewildered.
The Bookworm Meets the Prince Page 10