“Sebastian,” I interrupted him.
“What?” he asked sweetly.
I hesitated for a short while before finally addressing the problem. “You forgot their names.”
“Do they really matter?” He sounded slightly confused.
“Of course. I cannot imagine their faces unless I know their names.” I opened my eyes again and gave him a pleading look.
His lips twisted in a charming smile, letting me know that once again, he was powerless in making a decision to deny my request.
“Okay, I can do that,” he said calmly and then spent a few moments thinking about it. “King Peter and...Kate.”
I burst into mild laughter. “King Peter and Kate?”
“Yes,” he said with playful defensiveness. “What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s just...too plain for a story. You should give them names that scream beauty and power. Peter and Kate are just...” I stopped when I noticed his expression was turning serious.
Sometimes I would forget that he was a perfectionist with an admirably-sized ego that was not to be undermined at any circumstances, no matter how foolish they appeared to be.
“Watch it, sweetness.” Contrary to my expectations, his voice came out in a light, charming tone and he managed to draw another smile to my face by joking about his characters. “Right now, Peter and Kate are starting to get upset because you’re sabotaging their story. We don’t want to cause a riot here. I think you should just let me continue.”
With that smile still present on my features, I shook my head and stared at him bewildered, completely captivated with his light.
“You’re being so silly. I’m just saying that I cannot imagine a king named Peter.”
I observed as he sighed and tilted up my chin, making me look right into his glowing emerald eyes. “Fine, I give up, Mrs. Author. You choose the names.”
Maybe his ego wasn’t as untouchable as I thought.
“How about...” His expectant gaze made me feel foolishly pressured to come up with a stunning fairytale couple, but despite that it took me only a moment to blurt out the names which were more appropriate for the characters. “King Alexander and Princess Leila.”
“I didn’t say anything about her being a princess.” I sighed, rolling my eyes at him and he pretended like he didn’t like it one little bit. “It’s my story, sweet. Don’t mess with my copyright or you will deal with my team of lawyers. Trust me, they’re badass and you wouldn’t like to fight them.”
We both laughed. “Alright. Tell me about this King and the girl who is not a princess.”
“Well, as I was saying before I got interrupted. Kate—”
I cleared my throat as a warning that he used the wrong name and he shook his head at me before continuing. “Leila lived with her mother—” I parted my lips and he cut me off before I got a chance to say anything, “whose name will remain undisclosed for safety reasons.”
“Safety reasons?” I gave him a baffled look.
“Witness protection system. Long story, sweet.” He said in a content voice, probably feeling proud of himself for getting off the hook. “Anyway, since they had to give all of their money to the mean King Alexander, they had no food, so one day Leila’s mother asked her to go to the forest to get some wood for the fire and try to find something to eat. Both of them knew it was risky because it was forbidden to walk through the King’s forest, but Leila took the risk all the same.”
“You know, I wonder why the daughter always needs to be the one who gets into trouble in these stories. Can’t a mother take the risk for once and leave the daughter at home?” I said with a pinch of bitterness and Sebastian laughed.
“Angel, you’re way too serious about this.”
“No, but really when you think about it… What kind of a mother sends her daughter alone into a forest knowing she could be in great danger?” Your mother! The voice in my head screamed and I frowned, thinking that my mother would make a perfect fairytale villain.
Sebastian seemed to be a little caught up. “You didn’t give me a chance to explain. Leila’s mother would have loved to go instead of her daughter, but she was too weak to walk due to malnourishment.”
He looked at me expectantly and I chuckled. “It does make sense,” I said in a quiet voice and nodded. “I guess I can work with that. So, what happened when Leila went into the forest?”
“I thought you’d never ask. At first she was really afraid, but after a while when she realized she was completely alone, she relaxed and collected branches for the fire. But just when she was about to leave, she heard scary growling behind her. She turned around and her knees went weak when she saw—”
“The king!” I drew in a sharp breath, realizing I had actually said it aloud.
“No, not the king!” Sebastian chuckled and finally revealed the mystery figure in front of Leila. “It was a huge dog that seemed like he might attack her any second, and it scared her senseless. She tried to defend herself by swinging with a branch, but it didn’t really help her. While she was busy trying to get the dog to go away, somebody approached her from behind and lay a sword on her shoulder.”
“Who was it?” I asked curiously, still trying to connect to the story.
“Well, that’s exactly what she was wondering, and even though she was scared more than ever in her life, she turned around and saw one of the king’s knights staring at her with an evil grin as if he was about to cut her with that sword. Just like that she forgot all about the raging dog behind her and passed out.”
He took a short break to prolong the suspense and I stared at him in anticipation, thinking that so far, I really liked his story.
“What happened when she woke up?” I asked when I couldn’t handle the waiting anymore, proving that I was way more childish than him.
“She recognized the approaching sound of horses and when she regained consciousness, she looked up halfway and realized that the man who stared down at her from his horse was none other than the notorious King Alexander.”
“Was he beautiful?” I didn’t know why I asked that. I guess the fairytale girl inside me wanted all the juicy details.
Sebastian seemed to be amused by my question and I was surprised by his answer. “Actually, he was pretty much pissed off when his soldiers told him she attacked his dog while stealing in his forest. Leila was that intimidated by him that she didn’t even dare to look up at his beautiful face because she knew he had no mercy.”
“He kind of sounds like a jerk,” I said and Sebastian smirked at my remark.
“Oh, sweetness, this is only the beginning.” His voice turned mysterious.
“What did he do to her?” I asked with fright. Suddenly, I didn’t like where this story was going.
Sebastian looked away for a moment and then returned his gaze at me. “His knights started fighting about which one would kill her to show his allegiance to the king and at that moment she knew her destiny was sealed. Leila looked him right into the eyes and Alexander suddenly felt something he never felt before. He didn’t understand what it was but it left him unable to order his knights to hurt her,” he whispered, sinking deeper into his thoughts.
“He let her go, didn’t he?” I wondered.
“I’m afraid he didn’t,” Sebastian answered in a voice that sounded kind of sad. “The fact that she managed to get to him with his beauty and make him look weak in front of his men made him furious. In a fit of anger, he ordered one of his knights to cut off her beautiful, long hair and take her to the castle where she would be forced to work as a maid of the lowest rank.”
“That’s awful.” I exhaled in surprise. This is not how things in fairy tales usually went. This king sounded like a major villain rather than a hero. “Please, tell me she managed to escape.”
His lips curved into a light smile. “She tried to reason with him, but she was just a simple girl and he was the king.” Suddenly, his words rang with familiarity and I recognized the exact thought
procedure this imaginary character was led by. “No matter how much she tried to convince him she had a sick mother at home and that she only wanted a few branches for the fire, she couldn’t get to Alexander. He called her a thief and signed for his men to go through with his orders. Before she managed to react she was tied up and he rode off. His men didn’t care about her pleas when they were cutting her hair and they even mocked her boyish look during the trip to the castle.”
“That’s it...I hate him! How could he do that to her?” I found myself upset with a person who didn’t even exist. Even though I was perfectly aware of that, I still couldn’t stop lashing out at him. “Who does he think he is? King or not, he has no right to treat her like that!”
Sebastian narrowed his eyes at me. “In his eyes she was a thief and that’s how he dealt with thieves. Most of the people around him were dishonest, so he had no reason to believe she was telling the truth.” He shrugged his shoulders and I realized I shouldn’t be surprised in the least that he would feel compassion for such a dark character.
“Well, I think he’s a pathetic excuse for a king. I hope he was ashamed of himself.” Even I was surprised by the harshness of my voice and Sebastian laughed at me.
“Maybe it’s enough storytelling for one evening, love. I don’t want you to kill me in my sleep. We’ll continue tomorrow.” His tender expression evoked me back into reality and just like that magically helped me to calm down.
“Absolutely not,” I whispered in a soft voice. “I want to know how the story ends. What did Alexander do once he had her in his palace?” I demanded, pleading with him to continue the story.
“He didn’t really do much.” He smirked. “For a first couple of days, she would enter his thoughts at times, but under the pressure of his obligations, the incident eventually slipped his mind.”
“It slipped his mind?” I asked in disbelief. “So he had absolutely no remorse?” I sighed, wondering if such character could ever redeem himself.
“He was the notorious and merciless king, remember? Dealing with traitors, cheats and thieves was his everyday routine. Besides, she was among the rare ones whose life had been spared. He thought he did her a huge favor,” Sebastian continued in a smooth voice.
“Of course he would think that.” I rolled my eyes and one glance into a baffled Sebastian made us both laugh. “It’s not funny. This guy is awful,” I urged him as well as myself to stop laughing. “What about Leila? Didn’t they ever meet? After all, they kind of lived in the same place,” I asked once we became somewhat serious.
“Leila spent her days working hard and worrying about her mother so much that she couldn’t even eat in the beginning. She was lucky enough to befriend the lady who was her superior and that lady promised to provide help for her sick mother in exchange for Leila’s promise to take care of herself.” Sebastian spoke in such great detail that I almost felt like I was right there reliving the whole thing with this poor female character. I admired his narration skills. “And she did everything she could to avoid another confrontation with Alexander,” he added after a short break of silence.
Something tore through my chest...For some reason, this story started sounding all too familiar.
“I hope that that lady managed to help her escape before she met Alexander bec—”
“No such luck, sweet,” he interrupted me and instantly gripped my attention. “One day, when she was scrubbing the hallway floors, the door in front of her suddenly swung open and the bucket of water and soap spilled all over the expensive shoes of a person who was on his way out. To her complete shock, that person was the man she feared the most—King Alexander.”
For a moment, I lost my breath because I could have truly put myself in that girl’s shoes.
“He yelled at her,” I started saying so certainly as if I was the one telling the story and not Sebastian.
“He did,” he confirmed. “But his fury didn’t last for long. She complied when he ordered her to get up on her feet and the moment he saw her golden hair had grown back, he recognized the girl from the forest. For some reason, he was happy to see her again, but when he made her look at him, he was disappointed to see that all the loveliness had evaporated from her face,” Sebastian said in a distant voice.
“What did he expect? Alexander is the one who broke her. He’s the last man who deserved to take credit for her smiles,” I advocated on Leila’s behalf.
Sebastian nodded. “He was aware of that. When he took a strand of her hair in his hands, he stared at her horrified face and suddenly it made him act in a manner which would help him conserve his untouchable pride.”
Sebastian’s face turned serious and I looked at him with the same horrified expression poor Leila must have had on her face.
As the probable plot development dawned on me, I burned with fury. “If he ordered someone to cut her hair again, I swear...”
“He didn’t,” Sebastian dismissed my worry. “He simply let go of her and walked away.”
I gulped, looking surprised. “He didn’t hurt her?” Sebastian shook his head. “Why?” I asked.
“Because he didn’t want to hurt her, but he didn’t want to feel guilty about the state in which he had found her either,” Sebastian explained. “After that meeting things went back to normal for Alexander and Leila. He was back to being the mean king and she was back to being the invisible housekeeper. Invisible to everyone but Alexander, that is.”
This sudden twist made me look up at Sebastian in wonder. “So, he apologized to her after all?” I asked with genuine interest and felt a bit disappointed when he shook his head.
“He admired her from afar,” he whispered and a small smile graced his lips. “Watching Leila’s determination to enjoy life despite her harsh reality made him reconsider his opinion of her and one day when he saw her return the money she had found while cleaning, he was sure he was wrong about her. She wasn’t a thief after all, but Alexander was the fearless king who was raised to never apologize to anyone under any circumstances and he wasn’t about to start with Leila. Still, he wanted to find a way to make it up to her,” Sebastian described the king’s turmoil.
I chuckled, thinking about the depth he tried to give to these two people but my opinion of Alexander still hadn’t changed a bit. “How on earth does he plan to make it up to her without apologizing for his mistakes?”
He smirked. “Alexander was quite sure of himself. He thought that turning Leila into a lady, buying her expensive jewelry and dresses would make her warm up to him, but no matter what he did, she remained indifferent and determined to lock him out of her heart.” Sebastian suddenly sighed, pausing and I smiled at him.
“It seems that even kings cannot buy love,” I concluded and looked away from him.
“Alexander was starting to realize that when she broke down and asked him to let her go home. Deep down, he knew he was hurting her even more than before, but the very thought of living without her tore him apart. It was impossible to let her go.” Something in his voice revealed his own inner turmoil. He was remembering something. And so was I. “Refusing to give up, he made her join him for dinner every evening, hoping that she would reconsider, but all of his attempts to get her to open up and talk to him were rebuffed. His Leila was like a stone with no emotion.” There was something alluring about the way he said that with longing in his voice as if he could feel for Alexander and his Leila—who wasn’t his at all at the time.
“Maybe she was scared of being hurt again.” There was a ring of pain in my voice.
“You’re right. She was scared. With a good reason,” Sebastian confirmed my doubts and I looked at him with a puzzled look on my face.
“Did he hurt her?” I asked in a small voice.
Sebastian nodded. “But not on purpose. On one of the dinners, they were accompanied by the king’s conceited friends who heard the court rumors about Leila and they started making fun of her in front of Alexander. They laughed at her poor background, called her a thie
f, asked how it felt to have her hair cut down and they even mockingly complimented her for her housekeeping skills.”
“Alexander had to have been furious!” I interrupted him, but didn’t get an answer. “Please, don’t tell me that he dared to join his rude friends in making fun of Leila.”
Sebastian shrugged. “He didn’t join them, but he didn’t stop them either. Even when she looked at him with unshed tears in her eyes, seeking his protection and opening up to him for the first time, he remained silent in the fear of damaging his pride and reputation.”
Once again, although I was perfectly aware these people weren’t real, I felt revolted by his actions. Hell, I wished this king Alexander was real so I could give him a piece of my mind. “Sebastian, I don’t understand where you’re going with the story. I can’t see how she could ever forgive him for this.”
“Neither did Leila.” Sebastian smiled, revealing mystery in his eyes. “She had finally had enough and she ran away from that dinner, causing a scene despite the fact that she knew it would enrage the king. But she didn’t know that he was everything but enraged. He felt terribly ashamed for his weakness, and that night he decided to put everything he had known aside and ask for her forgiveness even if he had to beg her on his knees.”
There was a moment of silence. “That’s very nice, but I don’t think he has a chance,” I said in a detached voice.
Something lit up in Sebastian’s eyes. “Unfortunately, it was too late to find out. When Alexander went to see her, all he found was an empty room and an open window. It didn’t take him long to realize the lady who was her friend helped her escape to avoid his wrath. Now that he finally wanted to make things right, Leila was gone.” He sighed. “For the first time in his life, Alexander felt what it was like to miss somebody. His days without Leila were gray and depressing.”
“So what did he do? I bet he sent an entire army to go look for her.” I arched my eyebrows and Sebastian snickered.
“No, actually he did the only thing he could do. He reached for his phone and—what?” He asked in a defensive tone when he noticed my confused expression. “It’s a story with modern elements.”
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