1 The Ending Before The Beginning

"Alright. That's it for today," the male teacher said as he turned off the projector.

All the students started leaving. Some were in a hurry, and some were leisurely walking out.

Everyone left except two students. Alina, who was sitting at the third desk of the middle row. And the other one was Ziro, who was sitting at the fourth desk of the first row— next to the open window.

Ziro looked bored, as though he had spent an eternity at the school. He glanced outside the window and saw all the students leaving.

SIGH~

He sighed as he closed the window and looked at Alina— only to find her staring at him.

Ziro paid no attention to Alina and put his laptop and tablet in his bag, then took out his phone and looked at the time.

It was 4: 22 PM.

Ziro shook his head as he put his phone back in his pocket.

"Another boring day," he muttered.

He was about to stand up but stopped as he saw Alina walking towards him.

'Here she goes again.' he thought as he exhaled sharply.

She had a slim figure and a jade-like beauty with long black hair and purple eyes like pearls. She wore a black blazer and a black and blue-colored cross-striped skirt— that was their school uniform.

Ziro was wearing a back blazer with a red tie and blue pants. He had black hair and green eyes, but he was wearing blue contact lenses. He had a masculine figure and a handsome face, which made him hot looking, and whenever he passed by somewhere, the girls couldn't help but stare at him.

Alina stood in front of Ziro and stared at him intensely.

After waiting for a while, Ziro gulped down and spoke, "How may I help you?"

Alina raised her eyebrows and squinted her eyes, then frowned her face. "Ziro~"

Ziro gulped down once again and averted his gaze from Alina.

Alina puffed her cheeks and jumped on Ziro, but he stopped her with one hand and said, "Not here."

Ziro grabbed Alina's hand and dragged her out of the class as Alina wrapped her hand around Ziro's arm and giggled.

They walked through the almost empty hallway and got into the elevator. The elevator stopped at the ground floor, where many students were hanging around and waiting for someone or preparing to leave.

Alina was still grabbing Ziro's arm as they made their way out of the school's main gate.

After walking for a while, Ziro glanced at Alina and said, "You can let go now."

Alina tightened her grip around Ziro's arm and buried his arm under her breasts, then glanced at his face, "Did you say something?"

Ziro's furrowed his eyebrows, and after staring at Alina for a while, he shook his head. "Nope."

They walked to the park, where Alina finally let go of Ziro's arm.

Alina stood on the bench and looked down at Ziro.

"What are you doing?" Ziro asked.

"I am guessing from where and how you would attack me today."

"Oh?" Ziro removed his tie and wrapped it around Alina's neck, then pulled her closer. "Did you guess it right?"

Alina grinned and kissed Ziro on the lips, then uttered, "Nope."

Alina tried to kiss Ziro again, but Ziro stopped her and glanced around.

Alina started jumping on the bench— impatiently.

Ziro took out something from his blazer pocket and inserted it in his ear. "Lily, are you active?"

[Anytime for you, Master Ziro]

Lily was an Artificial intelligence (AI) assistant made by Ziro during the last vacation. He initially made Lily as a gift for Alina to give her on her birthday, but something went wrong, and only Ziro can access Lily.

"Is everything clear?" Ziro asked with a serious— yet calm look on his face as he glanced around.

[Yes, the spot you are standing in is all the CCTV cameras' blind-spot, and there are no drones around here right now. So you can kiss as much as you want.]

"Your way of talking keeps evolving, Lily," Ziro commented.

There were CCTV cameras almost everywhere and thousands of drones patrolling around the city to keep the security tight.

"Are you done yet?" Alina asked as she wrapped her arms around Ziro's neck.

Ziro wrapped his arms around Alina's waist and pulled her closer, then kissed her.

Alina tried to kiss Ziro's again, but Ziro let her go, and she ended up hanging in the air with her arms still wrapped around Ziro's neck.

"How about you act this passionate when we are indoors?" Ziro asked curiously.

Alina's face flushed as she stuttered, "I… will… try."

Ziro grabbed Alina's hand and started running. "Let's go! I will drop you off at your house."

"Walk slowly."

They were walking on the pavement, and Alina was hugging Ziro's arm.

Ziro sighed softly as he glanced at Alina. "How can you walk like this? Don't you feel uncomfortable?"

"Not really."

As they walked, someone wearing a black hoodie ran into them and pushed Alina on the street.

Alina was about to get run over by the car if Ziro hadn't pulled her back.

"Watch out, bitch!" the driver yelled as the car passed by.

They both panted heavily as they looked at each other.

"Are you okay?" Ziro asked with a concerned look on his face.

"Yeah," Alina nodded.

Ziro then placed his arm around Alina's shoulder as he glanced around to look for the hooded person.

"Ziro? What's wrong?"

"This was obviously an attack. Let's go home."

"You are getting paranoid like usual."

"Lily, hack into the CCTVs database and send all the footage that captured this scene."

[Okay, master Ziro.]

After walking for about ten minutes, they reached Alina's home.

Alina glanced at Ziro and asked, "Are you okay?"

Ziro didn't say anything and pushed Alina against the wall then kissed her.

Alina kissed back, and as soon as their lips parted, Alina kissed again.

"Alina."

"What?" Alina tried to kiss again.

Ziro stared into Alina's eyes and uttered with a serious look on his face, "Please go out with me."

Alina sighed as she pushed Ziro back and walked to open the gate of her house, then turned her face to Ziro. "How many times do I have to tell you that we can't date?"

They both stared at each other for a while. Then Alina took a small step in a way Ziro wouldn't notice— but he noticed.

Alina made a run towards the gate and tried to open it, but before she could do so, Ziro grabbed her from behind and stopped her. He didn't miss that chance to grope her and cop a feel of her breasts.

Alina tried to shrug her body and reach her hand to the gate. "What are you doing? Let me go!"

Ziro turned her around and cuffed her hands with his one hand. "Did you think you can just walk off after rejecting me?"

"I didn't…" Alina kissed Ziro then said, "I didn't reject you, okay? And you know that already. So what kind of weird roleplay is this?"

Ziro chuckled, then looked past Alina's shoulder, then a smirk appeared on his face. "It looks like your parents aren't back yet."

"What are you—" Alina wanted to ask what he meant by that, but before she could— Ziro princess-carried Alina.

"This is embarrassing! Please put me down."

"Don't shout, or you will disturb the neighbors."

"Since when do you care for others—" Ziro walked to the gate with Alina in his arms. "Hey! Are you listening to me?"

Ziro looked at Alina, then looked at the gate. "Uhh… my hands are occupied, so can you open the gate?"

Alina groaned and opened the gate. "Put me down."

Ziro walked in as he said, "You walked all the way from the school, so you must be tired."

Alina pinched Ziro cheek before saying, "I walk every day!"

Ziro walked towards the front door, but he turned to the left and walked to the three-seater swing.

"We are not going in?" Alina asked with a confused look on her face.

Ziro sat on the swing with Alina on his lap and leaned back as he exhaled slowly. "You know what will happen if you let me enter your room— especially when your parents aren't home."

Alina's face flushed as she got off from Ziro's lap and sat beside him.

"I believe in you, and I am sure you won't do something to me," Alina said with a smile on her face.

"Oh, believe me. You have no idea what kind of things I want to do with you."

Alina squinted her eyes and frowned her face as she wondered, "Why are you being honest, though?"

"Because I love you?"

Alina rested her head on Ziro's shoulder and held his hand. "This feels nice."

"Say," Ziro swung the swing then looked at Alina. "Can we really not go out?"

Alina sighed, then rested her head on Ziro's lap and looked at Ziro. "Why do you want to date me?"

"Because I love you?" Ziro answered with a straight face.

"Just because I love you doesn't mean you can go out with me, right?"

"We love each other, so I think we should go out."

Alina turned around and buried her face into Ziro's thighs as her muffled voice said, "We are already doing stuff what lovers would do, so there is no need to go out."

Ziro's turned Alina around and pinched her nose, then uttered, "Our current relationship is just friends."

Alina grabbed Ziro's hand and started playing with his fingers. "Friends don't kiss each other, you know?"

"Right," He nodded, then added, "They can do much more than that."

"We are not just friends; we are childhood friends," Alina stated.

"Oh, please! We met like once in our childhood, and I don't even remember it." All Ziro and Alina were doing was opposing each other.

Alina started popping Ziro's fingers one by one as she talked, "You are the crown prince of this country, and you are going to become the king next month. While I am just an ordinary girl."

"Me being a prince or king has nothing to do with this. And besides, it's just a ceremonial title, and I don't have any power as the government rules this country."

Ziro was the crown prince, but he had no powers. The government ruled the country, and there was no value for a king.

This world— all over the globe has five kingdoms and two countries. The kingdoms were ruled by the kings, and there was no government— only monarchy. While the two countries were ruled by the government and the royals had no powers.

"Still, what if there is a princess of some other kingdom who wants to marry you?" Alina asked curiously.

"She can fuck off for all I care," Ziro answered with a straight face.

"Oh?" Alina was done popping all the fingers of Ziro's left hand, so she grabbed his right hand and started popping them. "I caught you staring at Miss Sera's boobs again."

Miss Sera was their high school teacher who taught mathematics, and Alina had caught Ziro ogling Sera many times in the past.

"Lies!" Ziro exclaimed. "I spent the entire school hours staring at your bare legs because you weren't wearing stockings today."

Alina's face flushed a little as she popped Ziro's finger loudly. "Pervert."

"Yes, I am a pervert, and there is no denying that," Ziro admitted wholeheartedly.

Alina let go of Ziro's hand and turned her face towards Ziro's crotch.

"Your face is on the landmine, so don't blame me if it explodes," Ziro asserted.

Alina looked at Ziro, then grinned and said, "I know you won't let it explode."

"Then wait for it to explode."

After hearing that, Alina quickly sat up and rested her head on Ziro's shoulder.

"What's wrong? You don't want to taste the landmine?" Ziro teased.

"Shut up, or I will explode on you."

"You know…" Ziro grabbed Alina's hand and took a deep breath, "I will marry you after my coronation next month."

Alina's hand twitched, and her body jolted in surprise. "This might be the lamest proposal ever," she muttered.

"At least I am honest with my feelings. Unlike certain someone who just wants to kiss me all the time and stay friends with me."

Alina stayed silent and intertwined her fingers with Ziro's. "I will ignore how you groped me when you grabbed me from behind."

"I was just trying to stop you, but my hands automatically moved to your soft marshmallows. So blame my hands."

"Will you receive it today?" Alina asked with an impatient look on her face.

"I hope so. They canceled my order without any reason and then gave me another model."

Ziro had ordered a virtual reality (VR) headset and kit because Alina wanted to play VR games with Ziro.

Alina already had the VR gear, and she has been playing VR games for some months now.

"What model is it?"

Ziro took out his phone, then opened a link, and the page loaded on the screen.

"It's 53. CR3. T. And the—"

RING!

Ziro received a message.

"Oh!" he exclaimed.

Alina peeked to see the phone as she said, "Who is it? Are you cheating on me?"

"Yeah, right." Ziro turned his phone screen and showed it to Alina. "The order just got delivered."

"Nice! So we can play it tonight, right?!"

"I guess we can?"

"I can't wait for you to play it!" Alina's cheerful voice was full of excitement.

"Hmm."

Seeing Ziro's reaction, her smile disappeared. "It's okay if you don't want to play it."

"Huh?" Ziro was lost in his thoughts. "Wait! No! It's not like that. Of course, I am excited, and I want to play the game with you!"

Alina bit her lips and clicked her tongue. "I know you are just forcing yourself."

Ziro scoffed and hugged Alina, then patted her back. "I am not forcing myself. It's just… mom and dad have been fighting lately."

"Again?"

"Yeah, and dad hasn't come back in three days which is just making mom more angry."

"Whose fault is it this time?" Alina wondered.

"I have no idea whose side I should take. Dad has been busy with his Office works, and he mentioned he has some billion-dollar projects coming up. And on the other hand, mom is also busy as usual with her NGOs and some ceremonial works. They don't have time for each other."

Ziro's mother was the queen of the country, but she had no power over it. And Ziro was the only male heir alive who has been kept hidden for all these years.

"This is one of the reasons why I don't want to be in a relationship with you," Alina muttered.

"That is a stupid reason."

"If we are not going out, then we can be together forever, and if we start dating and fight for some reason— our relationship would end. I don't want that because I want to stay with you forever."

Ziro flicked his finger on Alina's forehead and stood up. "You and your logic are stupid as always."

"Are you going home?"

"Yeah."

"I will talk with mom and dad to talk with your parents."

Ziro waved his hand without looking back.

Alina's parents were lawyers and friends of Ziro's parents, who had mutual friendships ever since they were kids.

Ziro had already reached the gate before Alina called out to him, "Ziro!"

Ziro stopped and looked back at Alina, "Hmm?"

Alina ran to Ziro's and hugged him, then looked up at his face, "I love you."

"I know."

"I love you so so much!"

"I know."

"I love you the most."

Ziro chuckled and hugged Alina back. "I know."

"I will be with you… always, no matter what happens."

"I know."

"So don't stop loving me, okay?"

Ziro grinned, then said, "I would consider it if you kiss me."

Without wasting any more seconds, Alina jumped on Ziro and started kissing him.

=====

Buckle up and brace yourself for a long ride.

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