Chapter 3

"No, no, no, no, no, Rose. You can't see the man again!" Emmeline whispered back.

"It's too risky. Both for you and for him."

"But I'll be careful," she stated in a weak and soft tone.

"There's no amount of being careful that can make each one of you safer," Emmeline countered.

"I promised your parents that I would take care of you, should something happen to them."

"And you have," she grabbed both of Emmeline's hands. "You continue to do so everyday, in this crazy place. But Em if I don't do this, I'll always wonder."

"Wonder about what?" Emmeline frowned.

"A lot of things," Rosella shrugged.

"Like what his name was. How he would have reacted if I had managed to give him the sketch I drew of him. If he remembers me at all and-"

"Whoa!" Emmeline raised one of her hands, in a 'stop right there' signal.

"Why on earth do you even want him to remember you for?"

Rosella froze.

Then immediately decided to take the easy way out.

"I'm just being silly," she said with a slight shake of her head. "I realize that now."

"Good," Emmeline nodded.

Not exactly excitedly, but she seemed relieved to hear her showing signs that she would do the right thing in the end.

"Thanks Em," she gave the older woman an unexpected hug.

"For what?" Emmeline chuckled.

"For always having my back," she said as she held her even more tightly.

"It is my pleasure, princess." The woman smiled.

Rosella carried on with her day like any other one.

She met up with her personal trainer at the palace gym.

Who guided her throughout the set of exercises that he had in store for her.

Which she happily did as always.

In hopes that the weight that she constantly felt on her shoulders; of her life withering away, would at least ease off a little bit.

Shortly after that; she had breakfast on her own in the garden this morning, because his Majesty was busy making preparations for his departure. And of course having his attention on other things other than her.

Which was something she was thankful for.

With nothing interesting to do in order to kill time, she decided to take a long hot bath to relax her muscles.

Then returned to her sketch pad yet again.

And by the time she finally got torn away from her drawing stand, she had already done five more sketches of the stranger.

Which surprised even her. Especially because she had just performed, way beyond what she knew to be her peak.

As she browsed through her new complete works; she found herself smiling ear to ear, as she realized that she had managed to capture all his interesting angles.

The first sketch; was of him with a slight frown between his eyebrows, like the one he had when he tried to help her with locating whatever he thought she was having trouble finding.

The second one showed a reflection of him laughing heartily, with his eyes half closed.

Which was her favorite one. The third one was of him, unloading his cart for the cashier.

Followed by one where he was walking right next to her; with his mouth slightly open as if he was in the middle of saying something.

And of course having a conversation with her, as if they had known each other for years.

The final sketch showed him with an amused facial expression; very similar to the one he had, when she told him that she was going to draw him on her next sketch.

She lay on the bed with a huge smile on her face after safely putting the pad and stand away.

Then before she knew it, she was waking up from a nap. That she had unintentionally taken, after deciding to just 'rest her eyes'.

The sun had set and the sky was completely dark outside. And without thinking twice; she freshened up, brushed her hair and her teeth.

Applied a few swipes of a pale pink lip gloss.

Found a few pieces of casual clothes to throw together, and was out of her bedroom's very own back door with her sketches in a large envelope. Before anyone could notice her.

Her heart began to beat violently as she approached the Mall's parking area. Because unlike yesterday, she had no logical reason for being there.

And even if she were to see the man that she was out there scouting for, she had no idea what she would even say to him.

Which added to her already skyrocketing through the roof, anxiety and fear.

She killed her engine as soon as she had parked, and slowly lowered herself further in her driver's seat.

To avoid being seen today, and to add to what Emmeline called a disguise last night- she had brought a cap tonight.

Which covered most of her eye area, making it very challenging to easily identify her.

One hour of eagerly waiting passed.

Two hours more turned into three.

Which in turn got past four, and got to five.

When a lot of cars started peeling out of the lot; she knew that her little game was over. She had to cut her losses and simply move on.

The time was around 11 p.m when she started her car.

Only to almost run over someone, because her disappointment had recklessly led her to not checking her mirrors before reversing.

"Oh my goodness!" She exclaimed as she abruptly stopped her car, opened the door and ran out to see if she hadn't hurt whoever her almost victim was.

"Oh my goodness!" She repeated, because standing just by the back of her car was the stranger she had been waiting for- for five full hours, without him showing.

"I'm so sorry," she began rambling.

"I'm not usually such a terrible driver, it's just that tonight I'm a bit tired and a little frustrated. Not that it's an excuse, I'm so-" She began to apologize again, but he stopped her with a large smile on his face.

"Hey! It's totally okay." He assured her.

"You didn't successfully kill me with your car," he joked.

Making a slight chuckle to escape her lips.

"Well, if you're capable of cracking jokes still. It can only mean that I didn't traumatize you enough," she easily played along.

"Not with the car, no." He laughed.

"But how I ended up not learning your name when we separated last night, now that truly left me traumatized." His right arm, flew to his heart and dramatically clutched it.

"That was smooth," she chuckled and extended her hand to him.

Hoping that he didn't recognize her name, against the one of the same high profile figure that she was.

"I'm Rosella Hightower," she smiled shyly and a bit anxiously too.

"I'm Andrew Coleman," he held her delicate hand in his firm one.

"It's very nice to meet you."

"Likewise," she politely responded.

And heaved a silent sigh of relief too, when he seemed not to think there was anything wrong with her name.

Or even recognized her as the big deal that she was.

"You work around here?" He asked.

"Not really," she shook her head bemusedly. If only, she thought.

"And you?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah," he nodded excitedly.

"I just bought the restaurant around the corner. We officially opened just a week ago."

"So, you're actually new around here?" She noted.

But of course managed to make it sound like a question, just to keep him talking.

"That obvious?" He grinned.

"Uhm, now that I think about it, yes." She teased.

"Oh man, there goes my street cred." He chuckled briefly. Before informing her that he was originally from New Zealand.

She wanted to know more about what brought him to this side of the world, and literally everything else that there was to know about him.

Because there was just a light and invisible string, that she felt pulling her towards him that much.

But she decided not to sell herself as an over eager woman, so she ended up deciding to play it cool instead.

"You usually knock off around this hour?" Her curiosity got the best of her.

"It depends," he stated.

"I enjoy cooking so much that there's no closing time at my restaurant. And as long as people keep pouring in, I just ensure their meals keep going."

"A man who knows his way around the kitchen," she smiled admiringly.

"I'm blown away."

"You're far too kind," he chuckled.

When he attempted asking more about her.

Like where she lived and what she did for a living, she insisted that she had to go.

"I'm running late," she claimed.

"Late for what?" He frowned.

"Reality!" She shouted as she got into her car and sped away.

It was very cowardly of her. Especially because she still wanted to just stand there behind her car, while he stood behind what she assumed was his- and just talk.

Even if it was about nothing specific or even important.

But she couldn't handle him asking too many questions about her.

Because she knew that he wasn't going to like the answers that she would have given him.

And she just couldn't risk upsetting him, to a point where he might not allow her to come any closer to him- in future.

"Damn it!" She hit the back of her head against the car seat's head rest.

"You're such a coward, Rose." She muttered to herself as she drove through the palace's gates, after being identified and cleared by security.

"You couldn't even show him the damn sketches!" She continued muttering to herself.

Before once again, tiptoeing through the front entrance.

And made into to her room without incident, or even running into someone.

Only to walk into Emmeline, who was sitting and waiting patiently for her in her spacious bedroom.

"You went to see him, didn't you?" Emmeline asked in a curious tone.

"Em, I can explain." She quickly sat right next to her.

"I had to, okay? I had to see him just one last time. I intended to give him the sketches that I made of him too, but the very second I saw him I forgot all about that."

"And I take it you'll now have to take another risk in order to see him again?" She studied Rosella's tired face intently.

"I do," she admitted.

Because she quickly figured that there was no use whatsoever lying to someone, who could see right through her since she was a little girl. "But it's only to give him the sketches, I promise." She said and hoped, with all her heart that she would believe that what she was saying was the honest truth.

Without figuring out the underlying traces of her ulterior motives.

"Who are you trying to convince, little girl?" Emmeline smiled kindly at her. "Me or yourself?"

"Both of us," she smiled back and fell into the older woman's embrace.

"I wish I could keep telling you that falling for him is not the right idea. And further remind you of all the dangers that it would come with." Emmeline began.

"But I know that love has a mind of its own. It doesn't care about logic or reason. It is irrational and reckless."

"And by the looks of things, I'm afraid my heart has already refused to wear the safety helmet." Rosella admitted that she had fallen for Andrew, in a very small voice.

"I know," Emmeline brushed the hair out of her face.

"And I'm done fighting you about it. I'm not exactly going to say you should follow your heart, because we both know how costly that could be. But I do want you to know that with whatever you decide, I'll be right here for you."

"And I appreciate that more than you know, Em." She lay her head on her lap.

"Now tell me all about your latest suicide mission," the woman teased with a chuckle.

After their talk, Rosella felt more comfortable to share the gory details of how she had spent her evening.

She even found herself feeling less guilty too, for disappearing without making anyone aware of her whereabouts.

Upon pushing the guilty conscience away; she took a deep sigh, and decided to confide her latest findings in Emmeline.

"As crazy as it may sound, I think I'm falling in love with him."