Chapter 19: Confession

"So how's the feeling, Rathna?" He asked without much attention as he was more focused on checking the navigational instrument in the cockpit.

I gazed at him in confusion. "Feeling?"

"The feeling of being jealous over a gorgeous jet plane." He stared at me. "How was it?" There is that annoying arrogant tone in his voice.

"Do you wanna die, asshole?"

He snickered at me but leaned in and fastened my seat belt for me. After checking that it's safe enough for me, he looked me in the eyes. "I never meant for you to be jealous. But you were, and it was fun."

"I wasn't jealous at all!" I exclaimed in defense.

He slightly shook his head in amusement. "I only have eyes for you, ma'am. There's no need to become unsure. Trust me."

"I told you, I wasn't jealous."

He shrugged his shoulders like he's so not convinced at all. "If you say so, then okay."

He continued checking and doing something on the controls.

"Wait," I grunted when I suddenly realized something. "You're flying this?"

"Yup."

"No way!" I stammered in panic.

"Yes way. I'm licensed."

"Still no! I'm getting off of this thing!" I tried to unfasten my seat belt to get off.

I am freaking scared! He's going to fly this on his own? Without assistance? And just the two of us? No way! What if something happens when we're up in the air?

"You don't trust me." He said with an irrefutable tone.

In the middle of my panic, I stopped and looked at him. "Neuron, it's not like that. I trust you but--" I am at loss for words. He looked disappointed and hurt and I don't like that.

"I'm scared," I truthfully confessed. "This is my first time riding a plane after a long time."

He snaked his hand through my seat to hold my hand. "Look at me, Rathna." As if hypnotized by his words, I immediately stared at his coffee-brown tantalizing eyes. "The most important things in my life are here. I won't fly this if I'm not confident."

"What are those important things to you, Neuron?"

I wanna hear my name.

"Solar."

Solar? This plane? The jerk!

"And of course, myself."

I threw his hand away out of annoyance but he playfully laughed and took my hand again. "And the most important of all aside from Solar and myself is here too. So I can't let an accident happen."

I wanna hear my name!

"You have to be protected," he suddenly said and winked at me.

I can't stop myself from grinning. He didn't directly say it, but it was implied that I am the most important to him.

Really? Really?

"Rathna, do you trust me?"

I nodded at his question. But when the plane started to come into life, I couldn't help but shrink on my seat while closing my eyes like a kid who's afraid of the Ferris wheel moving.

I can't remember exactly how I survived the take-off. All I remember is that my ears hurt badly because of the increasing pressure as the plane went higher. My eyes were closed the entire take off while I was covering both my ears with both of my index fingers and gritting my teeth because of the pain. I'm sweating even inside the strong air-conditioned plane. And I only opened my eyes when Neuron asked me to.

The plane is at a more stable pace and it didn't feel like moving at all.

"I should've brought EarPlanes to lessen the pain. I didn't know you'd hurt your ears."

I glared at him. "Of course you don't know, jerk! You didn't even give me a heads up!"

He laughed. "You're adorable even when mad."

"Why are you laughing?"

"I don't know too. Everything sounds funny to me when you say it."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Where are we going anyway?"

"Anywhere? I just wanted to fly you around."

I looked at him in disbelief. "Did you bring me here to flaunt that you have a private jet?!"

"Probably."

My head suddenly ached because of how annoying he is. As if burdened by the whole freaking planet, I massaged my temple.

"Kidding. I brought you here to show you something spectacular."

"Really?" I'm a little bit skeptical but I'm also feeling a bit of anticipation.

Minutes later Neuron asked me to look down. And when I did, my mouth was gaping.

"It's beautiful!" I uttered in pure amazement.

"You're seeing the whole Gracia City in a bird's eye view right now."

I didn't know the city looked this beautiful. The roads are perfectly aligned as if it was planned perfectly. The buildings aren't just anywhere, they were placed perfectly. It looked so beautiful, clean, and orderly.

"And just know that you have to feel the honor of being the only person I brought on this plane. Not even my father can fly with this."

I glanced at him, who's looking at me with arrogance as if he's the most amazing person in the world right now. Like showing me this makes him a hero.

Such a show-off... so proud and flaunting...

This jerk is so arrogant. But so handsome too. And I hate that I can't even complain about how proud he is.

"This type of gorgeousness you're seeing can only be achieved through careful planning and zoning. Without that, it'll still be gorgeous, but not like this. You have to know that the king was the one who made Gracia like this."

I chose to ignore his last statement. I don't want to ruin the mood.

I can't take my eyes off of the entire view of the city. It's breathtaking! And I am sure this will look more gorgeous during nighttime, with the city lights and lights from the buildings. I wonder if I'd have the chance to see this during the night.

"Is this the first time you're seeing something breathtaking?"

I nodded my head many times in excitement to answer him. "Aside from seeing my face every day in the mirror, this is the only beautiful thing I've seen for ages."

I heard him chuckle like he can't believe the sh-t he just heard, so I gave him a sharp look. "Why? You don't agree?"

He shook his head instantly as if he was frightened by me. "I agree. I agree," he declared then pressed his lips together to stop himself from smiling. It's as if he really didn't agree but just didn't want to argue with me.

I want to punch him.

He held my hand and then he touched the ring on my finger. Then I suddenly realized something. "Jerk! Focus on the plane! What if we crash?!"

I started panicking. He chuckled again. "Relax, ma'am. It's on autopilot. We won't crash. And this isn't a car that'll crash if not controlled."

He took my hand again and very slowly, the grin on his face left. He stared at me so seriously and it changed our whole mood. "How much do you trust me, Rathna?"

I never knew before that it's possible, but I gave him a genuine smile.

"Enough to trust my life in your hands," I answered and he nodded. "And you? How much do you trust me, Neuron?"

He intertwined our fingers. "Enough to introduce you to my family."

I sat up straight in my seat because of what he said. Excitement boiled in my stomach at the thought that finally, I could go inside the palace.

"Do you want to meet them?"

"Hell yes!" We were both shocked at how loud and excited I sounded. I regained composure. I have to stay calm so he won't suspect anything. "I mean, yah. It would be an honor to meet them."

"I thought you wouldn't want to. I thought you'd tell me you'd be too nervous to meet them. Or it's too early for that."

"Why would I?"

When I've waited for that moment to come like it's my birthday…

He smiled at me. We stayed in the air for half an hour touring and having a blast over the magnificent bird's eye view of the whole city.

In foresight, I could already guess this would become a memory I'd cherish.

Or maybe in hindsight, I would regret this moment.

"Where are you taking me now?" I asked as soon as we stepped inside his car.

"I need to show you something."

I was exhausted even though all I did was sit on the plane and Neuron did everything. I still felt like I was out of energy. I dozed off on the way and when I woke up we were still inside his car and Neuron was reading some documents.

"You okay? Did you sleep well?" He asked when he noticed I was awake.

"Yah, why didn't you wake me up?"

"It's okay. I can wait."

That ordinary response gave a very odd but warm sensation to my chest.

I circled my arms around his chest and rested my head on his shoulder. I secretly took a glance at the documents he was reading. I couldn't understand what was on the document, but I was intrigued because I saw my father's name in there. I could not read another word because Neuron put it down to embrace me.

"Do I need to exhaust you all the time to make you as sweet as this?"

I pinched him lightly on his waist and it made him flinch.

"Do you wanna be a bee?"

I retrieved my head that was resting on his chest to look at him.

"A bee?" Then I realized what should happen next so I rested my head again on his chest. "Not again, Sir. I'm tired."

His chest vibrated when he let out a small laugh.

"So do you wanna be a bee?"

He's persistent. What do I expect?

"Why?" I asked in defeat.

"So I can be your honey."

"Ha-ha-ha," I faked a laugh. "That's so ancient," I criticized.

He laughed carelessly.

"If you don't like it, it's okay. It's just really fun watching you get annoyed."

I exhale loudly out of frustration.

He's so wicked.

I hugged him again. "Thanks for showing me the whole city. I loved it so much. It gave me hope."

"Hope?" I felt him kissing my head.

"Hope that there is still something good about this kingdom."

That it's worth fighting for. It gave me more encouragement to oust Mirando from the throne. He doesn't deserve to be the king of such a beautiful nation.

I'm glad at the thought that maybe, just maybe, the rest of Maharlica is not suffering like us. That at least, even if it's just a quarter of the whole kingdom, maybe some people are living a better life. And that minority, we will make sure it will be inclusive to the whole kingdom.

I peeked outside the car window without pulling out from Neuron. "Where are we?"

"I wanna show you my father."

Like someone who is sleeping and suddenly poured by ice-cold water, I pulled out from the embrace and stared at Neuron with a wide gaze.

"I am-- meeting him?" I gasped in disbelief.

He just smiled at me. "First, let's get out of the car."

We both got out of the car and he led me inside a tea shop.

Is Mirando inside? I doubt that.

And if that's the case there should've been guards roaming around. If Mirando goes to tea shops unguarded then we wouldn't have to wait for so long to kill him; if it was this easy.

We entered the shop while my head was still full of unanswered questions.

Although the shop has many vacant tables, Neuron seems like he knew exactly where he was going, like he's been here many times before. He led me to the very far-end corner. There's a table in there that's almost hidden from sight from any customer. It looks like a table where couples purposely choose if they wanna do things that they don't want others to see.

The very first thing I noticed is the painting on the wall. And far ahead, I could already recognize who the subject of that painting is.

Neuron escorted me to that table. I was about to sit down but he stopped me from doing so by snaking his arm around my waist and made me face the wall with the painting.

"Before anything else, I want to tell you who I really am."

I'm dazzled…

It's not by the fact that he is about to tell me he is a prince. It's because of the sincerity I could see from his eyes. I could feel how sincere he was at that moment. He wanted to tell me the truth. He wanted to reveal himself to me. Without knowing that I already know everything.

"The truth is.."

We are both staring at each other's eyes. It's nerve-racking even though I already know what he is about to confess.

"I want you to promise me one thing," he suddenly made a stipulation.

"Hmm?" I urged him to tell me what it was.

"After knowing the truth, please don't leave me."

The depth of sincerity and fright I could see in his eyes is mesmerizing. It's bewitching. I don't know why but I feel like I am bewitched by the kind of look he has right now. It's sincere, raw, and that's why it's pinching something deep in my soul.

Conscience? Guilt? Or perhaps.. love?

I nodded my head.

He stared at the painting on the wall. "Do you recognize who that man is?"

Of course.. how could I not?

"He's our benevolent king," I answered not with sarcasm but also not with sincerity.

With his eyes fixed on the big monochrome painting of Mirando on the wall, he said, "I am the son of that king."

A dead silence sat between the two of us. I already knew that but it still made me speechless.

He shifted his gaze into my eyes. "Rathna, I am a prince of this kingdom. Are you okay with that?"

I couldn't answer. Because it's not.

Even the fact that I'm here pretending to be his lover is already not okay with me. Everything is fake. That's what makes everything not fine.