2 Chapter 2: The Mysterious Louis

N i c h o l a s L o u i s

I have to forget about my plan to visit my parents when saw Mr Smith collapsed in his café where there was girl too, there. I couldn't find words describe about her but she obviously seemed like a village girl who knows nothing at all. She even didn't has a phone too, when I asked her to call the ambulance for help. Luckily, there was nothing bad happen to Mr Smith or else.

Anyway, she was the same girl I saw at the airport that night. A chestnut hair girl with an old red luggage who lent a help for a stranger like me. She was indeed a weird girl, making me thought deeply while I was on my way home that night.

■Flashback■

"Excuse me," I approached a female worker who worked at the airport's bookstore. She was arranging newly arrived books at the rack when I decided to ask her the books I have been looking for after walking around the bookstore for awhile. I didn't want Mr Jacobs wait for me too long as he needed to pick his relative later. I usually didn't come here to buy the books, but my favourite bookstore closed for today. Anyway, I wouldn't burden my driver too as it was the same place he needed to pick up his relative. "Do you have these books here?" I showed the worker list of books I was looking through my smartphone.

The worker looked at me with a surprised look with her black eyes seemed like they were scanning and processing my face, making me quickly cover it up with my cap. "O-oh...yes," she sounded a bit stammering. "W-we do have these two books here, but the rest were sold out, Your Highness."

'God, she recognized me.'

'But how? I already put a lot of efforts to hide my identity.'

I sighed, lifting my cap a bit so I could face her properly. She was about my shoulder level and needed to look up in order to face me. She has cute small face with a pair of black color eyes, "Is it too obvious?" I asked her about my undercover.

"I-I think so, Your Highness," she seemed hesitate at first.

"Hmm...okay then," I sighed heavily. "Please wrap me those two books, thank you,"

"Alright, sir, I-I mean, Your Highness," she stuttered again. "I'll be right back..." then swiftly went to the counter in front with the books on her hand.

'So embarrassing...'

I looked around at one of the racks, but something just caught my attention from my left side, where there was a girl with an old red luggage, entering the same row as me. Actually, it was not the girl, but her bag who caught my attention since its tires produced a very weird sound, plus the luggage handle was full with the ducktapes as it was broken or something.

Unlike other girls who I met before, she just wore something simple, which suited with her, to be honest, even though her clothes just from one of the bundles kind. She totally different from the other girls who wore something fancy and expensive outfits with the accessories from head to toes, making them looked so weird and surely uncomfortable.

'I have no idea how they adapted that kind of style.'

The girl was wandering around the bookstore, looking at every racks in front of her with two bookstore's workers kept following her with weird look on their faces. I saw them whispered something and even laughed with each other, whenever the chestnut hair girl's luggage made some weird noises.

The seller girl called me so I could come to the counter to pay the books but I just noticed one thing, which was....ummm...I left my wallet at home!

'Nice Nick...very nice!'

'The total is about 50 dollars, God, how am I supposed to pay them?'

"Sir?" the cashier snapped out of me, waiting for me to make the payment.

"O-oh, u-umm..." 'This is so embarrassing!'

"Here, I'll pay it for him," a girl's voice suddenly interrupted us. I automatically turned on my right side, and it was from that girl; a girl with the old red luggage to be exact. She took out a 50 dollars note out of her old purse then handed it over to the cashier in front both of us without saying anything with the smile never left her face.

I was totally speechless with her action, and wandering why she helped a stranger like me. I covered my face even more with my cap, hoping that they will not recognize me at all and stayed silent, watching that girl paid for my books. The cashier then took the money with a surprised look all over her face then handed her over paid books.

"T-thanks, for helping me," I thanked her with a stutter. 'Damn, I could not imagine if someone I knew caught me with this kind of situation.'

"No problem," she said along with a smile, handed me the books politely then walked away from the store along with her red old luggage.

"Hey...wait," I stopped her. "How can I pay you back?"

She turned to look at me again with me trying my best not to show my face at all, worrying she might recognize me in instant, "Ummm...I don't want to force you. But you can pay me back whenever you have extra money. I don't want to burden you either,"

"O-oh...okay then," 'She's so...I don't know how to describe but she's different.' "I promise I'll pay you back, thanks again."

She smiles, "Anytime..." then slowly walked away from the store.

I took the opposite direction, thinking about that girl who the first random girl caught my attention in my whole life. Like I said, she totally different than any girl I met before and looked like she wasn't from Scandyvynia either, as the label on her luggage said 'AVN'.

'Aravania perhaps?'

'Anyway, I am not an easy going with girls...I mean, I truly hate girls who are so clinging with her boyfriends, materialistic and so on. They are just pathetic.'

"Your highness," Mr Jacobs opened the limo's passenger door for me as he saw me came out from the airport entrance. "I'm sorry, sir, my niece isn't here yet. I think she might be lost or something."

"It's okay," I said to him after got into the limo. "I don't have nowhere to go anyway."

"Thank you, sire," he gently closed the door for me and stood by the limo, waiting for his relative to arrive.

I examined the books which that girl paid for me, making me bursting out of laughter all of sudden when the memory of embarrassing scene earlier flashed inside of my mind.

"Whoa...*laughs*...that girl is totally something," I hardly stopped from laughing. "It's been so long since I'm laughing so hard like this," I cleared my throat as saw that girl with red luggage once again.

'Wait...is she...'

It turned out to be that girl is Mr Jacobs's relative when she approached Mr Jacobs by the limo. I eavesdropped their conversation and the girl apologized politely to Mr Jacobs for being late. I noticed that she seemed like bowed to me as for her gratitude for giving her a lift.

I just remained silent and watched her every step until she got into the limo on the front seat, beside of the driver and even made sure not to make any noise or I will be dead in embarrassment for sure. The ride took about 15 minutes and I scooted away from the limo as fast as I could so she couldn't see me at all.

I headed straight to my room inside of my home without even turn back at all and yes, I know it was kind of rude, but whatever as long as I could hide myself from her at that moment.

■Flashback End■

I couldn't believe myself, I just owed her 50 dollars. Stefan and Samuel must be laugh so hard when knew about this and even make fun of me all day.

'But it was so funny when I think about it again.'

There was a group of people walked pass by me and they were heading to the flower coffee behind me. I stopped my paces and quickly turned to take a look at the café, and I was right. They were indeed went inside of the café and that weird girl must be in so much trouble.

'Should I help her or not?'

'Arghh....let her be. There's nothing to do with me anyway.'

'Wait.'

"Grr...why I feel so guilty about this," I murmured to myself. "Fine...I have nothing to do for today anyway..." then decided to head back into the café again.

I stepped into the café which located on the upstairs and the customers seemed to celebrate something among them. They were busy taking pictures, selfies, we-fies or what so ever. I guess they might be tourists who came to Scandyvynia for a vacation.

"I thought you already left," a girl's voice snapped me out from my thought, staring at me with those beautiful chestnut eyes.

"O-oh...I-I left something in the shop," My eyes avoided hers so she would not notice that I was ummm…lying to her.

'Well…I kind of a bad liar, if you guys wanted to know.'

"Okay..." she replied then went back to the barista counter, leaving me alone in the middle of the cafe with the noisy customers. "How am I supposed to do with this machine..." I heard her murmured to herself.

'Hmm...surely she needs my help.'

"Let me handle this," I offered her, slowly pushed her away on her shoulder with my index finger.

"You know how to operate this thing?" she asked confusedly, staring at me in disbelief.

I sigh, "Of course...I learnt it from You Tube anyway. Go prepare some food or something, the customers are waiting for us."

My heart skipped its beat when she suddenly curved a beautiful smile for me, "Thanks, Louis..."

'W-whoa...that's so weird.'

"Just go...already," I said to her once more.

"Oh okay, sorry," she quickly went to the counter beside me where the cakes display was, to serve some slices of various type of cakes for the customers.

It was chaos at first since I never did such a thing before in my life, but I kind of enjoy it though. This is the first time people smiled and felt grateful for something I actually did for them, not because of my true identity of course.

My uncle would kill me if he saw I served the food for commoners, but never mind, none of the people recognized me anyway.

I was not sure how much the bill was, but the customers just paid us with a lot of money. They said they already made a deal with Mr Smith before for the reservation and even gave both of us the big tips.

'The first money I earned myself in my life to be exact.'

I helped the chestnut hair girl to clean up the shop after the customers left by cleaning all the dishes while she went to sweep the floor and cleaned the coffee machine. It was tiring for sure, but I was kind of like it anyway.

I secretly took a glance of her whenever I have chance as she taught me so many of new things for today.

"Phew....it's all done, hopefully Mr Smith wouldn't mad at us," the girl said to me while resting herself at one of the table in the cafe.

"He can't be mad at us anyway," I murmured, leaning myself against the counter while crossing my arms.

"Thanks for helping me, Louis," she thanked me along with a small smile.

"O-oh, no problem," I replied. "Wait a sec, I still don't know your name. How rude am I , pardon me for that."

She giggled, "Yes, of course," then took of the apron from her, and folded it nicely on the table. "My name is Isabella Thompson, you can call me Bella for short."

'That's a beautiful name, so suits with you.'

"You already knew my name from Mr Smith," I took my cap then put it on backward. "So I think there's no need for me to say it again, right Bella?" then moved my eyes to look at her again. "Anyway, here's the money from yesterday," I took the 100 dollars note from my wallet then handed it over to Bella.

She looked at me in confused, "For what?"

"For lending it for me last night at the bookstore and for teaching me something new too, for today," I explained to her, slowly put the 100 dollars note into her hand. "Thanks Bella," I added more. "See you again...bye," then swiftly walked away from the store before she couldn't even say anything.

●●●●●

B e l l a T h o m p s o n

It was already late in evening when I headed to palace all alone. I couldn't believe that Louis was actually the guy from that bookstore. He gave me too much of money and I felt so bad about it, so I tried to stop him earlier from leaving, but unfortunately, he was too fast for me to catch up.

His handsome face kept flashing inside of my mind, especially his crystal blue eyes...I never seen such beautiful eyes like that in my whole life. I wondered who he really was, since he seemed so much of mysterious since at the airport last night. Even the way he spoke to me, sounded like she was somebody.

Hopefully, I have a chance to meet him again in future, so I could give back the extra money he gave it to me.

"Where have you been, Bella?" Mrs Jacobs asked me worriedly as soon as I entered into her house. "I thought you were lost or something..." she quickly pulled me into a hug. "Have you eaten yet?" she then released the hug.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Jacobs," I quickly apologized. "I went to Mr Smith's shop and something happened to him so I helped him to take care of his cafe,"

"Oh, I heard it, my husband told me about it," she replied. "That was so nice of you to help him. Your mother must be so proud of you."

I smiled, "Thank you, Mrs Jacobs."

"Alright then," she patted my shoulder. "Go clean up yourself first and we'll have dinner together. Stefan will be home shortly."

"Really?" I asked excitedly. "I really can't wait to see him," then swiftly returned to my room to clean up myself as fast as I could.

"Bella!!!" A low voice approached me at the stairs as I just got down there. "It's me Stefan," the tall man with bronze hair introduced himself with a bright smile curved on his lips.

"Oh my God," I went to hug him. "I miss you so much, Stef!" I almost cried in his hug as I finally got a chance to meet him again.

"I miss you too, Bella," he released the hug, holding my shoulders with his hands.

"You're so tall..." I poked gently on his left chest.

"And you look so beautiful, Bella..." he said with a smile, making my cheeks warmed in instant; maybe turned red as tomato, I guess.

"N-nah, I'm not..."I tried to cover my face by turning to the other side.

"Since everyone is here now, let's have dinner together," Mrs Jacobs suggested. "Come Bella, Stef..."

"Sure Mrs Jacobs," I replied her with a smile.

Stefan and I went outside of the house after the dinner, walking around the royal garden while taking the fresh air. I wondered if the prince will be mad at us if we wandering around like this, but Stefan denied it. He said the prince would not mind at all. According to him, the prince lived alone in the palace and his uncle will come visit him two times per month. He said that the prince loved to be alone and some people said that he was anti-social too since he spent most of the time inside of the huge palace.

'Seems like Stefan knows so well with his prince.'

"Anyway, congrats for getting the scholarship," Stefan said along with a warm smile. "I'm so proud of you…" he nudged gently his shoulder against my shoulder. "Now we can be schoolmate, huh,"

I giggled a bit, " I think so…thank you, Stef,"

"No problem," he replied. "Just let me know if you need anything, okay? I'll try my best to help you."

I nodded, "Sure, thanks again, Stef. It means a lot to me."

●●●●●

Three days left before I have to register myself for the new intake of Royal Academy. I kind of nervous a bit whether I will be acceptable or not at the…well obviously the school is surrounded with the royal and I am just a commoner, so it worried me so much.

By the way, I offered my help to clean the palace as Mrs Jacobs shorted one of the maids for today. She supposed to take care of the sport room where the prince will use it for a few hours as in his schedule.

I rushed towards the room on the east side of the palace and saw two figures in the sport room, practicing the fencing sport with each other with completed fencing sport gears which have different type of colors; black and white.

They were so good with the sport, especially the black gear one as he kept defeating the one who was wearing the white gear.

"Oh finally, you're here," the black gear one stopped and seemed glad as he saw me entered the room. "Wait…I haven't seen you before, are you the new maid here?" he asked, unaware that the white gear one was trying to attack him with the fence.

"Oh come on!" the black gear one complained as the sword of his opponent touched his chest. "You cheated!"

"I win, no I'm not…I caught you off guard, Sam," the white gear replied, taking a break from the game, but stopped immediately as soon as he turned to face me.

I didn't see his face as he wore the mask, so I guess he might be the prince. I bowed to him politely and handed him over a mineral bottle for him.

"Where's my drink…I need one too," the black gear said to me.

"Oh…I'm so sorry," quickly took another cold mineral water from the cooler box.

The black gear took off his mask, revealing his handsome face from stay hidden with it. He has a pair of grey eyes with brown hair color which kind of looking a bit wet. "Thanks…" he took the drink from me while curving a smile. "Hey Louis…" he suddenly spoke out the name of the guy I met yesterday, then took a sip from the mineral bottle.

'Louis?'

"I didn't know…." The guy with the black gear continued.

But his friend cut him in, "Prince Samuel…" the guy with the white mask suddenly bowed to him. "I'm sorry, sire. I guess she replaced the old maid for today, as a part timer, right Ms Bella?"

'Wait, how did he know my name?'

'Don't tell me he is that Louis…'

'And yes, he is…'

Louis, the handsome guy who helped me yesterday was the guy behind of the white mask. I really thought he was a prince but I was mistaken.

"W-what are you t-…" I wandered why Prince Samuel, the guy with black mask looked so confused. "Okay…let's stop here then. I'm starving…assistant Louis, help me take off this gear, please,"

"O-oh…alright then, your Highness," Louis quickly replied but he sounded a bit hesitate at first. He then walked closer to the prince and helped him took off the gear as requested.

I couldn't believe that I met him again and the most surprising thing is, he works here too.

Prince Samuel left both of us to the dining hall alone as Louis asked him permission to speak to me for awhile. The two of us then went to the royal garden where the scenery is so breath-taking.

'It's so beautiful…and they have so many type of flowers plus the golden-white fountain too, which situated in the middle of the garden, looks so gorgeous.'

I didn't notice there was a fountain last night as Stefan and I didn't walk over here instead just walking at the part of the big garden near to his house.

"I didn't know you work here too, Louis," I said in disbelief.

"Y-yeah…I work here," he sounded a bit stuttered. "As umm…part timer. I kind of on leave from school right now,"

"Oh…what school do you go to?" I asked him, hoping that his answer is the same school, which I will be attending in a few days.

"I u-uhh…Royal Academy…" he answered.

"Are you the scholarship student too?" I asked him excitedly.

"U-umm kind of, why? Do you attend the same school too?" His beautiful crystal blue eyes made my heart skipped its beat as he stared at me.

"Yes, I'll be register in three days for the new intake," I answered him along with a smile.

"Hey Bells…." Stefan suddenly approached us at the garden. "O-oh…P-pr…" but he couldn't finished his words as Louis suddenly got up and put his hand around Stefan's shoulder.

"Hey, Stef…" Louis acted so weirdly I mean….from earlier when both of us with the prince, as if like he was hiding something from me. "Stef…*laughs*…I'm glad that I'm seeing you here."

"O-oh…hey L-Louis…what's up," and Stefan too, responded him weirdly.

"So you knew, Bella too, huh?" he asked.

Stefan nodded, "Y-yes…we were friends since we were kids,"

"O-oh…good for you then," Louis replied. "Come, the prince needs us…" he suddenly dragged Stefan away along with him. "See you later, Bella. Need to continue with works…bye…." Both of them continue to walk away from me, with Stefan was dragging by Louis, leaving me without I couldn't even reply him at all.

'Why is Louis acting so weird all of sudden?'

'He's so mysterious...what is he hiding, anyway?'

To be continue...