3 Chapter 3

Lilia sat with the prince, Lar watched her not saying a word. He was admiring her and how much she had grown in the time that he was away from her.

There was something different in her from the person that he knew before. She had matured and the love that she used to have in her eyes while gazing at him was no longer there.

He couldn't pinpoint what the problem was but he could feel that there was some bad blood between them. He had not done anything to her so her change surprised him.

"I have somewhere to be," Lilia stated. Her eyes cold and distant. She was not feeling too well being in the same room with him. He should have told her that he was coming to prepare her for it.

Him just showing up like that like nothing had happened, she wasn't okay with it.

"Since when did I become this to you?" Lar asked.

Lilia swallowed. She wanted to open her mouth and give him a befitting reply to match the one that happened a year ago but her heart held her back. He had hurt her but the thought of hurting him intentionally didn't settle well with her.

"I have to meet someone," she said avoiding his previous question and hoping that he would take the hint that she didn't want to talk to him.

"Is he more important to you that I?" Lar inquired. Lilia shot her glance at him. Her hands folded into a fist. Her heart couldn't compare, the duke was her present and he was her past. That was the only truth that mattered.

She moved to touch her dress and relax but the pain in the prince's eyes made her freeze in place. He looked genuinely hurt, she couldn't tell if it was because she didn't give him an answer or because she didn't chose him.

"Who is he?"

Lilia felt her heart squeeze in her chest. After what he had done to her it should be easy for her to tell him that she had moved on but she couldn't. She couldn't figure out why she was in pain at that moment.

She couldn't bring herself to reply to him. The answer was at the tip of her tongue but something held her back from uttering the words that she wanted to tell him.

"Do you love him?" the prince went ahead to ask.

Lilia drew a deep breath, she had no answer for him. She had never the word love with the duke's name in the same sentence. He couldn't find it in herself to do so and even in that moment she couldn't do it.

Her lips only ever uttered sweet words of love to her beloved. He might have broken her heart and insulted her self respect as a woman but that fact was yet to change.

"Lilia."

Lilia grabbed her dress and shivered. Her name from his lips made her heart skip a beat and her body came alive. She could hear the thundering of her heart against it's cage threatening to run away to the prince who owned it.

"Lia," the prince called to her again.

<<Why are you doing this?>> she asked herself upset that she let him affect her.

"If you don't want to talk to me, it's fine," he spoke. "I won't see you again then," he got from his seat and started moving towards the door.

Lilia's heart tightened. Tears pooled in her eyes as she watched him walking away. It flashed in her mind the way that he had walked away from her before. She couldn't stand the fact that she hurt just the same as she did that day watching him walking away from her.

He had walked away from her once and now he was doing it again when she had done nothing wrong. In both cases, he was the one who was at fault but she paid the price each time.

Tears trickled down her face as she felt the emptiness that she felt that day return to her. She had missed him more than life. Worried of his welfare while he was away from her. And there she stood watching him going away with his word that he won't come back to see her again.

She didn't notice when her feet started moving, running towards the prince. Her mind convinced her that she had moved on but her heart knew the truth.

She reached him and wrapped her arms around him from the back. She had missed being close to him, she had gone long without him that her heart found closure in the hug.

Lar stood still and let her hug him. Tears flowed from his own eyes, she had moved on from him. He lived in ecstasy of their memories together and she didn't spare him a chance of them to he together again.

<<Why did you give my place to another?>> he asked confused in his mind. He felt her tighten her hands around his stomach and let out a deep breath.

<<Why did that day happen?>> she questioned curious for the reason that had pushed the prince to treat her the way that he had. It was sad to know that he had thrown away all the memories they had together like it was nothing.

Both of them had questions for the other. Questions they feared to ask not due to lack of courage to answer the question but fear of the words that would be uttered as the answer.

"You have to be somewhere," the prince let out and pushed her hands off. <<If I can't be close to you then I will find comfort in our memories>> he thought sadly.

He took a step to walk away when she grabbed hold of his hand. She was hesitant to let him go. She had no words to say to him and he understood her silence. But she was with another and he didn't want to make things difficult for her.

He moved away from her breaking contact with her.