Chapter thirty four

"What happened?" Chad asked with so much concern in his voice. "Someone said something bad to you." He asked and she nodded.

"Was it my mom?" Chad slowly folds his fists.

"No."

"Then who was it!" Chad thundered. "So, they were waiting for me to leave you so that they can approach you and say rubbish to you? How dare..."

"It's okay, Chad, everything is alright." She sniffed and Chad calmed down a little.

"I'm sorry, for taking too long, I came across someone," he said and pinched his nose. "If I were there all this should not have happened."

"Do you know why I am not welcomed here?" Amelia asked with a puzzled look on her face and Chad sighed.

"Who says you are not welcome here? You are highly welcome here."

"But..."

"Anything I say stands."

"Then why am I being treated like this? Even your mom wasn't quite happy when she saw me."

"Yeah I know," Chad scratched his head.

"Is it because of my skin colour and that I am not from a very rich or noble background."

"Amelia..." Chad called. "You shouldn't let all of this worry you or deprive you of your happiness you should focus on the positive things in your life."

"How am I sure that you are not pretending to be friendly and nice to me? How am I sure that you don't like me because of my skin colour and my family background?" She asked him and he paused for a moment.

"I am not pretending, if I was, I wouldn't have brought you here, I shouldn't have signed your documents, I shouldn't have let you become my driver, I shouldn't have come to look for you and I hardly tell lies."

"But you said a lot of hurtful things to me in your car," she pouted and he slapped his face.

"You're still thinking about that, Amelia?" He sighed. "I am sorry for whatever harsh thing I said to you."

"Were you lying or not?" She looked him in the eyes and he froze. "You were..."

"I was just trying to get on your nerves and that's all, I meant no harm." He came closer to her but she backed away from him. "Please you should understand that."

"Why are you even this close to me? You are a prince, the heir to the throne, you're a very famous celebrity, and you're very wealthy, then why are you close to someone like me? I am nobody, I am not rich, I am not a princess, I am not white, and I am not famous..."

"You're getting it all wrong, Amelia. I don't care about any of those, I don't care whether you are rich, I don't care whether you come from a noble background I don't care whether you're famous or not, what will I gain from those?" He breathed. "I am close to you because I want to, and I find you very interesting and different and don't think that you're nobody, you are somebody." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're a strong and intelligent woman, and me being a prince or whatsoever doesn't mean anything, yes according to society I am greater than you but according to nature we are the same."

"But..."

"Amelia," he chuckled. "This night was fun."

"You..."

"This night was fun," he repeated and brought his face closer to hers and she could feel his warm breath on her skin.

"It wasn't, I didn't know why I attended this party...tell me what was fun about it?" she huffed and he laughed.

"Dancing with you was fun--seeing you earlier this evening in the guest room and the way you reacted I thought I would never get the chance to hold you again, but fortunately, even after that memorable incident I held you as much as I want to and I am holding you know."

Amelia remembered what happened earlier and she looked at him and he winked at her.

She removed his hands from her shoulders and backed away from him.

"You..." She narrowed her eyes, giving him a deathly glare.

"Also we wore odd clothes which made everything more fun, it was crazy yes fun." He chuckled. "You should have seen the look on my father and mother's faces."

"Sometimes I wonder if you're really from a royal family." Amelia commented, sighing.

"Why do you think that way?"

"You don't act like you're a prince that is an heir to the throne."

"You want me to be wearing fancy royal costumes, speaking complex English, and following some ethics and rules of the royals before you think I act like a prince?" He chuckled. "I don't follow any rules or ethics or anything, I do things how I want to do them and I do anything that I want to do."

"When I first heard about you, this," she gestured her hands, "never came to my mind."

"What came to your mind? An arrogant young man in his late 20s who doesn't care about anything because of his authority and wealth...well, you're right, I am, but I am not, not now."

"I just don't understand you sometimes," she sighed and he chuckled.

"No one can ever understand me."

"I..." She trailed off.

"You what?" He grinned.

"I want to understand you." She pouted and shut her eyes.

"I thought you hated me."

"I hate you, but sometimes it's good to know your enemies," she smirked and he giggled.

"Fair point." He chuckled. "Half a circle, a sector in the sky, a diameter of a circle, the sun setting in the western sky, a sector of a circle, a sector of the earth, an eye in the middle, an eye that sees all things a sector that controls all things..."

"I don't understand what you're saying."

"You don't understand what I am saying and you want to understand me? You're joking right?" He chuckled. "I read that in a book..."

"Why do you love reading books so much?"

"Reading books is nice and it makes you smarter. When I was a kid, I spent most of my time in the library and nowhere else."

"That should have been boring for you." Amelia felt better than she was a moment ago, talking with Chad always made her feel comfortable.

.

"No, it wasn't, I rather read books than talk with my siblings, I spent most of my life as a kid in the library and trying to escape from the castle."

"Why did you ever want to escape from the castle?"

"This place was like a dungeon to me, I wanted to know more, I want to see the outside world, the only time we left the castle was when we were going to visit our family relations," he sighed.

"But you had everything in this castle, a good home, and anything you asked for was given to you..."

"That doesn't make life fun," he cuts her off. "Life has to be crazy, with pain and suffering and tests before it's interesting and fun, even though I had almost everything I needed in life, life was still boring to me, I wanted more."

"You're talking like a psychopath," she told him and he chuckled. 

"I might be one, who knows?" He raked his hair with his hand. "What I am trying to say is humans are not just contended with what they have, we should learn contentment."

"I didn't see any point that related to having contentment in your previous statement,  I just heard pain and suffering, blah blah blah." She kept her face in a funny way which made Prince Chad laugh.

"You will understand soon." He pinched his nose. "All this I said might not make any sense to you now, but soon it will."

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "I don't want to understand you anymore you're horrible." She huffed.

"What happened to 'sometimes it's good to know your enemies?'"

"You're not my enemy." She told him and he grinned.

"Then what am I?"

"I don't know what you are to me, to be honest," she sighed. "But I don't think we're friends..."

"We can be friends..." He suggested and she turned to him.

"Are you kidding me? Prince Chad the heir to the throne of one of the strongest kingdoms on earth, one of the most popular celebrities in the world, one of the richest royals and people in the world is suggesting to be friends with me," she laughed and dramatically clapped her hands together, "wonders shall never end."

"And what if I am? I suggested we become friends what's wrong with that." He sighed. "How many times do I have to tell you that my position in society doesn't affect my social life, I do whatever I want to do."

"And how many times do I have to tell you that even if it's the last thing on Earth for me to do, I will never be your friend." She crossed her arms on her chest and Chad chuckled.

"I don't understand you, Amelia, you're harder than I thought." He sighed and straightened himself. "Well, if that's the case we will continue to have this unexplainable relationship we have now."

"Yes, that's better." She huffed.

Chad looked at the starry sky, the moon was full and the night was chilly.

He took in a deep breath and with a grin on his face he asked, "Amelia, why do you lie?"

"I don't tell lies." She lied.

"Oh, yes you do," he turned to her. "Or have you forgotten what you said in my private jet?"

She remembered how she confessed her feelings for him that day...she knew that what she said that day would haunt her throughout her life.

"I...I..." She stammered and Chad smirked.

"Cat got your tongue?"

"It was a mistake...I was lying..." She fumbled with her words. "I can never like you."

"And why is that?"

"Because..." She thought of what to say. "I don't know."

"Then why is that every time I come closer to you..."

"I told you that won't work again." She rolled her eyes and he stepped closer to her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am, I was just pretending to be nervous whenever you come close to me." She lied and Chad's lips curved into a grin.

"What if I kiss you?" He said gently and Amelia coughed, stepping back.

"Don't you dare try that unless I'd kill you." She threatened him and he kept coming closer to her, chuckling.

"What's the matter Amelia, why are you so nervous bow?"

He grabbed her by the waist before she could get away from him and he brought his lips closer to her.

"What are you going to do now, Amelia." He muttered and she shut her eyes.

...

DUBAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Tiana was at the airport with some of her coursemates they were going on an excursion to Manaus, Brazil. She was with her luggage waiting for their flight. She wanted to stay back in KU--to be with Prince Chad--but she had no choice this trip was very important to her, they were going there for a project.

She tried calling Chad for the hundredth time but to no avail, he was not replying to her texts also, and she was sad about this. She felt so bad for not telling him that she was going on an excursion, she wanted to hug him and tell him goodbye before she left the country.

.

Her assistant, Kirsten did not go with her but stayed back to take care of some things in KU. It was time for their flight and Tiana tried to call Chad again before entering the aeroplane, but he did not answer the call.

"Why is he not answering his calls?" She said to herself, sighing.

They entered the aeroplane and Tiana was not happy about this whole thing she wanted to see Chad one last time before she left for Brazil, the excursion was so sudden, she did not plan for it, this was going to be her first time in Brazil but she was not happy about it.

The pilot made some announcements before the plane took off, Tiana from the window watched how they left the airport. When the plane was steady in the air, hostesses came out with a lot of drinks and snacks for them, they were in first class so whatever they needed was given to them.

Tiana pulled out her headset from her bag and started playing Lewis Capaldi songs, Lewis Capaldi was her favourite musician, and she had a special playlist which only contains his songs.

Someone tapped her on the shoulders and she removed the headsets turning her head, it was Rita her friend, they were coursemates so she was part of this trip too.

"Have you seen the news headlines, Tiana?!" Rita asked her, with a lot of shock and confusion in her eyes, Tiana could not decipher what was going on.

She turned on her TV and her eyes shone like wide saucers and her hands became shaky when she saw the headlines: 'PRINCE CHAD FINALLY REVEALS HIS FIANCE AT THE ROYAL PARTY.'

She rubbed her eyes with her hands in disbelief and melancholy seeped into her eyes. She switched to another news station and the headlines said the same thing.

She checked her phone and opened all the social media platforms she was on and she could think of presently, all she wanted to see was that it was fake news, this had to be fake, this could not be real! But she saw the opposite--everyone was talking about it on the internet and people that attended the party live confirmed it.

She watched Prince Chad in a weird attire dance with a strange girl with a caramel colour and curly hair, his hands were on her waist, his eyes fixed on her, all his attention on her and nothing else, their bodies barely away from each other, they were close--very close! And worse, they wore matching clothes, it was as if they had been together for a long time.

This was a burning arrow shot at the heart to Tiana, the sharp sudden pain she felt was unexplainable, her whole world collapsed in an instant...