Ready to face it all!

•APHIE•

"I am scared of you!", said it finally being free of my fear, I had been trying so hard to hold my tears in. The person in front of me was nothing but a heartless monster, I didn't possibly expect him to understand the pain of being held captive; with no certainty of whats to come next just acceptance of every passing moment, which you wish was all a dream. Yes I was taken care of here, but for what? Whats to come next I'll never know!

His eyes went wide at my statement, I couldn't tell if he was angry or shocked. Honestly he shouldn't be shocked, his actions have made it very obvious. But almost instantly he let go of me and regained his composure. "Walk with me to the pavilion" he said "and no cheap tricks!", he warned me clicking his finger and pointing at me. I just nodded a yes and hanging my head low started walking with him, I felt so weak like I knew so much yet nothing would help me anymore! I was running out of hopes.

As we approached the pavilion chris asked me to cross the bridge first, and I did as he said. Inside the pavilion we waited at the other end talking. Chris finally spoke after a moment of silence, "so what is your side of the story"

"What? I don't understand" I questioned

"See aphie, I came here to hear you side of the story. I made a deal with ethan and I'm just here to complete it!", chris replied. I was a bit hurt by those words but not in a but disappointed. 'Why would just tell that to anyone? Right mara' I talked to my heart and smiled. Chris turned to face me, so I spoke up, "I don't have my side of story chris, you can go and tell ethan you had a talk with me don't worry I won't say anything"

The water surrounding the pavilion reflected of the inner surface, the blue glow just seemed sad at the moment. I just waited for chris to finish his thing and leave me alone, I lost control a while back but I am better now. "Okay!" Chris replied. That was very cold but I didn't expect anything else from him. I wanted to be left alone, honestly I didn't hold any grudges against chris I wasn't even angry at me; It was the situation that made me feel weak and useless.

"Tell me aphie", chris spoke up suddenly, "what hurt you so bad? I can tell it wasn't me...why not me?". I was confused by his last question, so I looked at him confused and waited for him to elaborate. But he was done talking thats all he wanted to ask.

"The situation hurt me chris, this is not the first time I'm stuck captive. The uncertainty is scary and with every passing day that uncertainty increases of whats to come next, the old scabs slowly being ripped off. This very uncertainty has led me to worst situation in my life, this very uncertainty triggers it all" I looked at him as he was looking at me listening intently. It felt funny I was talking to this douche here, but I continued anyways, "Ofcourse it wasn't you who is causing this hurtful feeling but you were the one who started them all, I felt so better hearing your voice when I was unconscious. I could feel you tend to me, taking care of me. I would hear you everyday coming my room and telling me KEEP BREATHING... it had become my mantra of survival during those days. How did you change so much!?"

Chris kept staring at me and averted his eyes, he had words on his lips but couldn't say it So I waited till he was ready. And he finally spoke, "when I went to maldives national university, my sole purpose was to find the crown's moon and escort him safely to the Cortonia. But when I went there I got to know the crown's moon was a girl named aphie, I wanted to come back and revoke all my duties. To serve a girl through my tenure as crown's shield was unacceptable for me, but then I saw you fight dean shagen" chris stopped midway and turned to me now having a proper conversation.

"Aphie I don't think you know a lot about this royal system right?" He asked me and I nodded a No I genuinely was never educated on it properly. My father would send me on bodyguard missions and had mention this as a mission to me. My father was the pervious moon's child, during his tenure he fought wars and assassinated countless individuals as a duty to the crown. And I always felt he expected the same from me.

Chris looked at me in a rather irritated manner and spoke, "what do you know exactly? Why are you even the crown's moon if you don't even know who he is!?". I could nothing but be embarrassed at his questions, my dad did try to educate me but I was determined to go to uni. Even that was only so I could extend the time period I have free for myself. Chris sighed and continued, "Shagen was next in line for the crown, if the main royal family wasn't found and the heir wasn't declared she would have been the one we serve"

"I would hated that cause she was politically inclined and crown's rule doesn't work on politics it should always be diplomatic and democratic." Chris was explaining all the detail that I had always been running away from, my reality was finally about to be open in front of me. So this time I listened quietly, without resisting the urge to run away. With whatever happened in last few months and the way I broke my promise with my father, I knew there is no escape 'Not This Time!'. And I stood there finally ready to walk this road, ready to face it all!