The Truth

MATT's POV

"Are we seriously staying here?" Jennie asked as she stared at the amazing building in front of her.

It was the day after the JYP's farewell party and as well as the announcement for MIXNINE happened. Since we had a really stressful week even though it was technically a "vacation", PD-nim gave us 2 days off before we head back to practice. So I decided to call up my girlfriend, Lisa, if she wanted to spend it away from the city. Surprisingly they were also having a 3 day break before they start practicing for The Fact Music Awards. Sadly though, she said that she promised the rest of her members that she'll be spending it with them during their break.

The only thing we could do was to come into a compromise. I promised to pay for their entire trip if they just come with us. Our destination? Jeju Island. Away from the city but definitely a good place to relax. Besides, her members wanted to go to the beach. I also wanted to take her to the beach. Thankfully, they all agreed to come with us to Jeju Island.

The drive from the airport up to here was short since we were having fun driving through the island using one of JayB's Mercedes Benz Cabriolet. The ladies enjoyed themselves because it was a convertible and they got to enjoy the air even thought it was still pretty much cold. We just arrived in our hotel when the members of Blackpink's jaws dropped the moment they saw where we were going to stay. It was one of the luxurious hotels in Jeju Island called Bayhill Pool and Villa.

"Yeah. It's one of JayB's hotels. It's actually his treat today since he forgot to give me a gift last year." I excitedly told them.

Rose rubbed her eyes to see if it was all real. "So we're staying here? And everything is already paid for?"

I smiled at her. "Yeah. That's right."

Lisa then wrapped her arms around me. "It's amazing."

Her words made me chuckle. "Oh! Right! Half of the resort is just for us in the coming days. So you guys go do whatever you want. But we need to eat together. Okay?"

Jisoo rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine. I can't believe that JayB-ya gave this as a gift for your birthday, oppa."

I suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah! That's right! The car we used earlier is yours now, Jisoo-ya. JayB-ya said that he forgot to give you something for your birthday a month ago. We'll fly it back to Seoul when we head back. Happy belated birthday Jisoo-ya!"

The rest of the members snapped their heads towards Jisoo as her jaws dropped and her eyes widened. She became speechless. "Ah… ah… No way. Really? T-Thank you!"

I shook my head as I chuckled. "Don't thank me. It was JayB-ya's idea. Send him a message once we get home. For now, let's check-in to our room and freshen up. Let's meet at the lobby in 15 minutes so we can go and have lunch together. We still have a lot to do in the afternoon."

Jennie then raised her brow as she smirked. "Wait. You said 'our room'. We're sharing a room with you, oppa?"

I smirked as I flicked her forehead. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Jennie-ya. We're staying in the castle villa. There are three rooms with a pool in the balcony. Chaeyoung-ah and Lisa-ya will be in one room. Jisoo-ya and Jennie-ya will be in the other room, while I'll be sleeping in the room downstairs."

Rose playfully pushed Lisa as she giggled. "Why aren't you two sharing a room together? I'm fine with being alone in my room."

Lisa rolled her eyes as she pinched Rose's cheek. "You need to get your mind out of the gutter too. We can't share a room together since there might be rumors that'll fly out."

Jennie became curious as she asked. "Why? You already made your relationship public. What's wrong with you guys sleeping in the same room together?"

I sighed. "You know what happened when we went public. My fans weren't too happy with me dating a rookie last year. She received so much hate from my fans. It took a while for them to warm up to her. I'm glad that it worked out in the end."

"I still can't believe that Lisa-ya had to be the one to ask you out though." Jisoo said teasingly.

I chuckled. "I had my reasons."

Lisa must have noticed how uncomfortable the topic was for me when she decided to change it. "Alright! Let's go in! I'm already starving so let's hurry up and change our clothes for later!"

She really is very observant and caring towards me. It's actually a relief to have her by my side. Even though she's really a prankster at heart towards her members, she's the opposite when we're together. I actually take care of my members so it's refreshing to have someone take care of me instead. In truth, I sometimes wonder if I really am much older than her, because she's much more mature especially in handling decisions and being sensitive towards people's feelings. I'm really blessed to have her.

_________

"I'm pooped… But I'm having way too much fun. What are we going to do next, oppa?" Rose excitedly but lazily exclaimed.

After lunch, I drove them around the island to let them experience some events here in Jeju Do, I never thought that these ladies were adrenaline junkies. Every time I introduced them to some dangerous events, they would go for it without any second thoughts, especially Lisa. Except for Jisoo though. But she actually had no choice. I was more worried for them than I was with myself. Now that it's over, we can finally relax. And I just happen to have the perfect event planned out for that.

Jisoo then snapped her head towards me when she heard that. "Sky diving, bungee jumping, para sailing, banana boats, zip lining, deep sea diving, and para gliding. That's what we did in the span of 4 hours. And now you have more in store?"

I laughed at how pale Jisoo became. "Relax, we'll have more of that tomorrow."

She rolled her eyes as she sarcastically said, "Oh wow. Yipee."

I chuckled. "For now, let's go back to the villa. It's almost 5PM for now. Dinner's still at 7:30PM."

Jennie then looked at me curiously. "That late?"

I nodded. "That's right. I know how stressed you are lately because Lisa-ya has been complaining to me a lot."

She then rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Which is not the point. Continue."

Her words made me chuckle. "So I wanted you guys to relieve some stress. Hence the extreme sports and events."

Jisoo sighed as she crossed her arms. "My stress levels went even higher because of that."

I laughed at her comment. "That's why I decided to pamper you guys. You'll be having some time in the hotel's spa. I've already asked them to prepare it for you. So by the time you get there, you'll be relaxing until dinner time."

"Now that's what I'm talking about." Jisoo remarked.

Lisa smiled at me. "Thank you. Umm… can you guys wait in the car? I need to go to the bathroom."

I smiled back at her. "Sure."

After she left I then turned to her members and became serious. "Hey guys, I need to tell you something. Will you hear me out?"

___________

LISA's POV

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm really grateful that we're friends with Alpha." Jennie-unnie stated.

After our fun afternoon, my beloved boyfriend took us back to our hotel and prepared an amazing spa package for us. Everything was premium in this place. From facial cares to the different baths and even to the massages. I've never been so pampered in my entire life!

We were at the last part of our spa package which was the Swedish and Thai massage combo. I've felt like the stiffness from my shoulders were melted along with the stress. This has been one of the best days that I had since I debuted. Well, since I dated the most perfect guy in the world. But sometimes, there are times that he acts all weird when I do certain things with him. Well, he has his secrets and I respect that.

Jisoo-unnie breathed out. "Tell me about it. I don't really care about how rich they are. It's their personality."

Rose then giggled. "What are you talking about, unnie?"

Jisoo-unnie sighed as the masseur pressed a good spot. "I mean aside from how charming they all are. They're pretty much gentlemen. The way they care for their women or ALL women in general. It's just in a different level."

I chuckled as I turned to Jisoo-unnie. "Then why don't you try dating one of them?"

Jisoo-unnie scoffed. "Most of them are dating. Didn't you know?"

Rose then smiled at her. "But Seiji-oppa and JayB-oppa are still in the market right now."

Jisoo-unnie rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Seiji-oppa has someone already. And JayB-oppa. How can I compete with IU-unnie? And besides, he still has that mystery girl of his. AND he's about to get into THAT show as well."

I then turned my head towards Jisoo-unnie. "But didn't you apply for that show as well?"

She sighed again. "Well, yeah. But I'm on hold because I'm still technically a rookie. I'll get into it when we're done with our rookie year."

Rose then laughed. "Well, we'll just wish you well. Lisa-ya is already dating someone, and Jennie-unnie has plenty of suitors. I guess we need to step up our game Jisoo-unnie."

Jennie-unnie then snapped her head towards Rose. "YA! Park Chaeyoung! What do you mean plenty of suitors?!"

We continued laughing and bickering as if the time of pampering continued. Soon we were in our hotel rooms and we're picking out dresses. My members were picking out fancy dresses for me saying that I needed to wear something great.

"Guys! It's just dinner. A NORMAL dinner. Why do I need to wear something fancy? I'll just wear something from the usual. Jeans and a shirt." I complained.

Jennie-unnie then slapped my arm. "Ya! That doesn't mean you would let up just like that. Men like it when you put in a little effort from time to time. Besides, it'll test out if he's really observant with how you look. Now woman up and stay still!"

I sighed. "Fine. But nothing REALLY fancy. Got it?"

Jisoo-unnie gave me a sarcastic smile. "Alright, alright. Now shut up and stay still."

They lied though. They totally glammed me up and were really doing a great job on making me look like I was going to perform. My members were really giving it their all. I can even say that they outed our stylists.

"Unnies… are we really going to dinner, or are we secretly performing for someone?" I gave them a wry smile from the mirror.

Jennie-unnie gave an evil grin. "We're done! Now, I think you look really great. I hope you can score with him tonight. Chaeyoung-ah! Whatever you do, lock your door tonight."

Rose saluted. "Yes, unnie!"

My jaw dropped as I blushed madly. "Ya! W-What are you guys planning?! Huh?!"

They all grinned at me evilly. Jisoo-unnie gave me a thumbs up. "I'm looking forward to meeting my nephew soon."

I stood up from my chair in disbelief. "YA!"

__________

MATT's POV

"I'm really nervous right now." I muttered as I rubbed my cold hands together.

Earlier today, I asked the rest of the members of Blackpink to have their dinner at a popular restaurant in the downtown area. While they will be having their dinner there, Lisa and I will have some time for ourselves here in the hotel.

They've all agreed to it and were all excited to be in on this plan. I've actually received their blessing for tonight. I was going to tell her everything about me. Although she never asked about why I would freak out when she suddenly holds my hand, or if she suddenly hugs me from behind. I'll tell her who I REALLY am. I'm not just a member of Alpha and a prodigy in fighting. Tonight, she'll know the truth. I just hope that she'd accept me for I am really am.

"Oppa?" She suddenly called out from behind me.

I turned to see a beautiful lady who was wearing a purple dress. It was like a goddess dawned on me tonight. My jaw dropped as I turned speechless from the view. She's really beautiful.

She then shyly averted her gaze. "Why are you staring at me like that? Do I look weird?"

I snapped out of my trance and gave her a heart-warming smile. "What? I'm sorry it's just… wow... you look… really breath-taking."

She giggled shyly as she slowly approached me. "Thank you. You're not that bad yourself."

I chuckled at her words as I took her hand to guide her towards her seat. "Not bad, huh? I guess I have to work on my looks next time."

She then gave me a peck on the cheek before she sat down. "I'm kidding. You look amazing too."

We spent our time talking about work and as well as about what happened today. It was really starting to become a memorable night for the both of us. I guess it's about time to tell her everything.

"Lisa-ya… I know you have some personal questions for me. I know you've held out 'til now. You can ask me if you want to." I told her with a reassuring smile.

She gave me a smile before she reached out to my hand. "Oppa, I know how hard it must be for you to recall such a memory. I don't know what it is. But I definitely don't want to put you through so much pain just to tell me everything."

"Don't worry too much about it. I'm ready to tell you everything about me. I don't want to have any secrets between us. And I also want to tell you something after telling you everything tonight." I replied as I held her hand tighter afraid that she might let go.

She nodded slightly without withdrawing her smile. "Alright. Let's take it one step at a time. I'll ask the questions and you answer them so you won't have to tell me everything all at once. That way, it'll at least give you some time to breathe or compose yourself. Is that okay?"

I nodded and chuckled at her. "Alright. Fire away. What do you want to know first?"

She pondered about it for a while before she turned serious. "Why were you so afraid to start a relationship with me? I even heard from Zee-ya that you didn't get into a relationship for a long time."

Her question brought back some bad memories which shook me off for a second before I could compose myself. I slowly retracted my hand from hers as I gave her a wry smile. "Straightforward as usual."

"Hey, you asked for it." She crossed her arms as she pouted.

Her reaction made me chuckle before I gave a sad smile before looking down. I sighed heavily. "This is going to take a while. Are you up for it?"

She smiled as she pretended to look at her watch. "Well, I'm still going to be here until tomorrow so I have plenty of time."

After seeing that she was ready to hear my side, I began telling her my story. The truth if I say so myself, is much darker than how it seems. People asked how I became a fighting prodigy. The answer is simple. In the Kingdom of Thailand, there are 25 tribes who are vying for the throne. I am 16th generation who will contend for it. But I'll get to that later.

Thailand has plenty of rebels in the north. The northern part of the Thailand used to be an inhabitable place before the rebels resided there. Since it was composed of a lot of forests it was pretty much hard to get rid of them, especially since they had many advanced weapons. That's where the 25 tribes come in. When the eldest son or daughter of the head of each tribe comes of age, which is around 8-10 years old, they would then send them to the northern part to hunt down the rebels for a week.

Within that week, they have to survive and hunt down as much as they can and come back to the boarder alive. Since I was the eldest, I had the "privilege" of competing for the thrown. Most of the other tribe's heads were also my friends. It was not a competition between us, but it was about surviving. Among the other tribes was my first love. Chonnasorn from the Sajakul tribe. She was better known as Sorn.

She was practically a very promising woman. Everyone in our batch admired her leadership skills and strength. Compared to her, I was basically nothing. But nonetheless, we banded together with the other kids and tried to come out of the place alive. We survived the first 2 days with no problems. It was pretty much easy. With our skills and with Sorn's leadership, it was practically a walk in the park. Thinking that way was a mistake.

In the two days that we fought, we became complacent. The rebels sent out their weakest members first for the enemy to study us completely. Then the night where the first unforgettable incident happened. It's because of our lack of understanding at that time that we were slowly picked of one by one. We lost our friends and comrades trying to escape the rebels.

Out of the 25 kids that were with us, only 7 of us survived. Since most of the kids that were with us were either injured or incapable of fighting anymore, Sorn decided that both of us should scout the place first. That's when the second most unforgettable incident happened. We were able to steal some important Intel from the enemy. It was a simple mission. After stealing the enemy's plans, we head out. That was it. But I got greedy and gathered some medicine, supplies and weapons and brought it back to our hideout.

On our way back to the hideout, we didn't know that an ambush was waiting for us. Before we could even reach our hideout, we were attacked. It turned out that the weapons I was carrying had trackers in it. Sorn and I tried to fight off the rebels who were attacking us, but their numbers were overwhelming. We were cornered over a cliff by a large waterfall. Sorn made a decision and pushed me off the cliff to help me escape as she fought the rest of the rebels by herself. Just before I drowned from the rapids clashing against the body, I saw the rebels shoot her. That was the last time I saw her.

I remembered that we made a promise back then. Once she was queen, she would make me her king. Though we were kids, we were sure that we really liked each other. But all of these became meaningless once she died. I arrived safely at our hideout. Once I did, 2 more of our friends died. There were only three of us left there. I begged them to go back to the boarder after a week would pass, and bring back a message to our families. In return, I promised to kill all the rebels, and avenge our fallen comrades and my beloved. I studied the Intel that I got from the enemy while the rest of my friends tried to find a way to get to the boarder.

A week passed and I already came up with a plan to sabotage the enemy. So I escorted the rest of my friends off the boarder before I went back to fight off the rebels alone. It was not a fight, it was more like I was exterminating them. To be exact it was a massacre. After two long months in the north, I went home. The rest of my family were really happy to see me, the other tribes welcomed me as if I was a hero. But in that span, I knew that I had become something else. A being that was void of emotins. I became a monster. With every kill, I lost myself.

With that, I spent a year locking myself at home and trained even harder. No one could talk to me, I was still pretty devastated with what happened there. I developed PTSD because of it. I was too far into the darkness to the point that I even tried to let go of my rights to the throne, but the 24 tribes tried to convince me otherwise. But I told them that I would ascend to the throne if I was ready. My parents wanted me to be more open to people. But kids my age looked at me as if I was a monster while the adults looked at me as if I was a hero.

Sorn's parents didn't speak to me when they found out about her which broke me even more. I needed them to tell me that what I did was right. That I HAD to leave her behind in order to save our friends. It was what Sorn wanted. I even tried to look for her body but it was never found. It was as if she that night never happened at all. But her parents were looking at me like I was a traitor. I couldn't protect my first love. Instead, she ended up sacrificing herself for me.

It was until JayB approached me that everything changed. He treated me as if I wasn't a killer, a hero, an avenger, nor a monster, but an actual human being. He treated me like I was family. That's when I was brought back to the light. Then I tried to hide the fact that I was a prince in Thailand and opened multiple businesses across the world, built connections with different people from the same area, and became the prodigy in fighting. Right now, the King of Thailand was ruling it but he was becoming old. One of these days, I might have to ascend to the throne and become King.

In short, I'm a mass murderer who committed genocide. I'm also a prince and an heir to the throne. The prodigy of fighting just came out of nowhere and people started to accept that as a fact. Otherwise, I'm just a survivor of a very brutal version of the Hunger Games.

"So that's how it was." I sighed.

She remained silent the entire time I was narrating, and I didn't even dare turn to look at her when I spoke. I was afraid of what I might see. Still, I was hoping that she would understand what I had to go through. When I finished my story, I slowly turned to look at her. To my horror and disappointment, she was looking at me in a way that I've never seen her stare at me. Although I didn't see it from her before, it was the look that I was very familiar with.

It was fear.

She slowly stood up. "Can you give me some time alone?"

I knew it… This was the reason why I didn't want to tell her in the first place. This was also the reason that I was afraid to be in a relationship with anyone.

My lips trembled as I tried my best to give her a reassuring smile. "Sure. Take your time."

I gave her the keys to Jisoo's car and watch her drive off. There were a set of eyes watching from one of the nearby bars. I sighed as I called them out. "I know you guys are watching. You can come out now."

"Why did you let her go?" Jennie revealed herself together with the rest of the Blackpink members.

I sighed. "I know that you heard everything. Especially about my life story. So you'd understand why she needed some time with herself."

Jisoo slapped my back really hard. I knew it was coming but I let it hit me anyway. But goodness… that was painful. "What was that for?"

Jisoo grabbed my collar. "You and your members are REALLY dense, you know that? She didn't want to leave. She wanted you to stop her."

Rose gave the key for the car that I rented for them. "You SERIOUSLY have no social cues. Now go!"

I slowly nodded before I ran towards the car and went out of the resort to catch up to Lisa. The drive was fast and the road was dark. It was somehow hard to navigate. Finally, I found the car near the old boulevard. But something was wrong, The car crashed in front of another car. There were other cars surrounding it too. I scanned the place to look for her and found Lisa outside being surrounded by some men wearing suits. I quickly pulled over near her, and went over to her.

"Do we have a problem here?" I said as I placed my face mask on.

One of the thugs who I assume was the leader scoffed. "This is none of your business, kid. We were just having a nice little… 'Chat' with the pretty lady."

I stood between Lisa and the men as I stopped them from advancing. I slowly turned to Lisa. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

She slowly nodded. "I'm fine. T-They didn't hurt me."

I slowly held her hand and hid her behind me. "Don't worry. You're safe now."

If I didn't let her go, none of this would have happened. I turned to face the man speaking on behalf of these people. He must be the leader. The leader of the thugs sighed. "You brat. You don't know who you're messing with."

There were around 20 of these people including the leader. They soon brought out some weapons that glowed. These weapons were really familiar to me. Then it dawned on me.

Great. I had to deal with international criminals during my vacation.

I narrowed my eyes at the leader. "Plasma tools."

"That's right. My men, bought this at an international arms dealer days ago. But you don't need to know that. After all, dead people don't need to know anything." He mocked.

This is bad. I've got news from Jeong Do that there was a case about a weapons lab in Atlantis being raided by an international crime gang. Zee, Jeong Do and I have been tracking it down but our investigation was put to a pause since we were in an island without technology a week ago. This was one of the disadvantages that we had as an idol.

I slowly turned my head slightly to Lisa to whisper to her. "Lisa-ya. I'll hold them off while you run towards the car. Get out of here as fast as you can. Once you've driven out of here, I want you to call JayB-ya and tell him EXACTLY what happened. I'll catch up to you at the hotel. You give me a nod to show me that you understand."

She pinched my coat with tears in her eyes before she whispered back. "Please… please… come back to me alive. I still need to tell you that I'm sorry about…"

"We'll talk more once we meet back at the hotel, okay?" I gave her a reassuring smile.

She slowly nodded. Afterwards, I slowly breathed in. And the thugs noticed that something was different with me. The leader then asked his men to ready their weapons. "Don't do anything dumb, kid. You're going to regret it!"

I WAS about to do something dumb. These are plasma weapons. They were really unpredictable. They could bend or change shape at any given moment. Plus it has some hidden abilities in it. Like stun guns or poison gas hidden inside the weapon. These are newer models so I definitely have no idea what I'm dealing with here. That's why it was a weapon that I hate going against. It might be possible to beat 5 people with these things, but 20 people equpped with plasma weapons is a different story.

This was my kind of challenged though. I slowly positioned myself as I glanced at Lisa. "Lisa-ya…"

She slowly nodded back indicating that she was ready. I smiled underneath my mask. "I love you… so much."

Before I could see her reaction, I immediately dash towards the nearest people who were clustered together smashing their legs and breaking their arms. I couldn't kill them since I needed to extract some information from them as to where they got the weapons from. Doing so was such a hassle since they were really tenacious. Even if their limbs were broken, they would still swing their weapons at me blindly.

It took a while for Lisa to move since she must have been surprised with what I said to her. But thankfully, she was able to make it to the car and run away. I then paused for a while as I watch these goons try to stand up and glare at me angrily. They were really pissed since they lost their target for tonight.

I laughed really hard which made the leader look at me in confusion. "Why are you laughing?"

They looked at me while trembling as soon as I stopped laughing and removed my mask to show them with my evil grin. "Because I don't need to hold back anymore."

The leader slowly backed off as he ordered his men to attack. "What are you fools standing there for?! Kill him!"

They all charged at me at the same time but one by one, I was able to kill them off. I didn't need many survivors. I just need the leader to be able to talk, right? It doesn't matter if all his limbs and ribs were broken.

Unfortunately, I underestimated them, I was killing of some the thugs, when one thug in particular used the ability of his weapon and released poison. Although I was practically immune to most poisons since my body was able to adapt in the wild, I wasn't used to modern poison. This was a special poison at that. I can hold my breath for 30 minutes but this particular poison goes inside the body through the skin. It slowly paralyzes the body until it shuts down completely.

"Crap…" I said as I felt my right leg go numb.

There were 6 of them left. The leader laughed loudly. "You're dead now bastard!"

They all attacked me at the same time. They actually fell into my trap. In one swoop, I killed of the other 5 men before breaking all of the leader's limbs. It took me 2 seconds to do so. They didn't realize that the more I was cornered the more aggressive I became. It was something that became a habit of mine while I was trying to survive in the north.

I was panting heavily as I tried to look for the cure in the body of the person who released the poison. Unfortunately, this thing didn't look like it had a cure in it. And the owner of the weapon was long dead. The leader already collapsed from the pain. My only hope now was for Dominic and Seiji-hyung to find me.

My vision was becoming hazy as a set of lights were approaching me. The last thing I remember was seeing Lisa's worried face before I passed out.

__________

"He's awake! Quick! Call the doctor!" Jennie yelled as soon as I opened my eyes to see them.

This was a hospital. That I was sure of. The walls were white, and there were things that were attached on to me. This explains it. I guess I survived from a fight again. I can't believe that I became careless for a second there. I must be getting rusty from being an idol and having less time to train.

"Oppa… Oppa… You're alive… finally… you're awake." Lisa was trembling as she cried while holding my hand firmly.

Dominic rushed inside the room and went to check on me. After checking everything, I sighed. "You're vital signs look normal. Seiji-hyung's serum strikes again. But you can't have more of it for the time being."

"How long was I out?" I asked.

Dominic then narrowed his eyes. "Don't you dare talk to me like this is okay, hyung. You almost died. If I didn't walk Lisa-ya through the phone in how to inject the serum, you wouldn't have woken up! And to answer your question, you were just out for 12 hours. You know your body is two times stronger than a normal human being. Plus, with the help of Seiji-hyung's serum you'll be back to normal in 3 hours."

I breathed out in relief before I chuckled. "That's good to know."

Lisa then slapped my face which made everyone gasp. Dominic cleared his throat. "Umm… We'll give you two some space."

There was silence between the two of us. "Lisa-ya…"

She slapped me again. "Don't…"

I sighed. "I'm sorry."

Her eyes suddenly burst into tears. "I thought I was going to lose you. I thought… you were going to die... and I couldn't even apologize to you."

I chuckled. "I won't die that easily."

She slapped me again. Since I was still pretty much weak, the slap was really painful. "You think this is funny?"

"No, ma'am. I'm sorry, okay? I don't know what to say to make THIS better." I honestly replied.

She wiped away her tears before she stood up. She then gave a deep bow. "I'm sorry for leaving like that. I shouldn't have left like that. If I didn't… this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't blame yourself. I shouldn't have let you go. Besides, you were probably scared of me when I told you the truth. I mean... who wouldn't, right?" I replied which made us both silent.

She then broke the silence. "I wasn't scared of you."

"What?" I blurted out in surprise.

"I wasn't scared of you. It was more like… I was scared FOR you. And that fear actually came true." Lisa explained as she tried to smile.

I then slowly sat up. "Then why did you ask for some time to think…"

"You're a prince… in our country at that which means you'll be a king one day. And being a king means being on the frontlines fighting for the people whenever a war broke out. It's what the trial was for. Plus, I just needed some time to think if I was worthy to stand by your side. Especially when that time finally comes." She replied.

I chuckled as I reached out to caress her face. "I took the risk of loving you because you ARE worth it."

She blushed slightly as she averted her gaze. "Anyway… didn't you say that you wanted to tell me something at the end of our dinner last night?"

I thought about it and I remembered that I did tell her that. "Oh yeah! Oh my God! Have you seen the coat that I was wearing last night?!"

"Yeah. It's in that cabinet right now. Why?" She answered nonchalantly.

I sighed in relief. "Can you check the inner pocket on its right side? There's something that I left there."

She shrugged it off and went towards the cabinet and did what I asked. As soon as she pulled the object out, she snapped her head towards me as she slowly made her way towards my bed side. "Wh-What's this? What's the meaning of th-this?"

I slowly took the object from her hand and knelt in front of her. "Lalisa Manoban… Will you make me the happiest man in the world and marry me?"

___________

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