Not so Princely afterall

[Mia's P.O.V]

After ending the call I glared at Ruben.

"Why are you so stupid? You shouldn't have laughed!" I scolded him.

"Hey now, don't be mad." he said sexily, standing up from his chair. He walked around his table and stood in front of me, placing his hands on my waist, pulling me towards him. He continued, "How can I not laugh when you lied to your friend that I was your friend when we did so many things together?"

I gently pushed him and went to sit on the couch in his office. It's really difficult to lie to Arte, since she has always been good at detecting if there's anything off. I've been trying to cover up that I won't be able to get Hani from her anytime soon since Dad still haven't approve Ruben. What worries me more is, Ruben who seemed too chilled about this whole situation.

"Darling, do you really have any concern about our daughter at all?" I asked, with a slight fury escaping even as I was trying to remain calm.

"Of course I am babe. Do you not trust me?" he said leaning on his table, crossing his arms on his chest. He seems a little offended by this question. Probably he has sensed my uneasiness.

"Of course I trust you, but can you blame me for asking? I mean, I feel like I am doing all the heavy lifting while you just sit back and chill like a shotgun." I said, releasing my concern. It feels exhausting to handle all of this by myself when my family completely disapproves me of my choices, albeit it's not a wise one, I admit and the man I fell in love with, does not seem fully on board with me for solving this problem.

The reason I started to cut the call short with Arte was because I didn't want her to want to end up talking to Ruben, and conclude that I chose the wrong man as my life partner. The last thing I want is to have my friend to keep a distance from me just because she doesn't like my choices. I won't be able to stand it. Not when my family is one step closer to disowning me.

"Hey, I'm sorry." Ruben said as he noticed that I was slowly tearing up. He walked over and sat next to me, pulling me into a hug. He continued, "Look, I understand that you have been doing a lot for us and our baby lately. I get that. But I am also doing my best from my end. Getting my business running and trying to rank it up is not easy, you know."

I pulled away from his hug, and looking him in the eyes, feeling discouraged. Honestly, when he said that he was doing his best, I felt more disappointed actually. Like, if you really want to help me, you only need to come to see my family. It's their approval we need to end this predicament.

The whole reason I had to send Hani to Arte was because my family does not want the media or anyone else to know that I had a baby out of wedlock. The way they see it, I either marry the father of the child or to completely get rid of the kid by sending it overseas and be taken care of one of my relatives there. The second option would not be so bad but their idea of sending her away means I can never contact her ever again and she will never know who her mother is.

I cannot have that. After 9 months of having her and when she finally comes to this cold world, I had this strong desire to protect her and to love her unconditionally. I want to personally take care of her but it's really hard with the situation I am going through. I don't even want to be an heir but Dad refuses to let me head down to another path. Since, it has boiled down to this, and I want to be close to Hani and see her at any time, I have to entrust her well being to Arte, my best friend.

As clumsy as she is with children, she's a person with a strong sense of responsibility. Sure, she complains a lot if she's not on board with the idea, but she will put her everything into something she's been entrusted with regardless. That, and knowing that Jami is there with her to help her with my child, I am not worried at all. Besides, I just created countless of chances for them to spend more time together. Arte is way overdue with having a special someone, I don't want her to die as a lonely hag because she's been fully focusing on her career. Why Jami? Well, that's a story for another day.

Now, I have to be stern with Ruben, or else, he will never come to see my family and get their blessings.

"Ruben darling, you don't understand do you? They don't care how successful you are right now. All they want is to talk to you and give us blessings to marry each other. If it's growth for your business is what you are looking for, then you should know by now, that marrying me will certainly give it a boost since our union also means collaboration and partnership." I explained, hoping it'll bring him some clarification to whatever he is doubtful of. He was sitting there, thinking deeply, as if he is considering and weighing whatever scenarios he had in his head. He stood up and walked to the window behind his office table. A few more moments of silence.

"Darling?" I called out. He shouldn't be thinking too much. What happened with all the promises he did when we first met? I started to get anxious.

"Baby..." he finally voiced, and turned to face me. "The thing is, I really don't want to depend on your family to grow my business. But in the same time, I do agree, we have to get married eventually. Since you want me to see your family so bad, I think we should arrange an appropriate date to meet up."

I bit my lip feeling a little frustrated at his term, 'see your family so bad'. He made me feel like I am the one desperate to marry him. Well, I am, but he should also feel just as desperate since we need to get our daughter and live together as family. Still, I also felt relief that he has finally agreed to meet my family. All there is to do now, is to arrange our meet up and finally live together. Smiling at his agreement, I stood up and went over to him. We hugged and shared a passionate kiss.

Looking a little disheveled after our slightly hot moment, I went back to the washroom in his office and fixed my appearance. Coming out, I see him sitting at his desk, grinning at me. Blushing a little, I went over to the couch and took my handbag.

"Alright, darling, I will give you a call once everything is in place." I said, getting ready to leave.

"Okay, sure baby. I'm looking forward to meeting your parents." he said smiling. He then stood up from his desk and escorted me to his door, opened it and bowed to me like a prince.

"Hope you have a great day, for the remaining afternoon, my Queen." He kissed my hand. I smiled at him and made my way home happily.

But, what I didn't know was, the man who just displayed his princely charm, was not as princely after he closed the door for his face turned sour afterwards.