Chapter 1 Never!

"Find her!!!" The voice of Queen Margaret reverberated in the wedding hall and soon there was an uproar with the guards treading rapidly all over the place in search of the Princess.

Today was supposed to be the day that Princess Zamira, the daughter of King Desmond and Queen Margaret of Havilla kingdom would be married to King Alvarez of Divaria kingdom. Their supposed marriage in the eyes of the others was a thing of bliss probably because the marriage was going to benefit the kingdom of Havilla but to her, it was the most ridiculous thing ever.

The 23 year old Princess had been told from the onset that a time would come when she would have to save her kingdom and she was ecstatic knowing that she would be doing something great for her people but little did she know that they were referring to her being married to an old tyrant king, King Alvarez.

The guards searched all over the Hotel for the princess that night but she was nowhere to be found. It sure was going to be a tough search for them as Hotel Alvarez was one of the biggest and exotic hotels in the country whose spaciousness was like the size of Alvarez's palace

Mira ran as fast as her legs could carry, continually turning her face backwards to see if the guards that were after her were close. As she ran along the corridors of the hotel, she noticed that all eyes were on her. How could they not stare at her when it was so obvious from her attire that she was a bride. She had to slide into a corner leading to the female restroom where she took off her white wedding dress and ornaments. Now she was just left with a thin strap satin gown whose length stopped mid way her thighs.

"Now what?" Mira asked herself as she tried to figure out if she was to leave the rest room that way. She stopped to look at the dress lying on the floor -- yes, it was hers and it was initially worn by her but it didn't feel like her own wedding dress. She heaved in weariness before turning to look at her reflection in the mirror and for the first time in her entire life, the lady she saw in the mirror didn't look like her. Her face was plastered in makeup and her brown eyes had suddenly become invisible due to the fact that she was putting on long artificial eyelashes which flapped like wings each time she blinked her eyes. She scoffed as she rested her hands on the sink and threw her head downwards -- she just couldn't believe it and for a brief moment, she forgot that there was an ongoing fuss outside.

The first thing Mira did was to take off her fake eyelashes and wash her face with water, then she dried it with a towel. She then walked slowly towards the door and gently opened it, then peeped through and saw that the guards were still looking for her. As soon as she came out and began to run again, one of the guards saw her and alerted the others and they chased her. 

Seeing that she had been seen, she ran as fast as she could to only-god-knows-where-next. Mira didn't know where else to go. The hotel was too big for her liking -- it was Alvarez's hotel after all, what was there to like? She never liked him and neither would she like his hotel.

At this point she could only count on her guts to survive and escape her chasers. Her eyes searched around hastily for a sign or something that would lead her somewhere safe and she looked up and saw the sign "EXECUTIVE SUITES" with an arrow pointing towards another fleet of stairs.

Yes, that was her sign. That was where she was supposed to go. Without wasting any time, she ran upstairs and to her surprise, there was not a single human being in the corridors. The only choice she had left was to open any door that she saw there. Mira already knew that any door she would open at that grand floor, was going to lead to an executive suite and regardless of whether it was occupied by somebody or not, she was just going to open it and face the consequences later.

Her widened eyes continually looked around for her chasers as she scuffled to open the doors. For each door she tried to open, she noticed that they were difficult to open which could only mean that they were locked. But she didn't want to give up. She continued to try and open the doors but they were all the same. She didn't know where else to go from there and was about to break down in tears when her eyes saw a door that was slightly open. It was one of the doors leading to another executive suite and without hesitation, she ran towards it and entered inside.

The place was dark with no source of light at all. She was still unable to identify her space but she was willing to stay there until her pursuers stopped their haunt. She was still there pondering in the dark on what she should do when she heard voices outside.

"Somebody saw her running towards this side." An approaching masculine voice from outside spoke and Mira who was inside gently shut the door. As she did that, a little bit of light came into the space that she was. It was a not-so-bright light from a wall bulb but it was bright enough to see that she was standing right infront of a swimming pool. She couldn't see anything from the swimming pool because it was still dark but she could see the flowing water and it was definitely a swimming pool.

"We have no choice but to open these doors. We have to find the Princess." Another voice spoke from outside and she gasped in fear immediately she heard it.

What was she going to do now? She had no idea. The only option left for her was to jump into the swimming pool and stay underneath the water and that was the most silly thing for her to do. She soon saw that it was serious after she heard the sound of door handles clattering. Without further ado, she dived into the swimming pool and stayed underneath it.

The door leading to the place Mira stayed was soon opened and the guards peeped into it.

"This isn't right. We can't just be opening doors to people's suites like that. This place seems to be occupied already. The princess isn't here. We should go." One of the guards suggested and soon they all left the place, shutting the door behind them. 

Mira brought her head out of the water catching her breath, her whole focus was on the door and she was relieved to see that they had gone. She heaved a sigh of relief as she made her way to step out of the water but a manlike voice spoke from the water.

"Stop right there." His deep masculine voice pierced into her skin and she freezed as she heard it. Her eyes widened and her body began to shake. She had no idea if it was because of the cold water that was seeping through her skin or the fierceness accompanied with the voice.

She turned around slowly to see who it was that was speaking to her and then she saw that truly, there was a man in the pool with her.