Chapter Nine

May be it wasn't Antonio's plan to suddenly turn Catherine's attention away from her childhood friend Joanna, may be Mrs Isabella was right, it was just Catherine showing her true color. Catherine wasn't only gradually becoming a fully grown adult, she was also gradually learning how to possibly exist without Joanna- something anyone that knew them from childhood would think was impossible. Catherine was about to prove the fine line between a child's mentality and an adult's mentality and she wasn't slow to adapt to the change caused by a broader sense of reasoning which measured the distance between a child and an adult. The last time Joanna met Catherine and Antonio, Antonio made his intention clear to Joanna and he sounded honest, but Catherine's sudden change of attitude seemed to have gotten worst from then and Joanna could hardly figure out if Antonio lied to her or if Catherine was trying to destroy their bound of her own accord. In all, Joanna became antagonistic towards Antonio for she took it that he was the problem which her relationship with Catherine encountered. Catherine no longer bothered to visit her and although the Castle maids and servants would always confirm that Catherine was available and ready to see her visitors, Joanna never saw her when ever she visited the Castle because she was either secretly unavailable, or she was locked inside with a secret visitor who was not bold enough to get into the Castle without sneaking in with her. Even at a point, Joanna no longer visited the Castle because she wanted to see her friend, rather she visited the Castle because she promised the queen that she would always come to spend sometime with Catherine. Nevertheless, Joanna never told the queen about her daughter's sudden change of attitude.

Antonio took Catherine to the love garden as usual for he wanted to spend some cool time with her and that was the twenty fifth time they went there and probably the eightieth time Catherine had sneaked out of the Castle to spend time with her Darlene. The atmosphere was cool and the breeze was gentle as usual. The love birds sat together under a tree. Catherine had her arm round Antonio's waist and her head rested on his shoulder while Antonio busied her with some jokes. She had become so fund of Antonio and to her, nothing else mattered but him. In the right sense, a man of Antonio's class never deserved a princess-that was like a tradition in England and that was why Oliver sounded funny to his wife when he told her about Antonio's plan to make out with the princess. But the truth was that Antonio had unique potentials which could even attract the love and attention of a goddess to him. He was tall, very handsome and adventurous and he was an expert in love making and though he never had sex with Catherine, he gave her kisses and romances which remained unforgettable to her and which later caused him a great trouble. In the love garden, Antonio also told Catherine stories about love and she became emotional and started singing him the song which Joanna taught her for it seemed like the song sounded more sweet to her when he was involved. In the end of the song, She suddenly glued her lips to his and pleaded for a kiss and romance.

"Kiss me Darlene! Kiss me please!"

The love birds enjoyed themselves as usual and Catherine's voice was heard,

"Antonio, I am yours forever!"

Joanna was alone in her bed room singing the song which she and Catherine dedicated to their friendship in tears for she missed Catherine a lot. She missed her company- her smiles, her voice, her kiss, her hug- her everything! she wished Catherine would visit her and accompany her to the fields like she always did before and on the way, she would suddenly grasp her and give her a tight hug for she missed her grip. She would also give her a kiss on the chick-No on the lips for she missed the taste of it. Her lips always tasted like strawberry, but she wished it would taste like honey this time. Joanna was lonely and making new friends or getting into a relationship wasn't that easy for her because she was used to Cathy and she can't help getting Cathy off her mind. Nevertheless, as time went on, she began realizing that Cathy may have not committed a crime by falling in love with Antonio because it was natural for men to make out with women. May be Catherine misunderstood the kiss she always gave her on the lips and probably she was avoiding her because she thought she was interested in some kind of girl on girl stuff and Perhaps finding her own man could make Cathy understand that she wasn't interested in women, rather, she was just trying to prove that the princess was so special to her.

A year later, Antonio's relationship with Princess Catherine began to diminish and these factors could be considered to be the causes. First was that Antonio was just a hunter and he was no match to a princess of England and second was that Catherine seemed not to be a saint after all. This was how it all started. Charlie Edward, son of the duke of Salisbury who tried to hit on Catherine when she and Joanna attended his birthday party, still had his eyes on Catherine. Just like Antonio, Charlie was adventurous, tall and handsome but the difference was that he was wealthy and popular- yeah Antonio was no match to him and ninety percent of the ladies of England would choose him over Antonio. He was even called a man of the ladies and this was the real secret behind the crowd of ladies who were present in his birthday party. Going straight to the point, Charlie Edwards, after months of trials, finally got in contact with Catherine and he ended up giving her something Antonio failed to give her. Their first meeting took place in the Castle when Charlie visited and using the excuse that he came to see the queen, He sneaked into Catherine's room and eventually won her over. Catherine would have resisted if she wanted to, but for the fact that she wasn't truly the angel Antonio thought she was, she ended up surrendering her attention to the rich handsome devil. Catherine was on the bed when he suddenly pop into her room,

"What are you doing here?" She asked surprisingly.

"Oh princess, i must have popped in to the wrong room. Was looking for prince Alex's room." Charlie responded.

"The room on the left, ask the maids to take you there." Catherine sat up and said.

"Princess but Alex is no where to be found, i had to look out for you because i needed someone to keep me company. I didn't come all the way from Salisbury to the Queen's Castle for no body." Charlie insisted and Catherine remained calm. Then the handsome devil gently sat beside Catherine and continued.

"Do you know my greatest gift?"

"What?" Catherine asked.

"The kiss." He replied.

"The kiss?" Catherine asked in perplexity.

"Yea the kiss on your gorgeous arm when you came to Salisbury." He replied with a sexy smile.

"Oh." Catherine responded for she remembered the kiss he was talking about.

"And why would you kiss a princess without her consent?" Catherine asked.

"And you weren't offended because you liked it." He responded and gazed steadily at Catherine's eyes.

"Your eyes are charming Cathy." He continued and Catherine hid her eyes because she became shy but Charlie held her face and drew it closer to his.

"I am not ready for this." Catherine confessed with a serious looking face but Charlie insisted.

"Princess i want to tell you something about your self and I am afraid it may not sound good."

"What?" Catherine asked in deep curiosity.

"Dear pretty, you need to hang out with me so that i can introduce you to the world. When i look at you, i see primitiveness and timidity written all over you. You are a princess and you need to be civilized." He replied fearlessly and Catherine became downcast for she seemed to be ashamed of her self. Charlie moved closer to her and continued.

"You choose the wrong people as friends and you don't hand out with fellow gods and goddesses. You are a princess living like a commoner."

"But mum said she is the right friend for me." Catherine responded in a low timid tune.

"Who?" Charlie asked with a mean face.

"Joanna." Catherine responded.

"Who the heck is Joanna?- Cathy i have what it takes to re fix you. If you accept to hang out with me, i will refine and polish you. I will upgrade your primitive mentality and make it classic and the queen her self will regret you weren't the heir to her throne. I will introduce you to fellow gentle men and ladies of high calibre and their companionship will earn you the respect you have always wished for." Charlie persuaded in a sweet tempting tune.

"I don't know." Catherine gave a deep breathe and responded for she was completely perplexed and downcast,

"No need asking about your boy friend because he wouldn't have befriended you if he wasn't inclined to primitiveness too." Charlie mocked indirectly.

"But tell me the truth, do you have a boy friend?" He continued and Catherine was dumbfounded and after a suitable interval, he continued

"Alright let me take that as a NO."

"I didn't say No." Catherine corrected.

"And you didn't say Yes either." He replied.

"Cathy will you hang out with me?" He continued and Catherine was silent. Then he held her face and spoke directly to it in a very seductive tune.

"You will not regret hanging out with me i promise."

"I will." Catherine finally said and he hugged her happily.

"Yes!" He exclaimed.

Compering Antonio to Charlie was like compering Joanna to Princess Catherine. Joanna was supposed to be prettier because Catherine's appearance wouldn't be that outstanding if she wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth, so it would only take a woman who needed a true love to choose Antonio over Charlie- this is a riddle and the rest of the story will interpret it.

Catherine and Charlie's next meeting was when Catherine finally went out on a date with Charlie and that was three days after he visited the Castle. Just to get Catherine's full attention, Charlie remained in London and hosted a dinner party for all his friends. He personally rode Catherine to the party in his chariot, and gave her the highest place of honor. The party was attended by great and powerful Londoners both men and women. Charlie introduced Catherine to his bunch of corrupt friends whom he claimed indirectly ruled the world, and together, they ate, drank and talked. It was an entirely new experience to Catherine because she wasn't used to such life style. Yes her mum was the second 'God' of England, but she wasn't used to hanging out with first class citizens, meaning that Charlie's words about her being uncivilized were partially true. She was very timid and nervous and she gazed at the personalities surrounding her in incredulity. This is supposed to be her real status and she must learn how to fit in or she will be ridiculed despite the fact that she was a princess of England. Indeed, Charlie could be a messiah sent by the heavens to deliver her. While the party was on, Charlie gazed at Catherine and sensing that she felt so inferior, He took it that she had become vulnerable and the door to her heart was wide open. He leaned over and whispered to her,

"You are not the future queen of England, Your family's legacy will not be inherited by you, so you need to build your own greatness by your self."

Catherine nodded timidly and his whisper continued,

"So are you going to be the love of my life or not?"

"YES." Catherine replied impatiently and he continued,

"Now kiss me in front of these fellas and feel my glory."

Catherine grasped the face of the handsome devil at once and kissed him on the lips and there was sudden silence in the crowd.

"The princess kissed him!" sounded voices in the crowd. Then Charlie whispered to Catherine in smiles,

"Do you know what you've done? You just made half of the ladies in this party Jealous. Its time to hold me tight and let them know that the boy Charlie belongs to the princess alone and who ever crosses your path will be properly dealt with." In response, Catherine grasped him and held him tight, and most ladies in the party were full of dreams. When the party was over, Charlie Edwards took Catherine to a motel to spend some time with her in private and after they have discussed to their satisfaction, Charlie, unlike Antonio, who had no time for kisses and romances went straight and made love to Catherine.

Antonio was alone in the garden waiting for Catherine to show up and if he was omniscient like God who sees all the happenings on earth, he would not be waiting for nobody in the garden, instead he would be searching for a rope to hang himself because the so called love of his life would soon give him more than he bargained for. It had been days Catherine failed to visit and he was worried about it for it was unlike her and after waiting for hours in the garden without any sign of her, he left the garden and walked back home in disenchantment.

"I wish my love is waiting for me at home cause i can't wait to kiss her lips, lick her tongue and swallow her saliva." He thought with anticipation. Then he began reciting the song which Catherine taught him, praying in his mind that the angels will intervene and bring his love back to him.