Heard About a Girl

Jack's face paled upon hearing Maxen; however, he was left with no choice but to jot down his highness's order. He could feel the veins in his head angrily pulsate as the thought of his imminent lecturing from Sir Abbott, the private secretary of the crown, flooded his mind. There is only one Sui Family in the whole country. How could he explain to his superior that Maxen's plus one is an unknown lady? And who is this Olivia Sui? What? No! Her name is Olivia and she's not a Sui… yet. Despite Jack's inner turmoil, he held his gaze on Maxen, waiting for his next task, looking professional like he always did. Deep inside, his thoughts wandered somewhere else as the realization dawned on him... That lady named Olivia would definitely be the future queen. Because what Maxen wants…

Maxen snapped his fingers, calling the attention of his dazed assistant. He scrutinized the guy who seemed to have aged a decade overnight. His brows furrowed when he deduced that he had never seen Jack that distressed in the two decades that they've worked together. The man had been working for him since he came of age, which was sixteen in their country. That was the time that Maxen had to start his royal duties and thus Jack was assigned to him and now that he thought about it, Jack never had a proper vacation so he kindly offered, "Jack, let me know if you need to take a break. I can talk to Sir Abbott for you."

"It's ok, Your Highness. I can do it myself. I will file my vacation leave at the right time," Jack humbly replied after taking in Maxen's words as a threat. He cleared his throat and glanced at his phone, his aura changed from despair to hope after seeing the light at the end of the tunnel when an email came through. Last night, he took the initiative to dig up a little information about the tenant on the fifty-sixth floor named Olivia and that email contained all the information that he needed to know.

Walking to the lift, he beeped the card but it flashed a red X on the digital board indicating that their neighbor was using it. The beeping sound was Maxen's cue to bid goodbye to his beauty. He petted his beauty's thick coat and promised to bring a friend next time so she would have someone to play with.

Maxen walked towards Jack who idly stood by the elevator doors to wait for their turn. Suddenly, he was reminded of the ruckus that their neighbor raised, forcing the management to pay her a large chunk of money for damages because it wasn't disclosed to her that there were two units on the penthouse floor and that she had to share the lift. It wasn't the management's entire fault as they were just protecting Maxen's identity at that time but that decision did backfire so he helped them pay the said damages just to pacify his bratty neighbor. Maxen's face contorted into a disdainful smile as he watched the moving arrow on the digital board. He was told that she used the same money to buy another unit in the building.

"By the way, is the issue with the other tenant solved? Is she finally leaving the other penthouse?" Maxen probed. He hasn't met this neighbor but just by the reports alone, he would rather stay away from her at all cost.

"Nothing has been finalized yet, Your Highness."

…

Sui Estate

Five identical black BMWs circumvented the winding uphill road to a place they call The Highlands; home to the country's royal family. It was an hour's drive from the metro that by the time the convoy reached the mountaintop, it was already a quarter past seven in the morning and the sun shone brightly overhead, revealing the vastness of the island.

The escort of cars entered the heavily-guarded and secluded Sui Estate, traversing a long stretch of cobblestone road before coming to a halt at the entrance of the mansion after circling a fountain roundabout.

Jack held the door for Maxen who fastened the topmost button of his suit jacket after he alighted the car. Standing on his spot, he took a deep breath, savoring the fresh breeze of the mountain, welcoming him to the place he called home.

The simple yet elegant pentagon-shaped bungalow mansion of the Sui Family stood majestically on the top of The Highlands and the hundreds of years of history it held added more to its charm. On the outside, it boasted tall and thick white masonry walls with drapes of crawling vines and terracotta roof-tiles that it gave the sense of being transported back in time. The heavy influence of Spanish colonial-style on the premises could also be attributed to the four-hundred-year colonization of the Spaniards in the country, to which the Sui Family's roots could be traced back too, specifically to the King of Spain.

Big oak double-doors with intricate hand-carving opened for Maxen, and he easily found his way to the garden where the Sui Family would dine al fresco for their weekly breakfast gathering. Per usual, he's the first to arrive at the scene. He looked around him before pulling out his phone, dancing his fingers to the beat of his heart, writing a letter to the lady who stole his heart.

[Good morning! How was your sleep?]

Delete delete delete

He tilted his head, thinking of better words to say.

[Good morning, Olivia! What]

Send!

Maxen's eyes opened wide in shock when he accidentally hit send. He was too engrossed in sending the sweetest good morning message he could ever think of when he heard his father speak behind him.

"I heard about a girl," King Alistair's deep and charismatic voice startled Maxen who quickly dipped his phone in his pants pocket. He walked towards his dad and paid respects — bowing his head and waiting for the king to pat his shoulder. After their short ritual, father and son hugged each other.

"Unbelievable. You know it already?"

"The king knows everything, son."

"And the queen finds out about it before the king does." Maxen beamed at the regal lady who took her grand time walking towards them, ever like the queen that she is – enjoying every step with her chin up, her eyes beaming with pride at the sight of the two men in her life.

"I heard about a girl, Maxen. Is she the one?" Queen Isla asked as they greet in a cheek kiss manner, her question, softly whispered in his ears. Maxen replied with a handsome smile and did not say more because he did not want to put everybody's hopes up especially when he knew he would definitely have to go through a needle's eye to earn her trust.

Everybody's been nagging him to get married but that didn't bother him before because he knew girls lined up for him and marriage could come later. However, everything changed last night when he met Olivia and never in his entire life was he so sure of getting married on the next sunrise.

He held his mother's hand and ushered her to a seat and did the honor of pulling one out for Her Majesty to sit on. He rounded up to the other side of the table to take his seat when he heard a bird tweeting in the morning as she sauntered towards the table.

"Look who we have here! Congratulations, Maxen! I heard about a girl!" A heavily pregnant Princess Maya said as soon as she saw her brother's shadow. Maxen walked towards his sister and ever the gentleman, ushered his sister to a seat beside the queen.

"I see everybody skipped to the tabloids today." Maxen's words earned a soft chuckle from each royal present before Princess Maya pulled out a tablet from her handbag.

"I have her video in the elevator after she pushed you out. Do you want to see it?"