Filed To Story: Dumped by Scumbag Adored by Billionaire
“I haven’t seen the prince’s picture throughout our tour? Is anything the matter because you have shown us of his mother, father, grandparents, great grandparents, great-great ….”
Yeah, the lesson was info-packed.
And I had a good reason for asking. I mean, I couldn’t even find an image of him on the internet. He was so damn mysterious. I needed to know who I was going to talk to tonight at the masquerade ball – which is in approximately five hours – to have an idea of his personality. This deal was too expensive to be handled carelessly, I can’t afford to fail.
“Oh about that,” The man cleared his throat, “Our prince is a very shy, private person. I’m sure you’d know about him tonight,”
“But sir -“
“And back to our tour,”
Wonderful. So I was to have a meeting with someone I have no idea what he looks like. Just great! What if I piss him off unintentionally? Like it happens in movies: I bump into him or destroy something precious to him? Boom! What a great start!
Soon the tour was over and we got to have two hours of sleep before getting prepared for the ball. But then, when we were set to go, Cecil had a bad stomach.
“Gosh, I feel like dying,” She moaned from the toilet. Her hole must hurt.
“You know? I can cancel tonight and take care of you, after all, there are still six days left of these parties,” I offered.
Cecil has been the closest person to me over the years, she stood by my side and it’s expected that I stay with her tonight.
“No, Emily. Go out there and have the fun you’ve been lacking in your life lately,” She groaned.
“But then, you need someone -“
“I’ll stay with Cecil, mommy,” Akim said out of nowhere.
“Really?” I was touched. In a situation like this, kids his age would want to be out there, exploring this new place but here he was, applying to be a babysitter.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Akim? It’s not a crime if you don’t want to stay, just tell me, okay?” I massaged his scalp.
“No mom, I’m cool. Besides, I heard that it’s an adult’s party, it’s not going to be fun for me anyway, “He said with a bored yawn but I knew he did it on purpose.
Akim might be slow to show his feelings – because of the bad experiences with his father – but the boy is a curious bee as kids his age should be.
“Alright, here’s the deal. I’ll take pictures and tell you all about it once I’m back. How’s that for a deal?”
“Sure,” He agreed.
We bumped fists, sealing this deal with our signature promise sign; made by twisting our fingers at some angle and making sure our thumb met in the end.
Finally relieved, I picked my purse and made my way outside where a servant was already waiting to send me to the banquet hall.
I was wearing a yellow off-shoulder gown, that had its edges intricately embroidered with golden roses while it’s skirt was a Lincolnshire print fabric. The dress was designed by me – If I wanted to strike a deal with them, I had to show them I had an idea of their culture.
The dress was simple and breathtaking but not too distracting enough to take people’s minds off the celebrant, the prince – who hasn’t made his appearance for over an hour now.
Since this was a masquerade party, no one could see each other’s faces – like how would this help me locate the prince- else I’d be able to recognize some people at least.
Sure, people who were awed by my dress schmoozed with me, inquiring where and how I got the dress which resulted in me exposing my identity and arranging a meeting with them but I was running out of patience.
From what I heard, the prince was single and most ladies here wanted to get a piece of him – not me neither was I prepared to fight for his attention with them.
If Cecil had gotten his number, it would have been a lot more consolating. I would have talked to him one on one and not have to get in the earshot of anyone who mentions the name, “Prince Kai,”
“Hi,” Someone said from behind me. It made me jump out of my skin – I was so immersed in listening to these ladies’ fantasies about Prince Kai.
With a bored look, I turned around to sight who disturbed me and froze those eyes. Why did it look so familiar to me?
Kai’s POV
They say the eyes are the window to a soul. I couldn’t tell if Emily had somehow recognized me else she wouldn’t be staring at me this way like she somehow knew it was me.
I watched her shake her head as if trying to remove some ridiculous thoughts from her head.
“Hi,” I said once again.
“Hi,” she sounded almost breathless. She still looked as sexy as hell. I had to fight against the urge to just whisk her away and tell her everything.
No, I couldn’t yet. If I rushed her at once, she’d think I was a liar and this was a prank or something and probably smack me on the face.
“I’m Emily and why are you staring at me that way even though you haven’t told me your name yet,” she roused me from my reverie.
“Oh, sorry,” I thrust out my hand, “I’m Kai – kain,” I corrected immediately with a sheepish grin while enveloping her hand in a handshake. I must look stupid right now.
“I’m Emily,” She replied with a formal smile.
I rubbed the top of her palm, brought it to my mouth, and placed a kiss on it with my gaze holding hers.
Emily shivered, I felt it, coupled with the way she took her hand away as if stung by a bee. And it pleased me to know that unconsciously, we were still attracted to each other.
“You’re a lovely woman, I’m honored to make your acquaintance,” I muttered sugary words to her, the way a gentleman would.
“You have such lovely eyes, I would really like to see what you look like without the mask on,” was her reply.
I tried not to show I was taken aback by her comment. She was regarding me skeptically – seems the whole dye the blonde hair dark didn’t buy her over.
“Really?” I indulged her further,
“Removing the mask, isn’t that a bit early in this relationship? I think we just met,” my brows flirted with her.
She chuckled, “Forgive my manners. For a moment, I just thought… no, you just looked incredibly familiar to someone I knew?”
“Someone you knew?” I tactically pressed. I was wearing a Venetian mask that featured both gold and white color combination and covered the entirety of my face – my eyes were only visible.
“He was someone special to me but that’s bygones. You haven’t told me why you approached me?” She was quick to change the topic.
That unsettled me, had she forgotten me that easily. It was seven years already – I couldn’t blame her – but I didn’t have a choice. I would have come back for her sooner but I had to rebuild the kingdom from the scratch, get rid of the traitors, make it safe for her.
Now, it’s finally done. Yes, Emily might not forgive me that easily but I’ll work for it, make it up in every way possible till she accepts me back.
“You still haven’t answered my question,”
“Huh?”
“Why did you approach me?” she asked with all manner of seriousness.
“You’re a lovely woman, why wouldn’t I approach you?”
“People in here have approached me for diverse purposes; some to inquire about my dress- I’m the designer by the way; some to socialize and the rest to flirt and see if they could get into bed with me – I’m a married woman by the way,” She quickly drew the boundaries.
I chuckled inwardly, was that “married” part supposed to scare me away.
“Your dress is fine, it’s being fun socializing with you and I’m not here to get into your pants,” I would get the whole of her soon.