Jeffrey’s text popped up next. “Guys! Guess what luck I ran into last night??… Well, bad-good luck?”
“Got mugged, stole your stuff, had to walk home naked?”
THAT was Arian.
“Jeez, man! Why’d you hate me so much?” From where he was taking a break at the Campbell’s gym, Jeffrey twitched his lips.
“Yeah. After you crashed his little party last night!” Ricky chuckled.
Jeffrey suddenly felt betrayed. Arian had never thrown a party before. And as his best friend, he wasn’t invited?!
“What party?” He sulked, swiftly moving his fingers.
Ricky was about to generously reply when someone showed up. He looked up expecting Nicky but met his mom…. or rather, Mrs Winterfield, instead in her elements.
She lit up when she saw him.
“It’s been a while, son! How long again?… Well, that’s not important as long as you’re back home.” She gushed and walked further down the stairs with her personal maids.
“Why didn’t you come see me? I’ld have asked…”
“Son?” Ricky wondered. “Did you really call me your son?”
The maids hastily lowered their heads deeply, dreading another tension filled confrontation.
“That’s progress, I guess. At least, you don’t confuse my name as ‘Micky’ anymore.” Ricky gave a low, bitter snort.
“It’s a bit too late for breakfast, don’t you think?” She asked flippantly. It was either Mrs Winterfield was clueless of the sarcasm in his voice or was plain evasive. “Have some tea with…”
“Sorry, but i’m only here to pick up Nicky and Nanny Tess, and then leave.” Ricky tried not to snap.
Strange as it was to say; His mother was really getting on his nerves.
The young heir looked away and caught one of the family’s portraits on the wall by the corner. Like he said earlier, they were nothing but a picture perfect family.
The portrait was taken when the twins were kids with the owners of the house. Deep down, Ricky wished it would ‘accidentally’ slip and crash into a million pieces!
“I’m ready!” Nicky announced, trailing down the stairs with a couple of maids pulling suitcases along. It finally dawned on Ricky that she was dead serious about permanently moving!
“What’s going on?” Mrs Winterfield asked, taken off guard. “Nicky, where are you…”
“Away from here.” Ricky answered for his sister, knowing Nicky wasn’t too good at refusing people.
“Wh… what…” She stuttered. Nicky felt a bit guilty and lowered her eyes, unconsciously hiding behind him.
“Do you suddenly care?” He shot, feeling irritated.
“I’m your mother so I deserve to know!” Ricky didn’t realize when he chuckled. It just bubbled out naturally.
“Since a Cleopatra’s copycat was an epic fail, you should probably pick up standup.” He viciously snarled before pulling an awkward Nicky outside.
The abandoned mother stared down at herself like it was the first. If a stranger had passed by, they wouldn’t have guessed that all her exquisite dress up, was only her breakfast look…
***
Nicky knew that Ricky driving out again as soon as they returned to the house was just an excuse.
He was looking the usual after every meeting with either of their parents…. Sad and pained.
Nicky showed nanny Tess to her new room before she went up to hers. Her suitcases were already in the spacious bedroom and all she had to do was unpack.
As she did, she wondered how her brother found it bearable living alone in the huge house. She unpacked, arranged and decorated for almost three hours.
Finally opening the last suitcase, her eyes landed on a little picture frame of her and her brother.
Nicky moved her glasses up her nose and sat next to the suitcase dejectedly.
They were young and were graduating elementary school. Their mother couldn’t make it because she had an invitation to a prominent fashion show in Italy.
Apparently, some old, famous designer making a comeback was more important than her kids.
Sir Winterfield on his part couldn’t make it as usual, so he’d sent nanny to stand in for them. In the photo, little Ricky and Nicky were holding hands and smiling brightly at the camera, but their hearts were bleeding within.
Despite the happy event, Nicky hated the picture!
She stood up in a heartbeat and searched for an ash tray but couldn’t find any in her room. She rushed over to Ricky’s room and found one in a drawer after scouring.
As Nicky turned to leave, a beautiful picture caught her eyes.
It was a painting of a stunning girl with hazel eyes. She was smiling at the painter, almost as if she was flirting with whoever it was.
After a while of unsuccessfully exercising her brain to recall who it was, Nicky returned it. A part of her felt guilty when she realized she was intruding. Thankfully, there was also a lighter nearby and she burnt the miserable picture to ashes.
No matter what it was gonna take, Nicky swore she and her brother were gonna to move on, together, just as they’d always been…
***
Natalia stuck to her side of the car’s windshield as it cruised away from the protective four walls of the palace. She soaked in the glorious scenery with a glowing look in her eyes.
A few minutes ago, the princess had been all teary, bidding her grandmother good bye. She couldn’t breathe properly and almost had a change of mind!
Something deep within didn’t want her to leave but she pushed the insecurity aside. Grandma was right!
She needed to learn emotional independence.
Truly, they had no additional escort aside the chauffeur as Queen Fiona wanted it as low key as possible. The designated elderly driver took Elva and the gawking princess to the airport where the private jet which they would be using for their adventure was waiting.
Leave it to Elva to do her job perfectly.
The journey was smooth. The princess had never been on an airplane before so you could say she behaved a bit…. mhn…. you know…
The moment they took off, Natalia continued her tour of the jet. She wasn’t air sick and was neither ready to sit still. Anxiety and curiosity nearly consumed her the moment they arrived Turkey.
The reborn princess gawked at every single person and thing she saw!
Their first stop was at a five star hotel where the duo occupied the largest suite at the top floor. It was spacious and luxurious. And it was quite expected because Elva had a knack for classy things!
To her, whether regular or royalty, she had to maintain the princess’s elite status.
From Turkey, they took trips to a lot of countries. Natalia bought a cool digital camera to keep memories. They visited zoos, stadiums, absolutely lovely parks, malls, the movies, amusement parks, fabulous fashion shows, circuses, coffeehouses to cozy bakeries, waterfalls and so many others.
Soon, three weeks passed.
Natalia was learning so much living in the outside world. She had compulsory video chats with the Queen every evening just to prove that she was really alright.
The princess missed her grandmother so much… But she was ready to move on to the next country on their list!
Beverly Hills in southern California…
***
“Isn’t that too soon?” Elva countered.
They were sitting in the living room watching a popular soap opera.
“Nope.” Natalia popped the ‘p’. “We’ve been up north for a while now. We should go down south too. After a couple of days there, we’ll move on to the next country on our schedule.” She ungraciously mumbled, stuffing more popcorn into her full mouth.
Ungracious, dear reader, is the word here. Since the trip had given her the privilege to dress, eat, talk and behave the way she wanted, the princess was giving it her all. Well, except getting hurt which was Elva’s first rule.
“Okay. However, you know you can’t keep delaying your education. I thought the trip was gonna be for a while and then we’ld return to Astheria.”
“Heaven no! Grandma gave no time limit. So I have all the time I want to explore the world. Besides, you know more than anyone that royal education is way ahead than normal schools.”
“Fine.” Elva puckered her lips.
“Okay? You’ve been acting quite weird lately. Is everything alright, El?” Natalia paused to face Elva who was sitting next to her on the couch.
Apart from being helplessly cute most times, one thing the princess was good at was trusting her instincts.
Elva breathed out tiredly. She looked worried and a bit tensed. “I… I do want to be here with you, Nat. And to have fun. But YOU are a princess, a future EMPRESS! If anything were to happen to you…. I just want you to be safe, and me as well.”
Natalia knew Elva was right. There was a lot at stake because of their little…. maybe not so little…. adventure. However, the princess couldn’t force her assistant to tell her what was really bothering her.
“If you say so.” She shrugged and turned back to the television…
***
( A few days later. )
“Come on, A! Speed it up or we’ll be late!” Tommy De’ Argent squirmed excitedly, practically flying down the flights of staircases as he raced to his older brother’s dark blue sports car at the edge of the driveway.
The little fox had managed to manipulate his older brother into taking him on a trip to the mall. Tommy was spiked up at the thought of the both of them having fun, together!
But;
“On my way.” The young master dully drawled, lazily trailing after the speeding rocket. A lot of people were always at the mall and he definitely wasn’t looking forward to it!
The Argent brothers got into the car. Arian strapped Tommy’s seatbelt properly before doing his. He signalled to the guards that they’ld be going alone and raced out before they could disagree.
Arian De’ Argent sighed. His father was really gonna flip.
Was anything mentioned about the mall being full? Well, scratch that ’cause it was over-crowded!
School was resuming next week and everyone was excited to do some shopping.
The moment the French heir drove into the parking lot, his beautiful pale features went a shade paler, estimating the number of cars parked in there!
Seeing his reaction, a mischievious grin escaped Tommy’s lips.
It was time to have some fun!
“Um…. Tom? Why don’t we just order anything you want back home while we watch a movie?” Arian pleaded through his eyes.
‘Nice try, A. But my day, MY rules!’ Tommy thought and faked the most dejected face ever, fidgeting with his fingers.
“Oh… If that’s what you want, it’s okay. I really thought we could hang out together today. After all, you promised to always be there for your little brother like a knight in shining armour….” He slightly raised his head and took a sneak peak at Arian, increasing the river pouring down his cheeks.
Arian looked like a bucket of ice was poured on him! Tommy might be five but he ALWAYS had his way!
Forty, very long, minutes later; “Yay!” He squealed excitedly, having the time of his life!
The little fox wished he could say the same for his older brother though.
He enthusiastically pulled Arian along as they walked from store to store buying anything he wanted. When they got to the video games store, Arian got carried away with the virtual reality section. So it was Tommy’s turn to get bored.
The little runt preferred children color books with catchy titles. And like an answer to a prayer, Tommy turned around and saw the bookstore not too far away!
His pout turned into a grin as he ran off without thinking and began to gape at the hundreds of thousands of children’s storybooks. Tommy didn’t realize how long he’d stayed until he began to feel hungry.
Thinking Arian would still be at the game store, he ran back to get the greatest shock of his young life!
.
.
.
His older brother had left him…
Chapter 07