Arian jerked his head to see who came in and Natalia did the same. It was a woman with blond hair and green eyes. She was beautiful!
She held a stunned expression as her beautiful eyes took in their position. And once again, Natalia did the same!
Arian’s hands were by the sides of her face and their bodies were only inches apart!
“Mom! What are you doing here?” He blurted and moved off her. Natalia hastily sat up too. She used her hair to cover her face out of embarrassment.
“I… I…. The delivery boy came by…. one of the maids do… told me. So I came to ask if you ordered anything?” She stuttered, her shocked eyes still drifting between the two.
Natalia REFUSED to look up!
“Mhn. Natalia’s dress got ruined so I ordered another.” Arian casually replied, back to his indifferent self.
“Oh. It got ruined?” Mom Rose asked again.
Goodness! The Princess got the hidden question which sounded like; While they were at “it”, they were careless and her dress got ruined!!
She mentally screamed and kicked Arian HARD!
Arian paused halfway from nodding and got the message too.
“No, not that!” He rushed to explain. “Someone spilled a drink on her and it couldn’t wash off so….”
His mother’s chuckle cut him off.
“Arian, I wasn’t thinking anything. And then y….. wait! Did you just say Natalia?” She breathed out.
Arian hesitantly nodded but Natalia’s face remained glued to the floor.
“As in the same person Tommy keeps blabbering about?” She asked. He nodded again.
“Oh my! Honey, I’m so grateful for what you did for my little boy! There’s no amount of gratitude I can show that’ld be enough. Thank you so much for caring for him.” Mom Rose breezed over in an instant.
Natalia slowly raised her head and smiled. “It’s no biggie, ma’am.”
Mom Rose appreciatively smiled back but it dropped the next second.
“Hey, you’re that girl from the picture my Arian li…”
“THANKS mom!” He quickly raised his voice and pulled her towards the door. “But if it won’t be much of a bother, please send the dress upstairs so she can change into it? Thanks!”
He slammed the door without waiting for a reply. Arian raked his hair in frustration. His mother and her loud mouth!
The Princess was confused. What picture?
“Whatever you heard, forget it! She’s just confused.” He turned around and avoided her eyes.
Natalia nodded, staring at him with clueless Bambi’s eyes.
The box came in a few minutes later. The new dress was an exact replica of the previous one! The only difference was their colors.
While the new one was the cream color, the old one was peach and had a silver waistline instead of a white one.
Natalia was touched. She warmly stared at Arian but he looked away immediately.
“Cream suits you better.” He simply shrugged and wore his shoes back.
The Princess flushed hotly, remembering that noon in the penthouse where they almost kissed.
“I’ll wait for you downstairs.” He stood up and picked one of his phones and jacket.
“Arian?” Natalia softly whispered as he was about to open the door. He paused and looked back.
“Thank you.” She mouthed. Her voice was as sincere as her heart was.
“Mhn.” Arian stared at the delicate girl in his bedroom before leaving…
.
.
Leaving to aggressively scold his mother!….
*****
After the beautiful video, Jeffrey Campbell and Nicky Winterfield took a walk around the quiet part of the garden. They stopped near a large water fountain and sat there.
The two talked about everything and Nicky tried to flow with each conversation, so Jeffrey wouldn’t feel bad again.
Yeah. They were both extreme softies.
Sighs.
“Between a dragon and unicorn, which would you prefer to have if possible?” He smiled. Nicky couldn’t stop herself from poking his head.
“None of them are real, silly! But I think I’ld go for a dragon.” She shrugged.
Jeffrey casually held her hand. Nicky tried to ignore the sparks.
“I was thinking you’ld go for a unicorn. Isn’t that what girls go for?” His smile was adorable. Nicky rolled her eyes.
“Not this girl. Dragons are more symbolic, like a show of strength and pride.”
The kind she needed right now. Nicky thought and sighed.
“Yeah, I think so too.” Jeffrey agreed and they lapsed into silence. After a while, Nicky inconspicuously looked down at their entwined hands, and nervously breathed out.
“Can I ask you something?” He suddenly asked.
“Sure, ask away.” She faced forward.
“Now that we’re cool… Can you now tell me why you were so harsh on me?” His voice was soft as he looked at her.
Nicky uncomfortably bit her lips.
“Um… I… it was just some phase I was going through.” She muttered the half truth.
Jeffrey nodded and faced forward. They lapsed into silence again.
“Jeff?” An elegant voice called and the duo looked over.
“Mom?” Jeffrey stood up, breaking their contact in the process.
Nicky was stunned staring at Mom Felicity. The Californian beauty came over.
“Am I interrupting or….” She thoughtfully stared between the both of them.
“No, you’re not.” Jeffrey gave a small smile… which didn’t really reach his heart.
.
.
A part of him didn’t like the intrusion.
.
.
“Okay. I have to go home now. Your dad just got back from his business trip and he’ll be…..”
“…. leaving soon again.” He completed for her and forced a smile.
Felicity lovingly looked at him with a second emotion hidden deeply in her eyes before kissing his head.
“She’s pretty.” She softly whispered in his ears. Jeffrey grinned sincerely this time.
Felicity pulled away, threw Nicky a wink then elegantly walked out.
“She’s gorgeous.” Nicky couldn’t stop gawking.
“Yeah, I know. Sorry for not introducing you.” His face fell.
“Hey, it’s cool. It’s not like were dating or something.” She tried to wave it off.
Jeffrey didn’t look away. He kept staring at her.
“Look! Nat’s out. Let’s go.” She stood up to escape his intense gaze. Unfortunately, Nicky tripped but Jeffrey caught her in time.
“Woah! Take it easy.” He chuckled at her flushed face…
******
Natalia and Arian walked over to where her friends stood, grateful for the change of cloth. The night had become rowdy and the crowd kept screaming their lungs out as a famous celebrity was performing.
“Nice look, cupcake.” Damon cooed out of nowhere, placing an arm around her shoulder.
Natalia had left her hair down, feeling too lazy to style it back up. She smiled in gratitude. The rest also smiled at her.
Well, what do you know?? Cream really suited her better!
Jeffrey and Nicky came over too, looking embarrassingly awkward…. If that made sense. They took several pictures together…. Selena’s handwork.
“Natalia!” Tommy’s bubbly voice screamed again. The princess turned with a smile waiting to lift him up.
But Tommy was running a little too fast and bumped into her with force. Natalia was about to fall but someone caught the both of them.
Before Tommy could giggle, that familiar fragrance which Natalia still had all over, hit her hard.
“Careful there, Tom!” Arian scolded against her ear and she unconsciously flinched.
Tommy smiled apologetically at Natalia before hugging her. She smiled back and held him tighter.
As she looked over his shoulders, she caught people standing in groups. They were talking and looking at her. Like a lot of them.
Natalia recognized some of them from school and wondered what she did this time. It wasn’t like she was making out with someone in public or… Something suddenly moved up her back slowly.
Then it struck. Arian still had his hand on her waist!
Natalia inched her neck to see him talking with Damon, ignorant of what he was doing. She nervously lowered her eyes and casually stepped away.
“Will you stay with me tonight?” Tommy murmured sleepily. He was tired from all the activities of the day.
“I wish I could, Tom. But I have to go home.” She gently touched his hair.
“But we’ll see each other often, right?”
“Yeah. I promise.” Natalia chuckled. Her second, repeated promise in one day.
Later, Elva said it was time to leave. Arian offered to take Tommy from Natalia because he was already asleep but she didn’t let him.
“It’ll wake him up. You can take me to his room and I’ll drop him in bed myself?”
After hanging out with kids from Astheria’s royal orphange, the Princess knew a few things about children too.
Arian nodded and guided her into the mansion. She ignored the stares and focused on the little Angel in her arms instead. Soon, the group walked into his cute, adorable room.
Tommy’s circular bed was wide enough for five kids. The decor was perfect for a kid’s room!
Arian pulled out the duvets and Natalia gently laid him down. She carefully took off his suit jacket while Arian removed his shoes. Then she moved his bow tie and loosened a few buttons on his fancy shirt.
Finally, Arian rolled the duvet back over him. Natalia didn’t want to leave but she had to. She felt connected to Tommy and she loved it.
When they got to the door, the young French switched off the lights. And immediately, a dim glow from the ceiling made the whole room look like the solar system!
It even showed the planets in the universe!
They met Mom Rose downstairs. Natalia felt she didn’t want her to leave. Her goodbye was too intense that Arian had to practically carry her out away from his own mother!
It was funny!
The rest of the weekend went by dryly and Monday arrived. Surprisingly, the Princess got ready for school early.
She smiled out the window as the car cruised out of the compound, feeling it was gonna be a good day!
.
.
.
If only she knew…
Chapter 37