Chapter 59

“Tell me again, from the beginning,” Jisoo said impatiently from the couch. She was occasionally clicking her tongue to relieve her impatience.

“I think I’ve told you enough. There’s nothing more to tell, Chu,” Jennie said dismissively in a seemingly forced bored tone. She had not so much as raise her head and paid Jisoo a glance, perhaps to emphasize that she was not in the mood for discussion.

But Jisoo knew better. She knew exactly that Jennie was intentionally not paying her the attention she was demanding. And so Jisoo stood up and transported herself swiftly in front of Jennie, who appeared to be busy reviewing and signing papers after papers on her table, with her brows knotted on her pretty forehead in concentration.

“Jendeuk, look at me,” Jisoo said after she settled herself on one of the cushioned chairs in front of Jennie’s desk.

But Jennie acted like she did not hear Jisoo at all. Instead, she buried her face on the folder she was currently dealing with and held it high enough to obscure her face from Jisoo’s scrutiny.

Jisoo impatiently knocked her knuckles on the surface of the polished table and was looking at Jennie with utmost anticipation.

“Hello?” Jisoo was peering through her spectacles.

“What?” Jennie asked, feigning innocence when she finally emerged from behind the dark folder, with the company logo emblazoned in bright gold on the front.

“Now you’re looking,” Jisoo remarked with a victorius smirk. “Tell me you did not skip any details,” she told Jennie, who in return, rolled her eyes dramatically and returned her attention to the papers instead of indulging Jisoo's nagging.

But after a moment, Jennie sighed and dropped her pen for a second or so, and said, “I did not skip any details. Now let me do my job or the boards will start breathing down my neck again,” and then picked up her pen once again and returned her attention to the papers.

Of course, she did skip some details when she told Jisoo what happened in the dawn of Saturday, back at Lisa’s place. Especially the part where she and Lisa had ended up in bed, because that part was too private and intimate for Jisoo to know.

She and Jisoo already had this conversation before, not just once. She called Jisoo the moment she arrived home Saturday morning, from Lisa's. They talked about it the whole day and until Sunday evening when Jisoo dropped by the mansion an hour past dinnertime and stayed until nine. And well, Jisoo wasn't the kind to just settle with what was given to her. Jisoo would dig deeper and she did exactly that to Jennie. Jisoo was asking the most unexpected questions, extracting the rawest and most honest answers from Jennie, only to analyze it passionately until she was satisfied with whatever conclusions she would arrive to and then she would start looking at the situation from another perspective and do same exhausting but  mind-stimulating process again. And here she was again today, in broad daylight and while Jennie was in the middle of reviewing and signing important papers.

But Jennie was not up to it anymore. Not today, at least. Jennie thought that retelling it again would only result to shredding herself into pieces once again. Jennie thought she had grown tired of it, of recalling what she and Lisa had talked about – and not talked about – and did and didn’t do, two days ago. She thought it would drain what’s left of her energy and sanity if she would start reliving again what transpired and did not transpire between them. Because it was a rollercoaster of emotions, she realized, that would only lead to one unequivocal conclusion – a depressing ending. One where she would never see Leo and Luca again and one where she had to say goodbye to Lisa, for good.

Jennie hated that part, most especially. She hated and regretted it at the same time. She just walked away after a kiss on the cheek. She just walked away when she could have stayed a little bit longer and maybe, just maybe, she and Lisa could’ve arrived at a better solution, a fair agreement. For whatever it’s worth. She'd be lying to herself if she'd say she did not, at one ppint or another, blame herself after that. Jennie released another sigh. One that did not escape Jisoo's attentiveness.

“You’re a bad liar. Do you know that?” Jisoo spoke after observing Jennie for a long moment.

“Keep reminding me,” Jennie said dully.

“And I’m good at finding out the truth,” said Jisoo.

“A talent that my mother admires and abhors at the same time,” Jennie said sardonically and yet with a hint of pride. Jisoo was an asset in her father's company and as well as the conglomerate.

“So, where do you think I can find Lisa today?” asked Jisoo with a dubious grin.

Jennie raised her brows and rolled her eyes.

"She’s ‘Her Highness’ now. And if you’re lucky, you can find her at the airport. I don’t know which airport, though. But I'm sure you can find it in no time. Anyway, it’s Monday. She said she’s leaving after three days," Jennie said and ultimately felt that pang in her chest while maintaining a straight face. But deep inside, she knew she was bleeding and she could literally feel it on her bones. Pain. There was no other way to define it.

The thought of Lisa leaving and them not seeing each other again was gripping the very heart of her heart. It was painful. So very painful and yet here she was, sitting behind her desk, reviewing and signing papers after papers, doing her job while maintaining a façade of lack of concern just so she would deny herself the oppprtunity to accomodate the pain. But her mind was elsewhere. And by elsewhere she meant Lisa, and the way they had made love for the last time. She could not imagine herself making love with someone else after that.

“And you’re not going to do anything about it?” Jisoo inquired, but with a tone that could be suggesting that Jennie should, in fact, do something about it.

“Like what?”

“Like anything stupid?”

“I think I already did. Going to her place on Fridays and living with her cats during the weekends to escape reality was stupid. I should’ve listened to you when you said it will only make things worse,” Jennie said.

“That certainly did not count,” Jisoo protested. “You did that before Lisa arrived. This right now is different. Besides, if you did not proceed there last Friday and you didn't stay long enough, then you and Lisa--,”

"Her Highness,” Jennie corrected, “And if I wasn’t there, then she wouldn’t have told me right in my face that she’d be taking the cats with her when she leaves, and I wouldn’t be devastated on my way home that morning and I definitely wouldn’t have to carry this feeling of infinite emptiness today. What's the point of having the whole place to myself like she generously wanted to compensate me but without those cats?"

"You have your dogs," Jisoo pointed out. "And please, don’t kid yourself, Ruby Jane. You have been feeling empty eversince you left Thailand four months ago. In fact, if you weren’t at her place last Friday, then you and Lisa –,”

“Her Highness,” Jennie interjected again.

“Fine. You and Her Highness wouldn't have the chance to talk – or whatever else that the two of you did – and then there wouldn’t be a little color on your face today. At least, you look less like a ghost today. Your mother has been raising her concerns about you looking as pale as a ghost..."

"That's a perfect way to describe me nowadays, isn't it? Did she also tell you that she's been subtly hinting that I should reconsider the idea of marriage in the future?" Jennie said.

"Will you?" asked Jisoo, looking genuinely curious.

"Will you?" Jennie retorted.

"This isn't about me." Jisoo looked affronted. "Anyway, do I really have to call Lisa that? Does it even count even in her absence?” she then asked.

“No and I don't know. But she specifically pointed that out that she should be called that. Or perhaps she did that on purpose, to intimidate me. And for the sake of argument that you clearly seek from me today, no, I do not regret any of it at all, Chu. But I think it was the last of it,” Jennie said with finality.

“Do you know what Lenny Kravitz said about love?” Jisoo asked with a hint of impatience.

Jennie raised a brow and preferred to keep her opinions to herself. She knew who Lenny Kravitz was. She admired him and his music. But Jisoo could ask the most bizarre questions and Jennie could only guess where it would lead her, if she'd ever pronounce her interest to the subject and so she chose silence.

“He said that it ain’t over until it’s over,” said Jisoo.

"And he's right. Because it's over, Chu," Jennie said with clarity, but looked as though she, too, was trying to convince herself that.

Jisoo slammed her hands on her knees, out of sheer frustration. "So, that's it? You're just going to sit here all day, reading all these papers," she said and snatched the folder that Jennie was currently dealing with and waved it in the air to emphasize her frustrations, "while knowing that today might be the last day that you and Lisa could still work things out?"

"Yes, I think I will do that exactly," said Jennie, snatching the folder back from Jisoo's hands and placed it above the other folders in front of her.

“The Ruby Jane I know doesn’t give up easily,” said Jisoo, now taking a different approach to the matter at hand.

“I did not give up. I am simply sticking to what I think is right," Jennie said defensively.

Jisoo sniggered. “If that’s how you’re trying to delude yourself, fine. Go ahead. But as your most loyal and most trusted friend, I strongly cannot support you while you torment yourself. I won’t just stand aside and watch while you fool yourself into believing that your definition of right is actually right for you. Because it's not right if it's breaking you. And I'd fly to Thailand if I have to and talk some sense to that equally stubborn amd egotistical royal. God! Both of you are driving me crazy."

"Apparently, that doesn’t apply to everyone. And you cannot just walk straight to that colossal of a palace and knock on her doorstep. There's always protocols to follow, which she really hates but which she's finally accepted, I think," Jennie said and tried to return her focus on the papers, which she knew was futile, anyway.

"Apparently, it does," Jisoo said stubbornly. "And who says I'm going to just barge in there? I'd ask for Chaeng's help. It would be easier."

“There's more to life than saving our hearts from breaking, Chu. And I doubt that Chaeng will help you as she, herself, have never been there. She told me,” Jennie pointed out.

“Like what?” Jisoo raised her brows in frustrations.

"What do you mean like what?" Jennie asked, looking confused.

"I mean like what are the more important things than saving your heart from breaking?"

“Like love, but in another form,” Jennie replied.

"You mean like loyalty to the conglomerate," said Jisoo dryly.

"You're saying it like you're not part of it. Besides, it's not just about me. Lisa should be loyal to the crown, as well. Anyway, don’t they supposed to work together? Love and loyalty?” Jennie argued.

“Not if you love the other while pledging your loyalty to the other. It sounds like cheating to me," Jisoo retaliated.

Jennie sighed in resignation. She was too tired to argue with Jisoo, she realized. “Look, I know you want me to be happy, Chu, and I love you for that. But there's nothing I can do about it anymore. And so does Lisa. I think it would be less painful if we both will just learn to accept that it's over. We're done," said Jennie and felt that sudden blow in her chest again. The truth was painful and a bitter pill to swallow. And it would definitely take her a long time to actually swallow it and not feel that blow in her chest anymore.

“Your Highness,” Jisoo corrected.

Jennie rolled her eyes and then buried her face once again over the stack of folders that required her comprehensive attention, while feeling her heart sinking lower and lower and exploding in shards tinier and sharper than ever before. None of the words that she'd been reading had made an impression on her, however. None of it made sense because she could not think straight anymore.

The pain she was feeling at the moment was too big and too heavy that everything became like a haze. Waking up that morning and realizing that Lisa was leaving today and not coming back, was a haze and she did not realize that until she walked apst the revolving door and everyone paused greeted her and all she could hear was their muffled voices that seemed to echo from a distant unfamiliar place. Having breakfast with her mom in the dining room and her mom talking to her endlessly about stuff that she couldn't even recall now was a haze. Manager Young might have told her something on their way to the office and she might have said something but it, too, was a haze. Jennie now wondered if this was how it would feel like when walking straight to death. Because it might sound a little exaggerated, but she could feel her heart literally dying, little by little.

No, she did not believe every words she told Jisoo. Nor would she ever convince herself to. But what else would she say without sounding so pathetic? Did she have to tell Jisoo now that she regretted all the decisions she had made in the last four months? Because she had been doing exactly that, ever since, and it only made her feel more miserable than ever everytime she would think about it. How far would she have to do that to herself, Jennie didn't want to know. But the way Lisa was talking to her about taking the cats away and selling the apartment was a clear indication that Lisa, too, was already set to move forward in life and that, she, Jennie, had to accept that -- painful and hard as it may seem. Afterall, it was her that had brought this doom to both of them.

Jisoo had finally given up and was now back on the couch. She would, however, throw occasional furtive looks at Jennie, which Jennie would deflect by pretending that she did not notice.

"You can look at me like that all day but my decision is firm, Jisoo Kim," Jennie said finally, after she caught Jisoo for the fifth time.

"Mine, too. Which means that I will not sit idly and just listen to your lamenting sighs and watch you screw your face in absolute pain and pretend that it's not happening. It's infuriating that you have to go through all this. I am furious," Jisoo replied.

"You're sitting idly right now," Jennie quipped.

"That's because I'm thinking," Jisoo retorted and paused when they heard a knock the door.

Manager Young then admitted himself in and greeted both Kims with a curt bow. He looked flabbergasted and seemed as though he had been running on his way to Jennie’s office, the way his face was flushing magenta and how he was catching his breath a little.

“What is it?” Jennie asked, bewildered.

Manager Young was known for his composure. So with him looking like he had been chased by the devils while presenting himself to Jennie could only mean one thing. He was about to deliver a bad news.

Jisoo, meanwhile, looked as bewildered as Jennie. 'Did someone die?' was the first thought that came to her mind. Jisoo heard there was an ailing member of the board. It had to be him. Right?

“I apologize for the sudden intrusion, Miss Kim, Lady Kim. But I think you have to see this, ma’am,” Manager Young said and he walked across the office with his long strides. He picked up the remote control of the television above the bureau where Jennie left it lying.

The wide screen immediately came to life. Manager Young scanned a few channels, his face distorted in utmost concentration, until he finally found what he was looking for. It was a news channel, where a live coverage was currently on air and where Lisa's face was shown in focus.

“...and against the institution, itself..." Lisa spoke with clarity while her exquisite face was assaulted incessantly with the excited flashes of the camera bulbs.

"What is she doing?" Jisoo asked. She left the couch like in a trance and walked straight towards where the TV set was installed and stood in front of it, never wanting to miss a word.

Jennie, on the other hand, remained glued on her seat behind her desk, dropping everything that occupied her, including her thoughts, and directed all her senses towards the television screen. Her heart was pounding loud and fast inside her chest as it ached for the woman in the television screen, while sharing Jisoo's concern. What was Lisa doing in front of the press?

....

"Are you sure about this?"

She heard the same question at least ten times this morning today and most of them was from Chaeng.

First, was when the lady captain, Pakpao, went to get the door when Chaeng rang early in the morning. She brought them breakfast and a promise to help them pack and organize her things before she would bring them to the airport later in the afternoon. Chaeng asked if she was sure about it, but did not entirely specify what 'it' was it, with a look on her face that looked as though Chaeng, herself, wasn't entirely sure what she was asking her about. But Pranpriya nodded, anyway.

The second one was when Chaeng paused for a moment and asked, while they were on the course of organizing her things (throwing the unnecessary stuff that she knew were of no use to her in the palace in one box and the other stuff they needed filtering still and so they grouped it according to its level of importance) and asked her if she was sure about what she had thrown carelessly on the box, while looking harrassed by the amounting number of stuff that Pranpriya had tossed aside unceremoniously.

The third, and that made a huge impact to her, so that when Chaeng had spoken it with conviction and as though Chaeng had thought of her as a fool (although, Chaeng had never really pointed that one out to her, exactly) when Chaeng sort of just ditched the organizing and packing and raised her arms above her head and then dropped it unsophisticatedly as if telling that she had enough of it and she didn't want any of it anymore, and said "Are you sure about this?" with a look on her face that said she really wanted to know if Pranpriya was sure about it. All of it.

"No," Pranpriya heard herself said after a moment of consideration, while looking around at all the mess they had created that seemed endless, even though they were only doing the last minute organizing, before they would head to the airport.

"And?" Chaeng impatiently asked her, while peering at her with the same harrassed look. But this time, Pranpriya knew it was intended for something else other than the amounting number of trinkets and papers and books she thought she won't be bringing along in the palace.

"And we continue," said Pranpriya, even though she knew that it was not what she really intended to say, and picked an old magazine about photography that she remembered she had bought inside a small bookshop in one of those sleepy towns somewhere in Northern Europe some years ago.

"This is ridiculous. Jennie did things for you. Isn't it time that you should do things for her, too?"

It was one of those few but monumental moments in the course of their years of friendship that Pranpriya knew and understood that Chaeyoung Park was completely combusting with too much emotions that she, Pranpriya, and even the lady captain, paused and took it all in -- the glares, the desperation, the frustration and the anger that all of it and some more were seeping out of Chaeng's body and felt it ricocheted all over the place. Bouncing from walls to walls and then hit them, all of three of them, and even the cats who had stopped from chasing each other to assess the situation before them, right in the face. Because what Chaeng said was the truth. And with it came with a plea, a desperation. That she, Pranpriya, should do something about it because then it would be too late.

"It's too late now, Chipmunk," Pranpriya said, with a sigh that she deliberately hid from Chaeng because it was an admission of guilt. That Chaeng was right. That she did nothing significant other that brandished her title on Jennie's face and acted like the brat that she knew she was. Her sigh was an admission that she did more harm than good whem she showed up in the middle of the night and added more salt to Jennie's wounds when she told her she would be taking the cats with her and would give Jennie the apartment, as if Jennie Kim was a homeless charity case.

Stupid.

"You're an idiot," Chaeng responded with so much conviction that she might as well have said it louder than necessary to emphasize that she meant every syllable. Something that shocked the lady captain down to her core.

"I hardly think that's necessary to call Her Highness that, Miss Park," Captain Pakpao warned and carelessly dropped the frames she was cradling in her hands few seconds ago. She looked offended and ready to pounce if given the signal.

But Her Highness only threw her a glance and it was all it took for the royal guard to step away and calm down amd resumed the organizing. Something that only earned an unimpressed scoff from Chaeng. She had never forgiven the royal guard from her dereliction of her duty that night when some stupid hired detective took Pranpriya and Jennie's photo on the Banpo bridge. It was, of course, already explained to her why there was no royal guard prowling the perimeters that night, nor was there a royal guard hunting the invader of that private moment. But Chaeng was Chaeng and she could be unforgiving if she wanted it.

"There's nothing I can do about it. She already accepted and decided her fate as well as I, Chaeng," Pranpriya said.

"You'd think it was something that she did so easily," Chaeng responded with a scoff and dropped another trinket in the box.

"We've already had this conversation before, Chipmunk. It's not easy for both Jennie and I--,"

"And yet here you are tossing your stuff unceremoniously as though all of these don't mean anything to you at some point in your life," Chaeng said angrily.

"I don't want to be sentimental," Pranpriya responded.

"Not anymore, no. You used to, though. That's why you keep hoarding all these magazines and books that you hardly even read and bought all these trinkets that you collected over the years. Now you just want to throw them all away like they're complete waste. How easy is this for you, Lisa? Tell me honestly," said Chaeng, now with her hands on her hips and looking livid.

"Nothing is easy..."

"Except when you let your ego gets on the way."

"It's not my pride that's getting in the way, Chipmunk! You know that," said Pranpriya, now equally livid as Chaeng. Her patience was growing thin. But she wasn't sure if it was because of Chaeng or herself and the way she thought, despite trying to deny it, that Chaeng was right. That she was an idiot.

"It doesn't change the fact you didn't do anything to stop her. Or win her back. Or at least make her feel like you don't want to lose her. You only made her feel like an idiot, Lisa. That's the truth," Chaeng said, now looking flustered and returned to organizing the rest of the stuff before her in complete silence, with her brows meeting in the middle and her lips pursed so tightly.

It was the first time that they had fought over about a person. It was amusing in a way because some people would fight over one person whom both wanted for themselves, while there they were, fighting over Jennie Kim whom, she, Pranpriya, wanted so much it was painful, while Chaeng was fighting for Jennie, period.

Pranpriya thought it was the reward that Jennie have gained and rightfully deserved after all the courage she had shown -- the amount of respect and compassion that Chaeng had reserved for Jennie now -- and the price that she, Pranpriya, had to pay for being an idiot.

"I don't know what to do," Pranpriya admitted after a long stretch of silence.

"You're lying. You know what to do. You just don't want to act on it. What are you afraid of? You were never afraid of anything, Lisa," Chaeng said, still looking crossed.

"Captain?" Pranpriya turned to her main guard.

"Chat, Satsana, Phra Maha Kasat, Your Highness," Captain Pakpao said. "Nation, Religions--,"

"King," Pranpriya provided the rest and sighed. She looked at Chaeng, who was also looking at her and thought that her own emotions were mirrored in Chaeng's eyes and she hated it. She hated that there was nothing she could do to eliminate it, to get out of it.

"I assure you that you will have loyalty, ma'am. And with that comes my full support for whatever you deem fit to do, Your Highness," the lady captain said.

"Thank you, Captain," said Pranpriya and turned to Chaeng. "Is Alice in the firm today?" she asked.

The rest of the "Are you sure about this?" came and thrown nervously at her while they were on the road. Pranpriya thought it was ridiculous how she thought not just once that Chaeng might have had numbered it with accurate timing, which was every ten minutes or so. And which then started to tire her ears so that on the seventh time, Pranpriya asked politely if Chaeng could stop it now because yes, she was sure about it and asking her if she was, over and over again won't make a difference now. Because it was now or never, wasn't it? It was either she would asked Chaeng to take her back to her place and on to the airport or proceed to her plan.

Her plan was to get to Alice. And Alice agreed with no qualms or apprehensions in her voice when she said, "Come over as soon as you can. I'll have it ready for you in no time," over the phone when Pranpriya called her. So that when they reached the firm and went straight to Alice's office, Mrs Nam made no surprise remarks to see Chaeng nor Lisa. Her words to them were precise and crisp, when they greeted her: "They're waiting for you."

And by 'they' Mrs Nam meant Alice and the small group of reporters that Alice was able to gather on short notice, who was waiting for them to arrive inside the smaller press hall on the same floor.

"Are you sure about this?" was Alice's words for her as soon as Pranpriya stepped inside the press hall and the lights from the cameras and poles immediately turned the hall brighter.

"Are you?" Pranpriya returned the question after seeing the anxious look on Alice's face.

"I haven't told Dad about this," Alice told Pranpriya and Chaeng. "That's what I'm worried about. Although I know for sure he wouldn't mind. But other than that, yes. I'm sure. So, are you?" she asked the Thai again.

"I can't think of any other way, to be honest. I don't think I can just walk in and barge in her office, can I?" Pranpriya said and laughed nervously.

Alice shoot her brows upwards and chuckled. "Rosie did," she said and eyed her sister teasingly.

"It was different," Chaeng said and shrugged.

"Yes, it was. You went there to murder Jennie Kim," replied Alice.

"That was the initial plan, actually. Good thing I didn't. Because I don't think that you deserved that sacrifice from me," she told Pranpriya.

"You don't mean that, do you?" Pranpriya asked.

"Excuse me, Your Highness?" Captain Pakpao interrupted them. "They're ready for you, ma'am," she told the Princess after her conversation with the reporters and cameramen and made sure that none of the Princess' rights would be violated.

"Are you sure about this?" Chaeng asked, now looking more anxious. She was chewing the tip of her thumb.

Pranpriya breathed in. Long and deep. Was she sure about this? Her mind suddenly wandered in the quiet hallways of the grand palace. Of the tall pillars that stood alongside the long centuries of their reign. Of the coffered ceilings and the canvasses of old monarchs hanging along the wall, looking down at her with those eyes that bore a semblance with hers. Of the old kings and queens and their blood that ran deep in her own veins, embedded in her own flesh, carved deeply in her heart. She was a monarch through and through. And yet, here she was, about to do something that would practically defy all protocols.

Was she really sure about this?

Pranpriya was reminded of the silence that would usually envelope her and the King during their nightly prowl in the temple or inside the library whete she was ask to read a passage from a history book or from a journal of the former monarchs that lived before them. She was suddenly reminded of the comfort and intimidation it would bring her every time and how she was reminded constantly and continously of who she was and who she could become if she would just embrace it fully and realized that she might, yetagain, disappoint His Majesty.

Was she really sure about it? About all of it? She asked herself while looking at the anxious face of Chaeng, peering at her, waiting for her answer. And there, in Chaeng's eyes she saw the confidence that only Chaeng could give her. Like an unspoken pledge that no matter how much she would fuck up after today, Chaeng would be there for her. All the way.

Pranpriya wanted to laugh at herself, at how ridiculous she thought she was and at how right Chaeng was all this time. She was, indeed, an idiot and she did not deserve Chaeng at all. And Jennie, too. But was she sure about this? Pranpriya asked herself again while her eyes travelled and lingered for a second or two on each of the faces of the reporters and cameramen waiting for her, looking at her and then looked away when they saw her looking at them.

"Lisa?" Alice called gently. "It's okay if you back out. I can just send them away if you want. They won't alk about this outside this room, I made them swear earlier," Alice said as she put her hand on Pranpriya's shoulder, as if telling her that she wasn't alone and that it was okay, whatever it was that was holding her back from doing what she intended to do.

Her Highness shook her head and said, "No. I'll do it. Thank you so much, Alice, for doing this. I owe you."

"You owe me a drink, Princess," Alice replied with a chuckle and hugged Pranpriya.

"We really should do that later," Pranpriya replied and went on to embrace Chaeng. "You are the most beautiful and the most loyal and the most precious in the world and I cannot thank you enough. I hope you know that, Chipmunk. I owe you big time," she told Chaeyoung Park.

"And you are the most annoying and the most stubborn, Shutterbug. And I love you for that. Now go," said Chaeng with a big encouraging smile plastered on her lips.

Captain Pakpao was waiting for her beside the dais, where she was supposed to stand to deliver her statement. In front of it was the anticipating press who fell silent all at the same time the moment she step on the dais and stood in front of them and one of them even gasped so shamelessly when Pranpriya's eyes fell on her for a second.

"Ready, ma'am?" one of the reporters, the most senior-looking of the group, asked her politely when they saw her walking towards the podium. Of course, Captain Pakpao had already brief them about her. They knew who she was and in that moment, they all understood that she was someone whose mere presence would demand attention.

Pranpriya nodded and managed to smile, but only a little. She wasn't nervous, no. She was, however, preparing her words inside her head. She hadn't thought of writing a draft and she was regretting it now. A draft would come in handy in situations like this.

The reporter raised his three fingers above his head and said, "In three, two, one..."

Pranpriya smiled again, this time it was brighter, before she bent half of her body forward and greeted them with a deep bow and then stood straight before them.

"Good afternoon. My name is Princess Pranpriya Manoban and I am here to talk about a few matters," Pranpriya started.

Chaeng gripped Alice's arm tightly on the sideline.

"What do you think she will tell them?" Alice whispered.

"I'm not sure. But I hope Jennie is watching right now," Chaeng replied.

"...has been dragged carelessly, I should say, in the news concerning about a dating issue that involved Miss Jennie Kim of the Kim Group of Companies," Pranpriya continued. "While I know and understand that Miss Jennie Kim is a public figure of this country and therefore would be subjected to the scrutiny of the public and the spotlight, I myself, however, would have wanted to remain a private individual, regardless of my being a member of one of the oldest monarchy in the world. And as a member of the royal court, it pains me to read and watch the news of the slanders thrown against the royal family and against the institution, itself, since the dating rumors have started and proliferated."

"She looks mad," Alice commented.

"She's been angry ever since the article was released," said Chaeng.

"In the essence of honesty and moral obligation, I stand here today to uphold the integrity of the kingdom and the royal family. Hence, I will now clarify a few matters that I deem significant regarding the said issue.

"Number one: It is true that I have long been a residence of this country. And it is true that I was living under a different name during the years of my stay here, to lead and sustain a private life away from the protection of the monarchy and away from the spotlight that it entails.

"Number two: It was me that was photographed with Miss Jennie Kim, both in Hangang Park and outside Miss Irene Kim's 'Welcome Home' party in Gwangjin. Both were done against my and Miss Kim's consent and I strongly abhor such a reprehensible attack to both our privacy.

"Number three: Miss Jennie Kim and I had been seeing each other exclusively prior to the dating rumor. She was, however, not aware of my being of royal blood nor was she aware that I was hiding behind a false name during that period. And nor was I aware that she is Jennie Kim of the Kim Group during the few months since our first meeting. I am, however, aware that Miss Jennie Kim had released a different statement four months ago and I am holding myself accountable for all of it..."

"She's grown up a lot, hasn't she?" Alice said while looking at Pranpriya proudly, as though she was looking at her for the first time. "Why are you crying?" she asked Chaeng.

"I'm just so proud of her," Chaeng replied while wiping the tears on her cheeks with the back of her hand. "But she's still an idiot..."

"Miss Kim did that to protect me and the kingdom and I am, and in behalf of the members of the royal court and the royal family, grateful and in debt to Miss Kim's generosity," said Pranpriya.

"Nini? I can still remember clearly when you told me that the Kims pay gratitude, tenfold. I hope you will forgive me for not realizing it sooner. ผมรักคุณ. เจอกันเมื่อถึงเวลาที่เหมาะกับเรา.

"Thank you," said Pranpriya and ended her speech with a wai.

....

Minutes had already passed and gone and wasted. Pranpriya's press conference had been concluded. Manager Young had already switched the TV off and left, and the silence that followed it inside Jennie's office was still so immaculate that none of them wanted to ruin it for everyone, until Jisoo had finally found her ways to articulate her words once again.

"What was that?" Jisoo spoke every syllable with emphasis and turned to Jennie who was still sitting behind her desk and looking as dumbfounded as Jisoo was.

"What was that? What did she say? I mean the last part -- what does that mean?" Jisoo asked.

Jennie knew exactly what it was. Pranpriya had taught her basic Thai phrases when she was still Lisa and they would hang out in Lisa's place in Hongdae. But she couldn't muster the courage to translate it for Jisoo. Jennie thought that Pranpriya had spoken it only for her, like a secret message on a love note that she has to decode. Only that it wasn't a code. It was a promise, spoken beautifully in the language that Pranpriya spoke so eloquently. Of course, Pranpriya's people could very well understand it and everyone who was interested enough would find a way to translate it.

"When the time is right," Jennie muttered to herself and smiled.

"Of course you understand it and you won't share it with me," said Jisoo, shaking her head but taking no offense. It was enough for her to hear the Thai spoke the truth and lifting half of the burdens from Jennie. And it was more than enough for her to see Jennie smiling like that.

"That Thai is really something," Jisoo said at the same time that her phone pinged.

"Lisa will be leaving tonight. IIA, 11 PM."

It was from Chaeng.