XXIX

XXIX

It was still dawn when half of my consciousness turned into life. The darkness of the sky, which could be seen from my window, mixed with small lightness of the day. I closed my eyes again.

I felt arms around me. Yester night's event just assembled in my memory again. I bit my lower lip to stop myself from smiling, but I could not help it, so I covered my mouth with my palm.

I could not still believe that I slept with a prince. Okay, to make things clear, we had the normal sleep. Side by side with our clothes on (I was still wearing my red dress for those who had doubts). Oh I almost forgot that the prince was in his boxer shorts. Actually, his arms wrapped around me since I drifted into a dream. That was it. No more additional activities.

"Are you already awake?" that voice was even hotter if it was lower.

You could tell me that I was crazy now. I smiled, vanishing all the sanities I had. I faced him, not minding my morning messy face and hair. I opened my lids to meet his glorious green eyes. He was watching me, adoring every cell of my body.

"I'm still sleepy," I pressed my body to him, removing the gaps of our chests. I encircled my arms around him that made me feel the warmness, softness and even the toughness of his skin. It also sent a shiver down my spine, although he owned all the hotness in the world that I could fry bacon through him.

Looking up at him, he said, "Sleep, young lady, you look adorable when you're sleeping."

"You're watching me sleeping?" he nodded on my question, I raised my eyebrow, "So I am only adorable if I'm sleeping. That's nice of you, Your Highness, thank you for your compliment." I stated the last words in full of sarcasm.

He chuckled and hugged me tighter, "What's wrong of being adorable when sleeping? But, I like it more when those blue eyes are glaring at me."

I slapped his chest. I intended to do that to have an excuse of touching it. "You love to tease me," an excellent idea went to my brain and there was a bulb turned on beside my head, "But I will like it if I'm the one who will tease you."

I smacked my lips on his, and forced him to move along with my mouth. If the world would end later, I still could not imagine that my tongue was the one who entered his mouth. I tasted mint. He tried to be the dominant, but I did not let him. I went on top of him, straddling his body. My hands locked on his hair, having no knowledge when I did do that.

His hands just stayed on my hips, but his grips were obviously harder once my lips traveled down his neck. I was really not on my mind. I was in the other's body. Or another person controlled me. I did not know how I managed to suck his neck and left a mark on it.

He cursed, "Oh my goodness, Shirley, what did you do?"

I laughed. Placing my both hands on either side of his head, resting it on the pillow. "It will be good if other women will see this while they remove your clothes." I looked at my masterpiece. A red mark in the depth between his neck and collarbone.

"I told you that I will never sleep again with those women," he protested.

I inclined closer, giving our lips a safe distance, "We can't be sure that you will hold your words when you're not with me. Only beware sign will fly them away."

"I like the logic, babe," he emphasized his endearment to irritate me. However, it did not work. "But, I should also mark what is mine."

He smirked and all I knew was, he sat up to meet me and buried his face in my neck. I screamed and laughed at the same time. I slapped his broad shoulders but I was too weak to hurt him. I felt his warm breathe under my jaw, as he sipped my sensitive skin, like a vampire who was hungry for blood.

He pushed me to lie down, probably to have more access to me, but I had not given up myself yet. I fought for the position, as a result, we rolled over on the bed until we fell down on the floor. Prince Alexander's back first before me on top of him.

"Ow," if I did not know that the floor was carpeted, I would think that he was hurt. Maybe, he was hurt a little.

"I'm sorry," I apologized immediately, and preparing myself to stand up but he held my wrist. As a result, I was sitting on his stomach. How awkward our position? Only dictionary could describe it.

"Shirley," he cupped my face. I tilted my head for my lips to meet his warm palm.

However, there were continued knocking on the door. We looked at each other in panic. What if someone would see us in the same room? It would not be good because he was still my boss and the prince of England after all. It would be a great scandal if ever. In addition, I had not yet gotten my first salary. I needed to have it first and give to my family before I entered in controversial.

I managed to come out with the fast best idea I could ever think at this moment.

"That door will lead you to your office," I whispered while pointing the connecting door of my room to his office, "Go there as fast as you can while I distract whoever is at the door."

He did not complain. My feet were already on the ground, and stepping to my main door, when I noticed Prince Alexander was only sitting in that same spot while watching me. I looked at him again, shrugged and pointed at the door, then continued walking.

I opened the door, enough space to only see a small area of the room. I saw a man, same height with me, looked alarmed as if adrenaline rush had eaten him. I blocked the small gap between my door and the door frame.

I narrowed my eyes, as if he interrupted my sleep, "Hey, what's wrong with you? Knocking at my door in the middle of night is a bad idea," I faked a yawn, "If I encoded a wrong number tomorrow, I will tell the Prince that it is your fault."

His expression never changed. "I heard a commotion here."

I did not respond in the next few seconds, but I acted naturally. I hoped he did not notice it. "Commotion? I'm just sleeping, how come..." as if remembering something, "Oh, I fell hard on the ground that's why I screamed."

"You sure?" he gave me a disbelieving look, "I heard a man's voice,"

I yawned again, but it was real now, "I think, you're only tired that you imagine hearing non-existent things. There is no man here, how come you will hear a man's voice?" he blinked, and I thought he realized he was wrong even though he was right, "I'm safe, you see. Please, take a rest. If you don't want, I need to rest."

He was not fully listening to me because his eyes were on somewhere on my room's floor that could be easily seen in his vantage point. "No man? But, there is a shoe there." He pointed between my legs, and I followed the trail of his stares.

At the back on my feet, there was a black leather shoe resting on the floor. I had no idea how Prince Alexander's shoe ended up there. I got it as fast as I could and looked at the guard again.

"Oh this," I faintly laughed, "This is my gift to my father." I hoped he believed that.

"It looks like a shoe of His Majesty," he said suspiciously.

"Of course it is," I admitted with a lie, "I bought a pair for my father because he really revered King Gregory. At least, with this, I will make him happy." To make it more believable, I looked at the shoe as though it was a cute puppy. Sorry dad.

This guard really annoyed me. He just put his arms on his chest, and examined me, "Really? What is that..." he pointed his own neck, "...no man inside the room, but there is a kiss mark in the middle of the night."

If only I could curse, I would already curse a lot. Without any more thinking, I told him, "So what? My boyfriend gave me this last night. So you better go now, or I'll tell my boy... I mean, His Highness that you're interfering in the life of his employee."

"Okay," I closed the door on his face in annoyance.

I also kicked the door. I turned to come back on my bed because I felt sleepy again when my jaw dropped on the core of the earth.

Prince Alexander was lying on his back while my eyes roamed all over his body. I did not know how this prince managed to build his body despite of his hectic schedule. His chest was too perfect to be real, don't forget to include his six or eight pack abs. I lost my ability to count because of my dark fantasy with him.

A smirk stretched on his gorgeous-even-it-was-only-near-morning-face, and tapped the space of the bed on his side. "Come here, you need to rest, right?"

"You didn't leave," I freaked out, "What if that annoying guard come here and inspect?"

"A guard?" he frowned, "Do you forget who I am?"

"Oh my gosh," I sighed, and continued to walk on my bed while saying, "It's not a problem for you if he saw you here. But for me, it is not a good matter."

I was already standing beside my bed when he chuckled, "Why? Are you embarrassed that you're in the same room with me that they might think we did something I like?"

I blushed when I remembered that we almost did that last night. "Shut up."

He pulled me down, crashing my face on his wall-like chest. He brushed my dark brown wavy hair with his hand, and kissed my head. "I like all you said to the guard," he was either kissing my head again or smelling my hair, "I will miss you. I can't wait to see you after two weeks."

-----

"Nice dress," Katherine teased me as we sat in the middle of the full-loaded employee dining hall. It was always the scenario here during the lunch break or even during dinner since last week. It was too cold to go outside, that was why many of us chose to eat here.

I glared at her while chewing my vegetable salad. "Too bad for a joke, Kath," I said.

I was wearing a cream long sleeve dress with a turtleneck to cover the kissed mark made by Prince Alexander. It was bigger and redder than I expected, so I could not cover it with random makeup or whatsoever.

Again, for like a thousandth time only for this morning, all the happenings last night and early this morning crossed my mind repeatedly. It was more real now because of my clearer mind than earlier. However, I thought I was going to regret what I had done. I expected the opposite.

I was happy that I kissed him. Touched him. Marked him.

Whatever I did was because I liked it. Not because I was influenced or carried away or whatever you called it in your own language. I liked to be around him. To see him every night I slept and every morning I woke up. To meet him in the hallway and be with him all the time.

But this was impossible to happen at this moment for the reason he was not here. Before I woke up, he already left for his foreign country events. I would see him again after two weeks.

Even though he was not here, he left a letter for me. The letter was written on the crumpled paper, and still composed of beautiful strokes of alphabets:

My dearest Shirley,

You're my sky.

The light of my darkness.

Thank you for letting me enter your life.

I promise that what happened last night will happen again sooner.

And forever.

Love, AJPL

P.S. I'm happy that you keep my med result in your coat.

Glad you read it.

I realized that his letter was written in his medical result. The one he gave to me last time just to prove that he had no disease. How did he know that it was still in the pocket of my coat? And he was glad that I read it. Of course, I was glad that he had no disease, although he had a lot of short term with benefits relationship.

And those words gave me difficulty to breath and coronary heart disease. Sky. Light. Forever. I heard this from him, but it was different when you had an evidence that he had it in his mind. He wrote it for me not to forget that he said it. Then, the word "love" before his name was the real magic of his letter.

And it reminded me that I needed to respond. For others, it was easy to say it back. To tell him that they loved him. However for me, it was not. I wanted to make sure that I would not hurt him. I did not want to break his heart. I wanted to make this feeling to be certain even though in a very short time.

Many believed in love at first sight, but I was not believing it. You would never love someone who you just met. I believed more in love conquers all things. In love, if you knew each other for less than a week and you felt that spark, it was not a problem. Time was never difficult. People around you was not hindrance. Long distance was nothing. The world you had lived in was just a small thing when it came to love. Love conquers everything.

These things were sweet if this feeling I felt was really the so-called 'love'.

"Are you having a hard time?" Katherine asked curiously, and I looked at her, "You're not in yourself today." She shrugged, "Missing someone?"

My heart sunk at her question. It was only this morning when he left. So, that was impossible. "No," I smiled, "What are saying? I'm just...tired."

"Oh I see, I nearly forget that you attended the Warden's wedding," she excitedly said, "How's the wedding? Okay, I know that it is indescribable because Isaac Warden is an awesome hot man who marry a very young girl. No one is not knowledgeable how rich the Warden are. I'm so eager to see their wedding in the magazine! You're so lucky, Shirley, that the Princess invited you."

I chuckled and said, "The wedding is nice."

"Nice?" her narrowed eyes became two big circles, "You just said nice? Oh my gosh, Shirley, that is the most understatement I heard in my entire life." Her voice echoed in every wall of the dining area.

"Keep your voice down, Kath," I muttered, "It's hard to explain, but the wedding is not the usual wedding you can see on TV."

"I know," she sighed, "That Ella girl is really fortunate. As what I heard around, Lady Sarah was married secretly. It was still secret until she gave birth to their son and died. That was the time, people learned about their wedding."

I raised my eyebrow, "Who is Lady Sarah?"

"Lady Sarah. Ex-wife of Isaac Warden, the mother of...who's that kid?"

"Eleazar," she nodded in agreement. I leaned forward with curiosity building in my brain, "You said Lady Sarah. Is she...?"

She had not finished my question because she already knew what it was. "Yes, she was royal blood, direct descendant of a duke. I'm not a historian, you know. I'm more in love with gossip." She laughed a little as if she heard an inside joke. "Anyway, that's why Ela..."

"Eleazar," I filled in again.

"Yeah, Eleazar is, hence, a royal blood," she looked around her and leaned forward also. She whispered, "Do you believe that she died because of child birth?"

I lowered my tone, "What are you talking about?"

She put her forefinger on her lips before telling me, "This is only secret. Don't talk about it, especially, when you're around with the royal family." I was confused, but still moved my head up and down. "There is a speculation that Lady Sarah did not die because of giving birth to her child."

I wrinkled my forehead, "How did she die?"

"She was killed by someone," she almost breathed the last word that I closely missed it, "She is married to Isaac Warden who is already a billionaire that time. How come that he did not give all his money just to save his wife?"

"So, you're saying that..."

"No," she immediately corrected what was in my mind, "For sure, Isaac Warden won't kill his wife. Someone more powerful was behind it," she looked over her shoulder to see if someone was listening to us. She returned her gaze to me, "Look, no one remained in the family line of Lady Sarah besides to her child. All of them died, in just a short period of time. During a few years. She was married to the owner of the biggest security company in the world. To make her safe from the enemy."

"Who would kill them?" even though, I did not know who they were, I felt sympathy to their family. "You said that she was a direct descendant of a duke. Why did someone kill them?"

"There is still no answer why they all died or killed," Katherine showed pity on her face, "I wonder if they will let Eleazar Warden live although he has the blood of that family line."

I remembered the teenager who walked in the aisle and confessed to his lover. He was handsome and he looked kind. However, he was rejected. And I was thinking if that girl knew the dark past of the boy. It was weird that we were strangers to each other, but I wanted to tell him that it was okay. Everything would be fine. And, his father would take care of him. Poor boy.

"You know them?" I blinked, "The killer, I mean."

She hesitated. I did not know if she would say it to me, or it was better she had not told me her next words, "They said that they were killed by King Henry."

I was shocked for a moment. I did not know what my reaction should be. King Henry was known to be a good king. His funeral when he died several years ago, was full of his good memories as a servant king. The tagline 'the king of people' was pasted to his name. How come he would kill someone? Why?

"Kath, it is only a rumor, right?" I asked for an assurance but her face was still blank. I added, "Not all rumors are true. Some were only made to degrade the other people's dignity. Especially, those who are good leaders."

"Shirley, listen to me," she calmly stated, "We're not here to judge them. Rumor or not, you can't erase the fact that during those few years when the family line of Lady Sarah died, Queen Eva was found dead inside her room. I know you're not new from the rumor that Queen Eva was poisoned."

Queen Eva, Prince Alexander's grandmother. The one who gave him the island. It was reported that she killed herself. However, a lot of her believers wanted to investigate about it. No investigation happened. The report was final. The scandal of her death was still a question.

"The more shocking is..." Katherine continued, "...that Queen Eva and Lady Sarah are sixth generation cousins."