May I, My Love? ✔

4. t h e a n t i c i p a t i o n



'What was he doing here?'

I immediately called out to him, and he stilled upon listening to my voice. He still hadn't looked around, and now I was getting impatient. What was the deal with him today? Why was he being so exceedingly shifty?

"Matt! I know it's you, why are you running away?"

I shouted once again, only now being aware of the fact that I was standing in a public mall, where people could hear me. I tried to evade their disapproving and strange looks and tried to not get red in the face. Hearing my shout, Lisa too stopped in her tracks and turned to see the lad I was very disrespectfully pointing at.

At long last, Matt turned around to face us with a sheepish expression on his visage. Matt was a brown haired boy with handsome and cute brown eyes and a gorgeous smile. He tried to use that smile to his advantage by flashing his pearly whites at us, and gave us a confident wave, as if he was never caught trying to escape us.

"Good morning beautiful ladies! Fancy seeing you here."

"Us? We should be the ones saying that! What are you doing on the clothing and apparel floor?"

I asked him impatiently, while Lisa snickered beside me. As soon as he caught her laughing in her sleeve after noticing the scarlet colour of his cheeks, he narrowed his eyes at her and screamed at her to shut up from his thunderous expression.

"I- I... was waiting for a friend. Yes, a friend dragged me here."

That was not suspicious, but I was dubious about the fact that his friends actually enjoyed shopping to the extent that they would take the pains to come all the way to the mall - surrounded by as they say, crazy shopaholic ladies. I then took another glance at his nervous expression and my face hardened at the truth. He really wasn't good at masking his emotions, and should honestly stop hoping that I wouldn't be able to catch him someday.

But before I could corner him with my ingenious analysis, Lisa came forward and practically throttled him with a single question, gradually squeezing the life out of him.

"You didn't accompany any friend, but came to shop for the masquerade ball, right?"

'Oh yes! Why didn't I think of that instantly? I'm such an imbecile.'

He looked down, visibly ashamed and accepted his defeat, hoping the vice-like grip on his throat would be loosened if he let his guard down. His cheeks turned redder, if possible, as he slowly admitted, leaving Lisa and I a laughing mess on the floor.

"Yes, I- I came to shop for myself."

I was finding it difficult to take in fresh air, causing my windpipe to squeeze at the lack of forthcoming air, but I lost it as soon as I saw his face once again. He looked like the five years old boy who got caught stealing his favourite candy.

"Okay alright, alright. Enough of making fun of me, okay? I am a fashionable man of a noble family who is about to attend one of the most influential and imperative events of all time. And I. Can't. Go. Wrong."

His emphasis was honestly trying to tickle my funny bone once more, but looking at his helpless expression, I took pity on him saved him from further embarrassment.

"Look, it's just that we had never pictured you to be the lad who would go out shopping for the latest trends with a cute little bag on his arm. It just doesn't fit your image."

"I know, but can we just drop this already?" He pleaded with us, and we let go after a brief exchange.

"Okay then, you be on your way, and we will go shop for some more. See you tomorrow in school!" Lisa told him, but he persisted on accompanying us.

"Let's go together. That way I'll be able to see your dresses too. I need to be able to recognize you both at the party."

At this, my eyes widened. If he came to me or Lisa voluntarily and Wyatt saw us together, it would mean that our plan would fail miserably. I panicked internally and looked towards Lisa who fortunately seemed to comprehend the intensity and gravity of the situation and gave me an imperceptible nod, telling me that she would handle it.

This is what she was excellent at. Making excuses at the last hour and doing them so naturally that nobody would be able to point a finger at her. She had the sublime quality to make people drop the last shed of their suspicions to the floor as soon as they associate with her – a quality that I couldn't possess in a million years, especially when I knew I was telling a whopper.

"No Matt. This is an anonymous ball, which means we should be anonymous too. What is the fun in putting so many efforts to hide yourself only to tell someone what you'll be wearing beforehand? No way, we are not doing that. Let's see who can recognize the the other person first at the party."

She smoothly veered trouble in the opposite direction, and made sure it would never be able to show us its visage ever again.

But Matt's face fell after listening to her. Looks like he really wanted to know us beforehand.

"Alright then, I'll just go now."

Lisa looked at me and gestured to his crestfallen look with amusement in her bright orbs. After a beat, I realized what he was trying to do. I looked at him and huffed under my breath. 'What a clingy lad he was!'

"Okay, okay. You can wait for us in the food court, because I don't want you peeking around anywhere. We'll meet you there in about an hour. If you have the mighty patience to grin and bear it, who are we to stop you from doing so?"

I complied, seeing that he didn't want to be separated from us so soon. At that, he jumped up and down in victory, and happily skipped down to the fourth floor of the mall - where all the heavenly food was kept.

After a while, when we were finally done collecting all the essentials we needed, and some more things which weren't exactly useful, we stopped by at the food court. The whole time we ate, our main topic of conversation was the ball. Every member of my family – from my great grandfather, grandfather and my father had seen the customary coming-of-age ball, and now that I too was about to see one, I couldn't believe my incredible fate. It was as if everything was piecing up together perfectly. It was a great honor to be one of the guests with whom the Prince and heir to the throne would interact. Although, I was already getting nervous and anxious about meeting him, I knew that I had to be on my best behaviour, so that I don't let my family down.

My friends were equally excited as I was, and that was all we could think of and talk about the whole time. It was going to be even crazier at school the next day, when every other person will run over to us and ask us umpteen questions about the upcoming ball and the royal family - as if we were aware of anything. It was also another one of the royal protocols to never divulge any information of utmost importance and secrecy to the common public. Anyone who was caught doing so, was not respected and was punished mildly or severely based on the repercussions of their folly.

Even so, nothing could wane the excitement I was feeling in my heart about this ball. The euphoria was coursing through my veins and every minute we got closer to the party, was a minute spent on getting more and more exhilarated. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and by God's grace, and Lisa's immense help, I will be able to enjoy it to the fullest without any shred of concerns or skeptical thoughts – and that's what mattered the most for me right now. I really hope all goes well at the party, and we get our prince back as a strong, powerful political figure.

▪︎ ▪︎ ☆ ▪︎ ▪︎