Irene, you smarty pants!
Irene, you filthy bastard!
Irene, you better study.
Irene, you better behave.
Irene, you are our queen...
Irene, you are my world...
Irene Claudia Kennedy, a senior Intellectual, a junior Royal.
The Quintessential Rose of E...
Irene clearly remember that day, she was studying-- as usual-- and her favorite subject-- biology. Besides the thought of visiting the Wales family in a week, there was nothing new, nothing exciting.
Until she learned the next day, that new things aren't always exciting.
They are painful.
_
"Ma, what's wrong?"
Irene walked in on her two parents sitting stoically on their respective couches. Ma looking out of the window with tear-stained eyes while Pa paced back and forth in the living room.
For a split second, Irene thought they had a fight last night. But no, her parents rarely fought against one another, or even just raise their voices.
Issac stepped out of his room with his backpack and heard her question.
So, three voices sounded at once.
"Nothing."
"Something bad happened."
"Aunt Di died."
Pause.
"Honey, your auntie died." Her father spoke sternly.
"How? Isn't she heal-"
"Car-crash." says the man.
Her heart stopped. It just stopped beating. And for the first time in her life, she had that feeling. You know, like the world is moving all around you, all beneath you, all inside you, and you're floating around and around. And it doesn't seem to stop.
After a prolonged pause, Irene finally said,
"Ma, can we go see her?"
"Honey, oh my dear, come here..." she noticed tears already building in her nine-year-old daughter's eyes. Deep down, Lau knew, that no matter how soon her daughter learned calculus, how soon she entered university, or how soon she became mature, she would always be the small child she just got first hold of in the hospital in 1989.
"Can we?" She asked again, after giving her mother a long hug.
"I'm so sorry, my dear, we can't. Only her family."
"Can't we go see Prince Charles? Can't we go see Wills and Harry?"
"Oh dear, we can't. We probably don't have the chance to see them anytime soon. We were only Di's friends. She's gone now, we have no reason to go to the palace, and thus see them."
"Mum! Why! What if they did not treat her well? What if they took off her titles? What if-- What if people don't like her anymore! Mum! We need to go!"
"Go? Do what? What can we do?" This time, her brother replied, "Don't be silly, be logical, be calm, you were always calm, right?"
"Issac! How can you! She loved you the most! And you just say this to her?"
"Stay calm, okay? I'm sorry for her. But I am just saying, being angry is not solving anything."
"Issac! I can be calm but I can't be calm when Autie Di died!"
"You both need to calm down." Her father interrupted, "I have a phone call. Shush!"
After a few minutes, he walks back with the news that they were invited to attend the funeral of the late, Princess Diana.
They were going to see Prince Charles, the Queen, and the boys. Probably the last time.
_
"Would you go get Wills and Harry?" Prince Phillip asked Irene as he saw her standing beside her parents helplessly.
"Yes, I will." She replied.
And then she went out of the grandiose room to the corridor. She saw the trees, the flowers, and the little red-haired boy walking towards her.
"Harry, you're here, have you seen Wills?"
"I have not. I am searching for him. How about you go to the garden and I will search the house." He suggested.
"Sure."
As Irene continued down the corridor, she thought of a poem by Lord Byron.
Everything is the same, but you are not here, and I still am.
Back to the misty corridor, back to the dream-like place.
Like a dream, the beauty is out of reach; like the moon, must it always be wax? Your smile, like a flower, buried in time; all the prosperity of the past has disappeared in this misty corridor. It was so lonely, only my footsteps echoed here. I can't walk alone, but neither are you here with me.
Calm, as if walking on the edge of life.
The rain dripped and the teardrops surfaced. Rain and tears are dripping on the river along the misty corridor.
Today is the only day, that I yearned for yesterday.
_
"Wills!" She yelled as a silhouette of the blonde boy appeared at the mists of the gardens. It was handsome, yet helpless.
She ran out of the corridor and into the garden.
She slowed down when she approached him. She was sure that he had heard her but didn't want to reply. It was not polite to do so, but who cares about being polite?
Irene understood, that this prince was going to be the King of England, this prince was expected to act according to standards, and this prince should not act like this. But, to her, even though the days of childhood and innocence were sure to never come again, he will always be the little boy, not the prince, who needs love and comfort.
She muted herself and thought, as she knew, whatever she was about to say now, would either make or break William's delicate heart.
She sat next to him on the bench. And parted her lips a few times before finally saying, "Wills, you look like you need a hug."
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The moment they hug each other, they shimmer in the dark, like a firefly that can only be found in the night. Everything went on, everything was fine, it seemed to be the beginning again.
They said nothing, did nothing, they just hug quietly and stay that way for a long time. It seems that only in this way can we experience the real sense of being loved.
They stayed like that for 5 to 6 minutes until William murmured a Thank you and Irene pulled away.
William did not think it was anything unnatural, in fact, he enjoyed it, it helped him a lot. But Irene, knowing their behaviors were out of line, was scared of anyone knowing this.
"Irene, you are going to CU next week, aren't you?"
"Yes, but it is not about me today, it's about you."
They forcibly squeezed out a deformed smile, improper and unnatural, and inadvertently, there was also a trace of sadness in their eyes.
_
Little did they know that their friendly exchange of intimacy has been seen by the Prince who have done this 50 years ago. And a thought sparkled in Philip Mountbatten's mind.
The funeral proceedings were smooth, but there was a tint of something in Philips's mind.
Little did anyone know that this thought transformed the royal family forever.
