ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇᴅᴇᴍᴘᴛɪᴏɴ ❅ 𝕽𝖔𝖞𝖆𝖑 𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖔𝖓𝖎𝖈𝖑𝖊𝖘

❝𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 2❞

K01 ‖ The Princes' Alliance: Social Etiquette

𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕲𝖚𝖎𝖉𝖊:
Italic words — the thoughts of a character / a foreign language is spoken
Bold and italic words — a lie, only when Princess Caitlyn's around
Bold, italic and underlined words — the timeline of memories, past, hallucinations etc. 

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Year 2039
Top Floor Dormitories, Momos Academy. [03:00]

Prince Liam knew that eavesdropping on someone was bad but here he was, dressed in his pajamas standing outside his half open room door, listening in on the American prince's phone call.

He knew that his bodily system would wake him up at the most ungodly of all hours therefore, it was a habit of his to retrieve a glass of water from the kitchen of the Canberra Royal Residence back in Australia before going back to sleep. Liam always liked the silence of the night as he would walk down the dark hallways of the royal residence at twilight.

Much to his misfortune, he was not the only one awake in the dormitory at 3 a.m. in the morning, for as soon as he opened his room door, the sound of Prince Charles having a heated argument on the phone was heard.

Liam knew that going out would mean a full awkwardness of explaining that he did not mean to eavesdrop but, going back into his room and waiting until Charles had gone back to sleep, would mean that he needs to close his room door. Ten years of friendship with the Norwegian princess taught him that both her and her brother are extremely hypersensitive, especially to sounds.

Liam hesitated.

He pulled his door close but not fully closed, leaving a small gap between it and the doorframe.

Prince Charles's sudden shout made the Aussie flinch, tightening his grip on the door knob. Liam could hear what the American prince said but he managed to catch him saying, "The reception is bad here. I'll call you back. Bye, dad."

Liam panicked, his heartbeat drowning out the sound of Charles's footsteps —or does Charles walk silently all the time. Either way, Liam immediately pulled the door open.

Prince Charles jumped back in shock at the sudden noise, accidentally letting loose a couple of curse words. He saw Prince Liam standing at the doorway looking equally petrified. Charles let out a breath of relief.

"Sorry," said the American boy. "Did I wake you up?"

Liam shook his head, rubbing his eyes with his hand. "No," he said thickly. "Why? Were you watching the television?"

Charles nodded, turning away. "Yeah," he said, keeping his hands in his pockets. "It's a bad habit of mine."

From his peripheral vision, Liam saw that Charles was angling his body away from him. Princess Caitlyn's words entered his mind.

. . . that's an obvious tell-tale sign that someone's lying.

Liam cleared his throat. "You should get some sleep," he told the American boy. "Tomorrow's our first day of school." He started making his way to the living area, heading towards the kitchen.

"Yeah," Charles said. He too started making his way back to his own room. "See you in the morning!"

Prince Liam did not know he was holding his breath until Charles had really returned to his own room, and Liam let out a sigh. He was breathing quicker than before, hearing the drumming in his ears.

As he poured himself a glass of water, he wondered why the American prince did not make the call in his own room, then realized that he could have woken up his neighbor, Prince Albert. By then, it would be a much messier situation for Charles to get out of. Or, Charles could really be telling the truth that he was watching the television before picking up the call from his father.