MY UNEXPECTED MARRIAGE TO THE LOVELESS CEO

Chapter 11 🌷

Roseanne's pov

I glance outside the window. An ocean of people have been waving; most of them have things in their hands. Flowers, sign boards, markers of different colours. I look away. My hands are slightly shaking.

"Your Royal Highness, Ma'am" my own private secretary, Alice, bows her head, before her brown eyes meet mine. "They are ready for you," she smiles thoughtfully, hands on her back. I breathe out. "It's alright, Ma'am" she seems to notice my dumb anxiety rising. "I'll give you a moment more to settle, is that alright?"

"It's alright," I refuse the idea. Then, I grasp the handle of my black Lady Dior. "The crowd has been waiting in this biting cold. The least I can do for them is to show up," I insist, exiting the car as my secretary steps aside. The next thing I know, the crowd cheers on me excitingly.

"Lady Roseanne," is among the many other things that I register them saying. The next popular call is Your Royal Highness, follows by Oh my god, she's so beautiful and a series of "That's a perfect pose, Ma'am" from the media on duty or "Can you please look over here, Ma'am?"

I walk towards them; the crowd - ignoring the way my security stops me from doing so and gather a few other gifts they have for me. "Here's something for you, Ma'am" a woman says, passing me a bouquet of freshly cut roses.

"I grew them in my garden with you in my thoughts after what happened with your second born," she elaborates and I muster her a genuine smile. "Oh my," I sniff the roses. They smell really fresh. "That is so kind of you. I shall keep it in my garden later, with immense gratitude for your kindness,"

The lady smiles tearfully as I shake her hand, then move on to another little girl with height reaching up to my waist. She looks no older than a preschooler.

"Hello darling," I bend down. The roses are still in my hands, the water flowing out of it drenches the hem of my skirt and when Alice offers to hold them for me, but I refuse.

"What do we have here?"

I smile at her and she beams back. One of her front teeth is missing. "Your Royal Highness," someone from her side speaks up. I assume she is her mother. "This is Haeun's special drawing. She made it at school for you," I run my eyes on the drawing of a rose and smile.

"Haeun, isn't it?" I lock my eyes with the girl. She nods her head but says nothing. "Oh, pardon her. She doesn't speak. She has selective mutism," the mother adds. Then, when she realises I would like to know more on what selective mutism is, she continues. "It's a social disorder, you become unable to speak in certain social contexts,"

"I see," I boop the child's nose with my forefinger lightly. "Dear Haeun, then you and I have the same thing in common then," the child arches her eyebrows at me curiously. I lean in, my lips touching her ear so that this would forever be our only secret. "I find it hard to speak too sometimes,"

Then I pull back and spot her grinning. "Well, I must say you have a talent in drawing," I stare at the painting. "I will have this framed and put on my office desk so that it reminds me of you,"

Then I ask for her mother's permission if I can kiss her cheek and the woman agrees. "Before I forget," I unpin a Royal Rose from the right side of the orange suit I wear. Then, I tuck it into her small palm. "Keep this as a reminder from me,"

"Your Royal Highness,"

Alice approaches me. "It's time," she informs. I nod my head, wave one more time at the crowd before disappearing behind the glass door.

***

"We start this charity with only one thing in mind,"

Kim Ji-Woo says from the stage. She is the founder of Mind Foundation, an organisation which focuses on issues relating to mental health.

"To stop the stigmatisation of mental health issues. The public has to be educated that just because someone in their inner circle is having through hard time in life doesn't mean that person is unstable or worse, crazy,"

Then, her eyes find mine in the crowd. "That is why I personally feel," she smiles into the mic. "That this organisation would only be at its utmost importance only when Her Royal Highness, the Lady Roseanne Park of the Manoban family would join us as the official patron of Mind Foundation,"

A round of loud applause resonates in the hall, including from me. I smile as the woman concludes her speech and another MC invites me to give mine. "Oh, gosh" I scan the large crowd. "It always feels different when you stand here, giving a speech, rather than sitting among people, listening to it,"

The crowd laughs. "Well," I hunch my posture a bit as I speak directly into the mic.

"First of all, I'd like to thank Ms. Kim, for such an invaluable invitation she has extended to me personally," I offer a small smile, then my eyes fall back to a series of cue cards my office has provided me with.

"It would be a great honour and joy for me to announce today,"

I speak softly into the mic. "That I will be the patron of Mind Foundation and as part of my first ever duty as patron of Mind Foundation, is to donate 5 million dollar to this charity cause with the hope it'd be the starting point for help to be delivered to those who need them the most,"

A loud round of applause echoes. "Thank you," I smile briefly. "As you all know, mental health is something that is often associated with me," I pause, a silence temporarily fills the hall.

"Roseanne unstable," I recite the famous label within the royal household. "Roseanne is out of her mind," I add.

"Well, let me tell you a thing. When you are inside a family that never shows their emotions, you tend to become empty. But before you become empty, you become lethargic. And lethargic is a very dangerous emotion. Your mind is tired. Your body too. But you can't quite put your fingers on which one is draining you,"

"After I lost my daughters tragically, I wanted to say lots of things. I wanted to say, give me a chance to at least look at them. But they won't let me. Also, because you can't"

"In the Royal Family, funerals are just another Privy council meeting. You are allowed to hear lots of things but god forbids you to say anything about that because that'd easily break the protocol. Royal ears are to hear, Royal voice is to shut,"