MY UNEXPECTED MARRIAGE TO THE LOVELESS CEO

Chapter 24

I sit down behind the desk in my office. For some reason, the feud from this morning can’t seem to leave me alone.

I inhale and exhale, sitting up and leaning in, in the leather chair with a hope, everything that I do will keep my mind from thinking the worst.

But again, we are at the end of the chapter already. Sad, but it’s true. I should learn to live without Lisa anyway, like she seems to have without me.

The tree outside the window of my office sways to a cold morning breeze. Few of its bronze - coloured leaves fall dead.

I stare at it for a few more seconds. Then, my feet are drawn to its direction. I shuffle softly, hands around my back before stilling behind the glass pane.

The lawn stretching from here is green. End of it is the gate that separates the estate from a green area with an oval lake.

I have never been there. Strange, because it’s inside the compound I've been trapped in since the marriage.

I should have been there, my heart says. Should have seen if it’s really a calm place like it looks from here, my brain adds.

A knock echoes. A footstep pauses. I glance over my shoulder with a muttered yes and the door welcomes my secretary inside.

She stills for a moment, then her knees bend as she curtsies before she stands up, an iPad pressed to her left side of chest while a printed copy in her hand.

“Good morning, Your Royal Highness,”

“Morning,” I fully face her with hands clasped at the front. “I assume I have a duty to do today?” I glance at the back of the printed schedule where the shadow of a few things listed can be seen.

“Yes,” she smiles. Then, she offers me the paper.

“You’ve three official engagements this week,” she breaks the news as I scan the schedule now at hand.

“Would you like me to brief you on it?”
“Yes, please”

***

We spent the entire 30 minutes discussing. While she explained every single thing thoroughly, I made a written note by jotting them down in my diary.

Then, at the end of the meeting, she asked me if I had anything to ask and I told her exactly the thing I had in mind.

***

No one knows much about the Oval Lake which is strange because there is a painting by a Golden Age artist who illustrated the scene so magnificently beautiful that one might simply take it for the interpretation of heaven on Earth.

“All that we know from the Archive Office is that the lake is manmade, but no one knows why it’s created in such shape,” Mina says from my side.

I press my lips together. There is something wrong with that piece of information. It doesn’t feed my curiosity, instead sparks the will to know about it further.

“Alright,” I clasp my hands. The breeze blows in my direction afterwards, messing with my hair.

“It looks like it’s going to rain,” Mina concludes after checking the skies.

“I advise we get you back to the office safely before the drizzle starts,”

“Actually, I would like to go and visit the girls,”

I demand. The request has only suddenly popped into my mind, not that I’ve planned it. Mina looks alarmed.

“Your Royal Highness, I would like to apologise but, visiting the Royal Vault in this weather,” she looks at the heavy clouds hanging above us like bunches of grenades.

“Is not advised, nor recommended. There is an ongoing installation of the new marble tiles there which I doubt will …”

“They miss me,” I cut her short. “I can feel it,” I add, not taking my eyes off her irises which are light in bronze.

“Very well,” Mina says in defeat.

“To the Royal Vault off we go,”

***

“Alright girls,”

I slip into the gated vault where a hand carved, Black Belgian marble ledger stone lies in the fitted mould on the floor, atop the vault where they are the only permanent residents.

“Who missed mummy?” I ask with a low tone yet it sends echoes throughout the whole wing.

“Oops, I always forgot,” I smile before bending my knees and curtsying to them both.

In the Royal Family, children to the Heir Apparent are considered higher in rank than their non - royal parents.

“There you go,” I extend my hand to touch the slab stone. Fingertips running on the cursive brass letter inlays each scribbling down their titles rather than their names.

Her Royal Highnesses, The Princess Royal and The Infant Princess
Stars from heaven which rained down on Earth.

“Aww, I miss you both too,” I kiss the stone gently. Then, grabbing a book from a bookshelf next to it.

“Since it’s been a long time that we’ve not met, how about I read you both, my beloved, a book?”

I smile as I stare at the slab stone. “Perfect for the occasion, what do you think?”

***

The book I read is their favourite. It spins the adventurous story of a little monkey trying to find a way home after being separated from its own.

And luckily in the end, they find each other again. Or otherwise, I am sure the girls are going to cry.

“That’s it, girls” I shut the book gently with a smile.

“We don’t want to overdo it or the magic is going to disappear,” I tuck the book where I previously took it from and breathe out.

“How are you both doing my loves?”

“Is it cold there? I bet it must. It’s been raining lately and you can imagine what a lot of fuss that is. Well, Mummy used to love it, the rain I mean. But now that you both aren’t here, I start to loathe it,”

I stand up and touch the slab once again. Caressing it gently, I speak again. “Mummy's been doing fine here. Really really fine. So, you don't have to worry about me,"

"I have got stuff to do this weekend so I don't promise I'll be here again to read something. But don't worry, I'll be back on Wednesday and we'll see each other again, alright? And no fighting, girls. You know mummy hates it, right"

I grab the handle of my bag and kiss the slab stone once. "I love you guys so very much,"