Captured To Become A Vampire Prince's Bride

Captured To Become A Vampire Prince's Bride [42]

We ordered our drinks and a little snack each and sat down at a table, waiting for Charlotte to come back with our drinks. We settled comfortably and little conversations floated around the table.


It was nice to just do normal things for a change, rather than being surrounded by crowds of people or just sitting in the castle. Getting to explore Nox Aterrima was an exciting respite.


"So about the ball-"


Alexander's head snapped in the direction of Leyton who immediately pursed his lips, realising he made a terrible mistake. Leyton cleared his throat and apologised.


"There's going to be a ball?" I inquired. This was news to me.


"It's something that is still in the works. Don't worry about it," Alexander was quick to answer. He narrowed his eyes at Leyton, probably thinking I wouldn't notice.


I wasn't at all surprised that he brushed off my question. Every time there was an event I was always the last to know about it. Asking Alexander, or anyone around him would be useless because he would just give them that look that made them zip their mouths. So secretive.


There was a strange fizzing sound emanating from somewhere behind me and the light chatter that had been quietly buzzing in the background grew into a light commotion that grabbed my attention.


Charlotte approached the table alongside a member of staff that had a slice of cake with a lit sparkler sticking out of it. She squealed as the cake was placed on the table.


"Close your eyes and make a wish," Alexander leaned in to whisper.


A medium-sized black box was sneakily slid across the table as I blew out the candle. I glanced back and forth between the box and Alexander.


He smiled and extended his right arm in the direction of the box, ushering for me to open it. It was so sudden, and he didn't even say anything. Instead, he just waited expectantly.


I hesitantly opened the box to reveal a necklace. But not just any necklace, it was an amethyst collet necklace! The considerable number of precious gems on it, I knew it cost a pretty penny. But I also knew Alexander had put a lot of thought into this gift, bearing in mind that purple was my favourite colour. I was so overwhelmed I could hardly phrase my sentences in the correct order.


"Alex, this is so beautiful!"


"Here." He took the necklace from the box and stood up to put it on. "And it fits perfectly."


I squealed and gave him a tight hug almost sending us both to the ground. Words could not explain in enough detail how elated I was.


Soon people within Starbucks began surrounding us, to get a closer peek of the excitement at our table. It then got around that Alexander had given me an engagement ring. Not long later after trying to ignore the buzz, a crowd began to form, a crowd too large and full of people congratulating us, to get through.


"Hey, give them some room!" Jayden yelled, however, it seemed no one paid him any attention as the customers edged nearer and nearer.


They began to take out phones, cameras and tablets to take pictures and record us. The news seemed to spread fast, too fast. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed people coming in from the streets too.


"We'll leave and come back when the customers are less aware of us being here. They won't expect us to come back in the same day," Leyton said as he stood himself up.


We all agreed. There was no way I was going to leave without shopping and seeing what awesome shops there were. Jayden and Leyton pushed ahead to make space for me and Alex to get through. Leandra and Charlotte went on either side of us to make sure no one attacked us or anything crazy like that.


Soon enough we made it out into the humid afternoon air through the back of the store. It was a completely different atmosphere than in the shopping centre, it wasn't quite as easy to breathe outside.


"You ok?" Alexander asked.


"I'm good. What are we going to do now?" I answered.


Leyton said we'd go shopping and then go to Masashi No Shinden or whatever it was called. But we couldn't just go to the restaurant, it was far too early! And I wasn't that hungry.


"We need to change and partially disguise ourselves. I guarantee some of the people will hang around. So we need some things to hide our faces and different clothes if we don't want to get ambushed once again." Charlotte explained. "Arianne, you will most certainly have to remove the necklace, as beautiful as it is."


"Well, the shopping district is just down the road, and they have a few different clothes and accessory shops. We could buy some items from there, wait a while, and then go back. Ok?" Leyton replied almost immediately.


"Sounds cool to me," Alex answered casually while stuffing his hands in his pockets.


We all entered the Land Rover and drove down to the nearby shopping district. To my slow realisation, it was the same place Alexander took me on the first day we went out together. The main thing that reminded me, was the shoe shop called Run, there were, of course, a different pair of shoes in the window. This time around they were a pair of Vans.


"Hey," Leandra hooked arms with me and gave me a stern look. "Clothes before shoes. You can try and find something to make Alexander stare wide-eyed." She nodded her head in the direction of him was up ahead, walking with Leyton.


"Like what? He gets nervous at little things he does for me, but he never really gets fazed by anything." I questioned, staring right ahead at Alex, wondering what would make him stare in awe.


Leandra thought for a few seconds. "He likes skirts, skirts above the knee. He naturally expects high standards from a girl he's in a relationship with. So he doesn't want something inappropriate, nor does he expect a full outfit of expensive designer gear."


"Although I haven't adjusted my hearing to pick up your decibels, back there, I can still hear you." Alexander stopped walking and turned to face us with an aloof expression on his face.


I also stopped in my tracks and hid my embarrassed face behind Leandra. When I looked up to see if he had carried on walking, he was directly in front of me.


"Don't dress to impress me. Just as long as you don't dress stupidly, then it doesn't bother me what you choose to wear. Most things look good on you all the same." When he noticed I wasn't making direct eye contact with him, he cupped his incredibly soft hands on my cheeks and planted an even softer kiss on my lips. "Ok?"


"Yeah," I answered flatly. I wanted to look away so bad. I hated direct eye contact. It made me feel awkward. But if I looked away, wouldn't that be rude, and kind of insulting?


"Good." Alexander cleared his throat, removed cupped hands, and began to slowly catch up with Leyton. "Let's carry on."


I felt another presence on the opposite side of me. "You know, he's got you wrapped around his fingers." It was Jayden.


I scoffed. "He does not," I answered in a tone of certainty.


"She's right you know." Leandra interrupted. "She has him wrapped around her fingers, to be exact. She can ask him to do anything, and he'll most likely do it. Regarding it isn't humiliating or degrading to himself."


Jayden smirked. "You know it's a real shame; if you two weren't betrothed to one another, I'd totally steal you." He began to fiddle with the light curls in my hair as we walked.


"We're trying to have a day without some form of conflict, Jayden!" Leandra hissed on the other side of me.


"Oh, I am most truly sorry! My dearest Leandra, please forgive me, as I have gone against my promised word. I shall promise on top of my promise to not break my promise again, or may the King himself strike me down where I stand." Jayden sarcastically answered in an overly dramatic tone.


I laughed slightly. It was like he had quoted something from a Shakespeare play.


It wasn't long before we reached a high street filled with shops. Charlotte stopped us all and handed us all a pair of glasses and some form of a hat, whether it was a Snapback or a Beanie. They were to make us less noticeable as we shopped for new outfits so we could continue our shopping back at the shopping centre.


It was a little uncomfortable at first, I never usually wore hats, especially not on hot days. Nonetheless, I got used to it. I had to.


It only took an hour to buy what we needed, and I got those Vans I was apparently "ogling" at in the window of Run.


Before we knew it, we were already back at the huge shopping centre. Unrecognisable, and ready to shop.