The Prince's Temporary Wife

The Photographed Photograph

"Had I really heard it correct? Chrome's your husband? I thought you were just engaged!" Jacqueline screamed, looking at me with scrutinizing eyes that seem to devour me and her fingernails looked like they were going to tear me apart. I gulped in a sigh.

"You heard wrong. I'm his fiancée."

I made sure I emphasized the fiancée.

With a smirk, I turned away from her as Thomas calls me to take a shot again.

God, please help me. This has been my twenthieth retouch and take for just three photos. The crew can't take it anymore. I can't take it anymore.

Chrome leaned his back on the wall as he listened to Thomas giving him instructions.

If neither both of us is going get comfortable with each other, this will never end.

And trust me, I'm the uncomfortable one. The guy over there's far more comfortable as I should say.

"Hey, block of ice," he says as I planted myself beside Thomas who smiled smugly. I glared at him, "I told you I hate photos."

"But Keith said you always want something for keeps."

"Shut up." I scold. He chuckles, amused as always.

"Here's what you'll do, you'll stand over there at the center of the heart arch and act that you both are at your happiest moments," Thomas directs, pointing to the heart plant at the middle of a garden scenery.

Chrome stands erect, looking at me, "I can do that, can you?"

"I'll try," I squeaked, still not liking the fact that this was getting kind of beyond private distance. Too beyond.

It was like he and I were sticking together like Siamese twins, him holding my waist and me hooking my arms around his neck to pull him close.

"That's the plan?" I whispered to Thomas who I know was grinning inside. "Can't you change it?"

"No, the crew decided on this. This is one of the most featured poses regarding marriage and engagement."

"Can't we do something else? Like sit beside each other and hold each other's hand?" I suggested. I need an escape route. I need to suppress the development of this "crush" thing of mine.

Thomas shakes his head, patting me on the shoulder. "That's what makes our photographing crew differeng from others. We express the intimacy of the couple."

Sigh....

I walked over to where Chrome was standing, smiling smugly to himself. He seemed so good at this. One of the fortes of being a professional model. Disappointed, I stood frozen in front of him, nervousness wracking on my nerves and limbs.

Suddenly, even how cold the room was getting, I'm sweating. Excessively.

Damn. I hate crushes.

"Hey," he breathes, his dark voice tickling my insides, "It's just me."

"So what if its you? I'm not photogenic, plus I don't take pictures well with guys."

"I'm not those guys, I'm the guy. Just trust me to bring out your model inside of you."

"Are you kidding? I don't strut and pose!"

"Come on, Kaye, just flow with me." He says again, his British accent making my heart soar. I feel crying all of a sudden.

Hypersensitive reactions. I feel this all the time when my crush is in my proximity.

And very in my proximity.

I breathed deeply a couple of times, my chest heaving and rising as our bodies touch. His hands interwined around my body, touching areas that are already burning.

He leans in close and I'm suddenly too aware of him. Too much.

Everything was suffocating me. The blinding lights, the heavy make up, his breathing I feel like I could faint.

He seemed to notice me struggling for he leaned closer, closer, his nose touching my cheek, his lips just several meters away from mine. "You're beautiful. Just believe you're a princess," he whispers, echoing in me like thundering beats.

"But you're not my prince," I whispered back, feeling the slight brush of the tips of our lips. I gasped a little. He chuckles, still so close to me.

"There, you're getting the hang of it. Smile."

"But I can't. I-I don't know how."

"Smile, princess."

The words he said were matches to my flame. Igniting me with so much electrical power than I could take. I feel myself gearing to his flow. Then, I let go the tsunami I can barely hold.

Thomas was clicking pictures now. A smile on his face as I grinned like a little kid who bought something she wanted so much.

"By the way, I love how your back looks like. I wonder if they have an even plunging backless dress like this."

0\\\\0
   D

He feels me suddenly trying to pull away from him. He embrace me closer, a very very wide grin on his face as Thomas took pictures of it.

I am squished against his broad chest and I fear that he could hear my heart.

"What the?!" I said, trying to push him away but he buries me tighter into him. I could barely see the people in the set.

"Great!" Thomas cuts the embarrasing suffocating moment short, saving me. "Your pictures were excellent!"

Chrome lets me go, my breath catching up. My lungs were deflated when he hugged me and now, it was pumping air in to inflate itself. Jacqueline couldn't bear seeing us like that she walked off several minutes ago before Chrome pulled away.

A slight fear etched on my chest.

Thomas winks at me, as I watched Chrome walk towards him to give him a shake.

I grinned so wide, forgetting his tigress that would tear me down later and Thomas snaps me a photo.

I feel like I could fly so much higher than spaceships can. I was giggling, laughing, smiling, jumping, you know that. The feeling when your crush hugs you. You know. All the feels in the world.

Then, my head cuts the happiest I've ever felt. It rewinds what he said earlier.

Princess.

He can't be my prince if his princess is Daphne.

A frown replaces the smile I had. I turned away feeling a bit hurt.

But my heart beats, Come on, look on the bright side!

He's asking you to help him move on right?

Anybody can marry a prince! In fact, you're married to one, right now!

All you have to do is reel him in and make him forget the siren he fell so deeply into the sea with.

I smiled a little, just a little tug at the corner of my lips. It's an unknown possibilty. I have a chance.

And here I am scared of the monster waiting for me in my room(Jacqueline) when I'm turning into a monster myself.