Esther

Chapter 19

We entered the dining hall finding no one. We asked a maid and she directed us to the gazebo. King Altri and Queen Amia were waiting.

"Hello girls. Sorry for not being so specific. Please, sit down." Queen Amia welcomed. We sat down. Sophia sat down beside the king and queen and Ashley sat down beside me. "Where's Andrew?" I asked politely. "He's getting something. Now come on. Let's eat." King Altri said. And so we ate.

While I was still in the middle of eating, someone enclosed hands on my eyes. The person's hands were a bit rough. "Who are you? Who's this?" I asked. Ashley's hand were a soft. Sophia's hands were not too rough and not too soft. So these hands must belong to...

"Andrew!" I exclaimed. I turned around and saw him laughing. I rolled my eyes. "Hey!" He said coming inside the gazebo and sitting beside me.

Sophia and Ashley gave him a thumbs up. "Seriously? My three best friends are keeping secrets from me." I said putting on my pouty face. "We're not. Keeping secrets, Esther." Andrew said putting an arm around my shoulders. "We did. But now we're not." He said. I stared at him.

"So now, you're being sweet because I know it's me." I asked. "No. Yes. But I actually wanted to, umm, you know. Put my arm around you or such but I was afraid." He said shyly. I laughed. "Well, now that I know, you don't need to be afraid or shy anymore." I said. "Okay." And with that, he moved closer.

"Alright lovebirds. Enough talk. Let's eat." Ashley said with a whine. We all laughed and continued to eat.

Afterwards, Andrew led me to the garden. "Esther, umm, I know you already know that I choose you. But, I think I should do it formally. It's just that, I'm afraid I might make it awkward or probably, you know, umm-" He started. "Andrew." I started saying putting my hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to be so tense. We're best friends. Just act normally. Pretend we're just talking like normal friends." I said.

"Okay. So umm, I already know that you want to wait for two years before getting married. And I also want to say, that I love you. Ever since I met you, I had a feeling it would be you. You're a beautiful, smart, clever, talented girl." He said brushing his hand through his hair.

"You look cute like that. That was my first thought when I met you." I said. "If that makes you feel better." I said. He laughed. "Okay. Sorry. It's just different talking to you like a friend, and like a different friend. You know what I mean." He said. I gave him a hug. "It's ok. Can we talk about another thing?" I asked. "Sure." He said.

We walked side by side talking about random things like old friends. Queen Amia came up. "Andrew told me that you wanted to wait for 2 years before getting married right?" She asked. "Yes. If that's alright." I said. "Of course it is. And by the way, I know it's a bit late, but Andrew already knows that you're human." "Okay." I replied shrugging.

We hung out a bit more along with Ashley and Sophia, then went inside.