Book Of Challenges

My story to tell

Passion was rare;
Love even more so;
And neither should
ever be wasted or destroyed.
  ~Love lives by Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees

"Hi"

It was so soft that I felt like I was imagining it.

I paged to the next page where the prince was lazily gazing at the sunset - peaceful. It was my favourite page in the book.

It was where I could imagine him whispering into my ear as if we were old lovers.

He's so beautiful and handsome that I would get lost in his eyes
at page 199 - where he would
stare up at the beautiful princess Eliana; while me - I was plain old Nina who lived in a small town with her heartbroken mother and had never had a boyfriend.

Mother would complain that I am too invested in the book or that I spend too much of my time talking to the book, or that I keep reading the same book, but...

It's hard not to read the same book if you are madly in love with the prince that lies on the ink of the pages inside the book.

All I needed to do was imagine; imagine he was talking to me and wanting to be free. Wanting to spend his whole life with me, but...

My friend, Bruno, thought that I was crazy. I kept telling him that prince Jensin was trying to communicate with me and all he ever said was,

"You need a boyfriend or you will end up being a jellyfish."

How can he  compare me to a jellyfish - me?

I know if I tried hard enough, I could have any man I wanted, but...

I would never actaully get the man I want - prince Jensin.

Last month, Tuesday, mom was at the back, gardening - at least that's what I assumed she was doing, but anyways.
While she was busy doing whatever she was doing, I crept into her bedroom.
Why?
She kept her tea-set there, saying it was "too valuable" to keep in the kitchen.

I never really cared about the tea-set until I watched Aladdin that afternoon. It was as if it was a sign only sent for me.

The magical lamp - I was meant to stumble upon that movie. Well, Bruno actually brought it over, but I had the genius idea of heading up to my mom's room to try to get a genie.

I would have actaully gotten a genie if mom hadn't decided to startle me at that exact moment and I had dropped the magical lamp - which was my mother's teapot, but...

I swear, it looked like the exact one in the movie, I had to try to wish for Prince Jensin to come alive - maybe then he would fall for me and forget about Princess Eliana.

I tried to explain that to mom, but she straight up told me that I was grounded, but...
It was not my fault and she knew it -  she just needed someone to blame since dad isn't here anymore.

These past few days I've been lazily sprung on my bed with the book in my hand and daydreaming about the prince.

But that wasn't good enough for my mother, she would call me downstairs early in the morning to clean the windows and to do some house chores - me?
It's probably part of the punishment for breaking the teapot. She was taking this way too seriously, but...

How was I suppose to know that it was a family heirloom, she never tells me anything important - in fact all she ever does is complain how I am no help in the house and orders me around.

It really does suck to be a child - except for the part where you fall in love and your heart can't stop beating so fast when you are near your lover -