The Tattooed Prince 2

83.

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind this story is fictional.

We left for Zakarette, Mateo's home country, and somewhere I had never heard in my life. I thought it was a joke when we got on the jet and the pilot said our destination. Apparently, Zakaratte is a country between Poland and Germany. I couldn't even find it on Google maps, Mateo had to look up the country and show me the small little black dot of the country.

"The population is around three-thousand, its a small country," Mateo said as he locked his phone.

"Oh okay, and what about the country like? Anything like Poland or Germany?" I asked him curiously.

He chuckled. "Like I said, it's better to show you than to tell you. You'll be surprised."

I wasn't good with surprises, of course, he didn't know that, but Mateo was being suspicious. It's partially my fault for never asking questions about his hometown or even the basics of Mateo. He knew me like the back of his hand and I can barely read my own. I didn't even know his last name.

"I have been traveling with you for over a month now and I don't know your last name. Isn't that crazy?" I complained.

"You never asked me questions and I'm not the type to open up unless being asked. I do admit, you make me spill things about myself without much thought. Since you're asking my last name is Vasiliu. Mateo Christopher Vasiliu." He extended his hand out towards me.

I grasped his hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." he laughed. "Now, you know me."

He sounded amused, yet deep down I knew he was hiding something from me. A part of me always knew there was more to Mateo then he projected. I learned it's better to not dig around people's secrets. I figured when he was ready to tell me more about himself he would, now I realize if I don't ask question Mateo doesn't spill.

He isn't wrong about spilling things to each other without even thinking about it. At times I found myself telling him stories of the palace or things I would do in high school. Mateo knew things about me not even Sebastian knew about. There were moments when Mateo would talk about his mother's cooking or how as a teen he helped out a local baker. Our conversations were never brought up due to us doing something that reminded us about it, we simply spilled memories randomly.

I thought about pursuing the secret Mateo was hiding, as much as it is bad to go lurking around people's personal business, I have always been a curious one. Perhaps my curiosity was what caused Sebastian to keep me in the dark for so long. Eventually, I was going to find my answer whether it came from him or myself. I decided I didn't want my curiosity to create a wedge between Mateo and me, I want to be different. So, I stayed quiet and enjoyed the airplane ride.

When we were near the landing, Mateo woke me up, seeming a bit stressed about arriving home. Since I hadn't seen him like this before until recently, he freaked me out. I thought the airplane was having problems or something was wrong.

"This might've been a mistake." He blurted out. " I shouldn't have brought you here. When we land, I'll get you on the next flight back to Los Angeles."

"Mateo, calm down. What's wrong?" I grabbed onto his hand, forcing him to stay still and look at me.

"I haven't been honest..." I titled my head to my side, confirming my suspicion.

"Everyone isn't honest-"

"Shut up, just listen to me. Remember when we met at the bar, you told me if I was talking to you because I worked for a Hollywood media outlet-"

My jaw-dropped slightly. "Oh god, you do work for a media," I said disgustedly, removing my hand over his.

He shook head. "No! I don't, I told you who was I to judge who you are if I don't know you. Believe me, I knew your name and your face, but I couldn't judge you from where you came from..."

"Who better to pour your feelings to than a stranger, that's what you said," I added.

"That night you didn't pour just your feelings, I poured out mine. Maybe, it was selfish of me to pick you of all people, you will probably choose not to talk to me after this and that's fine I understand."

"Are you married? Is that why your parents are mad at you?" I questioned. I can't think of anything worse than having a wife waiting for her husband to come back while he is out in Mexico with another woman.

"No, Addy, I'm Prince Mateo Christopher Vasilliu of Zakarette. I'm a Royal."

"Oh." I murmured. There weren't any other words escaping my lips, my brain had his sentence on a loop. I'm Prince Mateo Christopher Vasilliu of Zakarette. I'm Prince Mateo Christopher Vasilliu of Zakarette.

Fuck! Was I suppose to get mad with his secret? He must've had his reason to not want to continue being known as a Prince. As much of big deal as this felt, who was I to judge him for hiding his past. I left Spain to start over, what if he left his hometown for the same reason?

"Fuck!" I yelled, running my fingers through my hair. "I don't care who you are, you should've said something."

"I know, it just the whole Sebastian situation was fresh. I doubt the last thing you wanted was to meet another Prince. I doubt you even want to get involved with one." He defended his actions as I expected him to do so. "I wanted to tell you, I didn't know how though. I like having you around and I was afraid if I told you, you'd leave."

"I have Royal Friends, I would've understood," I responded back.

"Would you have though? You were a disaster when I met you, if I told you that night who I was, you would've gotten up and left."

"I don't know what I would have done, but why me? I'm trying to run away from this life, and you're sucking me right back in."

He stayed quiet for a moment. "I'm not forcing you to do anything, it was wrong of me to bring you here. It was wrong of me to lie to you, I would never bring you back to the lifestyle you hate. I'd never do anything to you Adalyn which would cause you to be unhappy."

His eyes watered and my heart fluttered. Mateo's heart is never in the wrong place and for that, I can't hate him.

"When was the last time since you stepped foot in your country?"

"A year, I've been running for a year." He looked away, a frown forming on his lips. "I wasn't ready to come back."

"So why are we here?"

He shrugged. "Cause I'm tired of running."

***

And believe me, Prince Mateo has been running for a very long time....