Serendipity ✔

XI

"You put your arms around me, and I'm home."

♫ Arms - Christina Perri ♫

♛

"Your Highness," Annabelle gasped and turned around. The prince looked as he always looked. Tall and charming. 

"Don't call me that, Annabelle," said the prince slowly, a sad look grazing his face. Taking a seat on the grass next to her, he sighed, "I know the truth."

Annabelle's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She felt dumbstruck at the fact that the prince was sitting next to her on the grass. And, he somehow know who she was.

"H-how?" she managed to say. The prince did not respond. He just stared ahead at the moon.

After what seemed forever, he replied, "Vanilla."

"What?" Annabelle asked, whilst still looking at him. He turned around to give her a warm, genuine smile. It melted the walls that she had tried to build around her heart.

"You smelled of vanilla the first time I talked to you," he stated, looking up at the moon. They did not say it, but they both started reminiscing about that night. "And, then I continued to smell vanilla whenever I came near you. That's how I knew."  

"Any girl could have smelled like vanilla." She simply said to him.

 "Oh, yes," he chuckled, and for a moment there, Annabelle admired the crinkles that formed on each side of his eyes. "But, any girl cannot be you."

She felt her chin lowering down as her eyes met the green grass, "Forgive me."

The prince ignored her apology. Instead, he sighed again, "I thought I was going insane, Annabelle." 

"I understand," she nodded, fiddling with the end of her maid gown. "I am just a simple maid."  

"You think that might have been the reason for my insanity?"

He was looking at her, but she forced her gaze down.

"Annabelle, look at me," he ordered her. When she did not budge, he gently put a hand under her chin and raised it. "I felt like I was going insane because, while I was looking everywhere for you, you had been right in front of me all along."

Her eyes watered and that did not go unnoticed by the prince. He reached out and captured her face in his palms, "Don't cry." 

"You are to marry Princess Gwendolyn." Annabelle had mumbled, urging herself to look at anything but the prince. She avoided looking at his eyes the most.

"You are the one I wish to marry," he admitted, still holding her face. "Please, look at me."

Sniffing back more tears, Annabelle raised her gaze towards the prince. "She is a wonderful princess."

"She is not you, is she?" he carefully said, hoping that it would bring a smile on the girl's face. It did not.

"But, I am no princess," Annabelle frowned, turning away from the prince completely. "I am not worthy enough to be your bride."

"Is that what you think?" he gasped, standing up to his feet. Annabelle watched him pace back and forth on the grass as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "While I was going out of my mind thinking you do not want to tell me the truth because you wanted nothing to do with me, you were thinking that you are not worthy enough to be mine?"

She stayed quiet.

"Alright," he finally said, grabbing Annabelle's hands and pulling her gently upwards. "If you can look me in the eyes and tell me that you do not feel anything towards me, I will let go of everything. I will marry Gwendolyn, if that is your wish. But, only if you tell me the truth."

Annabelle took the time to process his words. Surely, they stung like a knife.

"I cannot do that," she breathlessly said, shaking her head.  "I cannot lie to you."

"Annabelle," he frowned when he saw her crying again.

She desperately tried to wipe the tears that relentlessly kept coming. Everything about that night brought out a surge of emotions in her. "I do not want to lie."

"You don't have to lie," he whispered gently, touching her cheeks with both of his hands. "Just tell me what you feel." 

She replied within a beat, "I love you."

Before she could register the consequences of her words, the prince had pulled her into a hug so tight she could barely breathe. He took a deep breath, the familiar scent of vanilla made his head dizzy. 

He finally felt at home.

Pulling away, Alexander captured her lips in one swift motion. It was not how he imagined his first kiss with her. He thought it would be gentle and sweet. The kiss was no gentle at all. It was desperate and full of emotions both of them could not even begin to comprehend. It was the kind of kiss that set off a burning feeling in both of their stomachs.

Reeling from happiness, he swiftly picked her up and spun her around. Annabelle could not fight the giggle that escaped her lips. 

Alexander brought his lips to her forehead and planted a chaste kiss that was enough for the crimson color on Annabelle's cheeks to appear. 

"I love you," the prince whispered, wrapping his arms around the girl once more. She fit into him like a puzzle he was long missing. "I have to tell you a secret, though."

Annabelle looked at the man she was in love with in confusion. He chuckled.

"I never intended to marry Princess Gwendolyn," he admitted. "Nor, did she." 

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she is merely a friend," he said. "Desperately in need of someone to cover up the fact that she does not like men."