The Royal Spare (COMPLETED)

39-Of Well-wishes And Sunsets

I couldn't help but smile as I watched Maiena thoroughly enjoy the simple meal that Tasha and her husband Dante prepared.

We grew up together and I have seen her in many gatherings and feasts. Watching her at that moment, dining with two people she just met, listening to their stories, sharing jokes and laughter with them, endlessly complimenting the dishes that were far less sumptuous than what the royal chefs serve her everyday, comfortably sitting on a tiny wooden chair in a small table that barely had space for us was both peculiar and nostalgic.

It took me back to our secret picnics in the abandoned cabin in the woods when we were young. Only then, it was just the two of us. I wondered if we were born outside of our royal and noble houses, would a simple life together give us unconditional joy? I wondered... If we ran away to a place where it would just be the two of us, would we be truly happy?

After our meal, I volunteered to help Tasha clean up while Dante showed Maiena his collection of photographs from his travels. Aside from being a chef, he also had talent in photography that piqued the interest of the Princess.

I may have stopped working to watch them too closely because after a while, Tasha nudged my side with her elbow and said, "She'll be fine. Dante probably has a thousand stories to tell, she won't get bored."

"I'm not worried about that." I mumbled.

"You're worried she's having too much fun." She chuckled. "I didn't know you were the jealous type." She said.

"I'm not." I grumbled, frowning when Dante made a joke and pointed at one photograph that made Maiena laugh heartily.

"Except when it comes to her." She observed as she put the dishes in the sink.

I turned to face her. Something in her tone told me it was time for a long overdue conversation.

"You don't have to hide it from me." She said. "When we met, you told me a story about a girl you have been inlove with all your life and that you were trying to get over her because you can't be together."

I nodded. I did tell her that story.

"That was the Princess, right?" Tasha said as she looked at the Princess.

I nodded again.

She smiled.  "It wasn't hard to guess. She would always come up in our random conversations. She was always on your mind wherever we went, like when we went to the market in Bergamo and you remembered how much the Princess loved cheese. Her Highness doesn't like seafood. Princess Maiena likes berries. It was the random and little things that told me, you were with me but there was someone else in your heart." She sighed.

"Tasha, I..." I wanted to apologize. It must have been hard for her.

"Don't even say sorry, Aidan. No one needs to apologize for loving someone. It was my choice to stay with you eventhough I knew I could never fill that special place in your heart because you kept her there." Tasha smiled softly. "Of course, I was a little hurt then but I now understand how it feels to be truly loved and to love just as much and more."

"When you left and went back to Reidonia to serve in the Elite order, I had hoped our relationship could survive it but I knew deep inside that it won't because you were going back to where she was, the one who owns your heart." She looked at me. "It was romantic really. Even at the expense of my own heartache, I sort of rooted for you two." She chuckled.

"Besides, if everything between us didn't happen and you didn't leave, my bestfriend wouldn't have the courage to profess his love for me and I wouldn't be this happy." She grinned as she rubbed her belly.