What was going on!
It seemed as if one minute she was attempting to enjoy a spontaneous road trip with her friends and the next she was waking up to chaos, centered around one of her said friends.
There was too much happening at once; too much to process in such a short period of time. Aziza was still trying to get over her breakup. Yet, she went from brokenhearted, to one night stand, to possibly married, to being treated as a prostitute, and finally to being married to a prince. The whole thing was so absurd that it had to be a practical joke.
On top of all of that, now she was kissing Greg! She actually kissed him back!
She didn’t mean to do it, but it just… happened. However, what surprised her the most, when he deepened the kiss, was how it sent shivers down her spine and she enjoyed it. She never felt this way whenever she kissed Travis. Never felt the fireworks. Never felt a ripple through her chest which felt terrifyingly right. It changed everything.
This is crazy, she said to herself, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Why does this feel so right?
He tightened his arm around her waist, bringing her closer to him until there wasn’t any space between their bodies. Time seemed to stop and she unraveled. Every thought vanished as her knees buckled and her fingers tangled in his hair, anchoring herself to him. Not that it mattered, for his maddening patient kiss seemed to hold a firm, unshakable promise that reassured her that he wouldn’t let her fall.
When he finally ended the kiss, a tiny whimper escaped her lips, as his lips lingered for a moment, barely grazing hers. She didn’t want it to end.
Aziza winced as she felt him smiling. Of course, he heard the noise that came from her.
She wanted to kick herself for that, girl, you gave away too much. Now what must he think about you?
He leaned his forehead against her, taking in a shaky breath, before he said, “I need to talk to you, Aziza. And I need you to listen. Can you do that for me?”
She just breathlessly nodded her head, not knowing what else to do.
Standing up straight, Greg led her to sit back down on the sofa from before, sitting down next to her. They were silent for a while avoiding eye contact. Then Greg said, “Believe me when I tell you, that I’m not joking about being a prince of Valoria. This was what I wanted to talk to you about before we were interrupted.”
He paused as though giving her time to let his words sink in.
Aziza wanted to reject it, but she couldn’t. She was surprisingly thinking clearly now, even after that earthshaking kiss they shared moments ago. Even still, she just nodded her head unsure about speaking again. It was enough to convince Greg to continue.
“I’m sorry for not telling you sooner,” he said, taking one of her hands in his. “I wanted to so often, but I couldn’t. If anyone were to learn who I was, I would have to return home immediately. It was part of the agreement with my parents. ‘They would allow me to attend University here in the States only if my true identity remained hidden, while I stayed out of trouble and didn’t embarrass the Royal family.’ In return, I would be able to live a normal life without the responsibilities of the Crown, and be free to move around without a security detail.”
He paused again, searching her face as though he was expecting her to react a certain way.
When she didn’t speak, he spoke again, “Please forgive me if I hurt you. I never meant for this to get out of hand.”
Was she hurt? Aziza had to admit that she wasn’t happy finding out the way she did, but she wasn’t hurt just because he failed to tell her. She understood why he didn’t talk about it. However, that wasn’t what she found bothersome.
No matter how much she could understand and respect his reasons, the one thing that she couldn’t let go of was Greg himself. Who was he?
Thinking back on seeing his full name on the marriage certificate, she could now understand the long name, but that person was not the one she thought she knew. She began to realize that she never really knew him. She was married to a stranger and not just any stranger… a prince. It was the kind of situation one would expect to find in a modern day Fairy Tale. However, this wasn’t a Fairy Tale; it was her life.
“Who… who are you,” she whispered, staring at the floor.
Greg froze beside her for a moment. Then he knelt down on one knee in front of her, taking both of her hands in his. “Beb… Aziza, you know me. I’m still the same guy you got to know after our first study session. The only thing that I didn’t tell you about was my title, which doesn’t mean anything.”
“Ha… seriously, Greg,” she yelled, standing up and walking towards the end of the living room area. “I would say that knowing that part of you is a big deal! That’s a whole 'nother side of you that I don’t know. I know nothing about your family or even how you are around them.”
“You’re right. You don’t know, but to be fair… you can say the same thing for me about you. Have you told me anything about your family?”
She stopped pacing as his words hit her. Closing her eyes and slightly shaking her head, she admitted, “No… I haven’t.”
She looked at Greg to see him smiling at her, trying to hold back a laugh.
“This isn’t funny, Greg,” she chuckled, plopping down in one of the single cushioned seats.
“Sorry… sorry,” he said, raising his hands in surrender.
“Ok, so… I guess I shouldn’t make a big deal out of this,” she said, crossing her arms as she leaned back in the chair.
“You have every right to feel the way you do,” he said, moving to sit on the sofa again.
“However, I just think that there are other issues that we need to address that are of higher priority than how well we know each other.”
“Really? What issues,” she asked, leaning her head back against the chair.
Before Greg could answer, there was a knock at the door. Glancing over at it, he sighed heavily, “Now what?”
He got up and headed to the door. However, instead of answering it immediately, he asked, “Who is it?”
Aziza couldn’t hear what was said through the closed door, but after a few minutes Greg finally opened the door to let the person in. They spoke quietly by the door for a few minutes more, before coming over to where she was still seated. She was expecting to see Reggie, but was pleasantly surprised to see Mike following behind Greg.
Staring at Mike, she began to notice something off about him. He wasn’t dressed in his normal casual T-shirt and worn jeans; instead, he was wearing a black suit and black tie, similar to the men who tried to remove her from the room. Although he wasn’t wearing any sunglasses, he looked way too much like Reggie’s goons, which made her very uneasy.
“Good morning, Miss Mc… I mean, your highness,” Mike began, glancing at Greg before bowing in front of her.
Quickly sitting up, Aziza waved her hands in front of her in protest, “Woa… wait a minute. Don’t call me that. It’s just me… Aziza remember? Besides, what’s up with this get up? Why are you dressed like Reggie’s goons?”
“Reggie, Ma’am,” he asked, looking from her to Greg.
Greg just shook his head as he smiled, “She means Reginald.”
Mike finally cracked a smile, “I see. I wonder how he took that.”
“Not well at all, I’m afraid,” Greg said, covering his mouth with his fist. “You should have seen it. It was great! I think the old stiff has finally met his match with Aziza.”
“I bet he has,” Mike chuckled, trying to hold back his laugh and failing miserably. “Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to see his reactions.”
Turning back towards her, Mike said, “I’m sorry if I’ve alarmed you, Ma’am, but I’m your highnesses’ head of security. Now that everything has changed, I’m no longer assigned to my undercover duties. I’ll be providing you with all of your safety needs and overseeing your personal security when they’ve been assigned to you. In the meantime, if you need…”
Aziza put her hand up, stopping Mike mid sentence, “That’s enough right now. I’m still trying to process all the other surprises earlier, so I can’t handle another one at the moment. And stop calling me Ma’am!”
“My apologies, what should I call you then?”
“Same as always, just Aziza.”
He glanced at Greg, who was sitting on the sofa with a huge smile plastered on his face, shaking his head. She could tell he was once again trying to hold back from laughing. He was enjoying it way too much.
“I cannot call you that anymore,” Mike said, folding his hands in front of him. “There has to be another alternative.”
Before she could answer him, Greg interjected, “As entertaining as this is, we’ll need to put this conversation on hold for now. We have too much to discuss before we leave today.”
“Leave? What do you mean, leave? Where are we going?” Aziza asked, slight panic in her voice.
He looked at her with a solemn look, “Back to Valoria.”