The Elusive Prince

Chapter 42: The Deal

Merideth

I don't know where Cassian was taking me, but I let myself be dragged anyway. Well better heading nowhere rather than staying on that place where I know we will just be scrutinized and bullied into admitting something we didn't do. Though judging from their reaction earlier, they wouldn't be bothering us for a while.

Lost in thought, I didn't notice that Cassian already stopped and we were now on the Rose Garden that we usually go to. It seems that he liked this spot.

Sitting down on the same spot as usual, Cassian suddenly let out a sigh.

"Well...I just did that." he said then laughed shakily which made me laugh aloud too and he followed. We laughed for no reason until our sides hurt and there were tears threatening to spill from our eyes.

Wiping the tears away I turned around to face him. He was catching his breath too and was clutching his sides.

"Yeah you just did." I said and he turned towards me and looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry. If only I didn't offer to walk with you, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You just said we wouldn't say sorry in every turn yet here you are." I said and seemingly coming into a realization looked at me panicked which made me chuckle a little.

"Besides, its not your fault and it's not mine either. We were just going out for a walk and those nosy people just wanted drama so they created one."

"Well you have a point there. Still though..." he didn't continue and just sighed.

"Hey don't worry too much about it. I'm sure after what you said to them they wouldn't bother us that much which by the way, you were cool there." I teased and he groaned, embarrassed.

"Stop reminding me. I don't even know what got into me." he mumbled while rubbing his face hidden between his hands.

"Hey! It's nothing to be embarrassed about. And honestly, if you didn't step in I would've snapped so thank you for saving my reputation and for making them stop or atleast making them less nosy." he turned to me and gave me a look.

"I'm sure they won't stop though. Especially not after THAT." he groaned again and sunk back on the tree again.

"You're right but atleast they won't pester like crazy. There's still going to be whispers following us though, I hope you're not too uncomfortable with that."

"How about you?" I looked at him, raising my eyebrows in question. "You're clearly going to be the most affected here. I don't particularly care, I'm new here so it doesn't matter to me but you?" he said concerned and really does he have to think about me all the time?

"Nothing I can't handle. I mean, I already get so much gossip with Kairo, it's not going to affect me now. Besides, all they could do is whisper anyway so I'm going to be fine. We're going to be fine, hopefully."

"Right, what's the deal with you and Kairo anyway? I went to the forum and saw a lot of comments about you guys. I'm not...interfering...with your relationship, right?" he said the last few words hesitantly while biting his lower lip which made me laugh out loud because what he said was not only ridiculous but also because he looks so cute like this.

"Oh my goodness! Stop that!" I said when he looked even more confused (cute), clueless why I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" he said after another round of laughter from me.

"Everything." I said and stopped laughing because he looks so lost right now. Clearing my throat, I turned to him.

"Sorry about that. I already told you right? Kairo and I aren't dating. Don't believe those rumors on the forum."

"But, you act like you're together all the time? Atleast from what I saw on the forum." he mumbled and I almost burst out laughing again.

"Oh my goodness, did you stalk the tag under my name or something?" I said jokingly but he went a little red and I burst out laughing for the nth time tonight.

"You totally did didn't you?" I said before laughing again and he looked redder now.

"It was by accident! I was going through the thread they made about us then got lost on to your tag." he breathed out, completely red by now.

"Hmmm yeah okay." he looked at me defensively and I just chuckled, calming down while Cassian looked ready to flee.

"Hey, it's okay I'm just teasing you." that didn't lessen his blush though.

"And about Kairo and I, you're the first one to know this actually," he turned around to face me and I continued. "But, the only reason that we were acting like that was because we made a deal that we would act like a couple since we were probably going to be arranged for marriage anyway so we decided to give it a shot you know? But we don't have that feelings for each other no matter how hard we tried. It's strangely platonic and we realized that around 9th grade." he looked a little dumbfounded and I just powered through.

"As for the flirting, it just sort of became a habit I guess. Besides, we agreed that if we found someone, we would stop with the flirting but since we still hadn't found said person we just continued I guess." I finished and leaned back on the tree and looked at the pale moon on the dark sky above us.

"So if you don't mind me asking, why Kairo of all people. I mean, there's Reagan too?" he asked hesitant, probably thinking that his question is ridiculous (because it is).

"Well, one is because Kairo is the Crown Prince of Vian and it's ideal if he were to marry me, the Second Princess of Wiyelt, the main kingdom. Actually, we weren't really told by our parents about it but we kinda just figured it out ourselves so we made that deal. However, if we happen to fall in love to someone else, we would break the deal as I have said earlier." he went silent for a few seconds before looking at me.

"So that means, that if someone else wants to court you it's okay?" he said and I just raised my eyebrows at that.

"Why? You wanna try?" I teased and chuckled because that can't be the case right?

"And if I said yes?" I froze and chuckled nervously, thinking that he was kidding but the seriousness on his eyes said otherwise. I stopped laughing entirely and looked at him, taken aback.

"You're not serious are you?"

"And if I am? You're going to let me?" he quipped back, still serious.

"Well...I can't exactly stop you can I? Why if I say no will that change your mind?"

"Of course." he said, not even taking a second to think about it. His answer was immediate that I almost got whiplash.

"Well..." hesitating, I didn't know how to continue and he was still looking at me, as if trying to decipher my reaction (it was bewildered).

"Hey don't worry, if you're uncomfortable you could just tell me." he said after a couple of seconds in awkward silence. I cleared my throat and looked away.

"Well...not really that awkward per se. I just don't know if you're serious or not."

"It could be serious it could be a joke, it's up to you really." I looked at him confused and he just chuckled.

"It's okay if you're not okay with it Merideth. I might be moving too fast or whatever that is. I could stop and we could just forget this conversation happened."

"No no, it's okay. Though you are moving too fast, I think. What even made you want to court me?" I asked, although a little awkward because I didn't know that we were going to end up here today. Okay maybe I did, how could I not after that mess from earlier?

"I don't know. It's still hypothetical though." he shrugged like nothing and I gave him a look, disbelief written all over my face?

"Seriously?" was what I said after a couple of seconds of looking at him and not getting a reaction from him at all.

"What? I said I was going to court you but doesn't mean right now. It's just a proposition for now." he shrugged like he just did't confuse me like crazy.

"I can't believe this." I chuckled in disbelief because did he really just say that?

"Though, if I did decide to finally court you, would you let me?"

"We just had this conversation, like five minutes ago."

"You didn't say yes or no Merideth." I looked at him incredulously.

"Okay fine, I would probably let you but that doesn't mean that you would succeed." I said and he just chuckled a little.

"Still worth the shot. But I'm not going to do it now. We could still be friends though." he said and smiled at me innocently.

"Are you friendzoning me?" I teased, feeling the awkwardness from earlier gone for some reason.

"Well for now I will. I still want to get to know you better before I decide to court you seriously, I hope you're ready for that." he teased back and I just punched his shoulders, jokingly and we settled into comfortable silence this time as we just bask under the moonlight.

"So about the thread, do you wanna do anything about it?" I asked after a couple of seconds.

"I don't know. As you have said, even if we say anything nobody would believe it anyway so what's the point? Let them be if it's okay with you." he said with eyes closed and I just nodded and did the same.

"Besides..." he added suddenly which made me c***k one eye open and saw him smirking.

"If I finally decide to court you and we date, atleast they won't be too surprised." he teased and I just slapped him in the arm, flabbergasted at his audacity and seemingly shameless nature that I didn't know existed (yeah because I don't know him that well yet).

"Oh my goodness, I didn't know you could be this shameless." I gasped, still shocked. He just laughed and let me slap him in the arm.

"Well, we have time to learn about each other right?" he blurted suddenly which made me stop mid-slap to gape at him. I can't believe him right now, and to think I thought he was shy by nature but it seems that the events from earlier unlocked this side of him and I don't know if it's cute or infuriating.

"Whatever." I just finished lamely and flopped back and he just went on laughing before flopping back to the bark too.

"Though I'm serious Merideth. I really want to get to know you more and I hope you do too." he sounded so sincere tha I couldn't help but smile at him gently.

"Yeah, I would love to do that too."