Married to the Crown Prince who Hates Me

CHAPTER TWO

Chapter 2

Elena Solon

The sting of Max's rejection lingered long after he left the library especially since I could still hear his words echoing in my head, replaying like some cruel melody I couldn't shake.

"You're like a sister to me."

Sister.

I had never had one before but suddenly the word didn't seem as appealing as it usually did.

Every time I thought about it, and how I had bared my soul to him, my stomach churned.

The rest of my shift passed in a haze a few nurses and doctors came and went, some were polite with their requests, and others shot me impatient glares when I was too slow to answer their questions.

If they knew that it felt like I was drowning then maybe they would have been nicer but for some reason I doubted that.

By the time I stepped outside, it was far colder than it had been that afternoon, the wind was biting against my skin and the streets were quieter now, the steady hum of hover cars mixed in with the occasional drone zipping overhead.

I walked home like I always did but today it did nothing to help clear my head.

How many times had I been sidelined in my own life? Passed over, and ignored only to be treated like a placeholder in someone else's story?

I should be used to it by now, after I had been abandoned by my mother as a baby and almost beaten to death by my aunt I should have learned, but I hadn't.

I tugged my bag up my shoulder, I was halfway down the hospitals winding entrance when I heard them.

"Well, if it isn't our favorite little bookworm," a voice sneered behind me, sharp and mocking.

I stopped, my breath catching in my throat. My stomach twisting as I turned to see her the last person I wanted to deal with right now.

Claudia Darnell.

Turning slowly, I faced three women all impeccably dressed in clothing that would cost my year's salary, and radiating the kind of privilege that only came from being born into wealth and power.

The problem with Claudia Darnell is that she was the hospital owners daughter and she didn't want anyone forgetting it.

Claudia was the kind of woman who turned heads wherever she went, her platinum blonde hair cascading in perfect waves over her shoulders, her pale blue eyes gleaming.

She was everything I wasn't wealthy, confident, and utterly terrifying.

I tried to keep walking, pretending I hadn't heard her, but she stepped directly into my path, blocking my way.

"Claudia, "I greeted cautiously, forcing a polite smile on my face

"What can I do for you? "

Her lips curved into a predatory smirk as she crossed her arms.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out? " she hissed, her voice as sharp and cold, striding towards me.

"Find out what? " I asked, my voice quieter than I intended.

I glanced at her friends, who were flanking her like well-trained bodyguards. Lauren and Tessa, were her ever-present shadow.

"I'm on my way home," I said, hoping they'd take the hint and let me pass.

"Not so fast," Claudia said, stepping into my path jamming her shoulder with mine

"We need to talk about Max. "

My heart sank and my blood ran cold. Of course, this was about Max. Of course she knew. Claudia always knew everything that happened in this hospital. It was her family's empire, after all.

I really didn't want to talk about him though.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I lied, clutching my bag tighter though the trembling in my voice had likely betrayed me.

"Oh, don't play dumb," Claudia snapped, her smirk vanishing.

"I saw you talking to him earlier. Let me guess, you finally worked up the nerve to confess your little crush, didn't you? "

"Its pathetic, really, throwing yourself at someone so far out of your league. "

I couldn't stop the embarrassing heat that crept up my neck into my face

"That's none of your business. "

Claudia laughed, a cruel sound that echoed in the quiet street.

"Oh, but it is my business. Max is mine, Elena. He's been mine since the day he started here, and I don't need some sad little librarian throwing herself at him. "

I looked away, my throat tightening.

Her words hurt but I clenched my fists, refusing to let her see how much it hurt. I wouldn't be ridiculed like that.

"I don't know what you think you saw," I said quietly,

"But Max and I are just colleagues. That's all."

"Good, "Claudia said, taking a step closer.

"Because if I catch you so much as looking at him again, you're going to regret it. Do I make myself clear? "

I met her gaze, my chest tightening.

"Crystal. "

Claudia's smirk returned, as she turned to her friends, they stepped aside, their laughter trailing behind me as I walked away as quickly as I could without breaking into a run.

Someone set out a leg in front of me, I wasn't sure who it was but I tripped over it falling to the floor and a puddle of water that splashed into my face and eyes. I gasped trying not to sip it as they walked away their laughter trailing behind them.

I got off the floor, wiping my hands over my dress. I stood there for a long moment, my body trembling with anger and shame the tears I had being trying so hard to hold back all day threatened to spill. I swallowed them down, refusing to cry in the middle of the street.

Why was my life always like this?

The walk home felt longer than usual Claudia's words replaying in my mind, as well as the memory of Max's rejection.

By the time I reached the corner of the street, my hands were trembling. I ducked into an alleyway and leaned against the cold metal wall of a building, closing my eyes and taking slow, deep breaths.

No matter how hard I tried to keep my head down, to stay out of the way, it was never enough. People like Claudia always found a way to remind me of my place in the merciless hierarchy of the world.

I was a nobody.

Was there a way to make it stop, living this life that was like a prison.

I didnt ask for much.

I wasn't ambitious or greedy and I didnt need wealth or power or fame.

All I'd ever wanted was a quiet, simple life, filled with books and the occasional glimmer of happiness.

Apparently, it was too much to ask for.

I sighed and pushed off the wall, heading toward the bus stop at the end of the street. The neon lights of the city blurred together as I walked, I barely noticed the streetlights blinking in and out as I crossed the intersection near my apartment building.

I wasn't paying attention to the traffic sounds.

Why would I?

The automated systems kept everything moving perfectly, the hover cars and buses gliding along their magnetic tracks.

But they weren't.

Then I heard it, the roar of an engine.

The sharp blare of a horn snapped me out of my thoughts, and I turned my head just in time to see the bus barreling towards me, its headlights blinding in the darkness.

There was no time to scream, no time to move.

The impact was hard and fast. Pain exploded through me, white-hot and all-consuming.

I was vaguely aware of the ground rushing up to meet me, could feel the warm blood underneath my head, the sounds of metal screeching and people screaming somewhere in the distance.

And then nothing the world went dark.