Probably

Chapter 16

Ask the French pest 

"And the award for the youngest and most influential entrepreneur goes to.... Miss Veronica Stevens."

I won! OMG I actually won! I couldn't believe this! I was so happy and excited and nervous at the same time to go on stage and accept the award. To be honest, I was a little doubtful about this victory, given the fact that Antoine was presenting the award and he wasn't that great at English and on top of that he told me he would only announce my name on stage. Hence, I thought Antoine must have read the name wrong.  The more I thought of it, I became quite confident about this possibility and that just assured me that it couldn't have been me.

None the less, people started applauding and some of my close colleagues and my family started heckling. It was both exciting and embarrassing. I swear I had mixed feelings about going on stage. It was as if my upper body was ready to graciously accept the award but my lower body was so scared that it seemed as if it was stuck to the chair. As a result, I produced no movement as such and I froze in my place.

People kept telling me that my name was announced and that I won and I have go on stage, but I was suddenly, for some random reason, held in the clutches of fear and I ignored the people around me. I was thinking that when I walked up, I might trip or maybe say something weird on stage. Or worse, kiss Antoine making things more complicated between us.

I was petrified. The only thing I did was put up an awkward smile on my face and continued staring blankly at the stage. As I continued staring, my eyes met Antoine's wonderfully calm blue eyes and his perfectly arched smile, which was radiating with happiness, and this sight had an immediate effect of recovery on me and helped me overcome my angst. Just his eyes had helped me get rid of my ridiculous fears and I started walking towards the stage.

As I walked, Antoine came off the stage and met me half way and escorted me to the stage, holding my hand. I am sure he must have anticipated my fear and hence, he held my hand tightly and kept rubbing the back side of my hand gently, trying to show that no matter what happened, he would always be there for me, to love me, to support me and to protect me. I was shivering as we went up on the stage and that’s when he kissed me on my forehead and whispered-" You deserve it. Don't worry. I didn't read the name wrong."

I smiled at him hearing his comment. He knew me so well. He was the one for me but our relationship had reached to such a complicated chapter that if we wished to be together in the last few ones, we had to continue it as friends and nothing more. If we continued as anything more, then we would end up breaking each other in such a way that we would be irreparable. Or at least one of us would be.

I gave my speech which turned out to be funnier than I expected it to be. There were people who couldn't stop laughing at my jokes. So much so that they began tearing up. I was happy to know that I was funny. As I got down the stage, Antoine accompanied me to our table. He wrapped his arm around my waist as we made our way to our seats. His warmth made my body fluster. I blushed out of joy and wished that this moment could last forever and ever. I looked up at him with a pleasant smile to see his face.

He was quite tall compared to me. I reached till his shoulders. So as result, when I looked up, I had a clear view of his amazingly sharp and perfectly clean shaved jaw line which happened to compliment his ever so 'princely' face. He made me truly happy. Happier than I deserved to be.

I was daydreaming about something that would not last forever. He was my prince, my first love but somethings are just not meant to be, even if they feel terribly right in your bones. I know I was shutting him out and I know I was doing him wrong but I was just protecting him from the painful future that was coming up.