Venomously, yours

8

"No Aaron, I am smarter than you."

"Come on, Elide, you couldn't even remember our names!"

"Hey to be fair, I didn't even know your names. Father chose the princes, not me."

"Wait, What!" The moment these words slip out of my mouth, I regret it. It is true, I never got a say in who should be a part of the Choosing. Well, it's not like I was looking forward to meeting any princes.....

"Elide, what do you mean by you didn't know us, aren't you supposed to be told about us before the Choosing?" Aaron gives me a confused look. We had spent the whole afternoon together now and Aaron found the use of the words 'prince' and 'princess' too annoying, that's why we decided to just say our names casually as any friends would.

"You see Aaron- Uh... I don't know how to explain, but uhh- Ok, here goes nothing. I never liked the idea of having to choose my prince like this. Everyone says love is supposed to be one of the most beautiful feelings on this Earth and I want to feel it. Everyone says that love is supposed to be the most exhilarating, calm and wonderful feeling in the world, and I want to experience that. Naturally. Not through some forced meeting where a number of strangers come in and quite literally force me to love," I looked at him."No offence," He chuckled and shook his head, continuing to stare at me with a different look in his eyes.

"I just want to feel happy and safe and warm with a person of MY choice. I mean, technically this is my choice, but not really. I want the whole process, when our eyes meet and when we have our first kiss, our first date, our first 'I love you's....I want it all....Go ahead, call me a fool"

I waited for Aaron to say something to me, but instead, he was just staring at me. "Aaron, tell me what you are thinking about." A small smile appears on his lips. "I don't know what to say, Elide. I mean now that I think about this, I would have loved to meet you in another way than this Choosing. I understand what you are trying to say... You're not really getting the chance to decide... you just have the pressure to choose one person among us 8 princes...How could I not see that."

There was an awkward silence between Aaron and me. "Elide, I don't know if this makes any sense, but-"

"Princess Elide! What are you doing here?" I groan in anger. "Your father is worried about you, how can you leave the palace without telling anyone?"

Why does my father have to be so stubborn, I look at the minister he sent to get me.. This is not the first time this is happening. I open my mouth to answer, but Aaron saves me from the pain of thinking of a lie.

"Sir, I called Princess Elide over here. I didn't know she wasn't allowed to leave the palace. I genuinely apologize for my mistake. Please forgive me." Aaron answers this very innocently as if it was actually his mistake...someone can put on an act really well.

The minister just shakes his head. "Prince Aaron, I am not going to say anything this time, but remember one thing, if you want to take Princess Elide with you outside, you have to ask the king first." Prince Aaron nods and then the minister walks away.

"I HATE HIM....WITH ALL MY HEART" I scream in anger, but this only makes Aaron laugh. "Why are you laughing?" I ask and pout. "Wow Elide, you really are one in a million girl. I saved you here and you are asking me why I am laughing? Don't I deserve a 'thank you, at least?" I just roll my eyes at his silliness and decide to play along.

"Oh, my very mighty Prince Aaron, you don't know how grateful I am right now. I really have no idea what I would have done without you around here. Thank you very very very much for saving me." After saying this I move a step closer to him and quickly kiss his cheek.

The blush on his cheeks was worth seeing. In his blush was a genuine sweetness I'd been craving. Maybe having all the princes around me is a good idea.

I decide to tease him about the blush. "Awww, someone is blushing...I wonder why." Saying this I pull his cheeks. 

"Elide, you better start running away from him." Aaron had a mischievous glint in his eyes. "What will you do if I don't?" Two people can definitely play this game.

I was still looking at Aaron with full confidence when he gives me no time to think and tackles me to the ground. "AARON" Aaron didn't move from on top of me and just started to laugh. "I am not going to get up from here, this is really comfortable." "Is it?" I ask annoyingly and he nods his head like a small kid.

"You know what else will be very comfortable?" Before you could even answer me and I flip us over and quickly stand up. I give him one look and start running from there. I hear Aaron laughing from somewhere behind me.

"Elide, that wasn't very kind of you, you know."

"Dear Aaron, I never said I was a kind person." I wink at him and he just shakes his head. "Hey Elide, listen, I know you haven't met all the princes yet, so I just thought I can take you to our meeting place and you can meet everyone there...."

This made me stop. "Wait a second, you have a meeting place? What do you even do there? Don't tell me you talk about me? Wait! Is that where prince Oren told you about....." Aaron just scratches his neck and a small smile appears on his face.

"Elide, don't be mad at him." I just roll my eyes. "Ok, I will deal with Prince Oren later on, in my way. But, let's go and meet the princes." I sounded like a small child who was about to get something she dreamt about. Aaron's face had also lit up.

After walking for a good 15 minutes, we reached another garden. It wasn't something really big, but it was very cute and cosy. The garden had a lot of flowers and it was full of greenery. The flowers were a dancing rainbow as if light and music had found a new way to blossom together.

"Elide come here, everyone is sitting on that side." I start following Aaron when something catches my eye. A piece of paper! Hiding in between a set of bushes. "Hey Aaron, can you give me a minute, I will be back." Aaron nods and I go to the bushes.

This was again just a normal piece of paper, but it had my name on it. I knew what this was, but I still open it.

Meeting all the princes, ha?

What makes you think that I will make this Choosing easy for you?

Just wait and watch, Princess....

This is not the end....

Just remember that appearances can be deceptive!

Venomously, yours