The Concealed Princess

10. PERVENCHE

( EMANUELE'S POV)

I was so excited to finally meet Sofia's father. She had invited me and Damien for dinner. I was excited all day. My face doesn't say so but my heart does. Sofia now has a special place in my life. She is caring and kind and is concerned about her friends and family.

Her personality is the opposite of what people thought she would be like. People talked all kinds of nonsense about her without even trying to know who she was. I did not care about it back then but now it infuriates me if I hear something like that about Sofia.

After school, I called Damien.

"Hello? Damien?"

"Emanuele! My friend!"

"I need your help!"

"Sure, what is it?"

"I can't say on the phone but could you maybe come to my place before we leave?"

"Okay, I'll get ready and come there in half an hour?"

"That'll be magnificent! See you soon!"

*** HALF AN HOUR LATER ***

There was a knock on the door. Baileywick, my butler rushed to open the door.

"Sir, Prince Damien is here to see you." He announced

"Yes, I'll be right there Baileywick, could you take him to the living room and ask him what he would like to eat or drink?"

"Yes sir." With this, he left.

I quickly put on my brooch and watch and go downstairs to Damien.

"Hello, Damien!" I greet him

"Hello, Emanuele! What was it that you needed help with?"

"Well...Umm...it's... you know... umm ..."

"Emanuele take a deep breath. And then talk."
I take a deep breath and then continue.

"It's about this girl I've had my eyes on... how do I tell her I like her."

"OH MY GOD! YOU LIKE A GIRL!?!?"

"Y-y-yes?"

"Now THIS is new. Emanuele asking for help from me, the perfect child Emanuele. The good at everything, Emanuele."

"Yes because I know you are good at relationships and I'm not. She is the first girl I ever had feelings for. The first girl that I want to ask out. And I want it to be perfect and you are the only person I can ask for advice."

"Okay, okay, I'll help you but first tell me who this girl is."

"Okay, it's... Sofia."

"WHAT?!?! To be honest, you two will be perfect together and I guess Sofia likes you too so I say go for it."

"But how do I ask her out?"

"Well do this; after dinner, take her someplace where you two can be alone and then subtly ask her if she would be interested in going on a date with you. The rest will be her decision, mon ami."

"Okay, so after dinner when we come back home, I'll her to take a walk with me and we'll go to a secluded but pretty spot and there I'll ask her to go out on a date with me."

"Perfect! Now we should leave. We don't want to be late for dinner."

We went next door to pick up Sofia. We knocked on the door and one of the twin butlers, I'm guessing Pierre, opened the door. He said Sofia had just come down. I looked past him to see Sofia run downstairs to the front door. She was looking dreamy, so dreamy that I could barely take my eyes off of her.

She greeted us and complimented us. I was so dazed that I spoke my thoughts out too early, I spoke in Italian. I hope she doesn't speak Italian. To my luck, she doesn't.

We take off for the venue of the dinner. I met Sofia's father for the first time and I wanted to make sure to leave a good impression of myself him. To my surprise, he said he knew my father. That they were good friends. Information that I did not know.

I barely knew my parents and grandfather and grandma rarely talked about them. Whenever they do, they get emotional because they miss them so much. So I don't ask too much either.

As we entered the restaurant, a girl, who I guessed was Cynthia came running toward us. She hugged Sofia, which was strange from what Sofia told us they despised each other.

We sat down at our arranged table. I was having fun all along talking to Sofia's dad. He was a very interesting person. However, every time Sofia tried to talk to me Cynthia would interrupt her and change the topic. She did this quite a few times and it had started to enrage and irritate me. After dinner, Sofia excused herself from the table and a short while later so did Cynthia. It was a relief since Cynthia was continuously boasting about herself.

After a while when Sofia returned to the table she looked distressed. I was worried about her and wanted to ask her if she was okay but did not at the time. I decided to wait till we were alone.

Later, we bid goodbye to her father and left for Amaryllis. Sofia had been quiet the whole ride home. It was quite unusual for her to be so hushed.

Finally, we reached home and I asked her if she would join me for a walk to which she agreed. When I asked her if she was okay and took her hand, to which she winced, I saw a dark painful bruise on her wrist. I asked her who did it and she burst out crying. I was taken aback. My heart ached to watch Sofia cry. It had to be Cynthia. I pulled Sofia into a tight hug. I could not bear the sight of her crying. I assured her that Cynthia would not be able to play her tricks anymore and that I would always protect her.

We sat down on a nearby bench I wrapped her in my blazer and then hugged her again. After a while, I checked on her. She had fallen asleep in my arms. I did not want to wake her up so gently carried her to her cottage.

I knocked on the door with my feet and Benjamin, I guess, opened the door. I carried Sofia inside and asked Benjamin, where her room was. He escorted me to her room.

I gently lay Sofia on her bed and was about to leave when she held my hand. I sat beside her bed.

"Please don't leave me." She whispered to me.

I sat there on the floor beside her bed holding her hand. I lay my head on the bed and looked at her peaceful face. So beautiful and divine. Do I even deserve a person so pure and pretty?

***
Greetings readers this is the author. I was just happy to complete 10 chapters of the book. I hope you are enjoying it. Do share and vote. And do comment your reviews.

Happy reading!

~T