Royally Kissed | ✓

02; the pauper

Or maybe she just looked like some ordinary girl who had nothing to her name−messy ponytail, an old Coldplay t-shirt, and ordinary jeans for an ordinary girl.

Before the man could even protest, she fished out a couple of cash from her wallet in crisp, unfolded stack and slid it towards the lady's direction. "Here," said Paige at the woman, ignoring the way her mouth parted in awe, before shooting a lopsided smile to her bewildered audience standing next to her.

The pool of tears in his eyes was now long gone and was replaced with a mix of gratefulness and faint embarrassment flashing across his features. He was several inches smaller than her, with eyes looking all too droopy, which she could only describe as the result of sheer exhaustion. Everything about him just gave away that he had it pretty rough, really, and she'd wondered then what more she could do for him.

He shook his head moments later as if in utter disbelief. "I−I don't even know what I did to deserve this but," he paused, taking a glimpse down at particularly nowhere, gray locks falling into his eyes, and then he looked up at her with an expression so helpless that he couldn't help but wince in pain, "I won't refuse your help. I just can't afford everything that's on the receipt...for now. I will pay you back, don't worry. How can I pay you back? What's your name and your address?"

Paige couldn't help but feel self-conscious at the way he was staring at her like she'd just parted the clouds and climbed down from it. She waved her hand off in a dismissive manner. "No, you don't have to, really," she said, as she reached for the brown bag the pharmacist was holding and said a quiet 'thank you'.

Reluctant, he gingerly took it from her, his face still quite uncertain. "Are you sure?"

She flashed an amused smile. "Positive. You may have them. I'm glad to be of help."

Soon outside, the man paused walking and, much to her surprise, held her hand which didn't feel alarming to her; only she raised a hand in a haphazard manner to stop the guards perking up in her periphery.

For the first time since they'd exchanged words, the man finally heaved a bright smile, eyes crinkling at the corners. "We probably would never see each other again but I genuinely wish you well," his voice was gruff but gentle, "your parents must be very proud of you. I could only hope that you will find true love and happiness because a girl like you deserves to be swept off of her feet by a prince someday."

It was hard not to roll her eyes, but she quickly decided against it. There would be no prince on a white horse, at least, not in this generation. She believed in true love, she truly did. That hopeless romantic side of her, a part which had hoped that chivalry still existed today, was sitting somewhere inside her old soul and had already collected dust.

But she felt like she was born into a different time. She was inexperienced, yes, but she was no prude. She was well-aware that hooking up had been 'established' as another form of searching for the right one a long time ago; but the current culture broke the deal for her.

It was too rare, too unreachable to experience those simple, old-school gestures now. It was out there, she was sure of it, but she'd rather be single than settling for something less than she deserved.

Oh, but one can dream.

"For a generation who looks up to the Kardashians and has Donald Trump as the world's greatest leader, I think that's quite an ambitious vision, sir. We're way past the Shakespeare era, if I say so myself."

He let out a chuckle, taking her point into account. "I won't say you got it right, but I can't say you got it all wrong, either. It's not about which generation we belong because love, my dear, transcends time and space; clever but your argument is irrelevant to me. If you're going to base the portrayal of true love from the past then your thoughts are lingering on what's already happened rather than living in the present moment. Love is...love. There's no other way to put it. Just different way of showing it, I guess."