"You have to stop doing that."
"Stop doing what?"
"Saying things that makes me want to kiss you when I can't."
Becoming the prince's personal bodyguard should be a dream come true, shouldn't it? Good pay, palace life, but the real gem that eve...
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Panic surges through me like wildfire. I cannot help but try to steal a glance in the direction of the voice, and my worst fears are confirmed the moment I meet the concerned gaze of his all-too-familiar face.
Casimir, still unaware of Chad's identity, looks at him with a guarded expression.
Chad's hands are resting heavily against his knees and he is bent over, trying to catch his breath.
He probably ran as fast as he could to get here.
"She'll be alright," Casimir responds cautiously.
Despite Casimir's answer, a shadow of uncertainty lingers in Chad's eyes, casting a subtle veil of doubt over his stare.
"How is she even here?" Chad questions under his breath, his tone laced with disbelief.
"What do you mean? Who even are you and how do you know her?" Casimir demands, his patience thinning as he struggles to understand how Chad could possibly know me.
Chad recovers from his stance and looks at Casimir with a blank expression as if grappling with the sheer absurdity of the question he has just been asked.
Neglecting to answer Casimir's questions, Chad proceeds to ask, his voice filled with incredulity. "You have to be Larissa, right? It has to be you, I've never gotten it wrong."
Before Casimir gets the opportunity to interrupt, I push my back off the mattress and the medics temporarily hold their actions.
"You've got it wrong." I retort, struggling to restrain the bitterness underscoring every word I utter.
Chad's eyes widen immediately, and he begins to shake his head slowly as if he is unwilling to accept the notion that I am not Larissa.
Though, I am not surprised that he is able to recognise me.
After all, he always could.
He has always been one of the few who could actually differentiate me and her.
In my peripheral vision, I also manage to catch sight of Casimir, who had his brows knitted together in a blend of suspicion and perplexity.
"Y-You're lying to me," Chad stammers as he makes his way towards me hesitantly, his voice catching on the tears that threaten to overflow.
Noticing Chad's rapid emotional unravelling, Casimir's demeanour shifts instantaneously. The sudden unpredictability stemming from Chad's emotional instability has put him on high alert.
In a matter of moments, Chad squats before me, closing the distance between us until there are mere inches separating us. His gaze fixates intensely on my features. A fleeting softness graces his eyes, an echo of familiarity he finds in my visage. Yet, a profound sadness shadows his expression, as though he is torn between his yearning for my admission and the growing realisation that what stands before him might not truly be 'Larissa'. His searching eyes hold a mixture of hope and doubt, battling against the truth he is unwilling to embrace.
