Cinderella Rebirth //hiatus

Chapter 17

Ella raised her head, hard. What entered her sight was a made-pitiful appearance of Fel—no, Ella reminded herself—it was Henry Jones.

Ella was in a trance until Henry Jones shot her a questioning look. "No, I'm not here to buy some dresses," finally she responded, "I was just passing by."

Clearly this was what Henry Jones had anticipated. "Then care for a walk?" He sent her a flirty raising eyebrow, much contradicting with his first puppy face.

"Oh," Ella swiftly countered, "so you're not going to buy any dress?"

The maids beside Ella, who were contemplating their miss' interaction with this dashing young man with curious leers, coughed up simultaneously. They shut their mouths immediately when Henry Jones' gaze sharply lingered on them for a millisecond.

"I'll take that as a yes, Young Miss," Henry Jones smiled indifferently, "where do you want to go?"

Ella laughed. "Sure, Felix. What about some coffee?"

He shrugged his shoulders off. "Why not?"

So Ella left her batch of maids and went to a coffee shop with Henry Jones. Lily had actually opposed Ella going alone with him. As a pure young maid, she didn't like the scandalous idea of her miss going in an illicit rendezvous with a man. But what could a puny Lily do? Ella ignored him and went away with Henry Jones. She had some question to ask him, and Henry Jones also had a reason to talk to Ella. 

"So?" Ella sat, taking the menu from the table, "what's your business?"

"Well," Henry Jones also sat down in front of her, "just wondering. You going to the ball?"

Ella scanned through the menu. Varieties of coffee kinds greeted her eyes, saluted her exceptional hidden beauty. "You're not Felix."

"Eh?" Henry Jones was bewildered.

Ella didn't heed him any spare attention. She looked at the images of the steaming cup of coffees and some frosty glasses of lattes. Ella pondered to decide between a cup of flat white or some hazelnut milk latte. With some extra caramel on top. Or should she just order a strong cup of dark, black coffee?

"Andeane, why are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?" After a scary moment of awkward silence, Henry Jones finally asked.

"I want a purple velvet and a lemon cheesecake. And I'll take a flat white and the hazelnut milk latte. Extra caramel on top and I request almond milk. Thanks." Ella smiled sweetly at the waiter. The waiter was enchanted to the point he couldn't move his feet away from the table. Henry Jones glared resentfully at him and barked. "Caramel macchiato! And please hurry." And that was when the waiter finally moved away halfheartedly and stole back some glances on his way to the barista. 

Ella stared directly at Henry Jones' eyes. They were exceptionally deep and lively. Those eyes stared back pitifully, but meeting Ella's intense gaze, Henry Jones could only cough and retracted his gaze on her.

"What?" Henry Jones just couldn't help but ask! "Why are you looking at me like that?" He said that with a joking, playful tone to hid his nervousness.

After a while, Ella answered. "You are not Felix."

Henry Jones was an intelligent man. Even though he didn't understand how Ella actually busted his lies, he knew that regardless of the way, Ella did. And that was the thing that really mattered.

"Emm," he scratched his head, looking extremely disturbed, "well, I actua- uhh," he searched for the right words he needed to say, "ehh."

Henry Jones, after stuttering for a while, gave up on trying to explain. He only messed up his own hair, and muttered, "Sorry."

Ella widened her eyes in surprise. She wasn't expecting this. Ella actually knew that Henry Jones was doing this for her sake, that the lie he gave was a white lie. Yet, Henry Jones actually didn't try to defend himself for his lie, saying that it was for her sake, but rather submitted his wrongdoings in lying by apologizing directly. Something warm sprouted beneath her deepest, coldest, and loneliest frozen, hurt self. Ella didn't diminish that feeling. But she didn't say anything else until her order was delivered, leaving Henry Jones waiting, playing alone with his nervousness.

Ella chuckled silently to her steaming flat white. She took a deep breath, looking at Henry Jones' eyes, and parted her cherry lips. "No, I'm sorry."

Henry Jones didn't dare to accept a woman's apology. He thought that it was way too risky, furthermore when he didn't even know for what reason she did. So he eyed Ella questioningly.

"You must have realized how I react to your name Henry," Ella stirred her cup of coffee, when Henry Jones' caramel macchiato was left untouched, "and how much I despise it. Thank you for your concern, I guess." Ella hid a smile behind her cup. But Henry Jones caught her lips curving upwards slightly. He took a breath.

"How?"

"Your acquaintance in the barn, who was it? That rude crap." Ella jammed her fork to the lemon cheesecake. She glanced at Henry Jones, to find that his eyes had never left hers. She smiled lightly and spoke again. "I'll call you by your name from now on."

"I don't mind you calling me nicknames," Henry Jones was already relaxed by now and he leaned back on his seat, "like honey or darling."

Ella raised her eyebrows, and they continue to concentrate on their own perspective coffees.

"That Henry you hate," Henry Jones put his empty glass on the table, "is the shitty Crown Prince, right?"

Ella was silent, and Henry knew that it meant silent acknowledgement. "That tiny dick! How dare he!" He saw Ella's nonchalant face and continued. "It's okay not to attend the ball."

Ella sighed. "It's a royal decree." She was contemplating, in reality, should she ditch the palace's ultimatum or should she just rock the ball in her best ball dress and knock the prince out.

"Well," Henry smirked, "the decree's only for unwedded girls."

"I am one." She was going to said another thing but realized something. She retracted her focused gaze on her purple velvet and stared shockedly at Henry Jones. 

The latter only laughed. 

"What are you saying, Andeane? Aren't you my fiancée? Or maybe you want to marry me right here, and right now?"