Maid For You

Chapter 49

"You like my laugh?" I grinned.

With a mischievous glint in his eye, he sauntered towards me and smiled. "Maybe."

My heart pounded against my chest, my breath quivered in anticipation of...something. "Well," I started, my voice lowering. "I guess if I'm laughing, then we're both happy."

"Should I start telling knock-knock-jokes, then?" He quirked his head to the side.

"Oh, for sure."

Coleman grinned. "Knock knock."

"Wait, really?" I asked.

"Ahem. Knock. Knock."

A wry smile pulled at my lips. "Who's there?"

"Boo!"

"Everyone knows that one, Coleman," I lightly pushed at his chest and laughed before suddenly freezing. "I mean, Prince Coleman. Prince."

He rolled passed it. "You're supposed to say 'boo who?'"

I didn't say anything for a moment, lost in thought. Because at the end of the day, he wasn't just "Coleman." He was Prince Coleman. This...thing. Whatever this was, it wasn't really appropriate. It wouldn't last. It couldn't. It was all wrong. Besides, it was him.

"I'm sorry," I murmured.

"Sorry?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?"

"I don't..." I paused, trying to figure out how to phrase it. "I guess I just forget our different stations, I guess. I don't know if it's because we met under strange circumstance, or what, but I don't treat you like a Prince. I mean, everyone's respectful of you, like Lucas and stuff, and I'm not. And I...I don't act like I should."

He didn't say anything for a moment, until finally, "Where is this coming from?"

I wrapped the blanket around myself more tightly. "I've just been thinking about it."

"Is it because of Roiben?" He sounded somewhat angry. "Because he—"

"It's more than that."

"But that is a factor, no?" Prince Coleman asked.

I looked him in the eyes. "He just made me think about it, that's all."

"About what? That you aren't the best servant in the world? You couldn't have deduced that before?" he drawled.

A sting of annoyance pricked me. "No, i-it's more than that!"

"Oh really?" He folded his arms.

"Sure, maybe I don't clean the best or whatever. But...but I don't act like your servant. And you don't exactly act like my boss!"

"Why? Because I haven't fired you yet?"

"No...and yes." I rubbed my face with my hands. Why did I even bring this up?

"That's specific," he said.

"What I mean is, yes, you haven't fired me yet, but there's more to it than that."

"Oh? Care to enlighten me?"

I looked at him pointedly. "You know what I mean."

He rose an eyebrow. "Do I?"

I held my tongue. "Never mind."

"Never mind what?"

"It doesn't matter." I turned away from him.

"Clearly it does, Cassie," his voice was softer.

With my back still turned, I drew in a deep breath. "There's this...I don't know, thing? This thing between us? And I—it's just confusing. Because you know we don't act like, you know, normal?" I turned to see his face, and he looked surprised.

"Well..." He looked down at the ground. "I—I don't know what to say. I'm sorry you got the impression that something is going on between us. I tend to have that effect on women."

The world seemed to stand still. As I stood there, gaping at Prince Coleman, feelings of anger and mortification swept over me. I was so...frustrated that my tongue couldn't form words and my brain couldn't think coherently. However, my arms and legs still seemed to work and as I threw the blanket around me down to the ground and turn around and stormed off.

I was going back to the castle and Prince Coleman couldn't stop me.

And he didn't try to.