A blind love story

Chapter 2

"Princess?" He calls the third time and that is when I realise that he can not see. He begins to walk sideways but ends up too close to my father. Before anything happens, I step in front of him and hold on to his hand. He immediately intertwines his fingers with mine as I lead him away from my father and to where I was originally standing. He stands in front of me, towering over my head. "I am here." I softly reply. He lets out a sigh of relief and a smile. "You sound beautiful." My heart swells as I look at him in shock. 

How can a man sway me in such a way after just meeting him? Am I that easy?

He lets go of my hand and places both of his hands on my face. Despite the obvious breach of personal space, I let him study my face. "I'm sorry that I can not see your face." He furrows his eyebrows as if he was disappointed with himself. I shake my head "It's not your fault." I lift my hand to his cheek and he rests his head on it, seemingly comfortable with this intimate action. With my thumb, I stroke just beside his closed eyes, feeling comfortable in his presence. His hands let go of my face. One hand of his then encases the hand that I have on his face while the other finds my free hands and holds onto it. My heart swells once again but my mind is confused and uncertain.

Why do I feel comfortable?

"Princess, would you like to walk around with Ben privately?" the Queen asks and immediately, the dreamlike state I was in with the prince popped like a bubble. I have completely forgotten there are people here. I retreat my hand that was on his face and look around in shock to see the vast audience that was once there gone and the queen standing on the same level as us, I look at my father and surprisingly he has a small but loving smile on his face while Sai was beaming intensely. I look back at the prince to see he is as shocked as I am, fidgeting uncomfortably but still holding onto my hand. "Mother, I am so sorry. I - I don't know what- " the prince rambled flustered about the situation but the Queen lay a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "Ben, you will be surprised to know that this is completely normal." the Queen chuckles, enjoying her son's embarrassment. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. How is this normal, I let a stranger hold my hand and fondle my face. My father takes note of my confusion and speaks up, "My daughter, Aken, there is a reason behind your intimate actions. After you two spend the day together, before you go to bed, meet me in my sleeping chamber. I will explain what you need to know. And you, Prince Benjamin, I suggest you meet your mother for the same reason. " The prince straightens up once my father talks to him, "Yes, sir." He replies. "Right- " the Queen interjects "Kasbian, please show this fine warrior around and Chief Asofola, we have a lot of discussing to do." Before I can even question how weird everything has become, Sai was led out of the room by a man with a black suit with many pendants and my father followed the Queen, leaving the Prince and me alone in the room, with a couple of guards stationed at each door. I stood still with disbelief. I'm used to order, reason and logic and this situation have none of those.  "My princess?" the soft voice of the Prince echoed through the room. I turn and find myself caught in his deep eyes. "Yes?" I reply, " Would you like to visit the royal gardens." He bites his lip nervously as if he is worried that he would be rejected. Much to his relief, I agree.

~~~

I allow the prince to lead the way and he does it confidently, I guess after living in a place for so long, one would know his way around, even without sight. As we walk in silence, arm in arm still holding hands, we catch the attention of the servants. Many silently squeal in delight, whispering amongst themselves about how handsome the prince is. A few mentioned about how romantic our encounter was, a few mentioned how much they would have loved to be with the prince and a few talked about me, negatively. Not wanting to listen anymore, I decided to break the silence between us.

"So your name is Benjamin." The prince looks down at me in surprise but then quickly replaces his expression with a smile before looking straight forward. "It is. " He replies "And yours is Aken." He states. "It is." I echo, he chuckles in amusement. "I have never heard of that name before, but I like it."