Arranged Love (Complete)

Chapter 2 - Meeting the Prince

Eva heard a knock at her door and when it opened her brother was standing there and he walked in.

"Hey," he said, sitting down beside her on the bed. "I know you're upset about this, but I've met Prince Paulo a few times through the years. You should be happy. He's a really good guy and you definitely could have done a lot worse."

"Could have done worse?" she laughed sarcastically. "You make it sound like they picked out a couch for me Kristoff. This is the man I have to spend the rest of my life with. Divorce isn't an option for us so marrying the wrong person is a HUGE deal," she said in frustration.

"Yeah well, Mom's right. This is a really good match. He's first in line to the throne of Spain and I know he had a lot of other princesses fighting to marry him. You're really lucky."

"If you think he's so great why don't you marry him then?" she grumbled, grabbing her pillow and snuggling it against her chest.

Kristoff laughed. "If I swung that way I would. But since I don't, it looks like he's stuck with you," he said with a light-hearted smile, poking her in the ribs with his finger and making her laugh.

He always had a way of cheering her up.

"But seriously Eva," her brother said softly. "I'm sure after a while you'll learn to love him just like Mom learned to love Dad."

"Sure," she said, taking a deep breath and letting it out, closing her eyes and wishing she'd wake up from this nightmare. A minute later her brother left, closing the door behind him. Eva pulled out her cell phone and called her friend Astrid.

Astrid was her closest friend in the world and she had known her since they were babies because their Moms were best friends. When her Mom Ingrid had moved to Norway from Sweden to marry King Hans, her best friend Olga moved here too so that she wouldn't be in this foreign country all alone without anybody. They had raised their daughters together and Astrid felt more like a sister to her than a friend.

"Hey Astrid," Eva said sadly with a sigh.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"No, not really," she said, taking a deep breath in and letting it out. "I just found out my Mom and Dad picked out a husband for me and the wedding's in two days."

"What!? Two days?! What the hell! Who is it? PLEASE tell me it's not that ass hat from Belgium, Prince Luke," Astrid said his name in disgust.

"No luckily it's not Luke, but I don't know anything about this guy besides his name. My brother and Mom seem to think he's a great guy but he could be even worse than Luke for all we know."

"Who is it!?"

"Prince Paulo Santiago Aragon from Spain."

"So what does he look like?"

"I have no idea. My Mom said he's handsome, but I'm afraid to even look," she sighed, flopping back on her pillow.

"You're going to marry him in two days and you haven't even looked him up yet? Are you crazy?" Astrid laughed.

"No I'm just afraid to look."

"Well I'll look for you and tell you what I think."

There were a few seconds of silence before she said, "Ummm, Eva, you really need to look him up. Trust me."

She exhaled and rolled over on her side, resting her phone on her pillow.

"No. I can't. What if I'm disgusted by him? I still have to marry him anyway." 

Astrid laughed. "Trust me. You won't be disgusted. He looks like a cross between Robert Pattinson in Twilight and Zac Effron in 17 again. He's freakin' gorgeous."