BODYGAURD

LOVING YOU.

"Maria!" Dario shouts and begins to crawl to me but I shake my head.

"No! No, stay there. Please." I beg him and he stares at me with worry but stays rooted. Hot blood pours from the wound and pain is so intense. I start to crawl towards Dario and when I'm near him, he pulls me by the waist and places me on his lap, checking my wound.

"It's an exit wound. We need to get you to a doctor, right now." He says worriedly. I nod but then the shooter comes to mind.

"Yeah but listen to me. You stay on the ground. We don't know if they're still there." He nods. He begins to crawl ahead of me, looking back at me every second. When we make it out the door, we stand. The pain from the glass now presents itself and I make a pained sound. Dario now sees the glass wounds on my palms and my knees. He quickly carries me bridal style. There's a quiet commotion in the palace as everyone walk around trying to find where the shots came from. When they see me and prince, some gasp and others have scared expressions on their faces. Prince Dario shouts for a car and the king and queen come into view. When they both see me, they rush to the prince and me, asking if I'm okay. A car quickly comes and Prince Dario puts me in gently then slides in next to me. The queen enters through the other side quickly and the king hops into the front. Soon we're off.

"Maria are you okay? Oh of course not, that was a very stupid question-"I cut of her.

"Oh no. I'm okay." I hiss from the pain. Prince Dario intertwines his hand with my good one. "Okay well right now I'm not but I'll be okay. I-"I let out a scream when we take a sharp turn and my shoulder hits the seat. That hurt like a motherfucker. My breathing turns shallow and I hear the queen scolding Gregorio. I grunt at the pain. Dario keeps whispering soothing things and that relaxes me as the pain continues to flow through me and blood spews out of my injury. Prince Dario then takes off his shirt, leaving him shirtless and he tears the shirt up. He then wraps it around my shoulder, me whimpering all the way. My blood soon soaks the shirt and I lift my other hand to my mouth and bite it. I have never been shot so this being the first time, feels horrible. I feel like my hand's been sawed off and the feeling isn't really all rainbows and sunshine. The car skids to a halt and Prince Dario gently but quickly carries me out of the car. Soon we're in the hospital.

"Help! I need help. She's been hurt!" Prince Dario yells and soon, I have a pool of nurses and doctors on me. I'm laid on a stretcher. Dario holds my hand through it. My wounds were cleaned and soon, it's stitched up and bandaged. The cleaning part was just cruel. I'm now waiting in a room with the queen, king and Dario.

"How did this happen?" the King asks. I sit up. My throat's a bit sore from all the screaming I did so my explanation came out hoarsely.

"Well, Dario and I were in my room when I saw this red dot on his head and instantly pulled him down to the ground, knowing it was a sniper. After four shots, I thought it was safe and stood and the shooter might have thought that I was Dario and shot me." I said.

"This means that someone's trying to murder the prince." Queen Aura said, deep in thought. I nodded.

"The first attack was at the hotel where the guy who kidnapped Prince Dario said that he wanted his money but that might have been some cover story to kill the prince." I said.

"Is this man dead or alive?" the king asked.

"He's alive. After we fell down onto the car, I lost sight of him." I explained. The king nodded. I continue, "He's gonna need more bodyguards. The first two times I might have been able to save him but the next time something like that happens, I may not be fast enough so my thoughts are to add more bodyguards." The king and queen nods. Prince Dario keeps his hand intertwined with mine.

"You're right Maria Azul. You'll know how to deal with that but for now; we need to keep that arm still so it heals. Until then, don't do anything that will injure you." The king says. This is honestly the most words I've heard from him. I nod. He stands. "I have to get back. The queen and prince Dario will stay with you." He says then turns his attention to Dario. "You take care of her." He says like the last time.

"Always." He says with utmost seriousness. The king nods and kisses the Queen's forehead, whispering something into her ear before leaving. She sighs and stands.

"I'm going to talk to the doctor about your discharge papers." She says and walks out with a sad smile. I sigh to myself. Prince Dario kisses the side of my face and I close my eyes to savor his kisses.

"You'll be fine Maria." He says. I open my eyes to meet his.

"Yeah. I hope so. I need to get out of here and help keep you safe." I say.

"Maria, think of yourself for once. You're hurt right now and you have to let that arm heal before going into something else that could possibly get you hurt again." he argues. I shake my head and turn, taking his hands in the process.

"Dario, you're the Prince of this country. In two months' time, you're going to be the King. You have to be alive for that. For all the people of this country. And if I have to protect you with an injured arm, then so be it. But not only for those people, for me too Dario. See? For once I'm thinking of myself." I say and he chuckles. "I need you to be alive. I...I didn't ever believe that I would be able to say this again but I. Love. You. I love you so much. After my first disaster of a relationship, I thought I was incapable of love but, here I am, loving you." I ended and he had a smirk on his face. He bit his lip and I bit mine, smiling. He grabbed my face and smashed his lips into mine. I kissed him with my all, showing him how much I love him. I cupped his face with my good hand and deepened the kiss. He nibbled on my lower lip sending me into some kind of frenzy. I let out a small moan. We heard the door to the room open and I pulled away from him like he was on fire. The queen laughed as she saw me, all flushed and with a swollen lip. My pink cheeks didn't really help the situation either. Prince Dario chuckled and settled on holding my hand in his.

"I'm not going to ask." The queen said and laughed. I ended up laughing alongside. Soon, I was allowed to go home. I was just in a pair of grey sweatpants and a black top which revealed a bit of my stomach. The prince got a white t-shirt from Gregorio some time during my wound being cleaned. He was now wearing a white t-shirt and a pair of black sweatpants. Not that different from me. The queen was in her royal attire which consisted of a blue dress that flowed down to her ankles and a pair of gold strap heels. Her caramel coloured hair was in beach waves and her tiara sat on top of her head as a symbol of royalty. She looked perfect, as always. We got to the palace soon enough and Dario took me to his room since mine was completely in a mess. I was tired so immediately we got to his room, he helped me into his bed and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was gone.