This is my version of the over exposed cliché of Dimitri being the Prince of Russia and Rose being the Princess of Turkey. I didn't want to keep the same story cycling so I made a new version of it. They are all human.

My father was yelling at one of his employees while I sat in the corner and watched. Eddie- the employee was shaking, scared of losing his job. I smirked before I decided to save him. After all he was one of the only entertaining people in the shop.

"Father," I said, stepping in next to Eddie. "The shipments are coming tomorrow; if you would have listened to Eddie you would have known that."

My father sighed and tended to the customer that had just walked in.

"You're lucky I like you because I wouldn't have saved your ass if I didn't,"

He shook his head and got back to sorting fruits.

My family owned the only farmers market in the village. In a village this small it was it was no shock that there was only one. Everyone came to the market so I was pretty familiar with the whole community. The only people I didn't know personally were the royal family, but from what I've been told I don't want to meet them. The town thought of them as cruel vile people, but I didn't know personally so I couldn't say anything.

I walked back to the chair in the corner and opened the book I was reading again. It was a romance, about a vampire and a human, about how they grew to love each other even with all the obstacles in the way. I wished I had a love like that. I was seventeen and I was supposed to have someone to marry by then, but my father said he wasn't going to force me into an unhappy marriage like the other families. Everyone criticized him for that decision, but I was happy that I would get to choose who I was going to live with forever, who I was going to have children with.

I heard someone walk into the shack and I looked up. It was an outside market so I couldn't see who the person was. Neither Eddie nor my fathers were anywhere in sight so I went up to the chair behind the make-shift cash register. I waited until the person was done shopping and came up to pay.

When I saw who the person was I rolled my eyes. I already knew why he was there and I was positive it wasn't to buy fruits and vegetables.

"Hey, Rosemarie, how are you on this fine day?" He asked knowing that it would annoy me.

"I'm, fine Adrian. Are you done? Because I have better things to do than sit here and wait until you decide to want to pay." I crossed my arms and gave him my man eating smile.

"I am a customer, and if you keep treating me like this, I might not come back." He leaned against the wicker basket holding the passion fruit.

"Well, if you don't come back that will make me the happiest woman alive."

"I think that if you marry me you will be the happiest woman alive."

I knew that line was coming. I had set myself up and I regretted it. I sighed; I was tired of him asking me to marry him. I had rejected him multiple times but he just kept asking and asking.

"Adrian, how many times do I have to say no?" I asked him.

"I will ask as many times as it will take you to finally say yes, even if it takes forever."

"You are wasting your time on me. You could be out there marrying the other many women that actually want to marry you. Instead you're going after the only one that doesn't want you."

"Rose, you are seventeen you want to get married sometime don't you?" He asked.

I thought about his question for a while and sigh. "I don't know Adrian, maybe I don't want to be tied down to this place forever. I want to be able to come and go as I want and I'm sure if I marry anyone in this town I will be tied down."

"Rose we can travel the world together, I swear to you that you and I will be happy together."

"I don't really think so," I shrugged.

"Rose, please I will beg you if-" he got interrupted by my father who was walking into the market followed by Eddie.

"Leave her alone, she has already decided she doesn't want to marry you. Stop harassing her about it." My father said taking my place and ringing Adrian in.

"Father," I said, "I'm going to the clothing store and see if Mother needs any help." He nodded.

I walked out from under the stand and walked into the light of the bright sun. That day I was wearing a dress much like every other girl in town. It was a nice short sleeve dress that didn't puff at the bottom. I hated the dresses that puffed at the bottom because they looked utterly ridiculous. All my dresses were long, but they were all tight on the stop and loose at the skirt. That particular day I was wearing I was wearing a pink and purple dress.

I got many hungry looks from more than one guy. I pulled my cloak tighter around my shoulders. I walked for quickly with my book tightly in my left hand.

I got to the shop in about five minutes. When I walked into the door dinged and my mother's head popped out from the door leading to the room in the back. Covering the walls in the front were all kinds of dresses. Poufy dresses, loose dresses, ball dresses, princess dresses, any dress you could possibly think of was somewhere on that wall. There were all hand made by my mother.

I walked into the back to find her working on a new dress. When she saw me come in the room she hid the maroon fabric behind her back.

"What is that, Mother?" I asked, curious.

"It's a surprise for you, but it's not done yet. Um, can you walk around town? So you don't get a glimpse of it. Maybe you can go to the book store buy a new book; you can take some money out of the cash register. I hope you don't feel like I'm kicking you out I just know that you will love it and I don't want you to see it yet." All the while the fabric was still behind her back.

I nodded and walked back to the front room. I took enough money to buy the book. I gave one last glance to the door. I shook my head and walked out of the shop. I headed towards the bookstore with all the hustle and bustle moving around me. It was a Saturday morning so everyone was enjoying not being locked down in a shop helping their parents. Every Saturday girls would walk around town hoping to be courted.

I walked into the book story and smiled. It always comforted me to see and smell. At the counter sat Mason, the book store owner's son.

"Hi, Rose," he said. "Are you ready to buy a new book?"

"You know it," I said excited to get the second book in the series.

"I'm sure you came to get this," he said holding up the book I wanted.

"You know me so well, Mason."

I paid for the book and thanked him.

I walked back out into the commotion and walked to the pond on the edge of town. I found a nice quiet spot I sat down and got sucked in to the book.

When it started to get too dark for me to read my book I got up and walked back to our family cottage. When I got there no one was home and I knew they would both be hungry when they came home so I started cooking dinner.

I was in the middle of cooking Chicken Pot Pie when I heard the front door open.

My father walked into the kitchen and put all his things down on the table and sighed.

"How was it today?" I asked.

"It was good," he said.

"That's good, are you going to get Mother?" I asked. In this town there were some guys that only came out at night and if they saw any girl, they had no mercy.

"Yeah, she will probably yell at me when I get there to pick her up, but I worry. She may think that she can take anyone of those bastards, but I won't stop picking her up. I don't think that I could live with myself if anything happened to her." He shook his head and walked out.

I continued cooking and even finished. I put the pie in the center of the table. There were three plates and four chairs. I looked at the empty place in front of the chair. I knew it was supposed to be for my husband. I dismissed the snow and got ready for dinner.

I walked back into the kitchen and saw my parents coming in the kitchen door way. We said our hellos and they both got ready for dinner. I sat at the kitchen table and waited for them.

That night we had a quiet dinner. We were all thinking about the same thing: When am I going to get a husband?

When I finished eating I excused myself and got ready for bed. On my way back to my bedroom I heard them talking.

"Ibrahim," Mother said, "letting her choose who she wants to marry is not working. Her eighteenth birthday is approaching and she still hasn't shown any interest in anybody."

"Janine," My father answered, "If you were a teenage girl and you lived in a town and the only real friends that you had were books, would you like your parents forcing you to marry someone you didn't like?"

"I just worry for her; she is going to need someone other than her parents one day."

"One day, Janine, she will find the right guy for her."

I walked as quietly as I could to my room. I pulled on my night gown and got into bed.

I didn't like Adrian enough to marry him. Sure he was a great guy, just not my type of guy. I wanted to marry someone that I genuinely loved. I wanted someone who loved books just as much as I did, someone who could make me laugh, and someone who didn't think I was weird because I dressed differently.

I didn't want to marry someone by their looks. I didn't want to be like every other girl in town. All those girls have the same future. Marry the best looking guy they could get, have children, make some kind of family business, and do the same thing for the rest of their lives.

I wanted to be able to go to America, and not be in Russia for the rest of my life. I wanted to be able to take my children to different places.

I drifted to sleep with the thought of finding my soul mate.