Chapter 3 Part 1 The False Prince and the True
He finds Tuesdays extremely dull, contrary to the fact that it was usually the busiest day in his schedule. He had just finished his meeting with Mr. Fuji when Anna brought in more papers for him to sign into. He stared with the uppermost paper, it was a proposal for the next model of their company's new product, and he left it unsigned. Instead, he sat comfortably in his chair and stared blankly on his pen. A smirked form in his face as he remembered the conversation he had with a certain brunet 10 days ago. A crazy though came into his mind. He pressed on his speaker phone connecting him to his secretary.
"Meetings this morning?" he asked as he took off his coat and loosens up his tie and tried to pile some of his files.
"Mr. Soh would be up in about an hour. After that Mr. Inu would be up for your afternoon lunch. They'd be here for the expansion in our western branch."
"Hold all my calls, and ring me up when Mr. Soh arrived in the building." And he came out in his office, now walking towards his secretary who's unaware of his nearing presence.
"But sir, Ms. Luna is expected to take the photo-shoot in our lobby a few minutes from now." The pink haired girl said loud enough for him to hear. He was expected to be there, but he's the boss. He can do what he wants.
"Good to be out then-" he said as he passed by. He headed straight towards the elevator and pushed on the ground button in haste. It was funny how people tried to avoid him like plague. Whenever the elevator opens up for them to get into. Once they saw he's in it, they'd just greet and move towards the next elevator.
He doesn't know what's on his mind that pulled him outside, but he still went walking with his shades on. He didn't even bother glancing on the ongoing commotion in the lobby as he passed by on it. They stare. He didn't care.
Meanwhile, she's seriously thinking of having a new magazine rack in place of the old red one they had been using for years. And she's convincing herself she had been staring at it for that reason and not because she's intrigued of why Luna Koizumi is on the headline with a certain name lingering above it.
The door chimes ring, and he was in. she curiously peeked on the door and give a gasp when she saw a familiar figure slowly making his way near her. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt with a loosened tie and black pants. She wondered how he could still look cool wearing clothes in that manner when she always thought guys are supposed to look like gangster when they do that.
"Alone?" he asked as he folded his sleeves. That lightens up her mood after her friend left her 15 minutes ago.
"Nope." She said, but he looked around for someone "well yes, I'm alone for a while but Nonoko would be back in a few minutes, she's just delivering the broadsheets in the nearby school."
He walked further inside and pretended to watch the shelves, the store is filled with books, though the center part were filled with school supplies, they had book replicas hanging everywhere, he thought they were the best sellers but not. They were her favorite.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. She welcomed him with a nod, though didn't speak of her usual welcoming speech since she knew it wouldn't please him, so why bother doing it.
"A discounted sign pen" he answered.
"Seriously?" she smiled her very bright smile towards him and walks towards the hanging calendar. She marked that day's date for the possible delivery of suppliers.
He smirked at her as he said, "You're the one who offered it."
"Well I never knew you'd take it seriously." She answered back.
She went near the counter and selects 2 sign pens from the pencil holder they had been using as display tools. She temporarily lost balance for a moment, but had been able to grasp on the counter table before she totally fall. She always had luck with her.
She hove it in his face and said,"99 cents please."
He suddenly drew attention at the price board beside the pencil holders, it wrote 99 cents each. He gave her an odd look and asked.
"No discount?" he mumbled unintelligibly and then paid consideration in the sealed cap of the pen, it looks just like an ordinary pen, but for him, it seems different, something new to look at.
"Nope." She said while smiling. He looked at her questionably. "But I'd sorta give you one for free." And she handled 2 pens at him. "The black one is for grandpa and he red one is yours. Don't worry it has black ink inside."
She then walked near the bookmark section. And got a cute paper bag for the pen he's holding. It has The Pages written with purple ink, the borders were designed with dotted markings looking like a bunch of differently colored flowers.
"Could you give that to grandpa tonight?" she asked as she successfully took hold of the pens without touching his skin, hurriedly wrapped it inside the paper and then handled them again back to the raven haired lad.
"I'd stay in my flat tonight." He said, as he reopened the wrapping, it pissed her a little. But curiosity acted more. He didn't bother coming home for a day now since he knew the old man is recovering really fast, and he need time alone to think. He was pulled in his thoughts when she asked,
"You have a place near here?" her eyes showing her amusement, she always thought he loved driving miles away from his work just to go home. He grunts in response, he didn't bother giving her more details, he thinks it's unnecessary.
He took the red one out and said, "I'd take the black one." He carefully wrapped the other one back in the paper, and tried to give it back to her. He inserted a bill inside the wrapping, but she never noticed it.
"But the red one matches your persona." he gave her another questioning look and waited for her to continue "if you haven't notice…. your eyes are red." She explained as she pointed to his face.
"Sappy" he countered.
"Well at least I'm not the one in the headlines for dating Luna Koizumi." She smiled jokingly at him as she pulled out the first magazine in the rack and displayed it in his face. He should have known she was a quite a sadist. The headline shows a picture of Koizumi Luna on it from her latest shoes advertisement and his name on the headline. It says: MUST KNOW; MULTI MILLIONAIRE NATSUME HYUUGA, DATING THE SUPER STAR?
"Never knew I dated her." He said coolly, he then proceeds walking around the shop. A lot of girls were linked at him before; it was huge mystery his secretary whom he always communicates with was never in it when models and actresses whom he never even talked with were linked to him.
"But this one is a lie. Why can't you act normally" she said tailing him around.
"Normally?" he asked.
"Like… be mad?.. Come on,! It says that the 2 of you were seen at the mall the night I was reading Sleeping Beauty for your Grandpa."
"It's a common thing in my world. She'd be endorsing my company." He stopped in front if the children's fairy tale book section.
"What's next?" he asked. She frowned for a few second as she deliberately though for a while before she replied back;
"You mean the next story for me to tell?" and she looked down to her feet thinking.
"Hn." He took a side way look at the brunet beside him and tugged on her hair.
"Aww!" she exclaimed as she tried to fix her now disarranged pigtails. She threw him her death glare and stare at him in disbelief.
"What are you? 10?" he asked teasingly. Not only because of her hair, had she also happened to wear a polka dotted shirt. What a design for a lady? It looks cute on her though.
"Shut up!" she screamed in protest. So what if she like to tie her hair in pigtails, not that world war III would break out if she's got a grader's hair style fixed on her.
After seriously thinking for a couple of minutes, she finally answered, "I'd be reading The Pied Piper."
"About?" he asked curiously, 'cause behind everyone's knowledge is that Natsume Hyuuga's hidden weakness was the fact that he was never fond of reading fairy tales, though he heard some of them before from his homeschool teacher.
"A mushroom" she answered jokingly.
He looked at her like she's a disabled kid. But instead of pity, he looked at her with disgust.
She laughed lightly at him and said, "of course it's about a Piper,. Pretty obvious Hyuuga."
He let it pass and brought his attention towards the book in front of him. Then he holds on it, a green hardbound book, and raised it near her face with a questioning look.
"Ah! That's the False Prince and the True,.." she took hold of a pen that looks like a fairy wand that used to be in display and continued, "I'd tell you the story… I think it's in the Hallow Rose too…. -Once there was a king from a huge kingdom who received a word that his only son, or should I say the 'prince' had said harsh words over a tennis match to a gentleman and had argued until the he, the young man, struck the prince out of anger. But ironically, the prince who was armed by then had not even fought back. Instead, he went to a corner and cried. The king was dissatisfied with his son's behavior, he was too coward. But his majesty still commanded that the young man who struck the prince sent to the trial court for having attacked the sole heir to the throne…. Mind you, the king had given him freedom to go anywhere in the city with the kingdom… guard less, for the next fourteen days until his trial be heard ."
"Desperate to live, the young man tried to get advice. To his family, his friend and his colleagues, but no one from them could tell him what to do and escape his coming death. The night before his hearing, he saw an old woman,… 'bout nineties in age and told him she could save him if he would marry her. And as young as he is, he flatly said no to her offer,… but after rethinking what she said, he chased after the old lady and told her he would then marry her."
"He married her the same night?"
"Nope, but she made him swear to a priest and tell him what he need to say in front of the king." She answered as she sat on the wooden display table and continued;
"So when he went in the court the next day, the young man told the majesty about the queen's secret... Since the royal majesties can't have a child the queen took the son of a quarryman and pretended that he was a legitimate son of the king."
"The first prince." He said.
"Yeah. The false prince… Only the priest whom the queen confessed knew about this… wicked! Wasn't it?" she asked, but he didn't reply.
"After the queen passed away. The king met very beautiful woman in the woods and married her in clandestine leaving her a few gold tokens as the sign of his love... Then a rebellion occur and he went off to fight for his kingdom,.. when he came back, the girl was gone, not even a single note to be seen. So to make it shorter—"
Mikan paused as she waved her hands with the wand and continued;
"The king acknowledged him as the prince. The true prince. After he told him that he was actually the son of that beautiful lady and his majesty., the king, as curious as always, had asked him from where he knew the stories he had told the court. The young man then told his father about the old woman and his promise to marry her…. Even though he didn't want to marry her, the king told him that he should, 'cause that is what an honorable man would do. And the next moment, the wedding was held. The prince tried his very best to forget about his Ohh!- so old wife by hunting every single day…. But one night, he heard a noise in their place and dreadfully thought that sounds came from robbers, so e decided to peek into her room, and there he saw a beautiful young lady. It turns out that the old lady he married was actually a cursed young girl."
"Young but looks old." He commented.
"Yeah, a little like Benjamin Button. But I think she wasn't originally born old, just plainly cursed from a very young age… She was actually a lost princess; she stayed with her loyal servant in the middle of the forest…. Since she is kind hearted, she had been given a chance by a certain 'merlin' and lessen her curse effect. He said that the curse would break of, if a guy would marry her before she's 15. She actually has the story about the prince form the wizard himself, I think she's really lucky. "
She then faced the raven haired guy and asked, "Now do I look like a fairy? Like Tinkerbelle perhaps?" she asked as she took hold of the fairy wand and started swishing it like total idiot. And then she stopped.
For a few moments Mikan stared at him in disbelief as he smirked in his infamous way before asking her question; "Do you believe in fairies?" she tucked the loose hair on her face to give herself a better view of him, she waved the wand once more and purposely tap her head with it. The gesture made her look a thousand more innocent than how she previously does.
"Shut up." He answered as he looked the other way around. He didn't answer. Does he believe in fairies? It's a question he himself couldn't answer.
She gives off her trademark smile in to him and exclaimed, "Oh! Come on! Peter Pan said that every time a child says 'I don't believe in fairies there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.' You should never say you don't belie-"but she was cut off by his ringing tone, she silently watched as he fished out his phone and answer it with his so ever monotonous voice.
"Umenomiya." He said
'Her secretary may be?' She thought as he took another glance at the klutz beside him as he continued "Okay. Tell him I'd be there." And just like that, he was off the hook, no direct reply if he do believe in fairies, what a bummer.
He looked around the shop for the last time and said, "I'd pick you up on Friday. 2pm."He stared at her weirdly, she was still smiling creepily.
"Sure." she answered as he swiftly head towards the door tossing her the wrapped sign pen as he said.
"Idiot."
As soon as he was out, Mikan take a look on what is on her hands. There nestled a black sign pen,
'He's the idiot, he did take the red one' she smiled sweetly with herself and almost threw her heart out when the door flew open again.
"Nonoko?" she said as she clutch on her T-shirt out of relief.
"What? You thought I was your prince charming right?.. ayyiiee- too bad, I saw him riding a sedan car outside." She said pointing towards the glass door.
"He's not my prince charming." She said as a blush crept on her face. Watching as her friend from an Oh! Expression in her face.
'Not my prince charming.' that thought haunted her until the moment she was riding with him towards the manor that Friday afternoon. He causally stopped over the shop and made her ride with him. Like always, he only spoke of few words.
It wasn't necessarily a silent trip. Since he had always been quiet, but she finds it pretty awkward and weird until she spoke up for a conversation. She randomly pick out a topic, remembering that inside her orange bag was a sonnet book, she decided to talk about Shakespeare.
She faced him sideways and asked, "So? Have you read Sonnet 18?" she waited patiently for his reply that for a certain moment she thought she'd never have. He said no words but he did answer.
He just gave her a grunt. He meant yes.
She then smiled in return and sat more comfortably in the car, facing the road. She noticed that they were going a little fast but paid less attention to it since it was still in the speed limit as she said, "I personally thought it's the best sonnet Shakespeare wrote."
He didn't move. He remained silent in driving as he questioned her new opinion.
"Because?"
"Nothing in particular—" she took a little pause and with her desperate male like voice she continued, " shall I compare you to a summers day though art more love—"
He took a quick look at her and said, "Thee."
"What?" she asked, grinning at him like a fool.
He smirked as he answered her, "Thee, not 'you. Way to prove it's your favorite. Idiot."
She opened her mouth and ecstatically and screamed, "Cool! So you really were listening!" With her loud voice that could still be possibly heard outside the car even if the windows were tightly closed.
"I did it in purpose, just checking if you really were listening."
And his smirked grew more in his face. He can't help it that being stuck with her is like being stuck with a standup comedian, she's too unpredictable, and her reactions were always priceless. Just like the next question that she threw him.
"So… Do you think he's gay?" she asked as she tried to braid her hair without looking at the mirror. She saw a tutorial of how to do that on YouTube a few days ago, she thought it would look good at her. And she was right
"Who?" he asked, though he knew who exactly she's referring to.
She blew some of her hair of her face and answered him, "Shakespeare?" it wasn't really a question but she meant it a little that way.
A frown came into his face, "Why do you say so?"
"He wrote sonnets for a man. I think he's gay" she then paused and pulled hair in her ribbons as she continued ,"or maybe he was someone like Hannah Montana who hide his popularity with an alias, or more like a pen name under William Shakespeare, but he was actually a she!"
"You're absurd. He married Anne Hathaway" He said as he took the next turn in the road. It was still early to be able to see that the roadsides were filled with century old acacia trees. He always finds them fascinating.
She took notice of the trees too, but she find it hard to see since the windows were heavily tinted, she decided to moved further with the Shakespearean topic, "No, seriously Hyuuga, I wrote a thesis about him in college."
"And?" he asked, though he finds her thesis rather amusing.
"Still not proven." She looked a little pissed off. She remembered how her how her colleague laughed at her paper when she saw her thesis title. In frustration, she dug her hand in her bag and pulled out her phone, she shook it a little and the light went on. She liked it that way, she thinks it's magic. Just like when she was a child. 'everything that glows has magic on it.' that's what her Granny had said.
He peeked at what she was doing. Slightly interested on what had been able to shut out her loudness for a couple of minutes.
"That's?" he asked, though his eyes darted back towards the road.
"This is an IPhone." She then neared it in his face, too near actually for him to see even if he would be looking at her.
"It's like a phone. But has an 'I'." she said as she continued snickering. She found that joke really funny when Koko told her that. She frowned when he said;
"Funny." He said sarcastically.
Offended with his low tolerance with humor, she started questioning him again, "Can't you take simple jokes?"
"Not lame ones." He flatly answered as he drove further more towards the manor; it was a still a few kilometers away.
"Whatever!" she screamed as she sulked herself busy with her phone playing mind games that were supposed to be played by graders. It had always made her happy, as happy as having a giant lollipop for her to eat.
And she spends the rest of the drive in silence. At least it wasn't even a little bit awkward…..
A/N: sorry I cut it (this chapter) into 2 parts 'cause I think it's kinda long, and hopefully I'd be able to post the 2nd part sooner. Btw, big thanks to HoneyMist4 for recommending The False Prince and The True.
Question: what's your favorite fairy tale?