Chapter 5- The new Arsenio
"Good morning!" I chirped cheerfully as I sat down at the dining table. Alex, Alice and Mary were already there. The king and queen were to join us for breakfast this morning. I was feeling a lot better since I had actually managed to get some shut eye last night. I smiled hugely at everyone.
"Someone's in a good mood this morning, this morning. Why, what'd you do, Desiree?", Alex muttered teasingly.
"Alex!", I said glaring at him. He snickered but didn't say anything else.
"What are you talking about, Alex?", Alice said sharply. I groaned internally, Alice never missed anything.
"Nope nothing to talk about, right Alex?", I said brightly.
"Hey guys! What's up?", as if on cue, Arsenio breezed into the room, looking more like a Greek god than anyone was allowed to. I tried to stop my ogling and looked down at my plate. I couldn't believe I had the impulse to even look up at him.
"Hey Princess Sleep-a-lot!", he teased, sitting across from me. I didn't know why I always rose to the challenge whenever he teased me, irrespective of how ridiculously childish it was. Again and again, I never failed to flash my short-tempered, arrogant, egotistic and fussy side. And it was countered by Arsenio's equally annoying side that lead to bickering and frequent arguments. But after last night, after seeing how patient he was with me, I began to see Arsenio in a new light.
Sure, he could still be infuriatingly annoying, immature and full of himself; but he was really deep, emotional and intense.
"So, Arsenio, did you sleep alright?", Alex began, a mischievous smile, spreading across his youthful face. My eyes widened as Alice and Mary looked up in interest. Just then, the king and queen came downstairs and joined us at the table. There was light and lively breakfast chatter for a few moments and I relaxed, knowing Alex wouldn't bring it up again.
"So, Arsenio, did you sleep okay?", Alex asked again, in a very pestering voice.
Oops I thought too soon.
I stretched out my leg, to nudge Arsenio under the table, while trying not to look too conspicuous. I felt his leg and gave a sharp nudge, while fixating my eyes on him; he had to know I was warning him not to say anything. I nudged harder but he didn't react, just bending over his plate of muffins. I scowled at him and pressed harder when suddenly, the king glanced under the table in surprise.
"Why, Desiree, why on earth are you nudging me?", he asked. My face grew hot rapidly as I hurriedly pulled my leg away. Alex burst out laughing. The queen, Alice and Mary, tried to suppress laughter and just continued to chew on the pancakes.
Arsenio looked up at his father and then at me. He must have seen my bright red face but he couldn't resist, could he? For the rest of the meal, Arsenio tried to get me to say why I was nudging the king and Alex tried to get me to confess that I was actually trying to nudge Arsenio. Soon, there was a full fledged war across the table, between Arsenio and me about who was better looking. It was one of our usual doses of bickering and even Alex decided to back down. The others at the table watched us in amusement.
"Please, Sleeping Beauty, have you even seen me? The ladies die for this!", Arsenio claimed, tossing his hair with such flair and motioning to his physique.
"No, Prince Charming, you haven't seen me. Girls would injure their self esteem just by being in the same room as me", I said, brushing my hair off my face and striking a pose.
"Sleeping Beauty? Prince Charming?", the queen, Marissa, murmured to Mary who giggled.
"Quiet, mother. It gets better", she said.
"Well, have you seen the way they just swoon when they see me? Along with drooling all over me" Arsenio declared, propping his legs onto the dining table and crossing them haughtily. He hurriedly brought them down, once he saw his mother's glare.
"Well, someone ought to tell you how guys line up just to get a date with me", I retorted.
"Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen", he laughed as we left the table and yet didn't stop the argument. An hour later, we were still arguing; this time about whose hair was better.
"Oh puh-leze! Any girl would kill to have my hair", Arsenio ran his hand through his hair, making him look so gorgeous that my heart rate spiked up. He glanced stridently at me but I just shook my head.
"No way, dude. I wouldn't kill for your hair".
"Well, perhaps you misheard. I said GIRLS would kill for it. I wasn't counting you as a girl" and Arsenio gave a quick yelp after that comment as I smacked a huge pillow on his face.
"Oh my god! Would you two just shut it?", Alice shouted, rubbing her temples. We were now in the salon and Mary was styling my hair.
"Pruning the bush, are we?", Arsenio commented as Mary snipped off a bit of my hair.
"MY hair? A bush? You have got to be kidding me", I scowled at Arsenio's reflection in the huge mirror.
"Well, you have to admit, one tug of those flimsy locks of hair and you'd have a handful of breakages", he commented, shaking his head, as if he was sympathizing with me.
"Oh really? Well, I think you're the one with FLIMSY locks!", I snapped and bounded off the chair. Arsenio rose from his casual pose too.
"Let's see who's got the flimsy locks around here, Prince Charming", I scoffed.
"Bring it on, Sleeping Beauty", was his reply. I stood in front of him and touched his hair lightly. It was so soft and silken that I couldn't resist tugging it tenderly between my fingers. I was just fascinated by its smooth lusciousness and sheen. Its divinely rich cocoa brown color and short locks of perfect hair.
"Now what have we here?", Arsenio teased, seeing how engrossed I was with his hair. I pulled my hand away, clearing my throat with embarrassment. My heart sped up at the thought of what I was doing. Arsenio laughed, obviously hearing it.
"Now my turn", and he ran his fingers through my hair. I stood perfectly still as he tugged it gingerly, smoothed it, and drew his fingers through it. I could tell he was amazed by it too and I fixed a smug self satisfactory smile on my face. He dropped his hands.
"Wait one sec…..", he said as he reached up and tangled his fingers in my hair again as I did exactly the same in his. I didn't know why I did that at the exact same moment he did. But there we stood; his fingers in my locks and my fingers curled around his. I looked straight into his eyes and he did the same. I didn't know how long we stood like that but we dropped our hands the moment someone uncomfortably cleared their throat in the room, both of us blushing hard.
"So does that mean I win?", Arsenio asked playfully.
"No way in hell", I riposted.
"So, Mary, how are you?", I asked Mary as we both sat down in my room for a little girl time. Mary smiled at my attempt to have small talk.
"Good", she said. "You know, you could tell me about your life. I mean, I've only met you, like a week ago. So tell me how you lived till then".
"Nah, there's nothing to tell. But your life is bound to be more interesting. Come on, Mary, spill", I pressed her.
"Okay, well I was turned about 7 years ago, when I was 18. So that makes me what, 25? You know, Alice was turned 12 years ago, when she was 18. So technically she's 30. Arsenio was turned last year when he turned 18; Alex was turned with Arsenio at 15. And well, you'll be turned next year. How do you feel about that?", Mary asked.
"Can we just talk about your family?", I grumbled.
"You know, ever since Arsenio was a kid, he was born a king. I mean, we all knew he was going to be the perfect ruler. The typical poise, ego, flair, pride, confidence and faith. Even when he was 3 years old, he acted like he ruled the world. And when he was 6, we had this guest, a vampire clan leader. He spoke to Arsenio and well he was afraid of him! That day I knew, Arsenio was the ONLY 6 year old who could efficiently rule the vampires of the world. I mean, VAMPIRES are afraid of him, Desiree. But you. You just don't care that he's royal. You aren't afraid of what he is?", Mary asked me in wonder. I shook my head at once.
"No of course not. He's just Arsenio to me".
"Desiree, I've seen the way you two argue. He shows his immature, petulant, supercilious, shallow side. But I want you to understand, that face of his is just so superficial. He's really very deep, caring, loving, sweet, impulsive, compassionate, sarcastic and emotional", Mary paused and laughed. "He's VERY intense with whatever he's feeling. And almost INSANELY jealous! You can't even begin to imagine how possessive he can get", Mary took my hand in hers.
"Desiree, I know you want to know what happened that night at dinner; when his eyes….turned green. But that's something only he can tell you and he will; whenever he's ready. All I can say is that Arsenio was deeply hurt. So yes, Arsenio has a deep, dark side that would make him an ultimate bad boy but only he has the right to tell you anything, okay?", Mary stopped, looking like she was going to say something.
"Desiree, I've never seen anyone behave like the way you do with Arsenio and I've never seen him react the way he does to anyone. So I know you mean something to each other. So, just give him time; he'll open up to you", and Mary got up and excused herself. I just stared at the ceiling lost in thought. I was seeing Arsenio as a completely different person now. Not just because of what Mary told me. The following days I spent at the palace, every minute of it was with Arsenio, or thinking about him. I got to know him so well, everything there was to know. Every aspect of his life and choices. I, in turn told him everything about myself, and I found him taking in every detail with utmost interest. Being with Arsenio became such an easy, natural and necessary part of my life. But he never spoke of the weird change in him that night and that proved him to be more of a tall, dark and handsome kinda guy.
Spending all day with him, often quarreling showed off his gentlemanly side as he often gave in just to spare me.
In his heart, he was rebellious, dark, mysterious, wounded and sarcastic, a cliché, I know but I had to admit it was pretty darn attractive. I shut those feelings away as soon as I got them, hopefully for a long time. I knew this was friendship and nothing more.
But he was always there for me and his compassion was impeccable. Life would have been perfect but then the royal couple dropped the bomb on us, after about 8 days of me living there.
"Your mother and I have to go meet some clan leaders in Beijing. They insist that it's a matter of their clan's security. So we must leave, tonight", King Marion said. Arsenio and I exchanged glances. We had seen this coming but hadn't really known what to do about it.
"Beijing? Isn't that where my parents are?", I asked trying to act casual.
"Oh, we think your parents are somewhere else Asia, dear. But we hope to hear from them soon, so don't you fret", Queen Marissa told me soothingly. I nodded, knowing that they knew exactly where my parents were and refused to tell me.
"Well, have a good trip, mother and father", Alex said. And they were gone. Arsenio and I went to our favorite place, the living room balcony to discuss the matter. And we just had to do something about it.
"I know! Lets go to Beijing and see for ourselves!", Arsenio piped suddenly.
I chuckled, thinking he was joking but he didn't laugh with me.
"Wait are you…kidding me?", I stuttered in shock.
"No of course not".
I saw that he was perfectly serious on going to Beijing.
Dead serious.