Chapter 9

On Saturday morning, Alec woke up with a headache. Was it due to the wine or the thought of having to start the Selection for real, with a real date, and a real girl? Probably the latter, since he only had two glasses of wine. He rubbed his face and headed to the shower – ordered a quick one – and got ready to tackle the day, one way or another. But he still had a headache. He went to the touch screen and contacted the Palace Doctor, Mr. Marshall, who answered right away, as usual.

"Your Highness," he said through the InterCom. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes," Alec said. "I just need a pill for a headache."

"Have you been drinking last night?" the Doctor asked.

"Just the usual."

"Okay then. Sending a pill."

"Thanks, Doc." Alec turned off the InterCom and a minute later, the pill arrived in the Vacuum Box along with a bottle of water. He downed the pill and the entire bottle and headed to breakfast. Being on the 15thfloor of the Palace, he had to go all the way down to the 8thfloor to the breakfast and lunch dining room. Taking the Vacuum Elevator would have him there in ten seconds. But he needed some more time before seeing the girls, so he opted for the stairs. He knew he would be alone, there.

The 14thfloor was full of empty guest room, in case dignitaries or other Royals came over; the 13thand 12thfloors were where all the Selected had been placed. He hoped there wouldn't be anyone and that they'd all take the Vacuum Elevator.

Unfortunately for him, one did not.

"Lady Hyo-Joo," Alec said, practically bumping into the smiling Asian girl. "You didn't take the Vacuum?"

"Your Highness," she said softly, curtsying a little clumsily. "You haven't either."

Alec chuckled. "No, I like the exercise," he lied. "What about you?"

She blushed a little. "I love this place so much, I just didn't want to miss any of it by taking the Vacuum."

Alec smiled at her softness, and they walked down the stairs in silence for a whole floor, her high heels clicking on the white floor. From the corner of his eyes, and trying not to stare too long, he noticed how flawless and milky her skin was. Was she even real? She was wearing a navy tea-length sleeveless day dress with pink flower printed on it and green leaves. Her long hair – must be nano-tech extensions, since she arrived with a bob – flowing around her shoulders.

"Hey, um," Alec started. "Would you like to join me after breakfast for a date or something?"

Hyo-Joo smiled and blushed. "I'd like that," she said, taking his arm. "What are we going to do?"

He raised an eyebrow. "If you like the Palace this much, I can give you a tour, if you want."

"I'd lovethat," she replied, excited. "This whole place is so amazing."

"Good, then it's settled. Stay behind after breakfast."

She nodded and they continued their descent to Level 8. Arriving there, they noticed most of the girls were already here, looking at Hyo-Joo with envy. Did she actually come on the Prince's arm? How did that happen?

Hyo-Joo let go of Alec's arm and went to her seat, waiting for the beautiful food to arrive. Alec also went to his own table, in the middle of Austin and Avonlea.

"So," Austin said, wiggling his eyebrows. "The Asian girl, huh?"

"Shut up, Austin."

"Is she real?" his brother asked, ignoring his request. "Or is she a doll? Or even better, a robot?"

"I said shut up. And yes, she's real." Alec rolled his eyes and waited for his father to nod to the butler to start serving. But the Emperor was still waiting. Alec looked over at the girls, and one seat was empty. One of them was late. Alec sighed. Must be Calliope,he thought. But curiously, she was there.

"I'm so sorry," a girl said, coming through the door. She was the curviest and heaviest girl of the lot – Jessica Harris, Alec remembered – and she was wearing an elegant black lace pencil dress with bright red pumps, and giant golden earrings. "I got lost. I forgot which floor breakfast was." She curtsied awkwardly and quickly took the empty seat.

Alec tried not to laugh, and the Emperor nodded to the butler to serve.

Breakfast was served on individual plates. Each one received a bubble fruit salad – the bubbles were one inch in diameter each – with 3D printed geometrical waffles and cubic scrambled eggs. Food was art, in the Palace, even for breakfast.

An hour later, when everyone was done destroying the food art, everyone walked out of the room to go about their business, all but Hyo-Joo and Alec. Once everyone was gone, he joined her.

"So," he started. "Do you want to start from Level 14" or Level 1?"

Hyo-Joo grinned. Let's start from the top and go down from there?"

"Sounds good to me." He offered her his arm and they headed to the Vacuum Elevator. Once inside, he vocally ordered the Elevator. "Fourteen," he said. The machine shot up seven floors, and the two occupants didn't even feel a thing.

"I have a question for you, Hyo-Joo," Alec said.

"Sure? But you can call me Chee-Chee. Easier to pronounce, Your Highness."

"Chee-Chee," Alec repeated. "Okay." He chuckled. "So, you're from Baffin, right?" he said quickly checking his open file on his Contacts with the girls' info.

"That's right, yes."

The Elevator door opened with a small wooshsound. "Here we are," he said, stepping out. "What exactly do you do in Baffin? Last time I went there, the population had dwindled to practically nothing, since the ground isn't fertile, due to the ice in the past generations."

Hyo-Joo chuckled. "It's true, there aren't a lot of people left, there. But it's not because of the infertile ground. You should know that we can grow anything anywhere thanks to Nano-Technology."

Alec cleared his throat. "Of course." But in truth, he had no idea. The agricultural stuff didn't interest him that much, since now practically everyone ate processed or 3D printed food. And he didn't question where his food came from. "Then why did everyone leave?" he asked, changing the turn of the conversation back to Baffin…

"It's mostly labs and researchers, there, now."

"Right," he said stupidly. "You're a Nano-Medics Specialist."

"Among other things," she said, smoothly taking his arm. "Tell me about the Palace?"

"Oh, yeah, right." Alec looked around. The 14thfloor wasn't really interesting. "This floor only has guest rooms for Royals and other Dignitaries who would come during the Selection. We needed to keep free rooms in case anyone decided to show up. This floor and the two others where you ladies are all identical. Should we go directly down to the 11thfloor?"

"Tell me about the architecture…" she said, looking around in awe.

Alec rolled his eyes. "You've seen the Palace from the outside. It's a white contemporary building a little out of date, built 70 years ago, 15 floors high. But the inside is actually inspired from the Château de Versailles, a Palace in France built in 1623, 1000 years ago. Versailleshas always been admired by architects from all ages and places." He paused, looking at Hyo-Joo – Chee-Chee – looking all around her as if looking for certain details.

Little did he know that she was actually recording everything he was saying along with the whole layout of the Floor with her Upgraded Contacts…

"Are there secret tunnels? I mean, tunnels for the staff and CleanBots so you don't run into them?"

Alec eyed her suspiciously. "Yeah," he said slowly. "Me and my brother used to explore them throughout the whole Palace when we were kids. I haven't done this in years. I'd get lost, now, I guess." He chuckled. "Why?"

She shrugged. "Just curious. Should we go down?"

"Sure." They went to the Vacuum Elevator again, and Alec skipped the two next floors – the ones with the Selected's rooms – and ordered Level 11. "Ball rooms on this floor," he said walking out of the Vacuum. "Nothing really interesting, here."

"Ball rooms, plural?" Hyo-Joo said. "How may are there?"

Alec shrugged. "Four I think? There's the biggest one, used for the most important Balls, then the others are used for other smaller events or parties, like birthdays, charities, and such."

"Can we see them?" she asked.

"There are things much more interesting than Ball rooms in this Palace, you know?" But when he saw her shoulders slightly slump, he quickly changed his mind. "Okay, let's go see them." He offered her his arm and he led her to the smallest Ball room, wanting to finish the tour of this floor in a grand way. She seemed to be looking at every detail of everything. Alec found it awkward. What would a Nano-Medics Specialist want to see every square inch of this Palace? Weird.

On the 10thfloor was the grand Dining room for the evenings, as well as some boudoirs, highly uninteresting to Alec. But he politely answered her questions, without giving up too much about the Place. She seemed to asks bizarre questions, and time was running out. He wanted to finish the tour in time for lunch.

The 9thfloor was made of random boudoirs and rooms – including the Women's room, and Men's room – and the 8thhad the lunch/breakfast dining room, along with other random boudoirs and lounge rooms.

The 7thfloor seemed to be really interesting to Hyo-Joo, and Alec mentally kicked himself for telling her that was where the Business offices and conference rooms were.

"Where's your father's office?" She asked innocently.

"Let's go directly to the 3rdfloor," he said, ignoring the question.

"But... What's on levels 6, 5, and 4?"

"Staff bedrooms, the Kitchen and the Report room; you've already been there." He guided her to the Vacuum Elevator and ordered Level 3. "I'm sure you'll find this Level and the next one much more interesting. Come on." He guided her to a corridor with several rooms on each side. "These are all gaming rooms for HoloGames, or more old-fashioned ones, such as Pool, and other card games. This one's my favorite," he said opening a door. It was a barren gray room with nothing else but a command center.

Hyo-Joo frowned. "What's fun in this room?"

"Augmented reality games, the latest update" he said with a grin. "All you have to do is inject this serum, and it'll sent you in the game. This whole room changes for you to play, it's really awesome. You wanna try?"

"Um," she swallowed. "Maybe not right now," she said, unsure.

Alec sighed, but tried not to look too disappointed. He decided not to show her the HoloCinema room, since she didn't seem interested with this kind of thing, only the architecture, which had changed on the lower levels to look more like the outside, and not like the VersaillesPalace.

"Okay, last floor," he said, walking towards the Elevator.

"What about the first floor?"

Alec tried to hide his annoyance. "Just a big hangar with the vehicles, nothing interesting." He didn't want to show her his babies. She wouldn't understand, he thought. It took them three seconds to go down one floor.

"A swimming pool?" she asked, exited, smelling the familiar scent. "Inside?"

"Of course, inside. But there's also a jacuzzi, a fitness room and a tennis court."

Her eyebrows rose. "All this on this floor? That's amazing!"

Alec checked the time on his contacts. "It'll soon be time for lunch," he said." We should head back."

Hyo-Joo nodded, looking one last time around her, recording everything. "Okay, let's go." She took her arm and they shot back up to the 8thlevel and joined the others in the lunch dining room.

Austin looked at Alec with a sly grin. "So," he said when he was seated next to him. "How was the Asian girl?"

"Weird, but sweet," Alec said. "I can't believe she didn't even want to try the Augmented Reality room," he said, sarcastically. "I could have gone on some other planet."

Austin chuckled. "Chill, man. Chose another for this afternoon or this evening. And do something else. Because seriously? A Palace tour?"

Alec shrugged. "She seemed interested in the architecture," he replied defensively. "It was the only I could think of on the spot."

Austin laughed. "Whatever. You're the most socially awkward person I know," he said, slapping him on the back.

"Shut up."

"Look, take the afternoon off and prepare a great date for tonight. Not an 'on the spot' date. Plan it, it'll be better."

"With who?" Alec said, looking at the girls. He didn't want to make decisions, right now, he was hungry.

"Take one of the clones," Austin said. "Or twins. Find out whatever they are." He grinned, his curiosity always took the upper hand...

Alec nodded. Good idea, he thought, looking at the von Aslar girls. But which one?


Hi! so, thanks for your patience and for reading this awkward chapter... didn't turn out as good as I wanted, but Alec had his first awkward date... Let's hope his next date will be slightly better^^ Poor guy hahaha

Anyway... I finished today Phase 2 of my exams, and I don't start again until next Monday, so I hope to have 1 or 2 more chapters up for you until then... ;)

If you want to add anything to your characters (date ideas, quotes, conversation ideas, or anything else...) now that you have a good idea of the setup, don't hesitate ;)

Thanks for your reviews! And I'll see you in a couple days for the next chapter (once I catch up the The 100 and The Royals hahaha)