29
Chasing Ghosts
Michael slowly turned away from the talking women. He headed for Silvestre who was standing alone at the moment. Good, he thought.
"Silvestre? We need to talk."
"What can I do for your highness?" She smiled in her business smile that concealed anything real.
Michael couldn't bother to pretend to care. "When can I do the eliminations?"
Silvestre frowned. "What happened? You stopped bugging about that weeks ago."
"I want Rhosyn Reynolds eliminated." And if he was already doing that, then Katherine Rhodes might go as well, he thought. "and probably Rhodes too."
"That… That's one of the girls your father would prefer to keep." Silvestre reminded him. "And Rhodes is a must from Greene." She added quietly.
"I don't care." Michael shook his head. "Did you know that she apparently has some dirt on Cecilia's friends and had it leaked? Literally just now?" Of course, Silvestre didn't.
Except, she did. "Yes, I did. Now?" Shocked, Michael failed to nod. "Scarlet's faster than I expected." She remarked uncharacteristically calm.
"And you're letting this happen?"
"It's none of my business." Silvestre answered.
"None of your business?!" How in the world was that not her business?!
Confused, Silvestre shrugged. "No, of course not." Where was the serious, work-focused Silvestre Lorde that Michael was used to, and who was this? There was no way Silvestre Lorde would not care about this!
"This is going to turn into a publicity disaster, you know." Michael insisted.
"For the Crowes, yes." Silvestre nodded slowly. "Do I work for the Crowes? No. I work for your family."
"They'll trace it back to me – somehow."
Silvestre stepped closer, mustering the panicking prince carefully. "You aren't involved with her – or were in anywise?"
"I don't even know who this is about!" Michael insisted. "Some Katrine Crowe or so.
"Katerina." She corrected.
"Whatever."
"Why would they trace it back to you?" Silvestre asked. "If you have nothing to do with her, I fail to see how that would be a publicity disaster for you. Scarlet's probably going to turn your unicorn thing into something good – well, she definitely will – and Katerina's scandal will probably overshadow anything else."
"They always do." Michael insisted.
Silvestre took a deep breath and smiled again – this time a real, warm smile. "Michael, I genuinely do not believe that this will be a problem for us. Rhosyn will probably get to deal with some people asking her questions, but even if – she's the cute sister who saved her brother from being used. We've got Scarlet on our side, and she is good. You're paranoid."
Michael shook his head in disbelief. How could Silvestre remain that calm? He wasn't paranoid – he just was used to what was inevitably going to come. He just didn't want to deal with that again. The whole story about Rihanna's friends on YouTube had just started to die down, and there was still Emmy…
Wordless, he turned around and walked off.
* . * . *
Weeks ago, before the ball had been announced, Michael had rushed into the nowhere – fighting with what he had just been told, the news that Emilia was dying – when he ran into Mayli Yi. The shy brunette had comforted him until she had to leave for their lessons.
He had been damn close to saying 'screw the lessons', promising her that she wouldn't get into trouble, but he had given himself the rule not do that. It would be favouritism and mean to the girls. The prince changed his mind seconds later.
Mayli had been understanding – she had listening to his endless rants about how he needed Emmy to deal with the press, and how he needed Emmy to deal with his life – the rant about pretty much everything.
Michael didn't know that Sam headed to Rihanna after that brief meeting. He generally had little idea of what exactly was going on with the girls – he just knew what concerned him. He didn't know that Rihanna and Sam confronted the girls, telling them that Mayli had been the one to manipulate them. He didn't know that when this didn't work out perfectly and when he kept meeting with Mayli in the following days, Sam revealed his past with Mayli Yi – not only to the six girls and Rihanna, but also Silvestre who was ultimately convinced.
Even though he continued to play the role of the Selection prince and met with other girls, his 'coincidental meetings' with Mayli when walking the dogs continued. Mike vaguely knew about Sam's past relationship with someone named Mayli, and by then, Sam insisted that Mayli Yi was 'his' Mayli Yi, but to Mike, this was just some crazy coincidence with names and appearances ('maybe dad's right with all Asians look the same?') because Mayli Yi was nothing like the girl Sam had once dated.
Even when Sam confronted him, he refused to believe him.
"Mike, I'm serious. Mayli Yi is the girl I dated, and I'm freakin' worried about you."
"Are you jealous?"
These words hurt Sam, but they were spoke in anger. Didn't Sam want him to be happy? What kind of friend was he? He found someone he felt OK around – someone who listened and was the best he expected from the Selection because his ideal outcome? Well, Richard and Greene and probably everyone else would stand against it, knowing his luck.
Mayli Yi wasn't love like in fairy tales and romance novels, but she was nice and fun to have around!
Maybe something 'more' could grow out of what they already had, but Sam? He didn't want that to happen – obviously.
"No, I'm not." Sam insisted when they had been talking in the hallway.
How angry Mike had been. He didn't want to break their long-standing friendship, but he was close to.
"Then just let me have this-"
"Mike, she's gonna use you." Sam had insisted.
Wordless, Michael left frustrated.
Their communication in the following days had been questionable, but over the weeks restored as the rumours on Reddit slowly died down. Sam's opinion didn't seem to change (little did Michael know of what was going on in Silvestre's office), but no one from his family and friends approached him again. They knew how stubborn he could be, and they were looking for further proof.
If Michael didn't believe his best friend, it was questionable how much they could get together though.
* . * . *
Michael stopped where Sam standing – talking to some people from work.
The traitor had walked off and changed into a suit when Michael hadn't been looking, but that wasn't the issue right now. The gained his best friend's attention and pulled him along out of the room. Hopefully, no one would follow them.
"Are you alright?" Sam asked his best friend confused.
"No." Michael proceeded to explain what had happened. "Which is why I want to do the elimination number one as soon as possible."
"Mike, are you sure that this is a good idea?" Sam questioned carefully. "I can understand your feelings, yes, but I doubt that Rho would have wanted to cause you any trouble, and I do agree with Silvestre's view." He answered.
"Raisin was involved into the YouTube video too."
"So was Rihanna."
"Rihanna wasn't in it…?"
"The fight between the girls also involved her." Sam answered. "She just wasn't there when the video was taken – against their consent, by the way."
"And?"
"They did nothing but have a fight. Girls do that a lot." Sam explained. "Even Emmy and Rihanna did. They didn't even know that there was a video."
"They still got into trouble."
"No, Reddit put them into trouble. The internet always does that. Going by Reddit, you're a lizard."
"I'm not-" Michael broke off. "Whatever. The point is that Tatiana, Rhosyn and Katherine all did-"
"What exactly did they do?" Sam asked. "Just- Just for me to confirm, alright?" He hoped that Michael was calming down – that was evident.
Michael didn't really want to calm down though. "Rhosyn had the thing with that Crowe girl. Tatiana talked to Scarlet. Katherine is mean."
"Tatiana did a good job with Scarlet though." Sam remarked. "There was nothing negative about you. I'd be more concerned about who took the video."
"Well, we don't exactly know that."
Sam shook his head. "Sadly not. We should have checked the girls' phones."
"Sounds a bit extreme." Michael remarked dry.
"Don't you want to know who took it, and uploaded it? That person wanted a scandal – not these girls." Sam paused. "From what I have seen, give Tate and Rho another chance. Tate really didn't do any bad, and Rho just wants to help her brother. Kath, I can understand, but I doubt that Greene will."
Michael sighed. "Probably not, you're right."
"Will you do me the favour of thinking about it? Maybe until the girls' families are heading home in a week? You could do it on the last day."
"That doesn't sound like a nice farewell." Michael chuckled.
"They can return with their families, in that case."
"… Alright." Michael nodded. "I'll talk to Silvestre. Let's go back in."
Sam smiled. "Sure."
"Also, where's your costume?"
Sam just laughed nervously.
Little did they know that Cecilia Stark had been listening the whole time.
* . * . *
Cecilia caught the last bit to some degree – Michael was considering to eliminate Katherine, Tatiana and Rhosyn. The blonde lady quickly returned to the large ballroom, to find Mayli looking for her.
"Oh, honey, are you alright?" She asked her friend.
"I was just looking for you." Mayli answered with her usual happy chatter voice.
Mayli Yi was a part of Cecilia's plan; Michael seemed to like her, and historically proven, people close to the Selected the prince preferred had a better chance to get far. Sure, there were other influences, but Cecilia Stark was a Stark – she had a name that meant something. Little did she know that she was a pawn in Mayli's plan as well.
"I heard something quite, quite interesting." Cecilia whispered to her friend. "Don't you think that your… friend would like to know?"
Mayli bit on her lip, her voice instantly cold. "What."
"Don't worry, your secret's still safe with me." Cecilia hummed.
It was only until she needed Mayli Yi out of the Selection. Their friendship was – probably from both sides, Cecilia knew – pretended. Cecilia wanted to be close to the prince (but it just didn't work; must be Rihanna's work, she realised) and Mayli needed someone to stop her from doing stupid social faux-pas. That, and Mayli's little secret about the CEO of The Angeles Sun.
"Well, what do you know?" Mayli asked.
"Our dear prince is considering to eliminate Katherine, Rhosyn and – thank god – Katherine."
"Ah." Mayli mumbled emotionless. "And? Why?"
"Tatiana, because she spoke to Scarlet Hunter at some point. You remember that overly sweet article?" Mayli nodded. "Probably as exchange."
"I knew that." Mayli reminded the blonde. "Rhosyn, I can guess, but Kath?"
"He probably just doesn't like Katy." Cecilia laughed. "Understandable. She's weird."
Mayli rolled her eyes, but Cecilia overlooked that. She didn't understand that society had standards, and they had to be followed. No need to play the overly intelligent girl who skipped two grades just because she could. Woman had their place, Alexander Stark had always taught her. They had strengths men didn't have, but engineering? Seriously? A joke.
"Let's tell Katerina." She decided.
Mayli followed her wordless – just like the little Asian should, Cecilia thought. Unknown to Cecilia, Mayli was considering options though – should she tell Katerina about the leak, or not? I didn't make a difference to her, she believed. All she needed was to stay in the Selection for a little bit longer.
Mayli didn't tell. Katerina's loyalty had been won through Cecilia, and she was curious about the mess that would follow. Of course, the chatty but stupid Cecilia wouldn't know.
* . * . *
Tilly remained with Rhosyn when Mayli left them, and Scarlet waved off to talk to other people. The two intended to rejoin their friends once they had gone and gotten something to drink, but a still angry Carianne Reynolds stopped them.
"Rhosyn!" The doctor called out, followed by her husband.
Rho visibly sighed. "Hm?"
"How do you explain this?"
Tilly saw Rho twitch. She was equally taken by surprise. Did the Reynolds already know about the leak their daughter had caused? How? She doubted that Carianne was anything of a woman to spend her time on her phone – especially no on such a social event!
"What…?" Rhosyn carefully asked, hopeful that she was talking about something else but Katerina's countless affairs.
She was. "Katerina told me that Cecilia told her that she heard Michael talking about eliminating you."
"Understandable. I am not interested in him." Rhosyn muttered under her breath.
"That is not the point! Honey, don't you see-"
"Uh, Dr Reynolds, by all respect…" Tilly slowly straightened herself up to talk to the woman. "I believe that Michael is the one who should choose who to eliminate. This about who he'll spend the rest of his life with; nothing that anyone but he should decide."
"The public already believes that he is involved with Mayli Yi," Carianne ignored her, leading to Tilly looking down worried.
"She's a jerk." Rhosyn mumbled.
"That is probably why he wants to eliminate you!"
"I don't think-"
"Rhosyn, darling, do you not see what an opportunity this is?" Carianne sighed. "You've spend too much time with your books."
"You did that too!" Rho exclaimed. "You're a med school graduate!"
"Yes, yes, but I did try to establish myself into society." Carianne insisted.
Next to Tilly, Rhosyn seemed to be close to tears. Tilly looked between the two women, trying to figure out what she could do. Her dad maybe. He could help; he was a doctor too, and well respected at home.
But how could she get him here before this escalated?
"That reminds me!" Tilly called out. "Dr Reynolds, my father was very, very interested in talking to you about something." She grabbed the woman's hand. "Come with me!"
She pulled him (leaving Rho briefly confused behind) towards where her family was still sitting. To Carianne, it was one big mystery how Tilly could rush in her heels, but she had no choice but to follow.
"Dad, you wanted to talk to Dr Reynolds, didn't you?" Tilly asked out of breath, hoping that her father would catch the hint.
"Wha-" He paused. "Oh, yes, yes I did…" He nodded. "But that doesn't mean you had to pull her here like this."
In the meanwhile, Carianne straightened her back, and the two doctors began talking. Tilly's mother soon joined them – they kept Carianne distracted for long enough to allow Rho to go, find and ask Sam what he knew. The only thing her friend assured her was that 'she was going to be fine for the moment', but that she had to be careful, and try to keep anything related to the scandal with Katerina away from Michael. Having never had the intention, Rho promised to do so.
The news soothed down Carianne (who, nonetheless, was suspicious) and the evening ended; all of them needed the night sleep more than anything else.
* . * . *
At one o'clock in the morning, Michael leaned backwards and closed his eyes exhausted.
Finally. It was over. The ball had been fun, until it hadn't. The whole debacle (press liking him once? Hey! Let's throw a scandal into it!) was far from over – Silvestre's hectic expression when she learned that the whole thing had been leaked during the ball spoke more than a thousand words.
"Still thinking of the Selection and the ball?" His designated pillow asked.
Obviously, the pillow was a human. A human who embraced the tired prince from behind – not for the first time. Obviously, Michael wasn't going to tell anyone of this. Too many variables to consider. Too many problems. Greene wanted the Selection to stretch as long as possible... Michael vaguely nodded – as much as it was possible with his lover's cheek resting on his hair.
"It's over for today."
"It's one o'clock."
"It's over for yesterday, if your highness prefers that."
"Don't you do that too." Michael complained.
A warm, humoured hum came as answer. "You have thirty girls who're nothing but strangers, basically. They'll just leave eventually – no need to bother with it."
Michael agreed. "Imagine Rihanna seeing us now."
"… That would be a mood killer."
"Point." Michael nodded.
Michael leaned backwards over for a kiss, but as human physics dictated, couldn't really do that without magically floating in the air. He did manage to slap his lover with his nose.
"Ouch." Said lover laughed amused. "How did you do that?"
"… I'm tired, you know." Michael complained, turning around to get the real kiss. His lover leaned forward as well, knowing all too well that this day had been exhausting for him.
"… Thanks." Michael mumbled.
"For what?" Another, amused laugh. "What did I do this time – except delivering an A1 acting performance today, hiding what we have?" The prince's lover teased him.
"In general, I mean. I'm really glad I met you."
"So am I."
Michael yawned and took one of the actual pillows of his bed to lean against them and sit next to his lover. The bedroom's light was turned off – he wanted to make sure that no one knew that is heart already belonged to someone. Hopefully, no staff would think that they had the right to come in. No matter how important the business was, Michael had told them multiple times, he wanted to sleep in silence.
"You should sleep." A soft whisper into Michael's ear. He loved that voice.
"You're not my mum." He complained with a quiet laugh.
"No, I'm not – fortunately." Michael's lover laughed. "But I'm worried about you. You haven't slept well recently, you know."
"You don't say." Michael yawned. "I'm the one who told you, you know." He nudged.
"Exactly."
The prince dropped his head on the shoulder next to his lover. "Alright… Good night."
Author's Note
I realised that I totally forgot to show what Sam did. He obviously didn't let it slide that his best friend is befriending with his ex-girlfriend, but Michael obviously kept on being around Mayli.
