Chapter 46 – Jesse Flynn
There was only one word that would describe Jesse just a few hours before the New Year's Eve Ball: hype. He was practically shaking from excitement and he didn't know where to focus his attention. He was in the magnificently decorated ballroom as guests arrived, and all the women were more beautiful than the last. He could really get used to this life of gowns and tuxedos and champagne.
But of course, the most beautiful woman of all was the Duchess, Nevaeh de Montignac. Following the black and silver color theme of the whole party – decorations, foods, and outfits alike – she was wearing a Teuta Matoshi black see-through polka dot tulle dress with silver sequins sewn haphazardly on the dress, reflecting the chandeliers' light. The skirt that went from her waist was a multi-layered skirt, so you barely couldn't see her baby bump– of course, Jesse saw it, but that was because he knew it. He grinned.
But he was not the only one excited for the Party: he had seen Valerian earlier, before going down to the Ballroom, and he was a ball of nerves. Nathan was up there with him right now, trying to calm him down, and Jesse had a feeling – just a tiny feeling – that Valerian was going to make his big decision that evening. Jesse could barely stand still at the thought of it. If he was right, then 2/3 of the Selection would be done.
The ballroom was filling up and Jesse was taking pictures and taking notes, while Sydney and Otis worked on making aerial footage of the Ballroom.
"Hey, is your team ready?" Nevaeh asked, coming over.
Jesse nodded and smiled at her. "Did I already tell you you're beautiful, tonight?"
"I believe you did, yes," she said. "But it's nice to hear it again from time to time." She winked at him and was on her way. Jesse texted Sydney and Otis to be ready, the Royal Family would be entering at any moment, now.
When the two double doors at the end of the ballroom opened, the whole room quieted down.
The Butler – Jesse couldn't remember his name – hit the floor five times with his fancy stick. "Their Royal Highnesses, Prince Valerian, Prince Nathan, Prince Silas Schreave, and Lady Ximena Oliveira," he said, announcing them.
The group walked among the guests who parted like the red sea, bowing as they passed. Of course, Nathan waved here and there. After them, the Butler announced the nine remaining Selected in alphabetical order – Ladies Abigail, Ashia, Dyani, Evangeline, Jenissa, Malia, Morrigan, Odessa, and Pallas – who all went to stand near 'their' prince. They had all decided to wear silvery gowns, all in their own style, while Ximena and Silas wore matching black outfits.
"Her Royal Majesty, the Queen Mother Beatrice Schreave," the Butler continued announcing the next person on his list. She walked gracefully through the crowd and stood near Silas, who offered her his other arm to rest on. "Her Royal Majesty Queen Helena Schreave and her husband, His Royal Highness, Prince Consort Tobias Schreave." Again, they walked through the length of the room as people bowed and curtsied in one fluid wave as they passed.
"Welcome to the Los Angeles Palace!" the queen said once she had reached the stage and climbed the three steps, she stood in front of her throne. "Later tonight, we will be celebrating the new year, and closing on this one. But first, we dine!"
She invited the guests to follow her and her husband through the double doors on the side of the room to the smaller ballroom that had been turned into a dining room: three long tabled formed a giant U around the room, with the Queen and her husband in the center of the middle table – the bottom of the U – their sons, Selected, and family with them. Some of the lucky guests were also seated at the same table, while everyone else was seating on the two other tables.
Jesse found his place between Nevaeh and Sydney – though the latter would be up a lot, taking pictures during the dinner. In the middle of the table were high silver candelabras with black candles on top, but high enough that he could still see the people sitting across from him, namely Gail, Nathan, and Jenissa: this was going to be an interesting meal…
"How many dishes will we be having?" he asked Nevaeh, leaning towards her a little.
"Eight. Why?"
"Oh, wow." He chuckled. "Just so I know not to eat too much in the first few ones."
Nevaeh laughed softly. "That seems to be your weak spot, isn't it?" She looked at him under her lashes. "You really need to get used to long dinners. In France, there re three or four dish meals that last up to three hours. One needs to learn to eat slowly and not too much at a time."
Jesse rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well in Illéa, we usually eat in less than twenty minutes."
Across the table, Gail snorted. "Have you learned nothing, Jesse?" she said. "You should be as close to fancy stuff as us, by now, right?"
"…Yeah," Jesse said. "I mean, I am, but I miss my burgers and bad fries from McDonald's," he admitted.
"Shh!" Nevaeh said, hitting him in the arm. "That word is forbidden here." She quickly looked around. "If a staff hears you and reports it to the chef, you're not going to get any food for the next five days."
"What?" Jesse frowned, whispering. He looked around, making sure that no one had heard him. "Are you serious?"
Nathan burst out laughing, and Jen and Gail giggled with him. "You still have much to learn, don't you?" he said. "Look, if you're going to date my cousin, you better start acting like you have blue blood." He wrapped an arm around each of his table neighbors. "They're very fancy ladies when they want to." He let go of their shoulders and pointed a finger at Jesse. "Work on it, too. My cousin deserves the best out there."
"Yes, sir," Jesse said, sitting up straighter on his chair. "Fancy."
Nevaeh smirked and took his hand under the table, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Don't listen to him, he's just messing with you."
"Am I, though?"
Jesse didn't have time to answer that because the first dish arrived in the form of a long line of footmen carrying two plates each. It was so perfectly done and choreographed that Jesse wondered how many times they had rehearsed it to look this perfect.
They started eating the first dish as the footmen served the wine along the table. When it arrived at them, Nevaeh refused it, covering her glass with her hand. The footman took the glass away.
"Now see?" Nathan said. "That's very suspicious." He eyed his cousin and she stared at him too, lifting her chin. Jesse was anxious to see who would back down first. None did, of course. "You always drink wine during meals, and yet, you haven't sipped a single drop since… what…? A few weeks? Nevaeh, are you alright?"
"I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much."
Jesse noticed Jenissa frowning slightly as she looked between Nevaeh and Nathan. He noticed the spark of understanding in her dark brown eyes. "You know," Jen said, putting a hand on Nathan's arm, "I've heard about this new diet without alcohol, and I've heard people say it does miracles."
Gail stared at Jen for a full half-minute, and so did Nathan and Jesse.
"Says the woman who drinks wine all of the time," Nathan said. "You don't believe in that BS. Right?"
"I mean why not?" Jenissa said. "There are diets with only Bananas, you know?"
Gail also eyed Nevaeh, narrowing her eyes at her. "But I don't believe you're one to do diets, are you?" she asked.
Nevaeh shrugged. "You see," she said, "last time I drank alcohol it ended up pretty badly– I was very drunk, and I absolutely hated this state of no control over what I did and said. So I'm taking a break in drinking wine or anything with alcohol for the time being."
"Hmph," Nathan said, sipping loudly on his wine. "Still sus."
Thankfully, the conversation was stopped by the footmen who came in to take the empty plates away. Jesse was thankful to Jen who guided the next conversation away from Nevaeh and wine and Nathan seemed to drop the matter. For now.
The eight dishes followed one after the other with a good fifteen-minute break between each, bringing them closer and closer to midnight. Of course, everything was perfectly timed, and they would be done early enough to go see the fireworks from the terrace, just outside the ballroom.
Jesse was trying to keep up with the conversation, but he was getting tired. His sleeping schedule was still not as good as before, but he was getting there. And with the excitement of the party, the couple of previous nights had been short. He yawned.
"You okay?" Nevaeh asked softly, touching his arm.
"Yeah, I just have a small attack of exhaustion, it'll pass." He offered what he hoped was a confident smile and they looked at each other for a few seconds before a tinkling sound made them both look down the table: the queen was standing and gently tapping a spoon on her glass of wine.
"Thank you," she said, once the room had quieted down. "It will soon be midnight, the new year, so I would like to invite you all to follow me on the terrace for the traditional fireworks."
She put her glass down and walked around the table with her husband. Her family and the Selected followed close behind, followed then by all the guests. It took fifteen minutes to have everyone outside on the terrace and when Jesse checked the time on his phone, it was 11:54 p.m. Nice timing, he thought. But now they would have to wait a few minutes in the cold night air until the fireworks started.
Jesse heard a buzzing sound above them and when he lifted his eyes, he noticed tiny red and blue lights in the sky: Sydney's and Otis' drones filming the crown outside. One stayed high in the sky to film the fireworks, the other a few feet above the people, which made them all look above. Jesse thought that was a genius move because they would see the faces of the guests and some were even waving!
"It's starting!" someone shouted. As soon as they had finished talking, the blue and silver firework exploded above the garden, followed by a collective oooh! It went on for a few minutes – Jesse completely lost track of time: it could have been 3 minutes or 20 minutes – but he didn't focus on the loud lights. Jesse wanted to see what was happening around him, especially with the princes and the Selected.
Silas and Ximena were being as cute as always, with the prince wrapping his arms around his fiancée's soft frame, his cheek resting on her head. Jesse smiled at the sight: could they be cuter and more perfect for each other? Probably not.
Nathan had his four girls huddled around him, two on each side, and his arms around them. Jesse was pretty sure that Nathan wouldn't be against having more arms to hold onto his girls. He was surprised that the girls were actually into 'sharing' him with the others.
Some distance away, Henri was holding Pallas in front of him, his arms around her as well: so that's why she had come back, to be with Henri. Jesse would have to ask what Nathan thought about that, at some point – if he didn't forget.
But what was the most surprising was to see Valerian standing alone with his hands in his pockets, leaning against the wall and staring, unseeing, at the fireworks. Jesse quickly looked around for his four Elite, but he couldn't see them. Maybe they were on the other side of the terrace, huddled together against the cold?
"Hey, man, are you okay?" Jesse said, joining Valerian.
"Huh?"
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah!" Val said, pushing himself from the wall and standing straight. "Yeah, I'm just thinking, that's all."
"A penny for your thoughts, then?" he asked, nudging the young prince playfully in the arm.
Valerian smiled a lopsided smile, and his cheeks became pink. Jesse put that on the cold January air. "You might want to stick around and not go too far from me, I guess," he said mysteriously.
"Wait, wait, wait," Jesse said, half whispering, half hissing, and looking around. "Are you going to choose the One tonight?" Jesse was already taking out his phone to tell Sydney and Otis to have one drone on Val at all times.
"Yeah," Val said, fiddling with something in his pocket. Then he made a 'follow me' gesture with his chin and Jesse followed him back inside. The Ballroom was gigantic when it was empty, and their steps resonated. "What do you think?" he asked, taking out the small box from his pocket and opening it for Jesse to see.
"Oh, holy moly, it's gorgeous!" Jesse said, trying not to attract any attention. The ring was made of a rose gold band, a pink oval sapphire in the middle, and two tiny flowers made of five diamonds on each side.
"Who are you going to pick?" he asked. All trace of fatigue had gone from him in an instant, the adrenaline of the excitement filling his veins.
"That's going to be a surprise," Val said. "Because you already know too much– but don't worry, I'm not still trying to decide. I know who my heart belongs to."
Jesse wanted to hug Valerian and pinch his cheeks and awwww this boy was just the sweetest boy in the universe, and no one deserved him. Well, except for his lucky future One, of course.
Jesse and Valerian knew the moment the fireworks were done when a huge round of applause replaced the cracking sounds of the entertainment. The Queen and her husband walked back inside the ballroom, sending a curious look at their son, and headed directly for their thrones, on the stage. She wished a happy new year to all the guests once they were all inside and flutes of champagne were passed around by footmen dressed in black.
Jesse didn't stray too far from Valerian, not knowing when he would put a knee to the ground, or pop the question. Was he going to propose as Silas did? Or was he just going to ask her to be his official girlfriend until he proposed later on? Valerian was still young, so he had time… He followed his every move and knew that it would be soon when he headed to the stage. Jesse quickly texted his assistants, getting them ready to film.
"May I have your attention, please?" Valerian said, gently clinking two flutes of Champagne together once the music had died down. He put the two glasses back on a tray. "Thank you," he said as all eyes were on him. Jesse knew Otis was on Val with his drone, and Sydney on the small group of the Elite, hidden in the crowd, somewhere. Valerian took a deep breath. "When I started the Selection, I was just tagging along, here to make friends and mainly let my brothers– well, especially Silas, fall in love. He did it so fast, and I still don't understand how he did it."
A ripple of soft chuckles came from the crowd in the Ballroom, and Silas held on to his fiancée a little tighter.
"Love works in mysterious ways, right?" he chuckled. "But as I got to know my girls more closely," Valerian continued, "I was so scared to break their hearts; I didn't want them to be disappointed, you know?" He paused, searching the crowd for said girls.
Some of the guests stepped to the side so he could see the silver-dressed girls, standing together.
Valerian smiled when he saw them. "I'm terribly sorry, but I fear that three of you are going to be disappointed…" he trailed off, fiddling with the little box in his pocket. Valerian then walked behind his mother's throne where he had hidden a huge pink rose bouquet. He had to carry it with both arms because it was so huge, but he made his way through the crowd towards the girls.
They all looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Without any word from anyone, Eve, Dyani, and Ashia all stepped aside, leaving Odessa in the middle, like a clear target for Valerian to go to directly.
He stopped for a second, confused.
Wait. How did the others know? Was Valerian really going for Odessa? Or was there going to be a huge awkward moment…? Jesse held his breath, and it seemed like everyone in the ballroom did as well. The musicians had stood from their chairs to see what was happening and the two drones buzzing over the prince and the girls were the only noises at the moment.
Only a second had passed but then Valerian continued walking and he went straight for the New Asian girl. Jesse released his breath: no awkward moment. Thank God.
The prince gave the huge bouquet to the girl. "Odessa," he said and though he had his back to Jesse, he could definitely hear the grin in his voice, "it took me some time to realize that you were the One for me." He paused, smiling. "I mean, when I think of you, I can't help but smile, and during the Christmas break, there were so many times I wanted to tell you something, or share something, or laugh, or just look at you. I even found myself in front of your bedroom door, but then I remembered you were not there." He chuckled softly. "Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is– gosh, I'm so nervous right now!"
Some people laughed softly at that, and that's when Jesse noticed that lots of the guests that were close to the prince were filming with their phones. Damnit. That's going to spoil the whole thing!
"Odessa O-Huang Fan," Valerian finally said. "I love you more than anything in the world. And I know we're both still young, we don't have to get married right away, but…" he stopped just a couple of seconds, grinning, and took the box out of his pocket, dropping to one knee, "will you marry me, in the future, whenever that is?" He held the small box open for her
Odessa didn't really know what to do with the huge bouquet in her arms, and Ashia came to her rescue by gently taking it from her and offering the most confident and encouraging – yet a little shaky – smile she could muster. Odessa relinquished the flowers and looked at the prince, laughing. "Of course! Yes! Tomorrow if you want!" she said. She kneeled on the floor with him and Valerian kissed her even before slipping the ring on her finger.
The crowd erupted in cheers and applause, which reminded Val of where he was, and he stood up, pulling Odessa to her feet as yell. The musicians started a very happy waltz just as Valerian put the pink ring on her finger, and the crowd dispersed to the edges of the room, giving them room to dance. Jesse saw the two drones above them, slaloming between the chandeliers, and he knew the footage would be on point and beautiful.
Valerian and his brand-new fiancée danced in the middle of the room, eyes locked on each other, and he doubted he could have slipped a sheet of paper between them.
His job that night was done, and now that the excitement was over, he wanted to go to bed. This might be a new year, but there was still one prince to go. But seeing him with his four girls always attached to him, he wondered if he would ever choose one. Who of the four girls would tire of his indecision first?
Honestly, Jesse thought that Pallas was the smartest of them all: she knew she had no chance with Nathan, so she had let herself fall for Henri. And what a cute couple they were. From what Jesse had noticed, he was always calling her in French cute names, and she had rekindled his passion for engineering work. But more than that, he didn't really know more about them.
The party went on into the night, and guests didn't leave: everyone had just witnessed the second prince's proposal and no one wanted to miss anything after that. Valerian and Essie stayed glued together until morning, and the three other girls of his Elite had retired to their own rooms. Jesse hoped they were okay…
At around three in the morning, fatigue washed over him and he found a seat near the wall on a plush chair. He spread out his legs and crossed his arms over his chest. Before long, he was dozing off, his head dropping to the side. He was still half-awake enough to pull his head up every time, so it wasn't really restful sleep.
asdfghjkl wow.
Val just chose his One, didn't he? THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER. FIGHT ME.
sorry, this chapter was a bit shorter than others, but I wanted to focus only on the Ball! I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! Don't forget to go check out IG! there will be the ring and some other things :eyes:
see you on Wednesday for the next chapter!
