Chapter 12 – Loyal

Charles Finley loved his father, he really did; but sometimes he wished he wasn't the Report Host. Growing up with Jesse Flynn as a father hadn't been the easiest thing ever, and though he had reconciled himself with it over the years, it was harder again, especially with the Selection going on. Jesse was overly excited about the whole thing and Charlie just wanted to survive this whole thing. His mother knew exactly what he was feeling, though, and she supported him.

"Was he always like that, during Uncle Silas's Selection?" he asked his mother as they waited in the empty audience room.

"Yes," Nevaeh said. "And he was also younger, so he was even more so."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "How could you have fallen in love with him, then?"

Nevaeh smiled. "Well," she said slowly, "you came along, and we needed to bury the hatchet so we could both survive until the end of the Selection."

Charlie frowned. He had heard the stories of the Selection multiple times before, but he had never ventured along the path of his parents' love story– too awkward. "You're kidding, right?" Charlie said. "You guys went from enemies to lovers?"

"Something like that," his mother said, tilting her head to the side and smiling. "It's kind of a long story, but I can tell it to you if you want– not right now, of course."

Charlie crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at what was going on onto the stage. "I'm not sure I want to know all the details…" His father was talking in hushed tones with Willow before the Report began, and the boys were all hiding somewhere backstage, waiting to be called one after the other for a quick interview with his father.

"We're filming in five minutes!" the stage director called out. Willow sat on the loveseat while Jesse sat on the armchair, and both waited. Whoever had created the setting in the middle of the stage with all those flowers had done a great job, and Charlie had to admit it, even if it wasn't his area of expertise.

"Three minutes!"

"I really don't know how he does it," Charlie mumbled. "How is he not completely stressed out, right now? The countdown is the worst."

"He is," Nevaeh said. "He just doesn't show it."

"Two minutes!"

"And Willow is good, too," he said. "I could never do it, and I'm glad I'll never be on that stage."

Nevaeh laughed softly. "Never say never, Charles. You never know what your father might cook up…"

The blond boy rolled his eyes. "I'll run away if he makes me go, and you know he'll never catch me."

His mother laughed, but she quickly put a hand on her mouth to quiet the sound, not wanting to be heard when the cameras started rolling.

"Ten seconds!"

The wait was agonizing for Charlie and he bounced his foot up and down really fast, making the whole row of seats tremble.

"Calm down," Lolly whispered, putting her hand on his knee to stop him. She took it away when he did. "You're not even on that stage."

Charlie looked at his cousin who was offering him a comforting smile. "I know."

"Goodeveningladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls!" Jesse said from his seat in the middle of the stage. "My name is Jesse Flynn and I'm here tonight with the Princess and all of her Selected who will be joining us a bit later." He turned to Willow. "You've had a busy week, haven't you, Your Highness?"

"Yes, extremely busy," she replied. "I didn't even see the time go by! I feel like I was on this couch just yesterday."

Jesse laughed. "I see. So, what have you been doing this week so be so busy?"

The Princess smoothed down her skirt. "While the Selected all have lessons in the morning, I do my own usual work– it may be the summer, but I don't know what a vacation is."

"So you work all day long?"

"No, only in the mornings," she replied. "Let's just say I'm part-time on vacation?"

"Ah, that's nice!" Jesse said. "And what do you do during the rest of the day?"

Willow tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I've gotten to know the Selected a little better," she replied.

"Ooooh, did you go on dates already?"

"Group dates," she corrected. "One every afternoon since Monday."

Jesse's jaw dropped to the floor. "No wonder you've been busy! Wow! What kind of dates?"

"The first one was a simple hike on the LA cliffs with Tristan, Ben, Hayes, and Lysander." Just as she said that pictures of their date showed up on the big screen behind them, and three Selected walked in, sent in by a stage assistant backstage.

"Ah! and here are the lucky men!" Jess said, inviting them to sit on the couch around the table. Tristan didn't hesitate to sit next to Willow on the loveseat while Hayes and Lysander shared the other couch. Jesse looked around. "Where's the fourth one?"

"Oh, I sent him home right after the date," she said.

"Oh… that bad?"

"No, it's just– he went home for personal reasons. On his end."

"I see," Jesse said. But Charlie wondered why he had had to find a flight for Ben in such a hurry; neither he nor Willow had given him an explanation. "At least we have the three others, here! So, how was the date with the princess?" He looked at the three young men, in turn, hoping that one of them would speak up on his own.

"It was actually very fun," Tristan said, putting his arm on the backrest of the loveseat. He didn't go all the way into leaning towards the Princess, but Charlie thought he was this close to doing it. "We got into some very… fun topics of conversation," he said, looking at the others. Hayes chuckled, but Lysander's cheeks became red pretty quickly. Willow just laughed.

"What kind?" Jesse asked, ever so curious.

"…Vaginas," Tristan and Willow said at the same time before bursting out into laughter.

"What…?" Jesse said. But everyone had heard them correctly. "But why?"

"I honestly have no idea how he got on the subject anymore," Willow said, "but we also talked about Lysander's next book. We tried brainstorming on possible setting ideas and all."

"Oh, that's interesting," Jesse said, turning to Lysander. "Would you be willing to share to your fans what your next book is about? Is it some high-fantasy novel again? We can never get enough of that!"

Lysander shifted on his seat, crossing his legs. "I'm trying something new, actually," he said. "So no high-fantasy, this time."

"Hmm. Cyberpunk? Horror! Mystery?" Jesse tried guessing.

"Romance, actually," Lysander said.

"Ha! I knew it!" Jesse said. Charlie shook his head. Of course not, he didn't know it; he had tried three other genres. "Are you going to let your experience in the Selection inspire you?"

Lysander shrugged. "Maybe…"

"Well, then, let's hope you go far so you can write the best book ever– but knowing your writing, I know it's gonna be great!" Jesse grinned. "Alright, gentlemen, thank you for your time," he said. "Let's get on to the next group!"

The boys all left the stage and Jesse asked Willow what her second date was – Laser tagging – and the five boys from the date arrived. Of course, Mikey took the seat next to Willow, while the four others crammed themselves into the couch, shoulder to shoulder, and knee to knee. Comoe and Feighree were squished in the middle between Julian and Northdon.

Behind them on the screen, pictures of the two teams all geared up showed up, followed by the ginormous ice cream they shared in the pink ice cream shop.

"So, which team won?" Jesse said.

"Mine, of course," Willow said.

"Obviously," Jesse chuckled. "Who was on your team?"

"We were," Julian and Feighree said at the same time.

"I see," Jesse said. "So you went against your best friend, then?" he asked, with a wicked grin.

"She's actually really good," Mikey said. "In the last game, she and Julian teamed up on me – I was the sole survivor of my team – and they actually took me down." He looked at Willow and nodded. "I didn't know you had it in you like that."

"Who do you think I am?" Willow retorted. "A weakling?"

Mikey shook his head and smiled. "No, you're way better than that." They shared a long glance, making everyone around them feel a little awkward.

"Right!" Jesse said, bringing them back to the matter at hand. "Then you all went to eat ice cream. That was huge!"

"Oh yeah," Feighree said, piping in. "We couldn't even finish it."

"I can imagine that." Jesse nodded and looked at the humongous ice cream photo on the screen. Charlie wanted to vomit at the sheer amount of sugar and sweetness in one picture. One spoonful and he would have had enough. Especially sharing in the same bowl as everyone else. Ew. "So, princess, you eliminated one Selected from the first group date. Are you going to eliminate one from this one, as well?"

"Yes," she said, sitting up. "As a matter of fact, I decided to eliminate one from each group date."

The four boys shared uneasy glances, and Charlie grinned: she hadn't told them. Excellent. Keep them on their toes a little, it would be good for everyone.

"Alright," Jesse said, sitting on the edge of his seat. "Who's going home today?"

Willow looked at all of them in turn, and from where Charlie was sitting, they seemed to all hold their breath. She stopped on one of them. "Northdon Woods, I'm afraid that you're the one going home, today…"

"Dang it, I knew it," he mumbled as the others released a breath. "I knew I had absolutely no chance with these guys." He stood and bowed sarcastically to the Princess. "Good luck," he simply said before heading off the stage.

"I was wondering," Jesse said, trying to loosen the tension on the stage. "Is there a Southton in your Selection?"

Willow frowned, confused, but Mikey burst out laughing. Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose– his father's jokes were real dad jokes, and he hated them.

"I mean, you have an Easton, a Weston, and you just eliminated a Northdon. So I was just wondering…" Jesse explained, on the verge of laughter.

Willow started laughing, and the other boys followed along, getting the joke. "No, I don't have a Southton," she said.

"Well, I tried." Jesse chuckled and dismissed the four remaining guys before calling in the next group, the ones who went to the Lake with Willow. Callan, Easton and Liliana, Blaze, and Cyrus walked in, all as handsome as the previous ones. And they better be, Charlie thought. Claude Arsenault had had his hand in the outfit choices for this Report.

"Ah, the lake people!" Jesse said. "So, how was the afternoon?"

"It was great!" Liliana said. She was dressed in a cute green dress, matching her dad's tie, both sitting on the loveseat with Princess Willow. "Prince Matty made me jump in the water from his shoulders!"

"Ooh! Prince Matty was there, too?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah!" Liliana replied from her father's lap. "He was already there when we arrived and Princess Willow said he could stay and his dog, Plume– she's the softest dog on earth and the kindest, but Mister Callan was allergic to her and he kept sneezing all the time. And then we had snacks and drinks and we talked a lot, and–" she stopped to take a breath and Jesse took that opportunity to say something.

"That's great!" he said. "Thanks for all of those details! Callan," he continued, turning his attention to the blind Selected. "How did you find the Lake– Oh… I'm–"

"Really nice, actually," Cal said in his deep, deep voice. "It was peaceful, the water was warm, and the company delightful."

"That's really sweet," Jesse said.

"Mister Callan taught me how to find someone beautiful without seeing them," Liliana piped in.

"Really?" Jesse asked. "And how do you do that?" Charlie knew his father was having the time of his life right now. Interviewing people who were willing to talk made it a thousand times easier, and children were the easiest: they usually forgot pretty quickly they were filmed and just started talking about everything that went through their minds.

"Well, you have to use everything else than your eyes, of course," Lili said. "Your ears, your hands, your nose– and then you have to see how they make you feel."

"I see," Jesse said. "That sounds great! Princess Willow," he continued, turning towards the princess. "How did you like this date?"

"Honestly? I absolutely adored every moment of it," she said, smiling. "It was casual and friendly, and I loved it."

"But you're still going to send someone home?"

"…yes," she said.

"Oh, no! Please not us!" Liliana said. "And not Mister Callan, please!"

"Sweetheart," Easton whispered to her. But with the mics above them, Charlie could hear them all the way from his seat in the audience. "It's not our job to decide that, okay?"

Liliana snuggled against her dad's chest, sucking on her thumb and nodding. "Okay," she said softly.

"I'm afraid that Cyrus Black will be leaving us today," Willow said.

"Hey! it's not fair!" Cyrus burst out. "Blaze was on his phone the whole time!"

"He's an influencer, so it's his job," Willow said. "Goodbye, Cyrus. Safe travel back home."

Cyrus stormed out of the stage without a backward glance at the princess. While Jesse wrapped their time with this group, Charlie wondered if she had kept Blaze around just because he was hot– because yes, Charlie had to admit that he was hot. But after that conversation about finding someone beautiful without seeing them, Charlie doubted she had decided on the eliminated based on looks alone. But then he remembered the fight from the previous day and he understood.

The last group of the evening walked in – the bowling group date made of Archer, Haakon, Reigh, and Mike – and Jesse asked them who had won. Mike was the first one there and he sat next to Willow, to Haakon's displeasure.

"Me, obviously," Archer said in the most arrogant voice ever. Charlie prided himself in dubbing him the Asshole.

"What?" Jesse said. "You didn't let the Princess win?"

"For your information," Reigh said, leaning over, "she didn't want us to let her win. So we didn't."

"I see…" Jesse said. He turned to Mike and Haakon. "Did you let her win?"

"We tried not to!" Mike said, laughing. "But honestly, I think the three of us were more or less on the same game level, so we let Archer and Reigh fight for first and second, and we did our own little tournament for third, fourth, and last place."

"And who won between you three, then?" Jesse asked.

"Not me," Willow said. "I always ended up fourth– or second in this case!"

Haakon and Mike laughed and then they talked about how Archer and Reigh kept hitting strikes, and how they stopped cheering them on after a while because it was getting annoying. The snacks and drinks were way more interesting than their little feud…

"Well, at least you still had fun," Jesse said. "So, here comes the tough question: who's going home today?"

Willow looked at both Archer and Reigh in turn, building up the suspense. In Charlie's opinion, Reigh was way more annoying than Archer, who was actually kind of entertaining. And he was hot as well.

"Reigh Bearie," Willow said. "This is where we say goodbye."

Reigh rolled his eyes. "I'm not even surprised," he said. "You haven't liked me since day one, anyway."

"You haven't really made me like you," Willow retorted.

"…fair." Reigh stood, bowed stiffly, and walked away. After which Jesse dismissed the three remaining boys. And was left alone with Willow.

"Wow! What an evening!" he said. "Three eliminations, and four amazing group dates! Do you have anything to add before we close up for this week?"

"Actually, yes, I do have something to say, Jesse." Jesse nodded, listening. "I would just like to say that I will not tolerate bullying in my Selection. Some of the guys I've sent home just now have been bullying others and myself – I will not give any names – and I will not let it happen again. Next time it happens, even if it's not in front of me but reported to me, I will not wait until the next Report to send them home." She paused, looking at one of the cameras with a little red light on. "They will be sent home at once."

"Excellent idea," Jesse said, nodded appreciatively. Charlie also liked how she had said that: the threat was there, but it wasn't too straightforward: the people implied would recognize themselves… "Well, Ladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls," Jesse said, concluding his show, "that's all for tonight! Have a great weekend and we'll see you next week, bye!"

A few silent seconds later, the stage director said "Cut!" and everyone sighed, relieved that this was over. Charlie headed directly backstage to join the princess and the Selected.

/ / /

Willow was relaxing by the swimming pool with all the other Selected – it had kind of become their go-to place to chill during the day, while the Selected preferred the Men's Parlor in the evening – chatting with Jaylen, Callan, and Fredrik about what was best between cats, dogs, or horses when Nerissa approached their little group.

"Highness," she said softly, "you have a visitor who's waiting for you in the Entrance Hall."

"A visitor?" Willow had no idea who it could be. Cordelia, maybe? But Cordelia would just come straight here. "Please excuse me," she said to her little group. They all nodded, and Willow pulled on her t-shirt dress she had been wearing to come to the pool in the first place. She also slipped on her sandals. "Am I too underdressed for this visitor?" she asked.

"No, it's perfectly fine," her personal maid said.

"Who is it?"

"They asked that no one told you so it would be a surprise, I'm afraid."

"Huh." Willow frowned, racking her brain for who could possibly surprise her like that in the middle of her Selection. Her cousins, maybe? Uncle Val or Uncle Nate? She really couldn't figure it out, but she went anyway. For them to be waiting in the Entrance hall already they must have passed all the protocol stages to be admitted inside the Palace, so it was safe.

She didn't want to arrive breathlessly, so she walked normally, not over-exerting herself. When she arrived in the small court in between the two terraces, she made a beeline for the stairs in the middle that would lead her to the entrance hall. When she was inside, her eyes needed to adjust to the dimness of the Palace interior, but she recognized the dog before the person waiting with a huge bag at their feet.

"Annie!" Willow squealed, practically running down the stairs to greet her second cousin. "Oh, my gosh! Charlie didn't tell me you were coming!"

"He didn't know!" Annabeth said, hugging the princess tightly. She was still wearing her Marines' uniform with her cap and her tightly knotted bun. "I wanted to surprise you! I didn't even know I was coming until last night when I was put on leave for a few weeks."

"Are you staying?" Willow asked.

"Yes! That is– if you don't mind, of course– I can also go back home, but–"

"Are you kidding?" Willow said. "Of course, you can stay! I'm sure the guys will be happy to have another girl around."

Annie rolled her eyes. "As if I don't have enough guys in my life," she said. "I'm not here for the beef, I'm here for you. Whatever you need, I'm here."

Willow smiled. "Come on, let me show you to your room– even if you already know where it is." The girls giggled and Willow tried to lift Annie's bag. "Damn! How do you even lift that?"

Annabeth hoisted it on her shoulder. "Just like that." She laughed and Willow laughed, too. Sparks, Annie's German Shepherd, barked once and then followed the girls upstairs, staying on his master's heel all the way as they climbed the stairs to the third floor where Willow showed her to the room right next to hers.

"Did you come directly from your base?"

"Yup, directly from Hansport. I took the first flight out this morning and here I am." She plonked her bag on the big bed. "I don't have a lot of fancy clothes with me though, but I'll call mom and see if she can bring me some."

"Or you can always borrow some of Lolly's," Willow said.

Annie sent her a look as she unzipped her military green camouflage jacket. "She's four inches taller than me, you know it never works."

"…true. Does your mother know you're on leave?"

"Nope, it'll be a nice surprise for her, too. Oh, and Charlie, too," she said. "But I wanted to see you first! How's the Selection going?" She continued to strip down to change in some civilian clothes she had in her bag, namely a spaghetti-strap knee-length floral sundress with high heel wedges.

"Well," Willow said. "I already eliminated seven guys– How do you do it?" she said. "How do military clothes and cute dresses look so good on you?"

Annie shrugged and she pulled out her bun, running her fingers in her dark brown hair to loosen them a little, massaging her tight scalp. "Aaaah, this feels so good," she sighed. "And to answer your question, I don't know. But my guys never see me like this; and your guys will never see me in full military garb, either." She paused, looking for her makeup purse in her bag. "Consider yourself privileged." Sparks was observing everything from the corner of her room, where he had already chosen his personal place.

Willow snorted. "I know, I'm the princess."

"Also, how did you eliminate already seven guys? It's been only a week!"

"They were idiots– most of them."

Annie chuckled and shook her head. Now she was doing her makeup: something very simple but that brought out her light blue eyes and her freckles. Willow wouldn't have believed the transformation had she not witnessed it firsthand. "So, are you going to introduce me to your Selected?" she asked when she was done.

"Hell, yes," Willow said. "Come on." She looped her arm in her cousin's and they headed downstairs. Just as they arrived on the first floor, Charlie was coming out of the office hall with a stack of folders under his arm.

"Annie?" he said, smiling. "What are you doing here?" He quickly hugged his sister with his free arm, grinning. "I haven't seen you in ages!" Spotty and Sparks greeted each other as well, just like any other dogs would…

"I'm gonna spend my leave weeks here, helping around however I can!"

"That's nice," he said. "Why didn't you tell me? I could have sent a chauffeur to pick you up at the airport."

"I wanted to surprise you guys. Besides," she added, punching him playfully in the arm, "you know I can take care of myself."

"I know that," he said. "That doesn't mean I can't also help you." He nodded once. "Excuse me, ladies." He walked past them up the stairs.

"Are you joining us at the pool later?" Willow called after him.

"Maybe, we'll see," he replied, not stopping.

Annie and Willow shared a glance and shrugged before making their way to the swimming pool area with Sparks at their heels. He was much more relaxed now that he was not on duty, anymore.

"Gentlemen?" Willow called out as she arrived at the swimming pool area. The closest Selected turned immediately at her call, and the ones kicking a ball on the field came, too, only it took them longer to realize she was calling them. Once she had more or less everyone's attention, Willow smiled. "Everyone, I would like to introduce you to my dear cousin and Charlie's sister, Annabeth Finley." Annie had specifically asked that she dropped the 'Sergeant' title for now.

"Hi everyone!" Annie said, waving. And by that time, no one would have believed the 'sergeant' anyway... "Nice to meet you all!"

Archer snorted. "You don't look like Charles Finley at all. Are you sure you're his sister?"

"Don't mind him," Willow said. "He's an as–"

"I definitely am, yes," Annie replied. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Archer shook his head but kept the arrogant smile on his face. "No, ma'am." He chuckled now that he had everyone's attention on him. "You're just really opposite," he continued. "He's tall and blond and cold, and you're just so tiny and warm. And a brunette." He walked over and checked their height difference. "Look you barely arrive at my shoulder!"

Willow wanted to say something, but before she could even think of something, Annie had already trapped Archer into an armlock, bringing him to his knees.

"It's Sergeant Finley for you, sir," she said, absolutely not amused at all. She twisted his arm a little more, just enough for it not to dislocate his shoulder. "Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," he squeaked out. "Please–"

Annie held him like that just a tiny bit longer before letting him go. He cradled his wrist against his chest and stood, sulking.

"Does anyone else have a problem with me being either tiny or Charlie's sister?"

Everyone shook their heads and kept their mouth shuts.

"Good."

Jaylen approached Annie and Willow with her hand held out. "Welcome to the Ladies' club, Sergeant," she said. She was a lot taller than Annie – honestly, it wasn't hard: everyone was taller than Annie at this point – but Annabeth simply smiled and shook her hand.
"You can call me Annie. And thanks!" She giggled. "I'm hoping to balance things out a bit."
Jaylen and Willow laughed. "Good luck with that," the psychiatrist said. "There aren't many of us, here."

"Yeah, but they're on my turf," Willow said. "So, we have home-field advantage."

"Very true," Jay said.

"Hey! There's me too!" Liliana said, coming over.

Annie crouched down to be at eye level with her. "Hi!" she said. "You're Liliana, right?"

Lili nodded and grinned. "You know me?"

"A little," Anni said. "I've been following the Selection a little, and I saw you on the Report last night!"

"Oooh!" Lili said, elongating the O. "You wanna meet my dad?"

"Sweetie," Willow said. "Annabeth is going to meet everyone since she's going to stay for a few weeks. But that's a lot of people in one day."

"Okay!" Liliana just shrugged and skipped away, back to the swimming pool where her dad and some others had gone back to.

Willow and Annabeth stayed together with Jaylen as some of the politest – or most curious? – Selected came to say hi and introduce themselves. For some reason, Archer stayed far away from Annie...

/ / /

On Sunday morning, Willow woke up relatively early – around 8:30 – even though she would have wanted to oversleep until late in the afternoon. Sundays were the only days where she really didn't have anything to do – unless there was a big emergency – so she could do whatever she wanted and no one would ever say anything about it.

After turning and tossing in her bed for thirty minutes, Willow decided to get up. And since it was Nerissa's day off, she had to get ready on her own. It wasn't a big deal but when you're used to having someone choosing your outfits and doing your makeup flawlessly, having to it on your own was a little bit of a hustle.

She took a quick shower and then picked a casual outfit made of cute shorts, a cute top, and some gorgeous heels that would elongate her legs and make her look fabulous. She wrapped her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head and headed downstairs to the breakfast buffet. Her stomach was growling in anticipation: the smell of freshly baked bread and waffles called her and she hurried her steps.

The room was almost empty, but there was one selected that was already there, eating.

"Aidyn?" Willow said, coming over. "You're up early."

The New Asian young man almost jumped off his seat. "Your Highness! I didn't hear you come in!" He stood and bowed. "You're up early, too..." he commented.

"I couldn't sleep," she replied. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Of course not! It would be an absolute honor, Princess." He bowed his head, smiling warmly. So, Willow went to the buffet to fill herself a plate and came back to the table to sit next to him. That's when she noticed he had a sketchbook next to him.

"What are you working on?"

Aidyn slammed the book shut. "It's a surprise, I can't tell you."

Willow raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Really."

Aidyn bit his lip, debating internally. "It's just– I wanted to surprise you and– you know what? Why don't you help me with this?" He opened the sketchbook to the page he had been working on and handed it to her. On the page was a sketch of a plus-size girl with a magnificent gown. It wasn't colored yet, just a rough sketch, but Willow was used to seeing her mother's sketches like that.

"Oh wow! It's beautiful!" she said, her breakfast and coffee completely forgotten for the moment. "I absolutely adore it!"

"Really?" Aidyn asked, relieved. "It was afraid it would be too much."

"Too much?" Willow laughed. "Nothing is too much for the Princess. It's perfect."

Aidyn's smile couldn't have been any bigger or brighter on his face. "That means a lot to me," he said. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome." Willow went back to her waffles covered with powdered sugar.

"So, you've been up early to draw?"

"Actually," Aidyn said, delicately wiping his lips with his napkin before checking the time on his watch, "I have an appointment in fifteen minutes with the royal tailor. He's going to show me around the royal workshop and let me chose some fabrics. For the dress."

Willow's eyes went wide. "How on earth did you manage that?" she asked.

"I have my ways," he replied mysteriously, winking at her. "Would you like to join me?"

"I'd love to." Willow quickly finished her waffles and before long, the room filled up with Selected who had joined them at the table. They excused themselves and left together, under everyone's more or less jealous looks. But Willow ignored them and followed Aidyn outside and to the smaller building bordering the western part of the Palace grounds.

"I'm pretty sure there is a tunnel to go from one place to the other," Aidyn explained, "but they didn't tell me."

"It's a beautiful Sunday morning," Willow said. "Why would you want to lock yourself into a tunnel when you could get some Vitamin D?"

"True," Aidyn said, laughing softly. "Can I ask you something?" Willow nodded so he continued. "How do you choose your outfits?"

"Most of the time, it's Nerissa who chooses them for me," she said. "Not today, though, it's her day off, but–"

"No, I meant do you go shopping or do you have people who make them specifically for you?"

"Oh!" Willow laughed. "It depends. Half of my gowns and dresses come from the Rainha collection that my mom designs, some she drew specifically for me. The other half I either shop online from designers I adore – Teuta Matoshi is my most favorite of all time – or I receive them from designers hoping I'll promote their work on my social media."

"And do you?"

"Not all the time, no. Most of them are hideous, and I just send them back." Willow said as they approached the workshops. "Nerissa knows me well, though, because most of the time she doesn't even show them to me and sends them back herself: she knows what I like."

"I see…" Aidyn held the door open for her and they were met by Monsieur de Lafayette, the royal tailor.

"Welcome, Your Royal Highness, Sir Song," he said bowing elegantly. He may have had a French name, but his English was impeccable, with only a slight French lilt here and there. His mustache was very French, though, and Willow wondered how he managed to curl it like that. "Right on time, Mr. Song." He paused. "Though I didn't know her Royal Highness would be joining you. But it's an honor. Please, follow me."

Willow and Aidyn followed the man in the light blue suit downstairs to a cool room where they stored their miles and miles of fabrics of all different colors and textures, all organized by textures and colors.

"Wow," Aidyn said. "It's even bigger than the storage room where I work!"

"Of course, it is," Monsieur de Lafayette said. "This is where we create all the formal gowns and suits for the royal family. Of course, we don't design for a runway, but some of the gowns are worn only once."

"Which is a total pity," Willow said. "Some gowns are just so magnificent I'd want to wear them all the time!"

De Lafayette chuckled softly. "That's where you're wrong, Your Highness. These gowns are pieces of art and meant to be worn only once." He paused, leading them to a dummy in the corner that was wearing a forest green off-the-shoulder gown that wasn't quite finished yet. "This one, for example, was designed by the Queen herself. Most of her Rainha collection is made in the Rainha's headquarters in Los Angeles. But what she designs for herself is made here, by us." He paused. "When she doesn't have time to make them herself."

"What's this one for, then?"

"For the Rainha Premiere in a week." Monsieur de Lafayette turned around. "Please follow me," he said. "I promised Mr. Song to show him our workshops– but considering it's Sunday, they are empty of seamstresses until tomorrow morning."

"Thank you for coming on a Sunday," Aidyn said. "I really appreciate it."

"Don't worry about it," de Lafayette said. "I practically live here during the month before a RainhaFashion Show premiere, anyway." He showed them the workshops with the sewing machines, the dummies – there were one for each royal family member with their perfect measurements –, and the closets and shelves overflowing with ribbons, zippers, buttons, threads, and any embellishments Willow and Aidyn could possibly imagine. "I understand you have a project in mind, Mr. Song?" de Lafayette asked.

"Yes," Aidyn replied. "We do."

"Excellent," the tailor replied. "Then you may choose anything in this workshop and start working on it today, right here. And if you have any questions, I'll be in my office, right over there." He pointed to a smaller 'aquarium-like' room.

Aidyn and Willow nodded, excited. De Lafayette left them to their own devices.

"Alright," Aidyn said, rubbing his hands together. "If you're okay with this dress I drew, what do you say we pick a color for it?"

Willow smirked. "As long as there are pockets, it'll be perfect."

"Pockets? Of course, there are pockets. Who doesn't put pockets on dresses?" he said as they walked back to the fabric storage room.

"You'd be surprised how many designers do not add pockets to their dresses, and it's the most annoying thing ever. Those are usually the ones I send back."

Aidyn burst out laughing. "What a stupid mistake they did…" He stopped in front of the silk section and ran his fingers on the cold fabric. "I hope you like silk…"

"A dress made by the Silk Master himself?" she said. "Yes, please."

Aidyn pulled out a roll of pink silk, held it up next to Willow's face, but then shook his head and put it back. "Hmm, have you ever had a professional determine what color suits you best using the colorimetry technique?"

"…no? I don't even know what that is…"

"When you put a color near to your face," he explained, "your blood reacts to it and make you either look pale – that means the color doesn't suit you – or it brings out your eyes and your lips and you seem to have a beautiful golden tan; that's when the color suits you."

"Huh, no, I've never done that," she said.

"Great!" the young fashion designer said, smiling. "Then let's find out what's your color, then." No sooner said than done, Aidyn picked one color after the other, holding them to Willow's face and sorting them into two piles on the table: a big pile with the colors that didn't suit her, and a smaller pile with the colors that did. And those turned out to be cold colors, such as blues, greens, and teals.

"It's really funny," Willow said, "because I love teal so much and I have lots of teal accents in my bedroom."

"It was meant to be," Aidyn replied, putting back all the rolls and keeping only the teal silk on the table. They then started picking out all the teal rolls of various textures, laughing and giggling as they went. After an hour or so, they had a good collection of fabrics on the table, and it was then time to pick the right one for the dress. Around noon, a maid brought them lunch, but Aidyn and Willow spent the whole day in the workshop, working on that dress. And by the end of the day, they had created a mock version of the dress on the dummy in a crude white cotton fabric. It was essential to do that so they wouldn't waste the good fabric on mistakes…

hiii! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Three guys went home, we met Annie (what do you think of her?), and we had another impromptu 1-1 date ;) let me know your thoughts on the chapter! See ya next week!