Chapter 15 – Oopsie

"Good morning, everyone," Ezra Watanabe said, entering the designated classroom for his second lesson. The room was still somewhat cramped, but Charlie knew it would only get better with time. He stayed in the back of the room for an hour, watching as the Selected more or less paid attention to the politics lesson. It was mainly internal politics, and it was interesting to see where the boys stood on this or that opinion.

Of course, he wrote down what he could observe, because these kinds of opinions and dirt were always useful for later… The Selected ignored him and they didn't know Charlie was writing things down. Only Mikey knew what Charlie was up to, so he didn't say much during the lesson– not that Charlie didn't already know Mikey's opinions on political things.

When the Selection Planner had had his full of dirt on the Selected for the moment, he left the room, excusing himself. He headed to his office and went to work on the next group dates and places he needed to call for reservations and such.

Later that morning, a knock sounded on his door and he looked up. "Yeah?"

Willow walked in and sat on a chair. "Hey," she said.

"Hello." He paused. He didn't really like to be interrupted in the middle of his work, but this was the Princess. "Is there anything I can do for you? I'm kind of in the middle of something, here."

"Oh! Uhm…" Willow chuckled awkwardly. "No, I just– I needed a break from my work, so I just wanted to say hi. Sorry…" She stood and meant to leave, but Charlie called her back.

"Hey, I didn't say you had to leave," he said. So, willow sat back down. "You wanna talk about it?" He knew his cousin and he knew when something was bothering her, even when she pretended everything was fine.

"I said I'm fine!" she said, laughing. "Can't I just pop in to say hi?"

Charlie sighed and sent her one of his looks. "No offense, Princess, but I know you well enough."

Willow was silent for a few seconds, matching his gaze, but eventually, she looked away. "It's just– There are some of the Selected that I really don't know what to do with."

"In what sense?" Charlie asked, sitting back in his chair. "The Report is in two days; you can send them home then. Or you can do it now as you did with Niall."

Willow shrugged, looking at her nails. "I feel bad about it, though," she said. "I wanted to give them all the same chance, but some are just impossible. And mean, or rude, or… twisted, you know?"

Charlie nodded. "You don't have to bear with those guys," he said softly. "Focus your time and energy on the ones you really like and the ones who really have a chance." He paused. "Are we going to talk about Mikey and Julian?"

Willow looked up. "Why do you want to talk about them?"

"You said in your 'first meeting' with Mikey that you'd give him two weeks–"

"How'd you know I said that?" the princess asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "Oh, my God. Did you watch the three hours of meetings on video afterward?"

"I sure did," Charlie said. "I wanted to see how these meetings had gone. So, it's been two weeks."

"And? I already talked about it with Mikey and I'm not sending him home." She crossed her arms over her chest, pouting a little.

"No?" Charlie challenged her. "So you're giving him hope that there might be something between you two? Gosh, Willow– don't you think something would have happened between you and Mikey in the past twenty years?"

"No, we grew up together, Charlie. I never imagined him as anything different than my best friend and–"

"Then what changed?"

"I don't–" Willow sighed and went to sit on the windowsill, looking over at the tree line that separated the palace gardens and the guards' barracks. She pulled her legs to her chest and hugged them tightly, keeping her eyes outside.

Charlie came over and leaned on the wall across from her, his hands in his pockets. "Willow, what is it?" he asked softly. "I can't help you if you don't tell me…"

"I'm not sure you can help me," she replied, still not meeting his eyes.

"Try me."

Willow didn't reply right away, but Charlie gave her the time she needed to gather her thoughts and the words she wanted to use. He didn't see her in distress like this often, but when he did, he knew she didn't talk about it easily. "Ever since the beginning of the Selection, every time I'm around him, I can't focus. I feel like I've just run a marathon and I don't want him to go." She paused. "I'm seeing him in a completely different light, and I don't know what to think about it– do you see my problem?"

Charlie nodded and bit the inside of his cheek. "I see," he said. He frowned. She couldn't be, could she? "Do you think you're falling in love with Mikhail, or do you think it's just the Selection messing with you?"

She shrugged. "I have no idea," she said softly. "And it terrifies me." She kept her eyes on the tree line and rested her head on the window. "I just always feel so comfortable around him, like I know him so well– why am I scared?"

"Love is scary, sometimes," Charlie replied, raising a shoulder. He also looked outside. He had been a little scared of admitting his feeling for Jemma Taylor, once upon a time, and now seeing how it ended, he should have been terrified of the repercussions of loving someone. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, kicking this memory out of his mind. This was not about him, but about Willow. And Mikey. His two best friends. Honestly, he could see how they could end up together. "Look," he said. "Give yourself time, okay? There are still many guys in this race, and you haven't gone on group dates with everyone yet. Once that is done, you'll have a good idea on all of them and you'll have kicked out the worst of the lot."

"I know," she replied, sighing. She pushed herself out of the windowsill and smiled at him. "Thanks for the pep talk," she said. "What about you?" Willow asked, poking him in the chest. "Anyone you're interested in among the Selected?"

Charlie would have wanted some heads-up on that question because he could have pushed down the blush that heated his cheeks. "No –" His voice squeaked a little, and he cleared his throat. "No, no one."

The princess narrowed her eyes on him and smirked. "You're an awful liar, Charlie," she finally said. "I'll figure it out." With that, she was out of this office and heading back to hers, leaving him mortified. Was there anyone he was interested in? A face came up unwanted in his mind, and he quickly pushed it away. He went back to his waiting work, focusing on something else than him.

But his smile, his laugh, and the moments spent with him just flooded Charlie's mind, and he couldn't focus on the work anymore. Maybe he should stop seeing him, no? But how could he? Unless Willow sent him back home, there was no use running away from him; he would always be there…

/ / /

After lunch, Willow and the other girls joined the boys around the swimming pool and the sports field.

"Ooh, you look amazing!" Annie said when she saw the princess revealing her bathing suit, a navy-blue pinup vintage-y one-piece with pink roses all over it.

"Thanks!" she said. "I found it in the back of my closet the other day. I completely forgot I had it."

"Typical," Annie giggled. "You have so many clothes!"

"Ha-ha," Willow said.

"Hey! who wants to fight on each other's shoulders!" Mikey said, dumping his stuff on the grass. Several Selected joined in and they climbed on each other's shoulders to test their strength and just have a good laugh.

Willow walked towards Julian, who was leaning on his side on his towel, propped up on his elbow. "I'm surprised you're not joining into the water fights," she said, sitting down next to him. "You love the pool."

Julian looked up from his book and smiled. "True," he said, "but I'm a little tired of these games, to be honest." He closed the book. "They seem to lose ten or fifteen years when they're around here."

"And you don't?" she teased him. "You were always the first one to suggest we go to the Water Park."

He nodded. "I know, but Water Parks are not the same as this– we're in a Selection," he said. "Do you really want to date guys who think they're kids?"

Willow shrugged. "I don't see the problem in finding your inner child from time to time." She looked at his book turned upside down. "What are you reading?" She really wanted to change the subject because she hadn't come to argue with him, but just to hang out with him.

"Ly's last book," he said. "I wanted to know what all this was about."

"And? Do you like it?"

He shrugged. "It's not really my kind of read, but I have to admit that the guy is good. He's got some good ideas." He chuckled softly. "You had quite the reaction on the Report when his name was called, and I understand why, now. This is totally up your alley."

Willow smiled and she was glad that Julian still remembered her well enough to come to that conclusion. He sat up on the towel and bumped her shoulder with his, smiling. "What?" she said.

He leaned in, whispering: "You look really hot."

"Psssh," she said, waving the comment away, but blushing furiously and secretly loving the compliment. She looked at Julian and realized that he was staring at her face with a huge smile on his face.

"So, when are you going to be done with the group dates so we can have a one-on-one date?" he asked. "I've been looking forward to that…" he trailed off and suddenly looked away. He started pulling out strands of grass.

"Me too," she admitted. "Only two more group dates."

Julian nodded. "I'll be patient, then." He chuckled softly, and it sent butterflies in Willow's stomach. He still had the same deep chuckle and it brought up so many memories. She also wanted to slip her hand in his, rest her head on his shoulder, and just spend the rest of the day together; but she couldn't really do that, could she? Or…?

Instead, she also leaned towards him and whispered: "You're very sexy, too."

Julian laughed and again, old memories came flooding in Willow's mind. "Thanks," he said. "I guess we both had an upgrade, then– not that you weren't hot when, you know–"

"Hey, we both did, yes," she said softly, elbowing him playfully in the arm. "I'm just glad you like the, um… change…" She knew she was carrying an extra 60 or 70 pounds since their dating years, so she was relieved to see that he still found her pretty…

"I do," he said, leaning over and placing a tiny kiss on her cheek. "Very much."

Willow wasn't sure no one had seen this, but when she looked around, no one was gawking or staring at them, so she hoped they were safe… for now.

"I should, um… go see some of the others," she said. She didn't want to go. But she had to. She really wanted to give them all a fair chance– but wasn't that just a fancy theory? Could she really give them all a fair chance?

Julian nodded and she walked away, leaving him to his book. She wasn't sure who she wanted to go hang out with: there were a bunch of Selected in the pool, splashing, and fighting; under a parasol, Lolly and Matty were talking with Fredrik who was playing with Plume and laughing; there was another group of guys playing a game of UNO, but there was Abeigh in that group, so she didn't want to join them. Jaylen was chatting with Cal, Xander, and Aidyn, but she didn't want to interrupt them. So Willow decided to go see the guys playing soccer on the small field.

"Go, daddy! You can do it!" Liliana was screaming from the chair she was standing on, cheering on her dad who was running with the soccer ball towards Pierce who was playing as the goalie. Easton had several guys on his tail, but he seemed pretty intent on getting the ball in the goal. He kicked, sending it exactly in Pierce's face.

"OH!" Liliana said. "Is he hurt?"

Pierce was lying on the grass and slowly sitting back up, blood flowing from his nose.

"Oh, gosh!" Willow said, running towards him. "Are you okay? No, you're totally not okay– I can take you to the infirm–"

"I'm fine," Pierce said, wiping the blood on his arm. "I'm fine," he said again, standing up and holding his head back. He pulled off his t-shirt and bundled one of the sleeves before stuffing it up his nose and wrapping the rest of the shirt around his neck. "Okay, we can play again," he said, jogging to the center of the field.

Everyone just stared at him. "Are you sure, dude?" Easton asked. "I'm sorry I kicked–"

"I'm fine!" Pierce said again, laughing. "What's a bloody nose, seriously!" he paused. "Anyone else wants to be the goalkeeper?"

Henry volunteered and went into the small cage, waiting.

"Here, Princess," Liliana said, climbing down from the chair. "You can sit here!"

"Oh, uhm, thanks," Willow said, sitting down. "Wanna come on my lap?"

"Yes!" Lil replied, climbing on the Princess's lap. Together, they cheered on the guys playing soccer, encouraging both teams more or less equally. The sun was hot on their heads, and Willow wished she had taken a hat. As soon as she had thought about that, Lysander and Weston arrived with a parasol that they set up just next to her.

"It would be too bad that you or Lili would get a heatstroke," Lysander said.

"Oh, wow! Thanks!" Willow said.

The two guys walked back to the pool and came back with chairs, plopping them on either side of the Princess. Liliana leaned back on the princess and brought her thumb to her mouth, sucking on it absentmindedly.

Some others joined them by the side, namely Archer, Dom, Hayes, and Haakon among others, and they started cheering on, too, taking sides. Willow was surprised when she noticed Liliana fast asleep against her, despite the shouts and the cheering of the boys around her. She must have been really tired…

By that time, most of the other Selected and had joined them and were cheering along. Willow really wasn't interested in the sport, if she had to be really honest, but it was nice to have everyone focused on one thing. When Easton's team finally won, half the people on their side shouted and cheered, carrying Easton on their shoulders: he had scored more goals than anyone. Liliana woke up with a jump at all the noise, but she woke up quite moody. She tucked her thumb into her mouth and turned around, facing Willow with one leg on each side, resting her cheek on her shoulder.

"Come on, sweetie," Willow said standing up and carrying the little girl away from the cheering mob of boys. "Let's go somewhere else."

Liliana nodded against her shoulder and Willow headed to the swimming pool area with Lolly, Jay, and Annie on her tail. They sat under a parasol on towels and Willow lay Lili down with a small towel pillow under her head.

"Jaylen," Willow said. "What do you say you and I just take the night off from all these loud guys?"

"Yes, please," Jaylen replied. "You know, I would really have thought the guys would be better-mannered and all, seeing that they're in your Selection…"

"Pfft," Annabeth said. "Give men a ball of any kind – soccer, football, volleyball – and they become savages."

"You work with guys, right?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, you could say that," Annie replied. "There are only 8% of women in the Marines."

"So few?" Lolly asked.

"Yes. There is a unit made only of women, but I was assigned a unit of men– I have fifteen men under my orders." Annabeth shrugged as if it was no big deal.

"Ha!" Jaylen laughed. "Now I understand how you handled Archer so easily," she said. "You must be used to assholes belittling you. And I'm sorry for that…"

"Actually," Annie said, "my troupe respects me." She paused and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sure, the new ones always test me at first, but then I have to show them who's the boss– don't get me wrong: they don't hate me or fear me, because I'd be a lousy commanding officer. They respect me because they like me – I think – and they know I'm good at what I do."

Jaylen nodded appreciatively. "I like that."

Next to them, Liliana was still sleeping, but Easton came over and gently shook her shoulder. "Baby girl?" he said, trying to wake her up.

Lili lifted her head. "Wha–"

"If you sleep now, you won't go to bed this evening…"

"Oh, I didn't know that," Willow said. "She just fell asleep on my lap–"

"I know," Easton said, smiling. "Come on, Lil," he coaxed her softly.

"I mean– if she's that exhausted, she won't have any trouble falling asleep tonight," Jaylen offered but not unkindly.

"Hey, I know how to take care of my daughter, thanks," Easton replied a little drily. "Come on, now, Lili. Let's get you changed and cleaned up for dinner." Liliana whined a little but followed her dad.

"Didn't she have a Nanny at some point?" Annabeth asked, looking around for the red-haired young woman. "Maybe she has her afternoons off?"

"Yeah, maybe…"

/ / /

As planned earlier and right before dinner – yes, Willow would ditch the Selected again for a dinner date –, Willow waited for Jaylen at the bottom of the stairs that would take them upstairs, to the third floor. The Selected came out of her room with a small bag on her shoulder.

"I'd rather not walk around in my pajamas," Jaylen confessed. "So I'll change later."

"Good call," Willow said. "I'll change later, too." She walked up the stairs with Jay walking next to her. "Just so you know, you're the only Selected who came up here," she said. It was only halfway true, though: Mikey and Julian had already come up to her room, but it was before the Selection. And Weston used to have his room on the third floor, being Zeke's valet, he needed to be underhand if needed.

"Oooh, I'm honored," Jaylen said. They walked to the Eastern Wing, where Willow's room was, and the princess invited her into her apartments.

"So, I hope you like a girl's night with face masks and snacks and all that," Willow said a little sheepishly. "I can't even remember the last time I've done that."

Jaylen laughed. "Me neither, to be honest. I don't even know if I've done that once in my entire life…"

Willow sighed. "Oh well, we'll just wing it, then." She showed her the sitting room, the bedroom, the walk-in closet, and "the bathroom is on the other side of the closet if you want to change."

"Thanks." Jaylen headed there first while Willow changed into her pajamas, a grey pair of shorts with a white t-shirt, along with a pair of fluffy socks. Jay came back with an oversize t-shirt with a horse on it and some black shorts, too.

"Nice," Willow said. "So, what do you want to do? It's just us girls, and whatever happens here stays here." She turned to the bed. "I have face masks, nail polish, hair accessories, movies, music, and of course, we can open champagne or wine, whatever you prefer, and eat our fill of snacks…" she trailed off and looked at Jaylen who was smiling, trying not to laugh. "What?"

"Nothing!" she said quickly. "I just never thought you'd keep me in the Selection for so long, and it's already been two weeks." She grabbed the elastic hairband she had around her wrist and tied her big brown curls in a bun. "And I certainly never imagined I'd do a girl's night with the Princess…"

Willow sat on the bed and sighed. "I'm glad you signed up. That's one less guy to date, and one more friend for me." She snatched two small packages from the bed. "What do you say about face masks, and we can talk about anything you want?"

"Sure," Jaylen said. "Don't you want an update on the guys? You did ask me to be your eyes and ears during the time I was here…"

"Ugh, no," Willow said. "Anything but the Selection. Just for one night." She held out the face mask packages. "Cucumber or Honey?"

"Honey? I don't know…"

Willow handed her the yellow package and showed her how to apply the mask to her face. They laughed and giggled a lot as they helped each other applying it, sitting on the plush carpet on the floor, near Willow's bed. They took pictures, snacked on chocolate-covered fruits and pretzels, and sipped on red fruity wine.

"I remember you mentioning being into horse riding?" Willow asked, also gesturing at the animal on Jay's t-shirt.

"Yes," Jaylen said. "I actually grew up around horses, on a farm." She paused, nibbling on a strawberry. "My grandmother had this horse farm, and she was the one who raised me."

"Oh? How so?" Willow asked.

"My parents died in a car accident when I was just a year old, so my grandmother took me in." She shrugged.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Willow said.

"Don't worry, about it," she replied. "It was a long time ago, and I never really met them– at least I don't remember them." Jay sipped on her wine. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Willow said. "My life has been an open book for most the country, anyway."

"I'm sure it's different from what you're actually going through," Jay prompted, picking up a raspberry.

Willow snorted. "Yeah, vastly," she admitted. "But what happens behind closed doors, stays there. People think they know about me and my life, but they don't."

"Hm. You wanna talk about it– Oh gosh, I'm sorry," Jaylen said. "I'm going back into my old psychiatrist habits." She laughed awkwardly. "Unless you want to talk about it, but otherwise, I'll just finish this wine." That said, she took several gulps of the drink before putting the glass down. "Shouldn't we wash out these masks, by now?"

Willow laughed softly. "Yeah, let's go wash these off." The two friends headed to the bathroom where they cleaned their faces. "Oh!" Willow said. "I said I wanted to show you my shoe collection, the other day!"

"Ooh, yes!" Jaylen replied, her eyes wide. So Willow opened the sliding door in the walk-in closet and "Ta-daaa!"

Jaylen gasped. "How many do you have?"

"259 pairs," she said. "Almost as many as my dad's pairs of silly socks."

"Your–" Jaylen burst out laughing. "The King wears silly socks?"

"Yes!" Willow giggled. "But please don't tell him– or anyone that I told you this."

"My lips are sealed," Jay said. She ran her fingers on the shoes, from sneakers to sandals and fancy pumps. "How do you have so many?"

Willow shrugged. "Some I bought, others I got from random designers." She paused. "Hey, if you need a pair of shoes during the Selection for anything, just let me know, okay?"

"Really?" Jay asked, turning around to look at the princess. "That's… really nice of you."

"Of course!" Willow said, already heading back to the room for more snacks. Jaylen followed and the girls continued to eat, drink, and giggle about this or that. Around midnight, Jaylen went back to her room, and Willow just lay on her bed, a little tipsy from the Champagne, and thanked her lucky stars for sending her Jaylen. Willow was only close to the people she had grown up with or with distant and close family. She didn't get to keep many friends. All the ones she had made in High School went away. But maybe with Jaylen, it could be a real friendship? Something that wouldn't last once the Selection was over?

She fell asleep, genuinely happy.

/ / /

On Thursday morning, when Willow entered the council room, one look at her father's face and she knew something was wrong. He was frowning and he had dark circles under his eyes. Willow sat down next to him.

"Dad? Is everything okay?"

He shook his head. "Not really, no," he replied, straightening his papers in front of him.

Willow didn't question him further; she knew they would be talking about it soon enough. The other advisors walked into the room in silence and also took their seats. Ezra Watanabe sat next to her.

"'Morning, Princess," he said with a smile. "How's the Selection going?"

"Nicely," Willow replied, not speaking too loudly. "I'm almost done with the group dates; only 2 more left."

"Nice," Ezra replied, taking out his files from his leather briefcase. Willow chuckled as she saw the little unicorn keychain that she had given him as a little girl. She couldn't believe he still had it and carried it around. "So you're going to dive into the solo dates, soon?"

"Yeah," she said. "I've already had some impromptu ones here and there, but yeah. I'll start doing officials ones."

"Impromptu solo dates?" Ezra echoed, smirking. "Lucky guys, I say."

"I don't know if I can exactly call them dates, but let's not overanalyze."

Ezra chuckled and the King asked for everyone's attention.

"Ladies, Gentlemen," Silas said. "We have some urgent and serious matter to discuss this morning." Every pair of eyes turned on him. "I've received a very angry e-mail from the King of Swendway: Fredrik has been found out by the Germans, who passed the information to Russia, who are now extremely angry with Swendway. And us…"

"But how?" Willow said. "We've kept him off of the Report, and Jesse has been monitoring every picture and footage where he might be in."

"True," her father said. "Though we can see him in these pictures." He handed out several folders for everyone to see. Willow picked up the one closest to her and flipped through the pictures. They were pictures of the ice-breaker games on the first day of the Selection; Screenshots of the pictures that were shown on the Report.

"Aw, come on!" Willow said. "He's barely recognizable! It's so pixelized."

"There's more," Silas said once everyone had seen the pictures. "These have been sent out to The Fifth Reich."

He handed the folder to Willow. "How do you know these pictures were sent to them?" she asked. "It doesn't make any sense." And upon looking closer, Willow realized they had been taken during the Amusement Park date. Some sneaky ride clerk had taken pictures!

"Because they came back to me through Swendway, who got them from the angry Emperor of Russia, who got them from Germany." He paused. "Fredrik should have stayed inside the Palace grounds." Silas rubbed his face with his hands. "This might very be the spark that will ignite the War in Europe."

"This is only a petty excuse," Ezra said. "The war has been brewing for years, over there."

Silas nodded but handed a paper to his right-hand man. "Please read this e-mail out loud for everyone, Ezra."

Ezra took the paper and frowned. "It's from the King of Swendway," he says.

"To HRM King Silas Caleb Schreave of Illéa. You may not have known this," he started reading, "but Russia has been pressing on my eastern borders for years now, pretending to be only testing their nuclear weapons. But I knew better than that, and I knew he was trying to pressure me into giving away some of my lands. We were working on a Treaty, as feeble as it was, but I needed to cover myself. My Alliance with you was crucial: you are way bigger and stronger than me, and I needed your military power to help me stay strong against the Russian.

"I know that I may sound desperate, and I am. Russia and Germany have teamed up against us, and I need your help. Quickly.

"I am also well aware that our children are not married yet and that the Alliance we have is fragile at best. And I would understand if you wouldn't want to come to our aid and send military forces to Swendway, considering I haven't been totally honest with you: I didn't tell you about my Treaty with Russia. It didn't hold, by the way. You are my only hope, now, and I only ask this of you:

"Please keep my son safe in Illéa and don't tell him about this situation. I don't know how things will evolve in the next few days and weeks here, but I will keep you updated.

"HRM King Magnus Philip Skarsgård of Swendway."

Ezra put the paper on the table and everyone was silent, thinking about what the King of Swendway had just told them.

"Fredrik's already here, anyway," Willow said. "Why would we send him home?"

"I know," Silas said. "But from now on, he stays on this property. And we don't even bring him to the Report to sit in the audience. If others have wind of this, then this could be bad for us." He turned to Willow. "And for the Selection. What do you think your suitors will say when they find out he's a prince come to strengthen an alliance?"

Willow shrugged. "They didn't seem to have a problem with Dom, who's a former prince," she said. "Besides, he'll be a war refugee before long," she said.

"True," Felix Trevino said. "The moment the sparks in Europe ignite the war officially, Prince Fredrik is a war refugee. And we'll have to tread carefully."

Ezra nodded. "What does France say about this situation?" he asked, looking at Silas and Zeke in turn.

"I don't have any news," Silas said. "Zeke? Has Patricia told you anything?"

Zeke sat up, glad that for once people asked him something. "No, she hasn't," he said. "But I can ask her if you want."

"Yes, please do that," the King said. "Now, the next topic we need to discuss is–"

But Willow was not listening anymore. This whole thing with Fredrik and the European war had rattled her quite a bit, and she decided that they didn't need her for the rest of the council. She honestly admired her father for how he could take everything upon himself like that and deal with it later. Willow needed to deal with it now.

/ / /

"Goodeveningladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls!" Jesse said, opening the Report with his usual phrase, not tiring of it in the slightest. "My name is Jesse Flynn and I am here tonight with Princess Wilhelmina and her Selected!" He turned around and invited the princess on the stage. "Welcome, Your Highness!" She was wearing a burgundy gown with a see-through lace top and sleeves, and her smile was so bright and beautiful that it made Jesse want to–

"Ow!" she said, tripping on the hem of her skirt. Jesse lunged towards her, wanting to help, but Mikey, who had been near the entrance where she had come from was there before him, already helping her up. "Thanks," she mumbled to her friends. Already half the boys were on the stage, seeing what was going on.

Jesse quickly joined her. "Are you okay?"

Willow nodded.

"Come on, let's do the opening again, okay?" he suggested. "We're lucky we're not live, right now."

Willow nodded and walked backstage with Mikey as Jesse went back to the center of the stage. He caught his wife looking at him with a raised eyebrow, and Jesse remembered how he had made fun of her on National TV by replaying her fall over and over. He was not going to do the same mistake, especially since this was the Princess we were talking about.

"Okay, going back to the beginning," the stage director said. "Whenever you're ready, Jesse."

Jesse took a deep breath and let it out slowly: he wasn't used to doing things twice for the same Report since usually, everything went smoothly.

"Goodeveningladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls! My name is Jesse Flynn and I'm here with Princess Wilhelmina and her Selected!" He turned around to welcome the princess on stage. "Welcome, Your Royal Highness!"

This time, Willow didn't trip and Jesse was relieved. She sat on the usual loveseat.

"So, tell me," he said. "How was this week? How many group dates did you do?"

"Only two, I'm afraid," Willow said. "But I was able to spend time with the whole group a bit more, so that was nice."

"Ooh, I see," Jesse said. "And who were the lucky ones for the group dates, then? And what did you do?"

"We were lucky to have the whole Los Angeles Amusement Park to ourselves," she said, grinning. "It was so much fun!"

A few pictures of the date appeared on the screen, showcasing the princess and her dates on multiple rides and eating greasy snacks. He already knew lots of people would comment on those, saying that the Princess shouldn't be eating that kind of junk food and that body shaming would follow, but he couldn't stop that. And he had gone to great lengths to edit the Swendish prince out of the pictures for his safety. And the safety of the Alliance.

Jesse invited the first group, but from that date were only Domenico and Mirion.

"Wasn't there a third one in the pictures?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah, Niall," Mirion said. "But he was being such a jerk that her Royal Highness sent him straight home. He didn't even get to the first ride with us."

"Oh, my God!" Jesse said, ever the drama king; he already knew the story, but the rest of the country didn't. "Is that true, Princess?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Willow said. "But once he was gone, everyone was much more relaxed and we actually had a great time!"

Jesse laughed and turned toward the former Prince of Spain. "Domenico," he said. "I think by now, we all know you were married and that your wife has met an… unfortunate ending." Jesse tried to choose his words carefully. "Have you come to terms with all this? I mean– You've applied to the Selection…"

Dom chuckled. "You answer your own questions, Jesse." Was that sarcasm? Or did he just not know what to reply?

"True, true," he replied. Jesse didn't want to make an enemy of Domenico. Yes, he was kind of a wild card, but Jesse would try to cook him later down the line– hoping that he'd stay long enough. "On a scale from 1 to 10, how do you like amusement parks?" That was a more general question…

Dom shrugged. "I'd say a 7. I preferred the company to the activity," he said. "You see, I'm more of a night activity kind of person."

Next to him, Mirion coughed, not expecting that answer, which made Dom chuckle with a slight smirk on his face. Jesse wondered what he meant by that if he had to be completely honest. Charlie had given him some information on the Selected beforehand, but why didn't he know anything about his nightly activities? He'd have to ask his son about it.

"Well, Princess Willow, I see you've already eliminated someone from this group. So let's get on to the second one?"

"Yes, absolutely," the Princess said. After which, Jesse thanked Dom and Mirion and the next group arrived, namely Henry, Pierce, Abeigh, and Connor. Henry sat next to the princess on the loveseat.

"Ah, the chefs!" Jesse said. "We all saw on your Instagram, Princess, that you had a cooking group date! Is that correct?"

"Yes," Willow said. "It was really fun! They paired up and then picked three ingredients each at random and had to come up with a three-dish meal with those."

"That's interesting!" Jesse said. He turned towards Henry and Pierce. "Since you were the winners of the cooking contest, what did you make for the Princess?"

Henry and Pierce exchanged a look and silently decided it was Pierce who was going to talk first. "We picked thyme, clams, and French fries as our ingredients," he explained, "so Henry baked a thyme bread that we sliced and toasted and we spread clam mousse on top for the first dish."

"Oh wow! That sounds divine!" Jesse said.

"I would have preferred to cook a 100% Vegan meal," Henry pipped in, "but with the clams, it was already a lost cause." He chuckled, the sound deep in his chest. "And then for the main dish, the princess said she preferred a filet mignon to a tofu-based steak, so I let Pierce cook the meat and prepare the string-wrapped green beans while I baked the blueberry muffins for dessert."

"It was a real team effort," Pierce continued, "and Princess Willow even helped us prepare the potatoes to make the fries."

"Oh, so you helped them?" Jesse said. "That's why they won?"

"Maybe?" Willow said. "I mean– no one can doubt my cooking skills," she deadpanned. "But then again, Abeigh and Connor refused any help…"

"I see…" Jesse turned to the two others. "And why didn't you accept her help?"

Connor shrugged. "I guess we wanted to do something good enough for her…"

"Hmm," Jesse hummed. "It didn't serve you…" Both boys shook their heads and Jesse turned to Willow again. "So, have you decided who you're eliminating in this group?"

"…yes," she said. "Abeigh, I'm sorry, but you're going to go home…"

"Yeah, I figured," he said. "I guess not everyone can handle my hotness and sexiness, eh?" Jesse saw that Willow wanted to laugh, but she didn't. "Besides, I'll just write my fanfic, and no one can stop me." He turned to the camera. "Follow AbeighGarcia69 on fanfiction, AO3, and Wattpad for some sexy rendering of the Selection set in ancient Persia…" He winked at the camera and walked away. Jesse had no idea what that was about, but he probably was going to cut that out from the final edit.

He thanked the group and concluded the Report like always. When the cameras were out, he asked Willow: "What was this Ancient Persian Selection thing all about?"

"Oh please, Jesse, do not put that in the Report," she pleaded. "He's been bragging about this stupid alternate universe fanfiction in Ancient Persia where instead of a king having a harem, it's a queen, and it's full of… details. And based on this Selection." She made a face and Jesse made one too, almost mirroring her.

"That's horrible!" he said.

"Yes. I forbade him to write anything like that while he was in the Selection, but now that he's out? I'm afraid he's going to do it."

"Hmm," Jesse said. "I'll talk to Charlie about it. Maybe we can have his accounts taken down or something."

"But that's mean–"

"If it means he can't write this, then it's protecting you. And the others," he countered.

"He'll just create other accounts," Willow said. "We just need to keep an eye on his accounts and see if anything pops up. If it does, we ask the admins to take it down?"

Jesse nodded. "Listen, I'll talk about it with Charlie and with Amélie– Maybe they can come up with an idea to stop him from ruining everything." He smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, okay? We're gonna take care of this."

Willow nodded, thanked him, and joined the others backstage before going back to the Palace. Jesse really wanted to take that guy down, whatever it took. And he had friends in high places. Virtual places, but high nonetheless. He would not let this Abeigh dude ruin Willow and her Selection.

Hi! thanks Logan and Pocket for reminding me today was Friday... Oopsie ^^'

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Willow's Dilemma, the political twist, and everything else! let me know!

Thanks for reading and reviewing and see you next week! byeeee