Hello guys this is the chapter 5 of this fanfiction, I hope you like it, please write a little comment, bookmark it ,please let me know that your liking the story.

Chapter 5 : On your doorstep

It took the captain several days to find the whereabouts of Ella and when he finally got all his information together, he walked into the kings study, where he was going through the documents of the day. The kings eyes were still on his papers when the captain slid the folded piece of paper in front of the file he was working on. Then the king noticed the piece of paper and looked at the captain. He grabbed it and opened it.

What is this? Asked the king curious.

The address of the lady that holds your heart, your majesty. Said the captain.

Kit' blue eyes widened in joy, the captain had not seen this happiness in the kings eyes for years now. The captain took a seat in front of his desk and felt enormous pride for being able to find the address of the King's good honest country girl.

If only you could gave done this years ago captain I would have not gone through the hell I went through. Said the king to the captain and began to have doubts on their search years ago.

You did not know her name before, your majesty. And we did not have a clue about her work either. Knowing that she has a stall in the village market and seeing what she sells gave me an idea what kind of areas I should go and search. In fact I saw her from a distance in her garden taking care of her plans at this address. The captain explained to his king.

And did we not go to this address when we were searching for Ella with the glass slipper? The king almost spat this question on the captain.

We did, but I remember not seeing her there, we tried the slipper on everyone, on every person you could imagine your majesty, but it did not fit anyone...What happened in the past, let it stay in the past. Five years is not a small amount of time, many things change in five years. Maybe she did not live here before end just recently moved to our village. The captain tried to calm the king, who was really disturbed at this point.

The king rested his head on the arm chair and let out a sigh, he was tired with the games that his destiny was playing with him.

Is she married? He finally asked.

That I don't know your majesty. But I can tell you that when I went to the countryside searching for her I've waited in front of her house for a good hour and nobody came out of that house to help her with her work, now I am not sure if there was no one in the house or they were busy inside it. But I don't think that she lives alone in that big house. The captain answered the King's question and saw that the king looked at him with anger at the last part of his response.

So she lives with her husband? Is that what you want to say? The king said to the captain with a tone that can only be described as jealous.

No, your majesty. I didn't mean to say that, I meant, she could live with her parents or siblings, that's all what I was trying to say. The captain said.

Of course. Said the king composing himself and trying to get his emotions in order. He knew very well what the captain wanted to say, but his heart was acting silly lately, ever since he saw Ella with George hand in hand in the stall, his mind started tormenting him with thoughts that hurt his soul and made him curse his destiny.

He closed the file that was in front of him on the desk as he couldn't carry on working with his mind made a mess. He stood up from his arm chair and grabbing her address he proceeded to leave the study.

Five years is indeed a long time and things may change, so much that Ella was awake in her bed contemplating about her George's proposal. This morning when she went to deliver her bouquets of flowers to Olivia stall, Olivia wasn't there, instead her brother was. He thought that since his sister wasn't there to listen their conversation, he nervously proposed to Ella, fearing rejection as he thought that she was too much for him and that he wasn't good enough for her. He also felt that if she rejects him it would be very hard to face her when she comes to the stall making things extremely awkward between them.

The proposal didn't come as a shock to Ella, as she could see that he liked her a lot but just was painfully shy to tell her. Although, she couldn't say yes to him immediately, she just couldn't answer him at all. But George did not take her silence as a "no" but thought that this proposal came unexpectedly for her so gave her time to think and respond. In a way she was thankful that he gave her some time to think because she knew that George was a very nice guy and on top of that he respected her greatly.

Back at the palace, the king was tossing and turning, tossing and turning in his bed, unable to sleep because he wanted answers of his numerous questions and he was well aware of the fact that he could obtain those answers by just paying her a visit now that he knew her address. One thing he knew for sure was that this night, he wasn't going to sleep, in fact he couldn't even think of work or sleep with her in his brain. So he jumped off his bed and got dressed, he looked at the clock and felt like this was not the right time to go to someone's house, but then he decided that he won't go inside her house to meet her now, but just to go get some fresh air since the walls of his own palace were suffocating him now.

He prepared his horse and left the palace as discreetly as possible, riding in the direction of the countryside. As he rode his horse in the moonlight through the forest he felt that his heart was beating at the same speed as the animal he was riding. When he finally reached her house, his heart skipped a couple of beats when he saw two oil lamps hanging on top of the door, one on each side of it illuminating the entrance of her home. The light that was a emerging from the lamps was like an invitation for his wild heart that wished to enter in that lovely house and talk to her but he knew very well that she could be asleep at this time. After only a few minutes of admiring her place, it began raining, surprising the king a great deal. He was stuck in the downpour with his horse and he didn't know what to do now, all he knew was that he did not want his horse to suffer in this harsh weather.

His eyes fell on the stable where Ella's grey horse could be seen, only for his horses sake, he guided his mount towards the spare space in a the stable and jumped off his horse. Securing it inside the stable he walked towards Ella's grey horse and caressed it, memories of her mounted on its back when they first met was playing right in front of his eyes making him dwell in the past to cherish those moments once again.

It's been years since we first met my friend. He said to Ella's horse brushing his fingers on his face. While he was caressing the mount, his eyes fell on the heavy rainfall outside the stable and his gaze was instantly attracted towards the source of the light that was glimmering in the rain. He walked towards the porch of his beloved's house almost in a trance, not realising that he was walking beneath a downpour of biblical proportions, reaching on her porch completely soaked from head to toe. When he was climbing the few steps that were there to reach on her doorstep, he suddenly fell forward on his hands due to the moisture on the stairs, hurting them.

After cleaning his hands in the rain, he noticed that blood started popping out of his right hand, he had injured it severely with the edge of the wooden step and the pain of the wound made him curse under his breath "every bad event has to take place in one day". When the pain got worse and the bleeding did not show any sign of stopping, he looked at the dark brown wooden door that was between his love and him. For a moment, he could not decide what hurt the most, his wound or the fact that he was standing right in front of the door of Ella but couldn't make himself knock on it as he did not want to disturb her.

As if his misfortunes weren't enough, it started to thunder, good thing that he was at least on her porch sheltered from the rain and the thunderstorm. He seated himself on the top step of her stairs holding his injured hand tightly. The lightning was what made Ella get up from her bed because she wasn't sleeping anyway, she was just lying there trying to take some rest as the sounds of the storm didn't let her sleep. So she put her slippers on and holding her candlestick she walked down The stairs to cheque on her horse. At first, when she opened the door she felt like the sight in front of her was a dream , the king stood up in shock as if he had got caught doing something amoral and walking towards her he stood right in front of her. He was trying to think of an explanation for his presence at this hour in Ella's house. The water was dripping down from his dark brown curls to his face, drenched thanks to the crazy rainfall, that she could witness right behind him.

The King's breath was caught in his throat as he took in the heavenly view that stood at the entrance of the house : Ella was standing in front of him in her white nightgown with a candle stick in her hand, lips parted in astonishment and golden hair loosely braided allowing some curls to frame her face.

I was travelling to the neighbouring village on my horse but this storm started and I needed to shelter for my mount, so I kept it in your stable and was just seated here to protect myself from the thunderstorm. That's all. I did not want to disturb you. The king said innocently looking into her brown eyes he so missed all these years seeing if she was believing him.

Your majesty. Ella bowed to the king realising that this was not a dream, and when she lowered her eyes while bowing, she noticed that he was holding his hand tightly as a trail of blood was gliding down on his wrist.

How did this happen!? She asked worriedly keeping her candle stick on the side table and coming towards him holding his hand and taking a closer look at his injury. The Prince was awestruck seeing her so preoccupied for him, as if he had the injury but she could feel the pain of it. He was staring at the features our beautiful face in the yellow dim light When she was inspecting his hand.

Tell me! How did you hurt your hand? Ella said making him come out of his trance.

I... I... Never mind, there is no need to worry about it. He said, unable to phrase his thoughts properly as he was nervous because of this whole situation.

This is not something minor! You are bleeding! God knows how much time you have spent on the porch. You should have knocked on the door, your majesty. Ella said with worry drawn all over her face. Eventually, her fingers rubbed on his injury unknowingly hurting him.

Ah! He let out a loud scream out of pain and their eyes met for a brief moment.

I am sorry. She said feeling guilty of touching his open wound.

That's alright. He thought but didn't say it to her, as he couldn't believe his luck, he was standing on her doorstep in the middle of the rainfall completely soaked and she was holding his wounded hand in hers worried for him. And this was not a dream.

Come inside, your majesty. She said pulling him inside of her house holding his hand, and he followed her just like a little innocent boy following his lover.