Chapter 3
The very next day, everyone is seated at the small square table located beside the kitchen, everyone which includes Fu Zhen, her father, Prince Aaron and another person.
Are you wondering why he is there when he actually tried running away?
Well he did try to run away but he had no choice but to give up because…
Flashback
He looks around him and he could not make out the least of where he is. Everywhere around him are fields of paddy and plantations.
'Where on earth is this?' he asks himself.
Turning to look at the house which he had just came out from a minute ago, he notices how run down it looked. The house was made of wattles and clay and the roof is just plain dried hay.
'I have never seen a place as low-classed as this,' the thinks to himself, 'How are they able to live in this sort of place?'
Then, he notices that all the houses there looked almost the same and the urge in him to leave that 'horrible' place increases every minute. However, the problem is how is he going to get out of there when he does not even know where he is?
'Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' he screams out in his heart.
End of Flashback
He could not help but sigh once more in his heart. Despite having difficulties using the chopsticks, he proceeds to take some vegetables from the dish before him. As if his thoughts are heard, Fu Zhen's father speaks.
"Oh yes. I haven't know what your name is and where are you from," he says.
"My name is Aaron and I am from Haven," Prince Aaron replies.
"Ah Long? Oh, nice to meet you. You can call me Ah You," the guy who is sitting beside Fu Zhen says.
"Oh, nice to meet you too," Prince Aaron says.
"So, you are from Haven? Where is that?" he asks.
"Don't you know?" Prince Aaron asks him back.
He shakes his head in reply and Prince Aaron is shocked that he does not know where Haven is. How is he ever going to return home?
Grinning, Ah You proceeds to ask Prince Aaron some more questions, "Then what do you work as? Do you plant rice like us?"
"Plant rice? No. I am a Prince, the future King of Haven!" Prince Aaron says proudly.
"Prince?!" the other three exclaims.
They exchanged glances with each other before breaking into loud laughters.
"You? Prince? Hahahaha! You must be kidding! Hahahahaha," Ah You says, unable to control himself from laughing.
Prince Aaron could not stand it and immediately stands up and glares at them.
"Hey! It is not funny, okay? And what I said is true! I really am a Prince!" Prince Aaron protests.
"Okay, okay what ever you say," Ah You says.
"Stop laughing. Let's eat and you, Ah Long sit down," Fu Zhen's father says.
Prince Aaron sits down before correcting Fu Zhen's father, "It is Aaron not Ah Long."
"What is wrong with that? It is Ah Long, right? Tian Buo, this guy sure is weird!" says Ah You.
Prince Aaron rolls his eyes and says, "Call me what ever you want. Sigh…"
"If you are a prince, do you need help going back to Haven?" Fu Zhen asks.
As if the dark tunnel is coming to an end, Prince Aaron felt so happy the moment she mentioned that. He needed it, very much.
However, just before he managed to reply, Ah You and Fu Zhen's father broke into laughter once again.
"That is a good one, Xiao Zhen!" says Ah You.
This time, Prince Aaron feels like a fool being laughed at like that.
"Hey! I am not joking, okay? I mean it. Eh-ron, if you really need to go back, my father can help you, right Papa?" she says.
"Really? Thank you so much!"
"Um…I can help but don't hope about it too much. I am going to go trading but I need to get things ready first…and it might take up to one to two months," Fu Zhen's father says.
"It's okay! I am willing to wait!" Prince Aaron says excitedly.
Fu Zhen feels happy for him but at the same time, she does not really want him to go.
'It is so hard to find such a good-looking man here but he has to go back anyway…' she thinks to herself.
Days passed as Prince Aaron tried his best to get along with Fu Zhen despite her looks and also Ah You which could be really annoying at time. Despite having told them that he is a Prince, Fu Zhen's father made him help Fu Zhen and Ah You up at the field everyday in exchange for his stay at their house and his journey back home.
Usually when night came, Prince Aaron would sit outside the house with Fu Zhen's company and he would constantly boast about himself, his family, his palace and his beloved country, Haven. Fu Zhen would always be listening attentively to what he is saying and she never seemed to get bored with it. In fact, she enjoyed each and every moment she had with him alone.
That night, it is as usual and Prince Aaron is talking about his father, King Leroy. He is telling his father's story of how he became King and how he and his mother got together.
Just then, a shooting star flies past the night sky. Immediately, Fu Zhen stands up and claps her hands together to make a wish.
"What are you doing?" Prince Aaron asks.
"Shhh. I am making a wish," she says.
Prince Aaron waited patiently for her to be ready. After she was done, she sat down again.
"Why did you make a wish suddenly?" Prince Aaron asks.
"Don't you know? It is said that when you see a shooting star fly past and you make a wish immediately, it will come true," she explains.
"Really? Well I don't trust that kind of believes though," he said.
"It is better to believe than not believing in it at all right?" she says, "Oh yes. Get on with your story."
"Where was I again? Oh yes…"
Soon, a month had passed and Prince Aaron is getting used to everything there. Everyone in the small village knew him and he knew them all. They knew that he is a Prince but they still treat him like a normal friend, a normal villager and a normal neighbour. He felt comfortable with that anyway.
Besides that, he and Fu Zhen got along really well but he himself did not notice about that. Everyday she wished that time would past slower while he wished that time would past faster so that he could be back in his lovely palace.
However, no one was really sure when Fu Zhen's father is going to be ready to depart for Haven, so, they spent their time with Prince Aaron as meaningfully as possible. This could be the best way to make him stay with them.
Yet, no one could change how things are going to happen. He is still going to go back only a matter of whether now or later. Then, two weeks passed very quickly and Fu Zhen's father announces that he is going to leave three days later.
"Are you very sure that you want to leave?" was what he asked but Prince Aaron said yes with out thinking much about it.
"Okay then, but don't regret if you can never return here," he warns.
'Don't worry. I have never thought of returning here anymore after I return home,' he thinks to himself.
Meanwhile, outside of the room, Fu Zhen had heard their conversation and feels very disappointed.
That night she cried till her eyes became swollen but all she said was, "What they say was not true…my wish did not come true…"
To be continued…