Hi! I'm back again! Sick of me yet? Heehee! I've recently gotten back into my obsession with video games so I have locked myself in my room so I can write this chapter without any distractions! 3 I'm a genius, I know. I swear to god, though, I will someday make a super-ultra long chapter, because when I see them, they're like...tiny...Dx So be patient with me I'll make it...one day.
Aaaaaanywayz...One with the story!
Hope you like this new chappy
Max stood in front of his parents scrutinizing gazes, shifting uncomfortably from his left foot to his right. His mom's eyes narrowed, looking her son up and down, observing every inch of her son. She circled him one last time, still studying the blond carefully before coming to a stop in front of him.
Max nervously played with the end of his sleeves under his mom's watchful gaze. Finally, Judy smiled and exclaimed, "You look so nice!" She pulled the boy close and hugged him as if she would never be able to do it again. Max yelped at the sudden tug and flailed his arms uselessly in an attempt to save himself from his could-be death. Judy stepped back, holding her son at arms length as he looked at him. The blond wore a pair of slightly long khaki pants and a nice light blue dress shirt.
"You should wear these things more often, Maxie." Judy cooed as she once again forced him into a bear hug. Judy had done everything to prepare for today. She forced Max to take a nice long shower, which she practically supervised to make sure he washed his hair twice and cleaned himself up nicely, then she blow dried his hair and combed it, so it no longer had a very unruly look and finally forced him into clothes she had bought for the occasion. "Besides," she said, "you should be glad I'm at least not forcing you into a suit. As much as I want to, you just wouldn't look as cute." Judy sounded slightly disappointed, but shook it off, smiling once again at her son.
Max swatted her hand away, when she tried to ruffle his hair and said, "I already said I'm not going to get married. Why are you doing this?" Max tugged at his shirt in emphasis. Everyone remained silent after the question was asked. Max looked between his mom and dad and continued, "I know that we're not exactly in the best position money wise and that dad has been unemployed for a year." His dad turned away, not able to look his son in the eyes. "And mom can't find any funds for her research to continue." She looked around the room, also unable to look at her son. "I know you both work hard to help me with school and all the things I want, but..." Max trailed off.
Both Judy and her husband perked up at this and urged him to continue. "But.." Max started, "are you happy to sell me off like this?" Judy sighed, dropping her head as she thought over her son's words. "Max," she said, "you're young, I know. Just barely eighteen. But..." She paused for a moment as she and her son stared at each other. "But...the last thing we want to happen to you is for your dream to get crushed." She smiled sadly at him. "I know your dream isn't to get married quickly, especially to the Prince, but in the position we're in as of now, I'm not even sure how much more we can pay for your school tuition."
Max frowned but said nothing in response.
Judy sighed and smiled, trying to lighten up the mood, but Max only pouted. "Why?" Max asked quietly. "Is money everything? Doesn't you're son mean more then money?" He asked, now aiming for the guilt trip. His dad took a deep breath before answering his question. "Look, Max," he said, "you mean more to us then anything. Anything we've ever had. But in this world, yes money means a lot. Its not as much value to us then you, but this is why we want to do this. Why we want you to do this." Max looked confused at his dad's answer, but he had nothing to say in response. Judy turned around and picked up a package from the kitchen table and held it out to her son. "What your father is trying to say, Max, is that yes, money is important in order to strive in this world. And if you don't have a need to worry about such a thing, you can live comfortably. And that's what we want."
"But I can live comfortably." Max claimed, as he took the package his mom gave him. Both his parents raised their eyebrows at him in confusion, asking silently what he meant. Max gave them a smile and said, "When I become famous!" As he said that he threw his right fist in the air while holding his package in the other.
Judy chuckled at her son and said, "Yes, yes. Now thing realistically and open your present."
Max pouted at her and replied, "I am thinking realistically." He unwrapped the package in his arms and stared at it. He continued to stare at it for a moment as his parents stood there, waiting in anticipation. Finally, Max moved and carefully set the sewing machine down before he jumped into his parents arms, wailing in happiness. Just as he was about to give his thanks the doorbell rung and the three looked at each other. "Its probably someone from the palace." The blond's father said as he ran to get the door.
He stopped at the door and straightened himself up, trying to make himself look presentable. He grabbed old of the doorknob and twisted, ready to greet the men on the other side, only to be immediately pushed out of the way. A group of men walked in, wearing black suits as they looked around the house, occasionally marking some of the family's appliances. "Loan sharks." He whispered to himself as he followed the men into the living room.
Judy grabbed hold of Max, steering him out of the mens way and sat him down on one of the couches. The three waited quietly in the living room as the loan sharks went around the house, marking various items. Max eyes followed one as he made his way towards the table, he marked the brand new sewing machine. Judy stood up immediately and ran towards it, taking off the tag. "No, not this!" She exclaimed. One of the men came up behind her and tugged her away.
"Hey," he said threateningly, "if you had paid the money in the first place, it wouldn't have come down to this anyways."
"Hey!" Max yelled as he hit the burly man's arm. "Don't talk to my mom like that!"
One of the others cracked his knuckles as he headed in Max's direction. "Are you seriously that stupid?" He asked, pointing a figure at the blond. "Do you want to die!" Max flinched back at those words, especially when the man kept coming forward, only for his father to step in.
"What do you think your doing!" He yelled. "Saying something like that in front of a child!"
"Its because of you that your child is even in this situation." The first man said.
Judy weakly punched him in the arm and screamed, "Watch what you say!"
"Why you little..." The man said as he grabbed hold of the woman's arm. Max screamed and began to pummel the man's back ineffectively with his fists. His father began hitting the second man, attempting to herd him through the door.
Another one of the men came up behind Max and pried him away from the one he was hitting, only for Max to begin kicking and screaming at the one who was trying to pick him up. During the fray, Mr. Dickenson stepped through the door with a couple of bodyguards surrounding him. He looked surprised as he surveyed the scene before him.
Instantly everyone froze and looked at him. Judy was being grabbed by her shirt, but had a fist raised like she was about to strike her captor. Her husband was behind another man, hand raised, ready to strike him on the head. Max was being partially lifted up in one of the burly man's arms.
Mr. Dickenson looked at Max, worried about the boy. His bodyguards made a move towards the group of men who let go of the family and brushed pass them and out the door. Max dropped to the floor with a thud and one of the guards went over immediately to help him up.
"Are you ready to go?" Mr. Dickenson asked. Judy looked over at her son, who had not moved an inch from his spot. "You can say no." She said, causing the blond to look up at her. He glanced around the room, taking in all their possessions that were marked before looking back at his parents. They both had smiles on their faces, reassuring Max. Then, he looked towards Mr. Dickenson, who was smiling warmly at the blond.
Knowing his answer for sure now, Max nodded his head at the man and said, "Yes, I'm ready." His parents looked shocked at his answer and followed him out the door to the end of the driveway where one of the guards opened the door for Max.
The blond took another look at his parents and said, "I love you both." They smiled back and responded, "We love you too." Max smiled and waved, before climbing into the care. The couple waved towards their son as the car began to pull out and continued until it was out of sight.
Max slowly stepped out of the car when the door was opened for him again. He took a few steps forward and stared in awe at the magnificent palace in front of him. Mr. Dickenson smiled at the boy and thought to himself, perhaps Kai was right. This boy could bring something new to the palace. He walked over to him and lightly touched to blond's arm who jumped back, startled, and stared at the man.
"This way." Mr. Dickenson smiled and led the way through the palace. Max had to jog slightly just to keep up with the man's fast pace as he led him through the hallways of the palace, pointing out a few places to the blond.
Finally, he brought Max to a rather small but beautifully colored room with a long table in it. He maneuvered over to one end of the table and pulled out a chair for the blond. Max smiled and sat down. He grabbed the sides of the chair, ready to push himself forward when he felt himself being moved. He looked up at Mr. Dickenson and quietly said, "Thank you."
The man smiled back and walked around to the side so that Max could look at him again. "I know the tour earlier wasn't very thorough, but Her Majesty insisted on seeing you first." He informed. "I will be giving a more extensive tour later." Max nodded in understanding before looking around the room.
Mr. Dickenson smiled at the boys obvious curiosity, before bowing and taking his leave. A few moments later two women walked into the room. The one in front had her arms together in her kimono and the second carried a tray with her. The first stood beside Max and took a small plate from the tray. She set it down in front of Max, then took a small tea cup and set it down on the plate. Next, she took a porcelain tea pot and set it aside and finally took a plate with sweets and set it down besides the tea cup.
She grabbed a small fork and set it down by the sweets. Max could feel himself starting to drool and it took all his will power to stop himself from gobbling all the sweets down, trying to remind himself the place he was in. Gobbling his food down was probably the last thing the royal family expected their son's fiancée to do. The woman took hold of the tea pot and poured the honey colored liquid into Max's tea cup.
"Jasmine tea." The woman informed. (I'm sorry but I LOVE Jasmine tea! And I've had this really cool kind where you actually stick a jasmine flower into the hot water and it blooms!) Max nodded and said, "Thank you." As the women bowed and left.
Max waited a couple moments, making sure that no one else came into the room before he slowly stood up from his chair and began to wander around the room. He looked at some of the photos standing on some of the drawers and stands they had around. The blond laughed at a couple of pictures of who he assumed was the prince as a child.
He stopped at another one that displayed the blue haired prince as a child, with a black haired boy around the same age as him. The two boys were smiling brightly at the camera in traditional men kimonos. "Oh," he said as he looked closer at the unfamiliar boy, "I wonder who that is..."
Eventually losing interest, Max backed away from the pictures and accidentally bumped into another stand. Turning around quickly, Max saw the stand begin to tumble over with a very expensive looking vase on it. Panicked, Max grabbed hold of the vase as its stand tipped over and fell, creating a resounding thud in the room.
Max flinched and looked around him cautiously, listening to see if anyone was coming, or even heard the thud. Deciding no one was coming anytime soon, he quickly bent down to retrieve the stand and bring it back to its upright position. Then he carefully replaced the vase and top and dashed for his seat. Definitely do NOT touch anything here, he made a note to himself.
He picked up his tea cup and took a small sip as he continued to take in his surroundings. As he placed the tea cup back onto the plate, it slipped off the edge and landed on his pants. Great, now it looks like I pissed myself, Max thought in exasperation when another thought crossed him. If mom finds out, she'll kill me! Glancing around the table, Max took notice to the fact that there were no napkins around. He began to try and wipe it off with his hands futilely. Crap! What am I suppose to do? He thought as he looked behind him to see if anyone was coming. However, as he did that, his elbow touched the soft cake that was given to him.
He looked down at his sleeve in exasperation and wiped the cake off with his hands. Lovely, now its on my hands. Max scowled at the sweet treat in frustration, trying to decide what to do with it. I could just eat it...its not like my hands dirty or anything. Deciding that was the best course of action, Max brought his fingers up to his lips and licked the cake off. He beamed in delight, at least its yummy.
He just finished his second cake coated finger when he heard a voice announce, "Her Majesties have arrived."
Max snapped his head up at the voice and gulped. He took a quick look down at himself, before looking up towards the hallway where the voice was coming from. Only one word raced through his panicked mind at the moment as he tried to figure out a way to get around his little mess. Shit!