"Oh, I'm sorry, guys... I totally ruined our lunch plans for this afternoon..." Halle frowned as Princes Joshua and Roberto walked on either side of her, helping the staggering lawyer get up to her apartment safely with that bruise on the back of her skull that left her feeling a little dizzy.
"Whaaaat? Who cares about that!" Prince Roberto chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her, guiding her over to her apartment on the third floor of her complex. "It's fine, Halle. We can just have lunch with you back here!"
Halle stopped at her door with her keys in her hand, turning to Prince Joshua. "Now, I know Robbie doesn't mind my simple home cooking, but are you okay with that, Prince Joshua...?" She awkwardly looked away from his piercing gaze as she fumbled to find the right key. "I know it's definitely nothing as fancy as what you're used to, but I am pretty decent in the kitchen..."
Prince Joshua just had an awe-struck look on his face as she asked him that adorable question, and his mind couldn't help but wander to the rice ball she had gifted him with at the Nobel Michel party they had parted ways at last week. "I don't particularly care."
Halle just shrugged and turned her back to him, proceeding to unlock her deadbolt. "Alright, I'll have to see what I've got to whip up for us really fast..."
"But first," Prince Roberto scooped Halle up in his arms without warning, proceeding to carry her through the now open door as Halle yelped in surprise at suddenly being picked up. "Let's get that bruise on your head tended to!"
"Robbie!" Halle let out a laugh and lightly smacked his arm as Prince Roberto carried her into her apartment in his arms, and Prince Joshua followed behind them with a strange look on his face. "Put me down!"
Prince Roberto laughed along with her as he carefully set her down on the edge of her kitchen counter, instantly going over to the fridge to find an ice pack. Prince Joshua couldn't help but notice that Prince Roberto seemed to be very familiar with Halle's apartment, which made him feel...strange. And not in a good way.
Halle's apartment was a small, humble, one bedroom apartment with pastel pink walls and modern furniture. She had a large leather couch with a glass coffee table in the middle of it, and mounted on the wall opposite of the couch was a large, flat-screen TV she used for video conferences. She had a small table in her dining room with two matching chairs, and her kitchen was connected to it. It was a very small space, and Prince Joshua just couldn't understand how Halle's whole apartment was roughly the same size as the room she stayed in at his manor back in Dres Van. How did commoners live like this?
Halle gently held the ice pack Prince Roberto had fetched for her against the spot on her head she had bumped on that concrete wall earlier. She then opened her mouth and called out suddenly, appearing to be talking to no one in particular. "Sergio, I'm home!"
"Sergio...?" Prince Joshua screwed up his whole face in confusion.
Did Halle live with...a man!?
Halle saw the look on Prince Joshua's face and just immediately cracked up laughing, instantly knowing where his mind just went. "Oh, don't worry, Prince Joshua. Other than you guys, Sergio is the only man in my life, and he's a..."
"Meow!" A slender black cat suddenly jumped up onto the kitchen counter at the sound of his name being spoken, and he gently purred as he crawled into Halle's lap.
Prince Joshua instantly backed up against the nearest wall as he stared at the cat in absolute horror. "Wh-what! You have a c-ca...!?"
"A cat, yes." Halle scooped up her beloved kitty into her arms and rubbed her face lovingly against his. "Hi, Sergio! Did you miss me?"
Prince Roberto chuckled and held onto the back of Prince Joshua's coat collar to keep him from high-tailing it out of there at the sight of Sergio. "Come on, Josh! I know you're scared of cats, but if you were to get along with a cat even just once in your life, it would be Sergio."
Halle worriedly shot Prince Joshua a look, hugging Sergio close to her chest. "Prince Joshua, I promise you he's really friendly... He would never scratch or bite anyone."
Prince Joshua was completely turned off from the idea of Halle's cat being anywhere near him, and he suddenly excused himself from the kitchen. "I-I think I'll just have a seat in your living room..."
Halle just sighed as she watched him run out of there as fast as possible, and she flashed Prince Roberto an apologetic look. "At the time, I never thought you giving me a cat for my birthday last year would turn out to be such a disaster now."
"Well, I thought you could use the company!" Prince Roberto just laughed, then excused himself to join Prince Joshua in the living room. "I'm gonna go sit with Josh while you make lunch. Just let me know if you need anything!"
Halle hopped down from the counter and gently set Sergio on the floor. "Will do."
Prince Roberto left his sister in the open kitchen and walked over to the couch where he expected Prince Joshua to be brooding, but to his immediate shock, he wasn't there.
"Josh?" Prince Roberto peeked down the little hallway that lead to Halle's bedroom at the end, and he spotted the purple-haired Prince staring absentmindedly at a series of photos hung up on the wall. "So this is where you were..."
Prince Joshua was staring at a picture of young Halle in a black graduation cap and gown being held in Prince Roberto's arms, and she held onto both him and her college diploma as she comically kicked one leg up in the air. Both of them had huge smiles on their faces, as if they were both laughing when this was taken.
"Alberto took that." Prince Roberto stuffed his hands into his pockets, standing next to Prince Joshua as he stood next to him. "That was the day Halle graduated from law school. She was so thrilled that she finally could become a lawyer..."
Prince Joshua seemed lost as he looked at the picture of twenty-year-old Halle, seeing the sadness within her eyes that was masked by her bright smile. If Prince Roberto hadn't said anything to him about Halle back when they were in the courtroom earlier today, Prince Joshua would never have had any idea that Halle had lived such...a tragic life.
The sound of humming coming from the kitchen caused Prince Joshua to look away from the photo, and he saw Halle spinning around and dancing around the kitchen across the room from him as she got to cooking something. Sergio was standing up on the counter, keeping Halle company as she hummed to herself with a blissful smile on her face.
"Looking at that smile now, I bet it's hard to believe everything I told you about her earlier." Prince Roberto quietly exhaled his thoughts aloud as he turned to the purple-haired Prince. "Right, Josh?"
"Yeah..." Prince Joshua frowned as his eyes lingered on Halle for a moment more, completely transfixed by the beauty dancing around the kitchen and humming to herself as if no one were watching.
Prince Joshua turned and spotted the largest framed photo hung up at the end of the hallway, and before he could ask who the woman standing behind the fifteen-year-old Halle was, Prince Roberto read his mind and beat him to it.
"That's Halle's mother, Clarissa." Prince Roberto looked up at the large photo of Halle smiling brightly as her mother hugged her from behind, and a deep feeling of sadness settled at the pit of the stomachs of both Princes as they looked at it. "Clarissa died when Halle was only eighteen."
The mention of the death of Halle's mother only made Prince Joshua draw into his own thoughts, recalling the conversation he had with Prince Roberto in the courtroom just a mere hour before...
One hour ago...
Prince Roberto awkwardly shuffled in his seat in the courtroom, shooting Prince Joshua a fleeting glance. "Well... I probably shouldn't be telling you this, since it's not really my place, but I know she won't tell you unless you pry it out of her."
"What?" Prince Joshua looked at Prince Roberto strangely, kind of worried about what he had to say. When Prince Roberto paused and didn't say anything, Prince Joshua just grew more and more anxious. "What is it?"
"It's about Halle..." Prince Roberto turned to face the purple-haired Prince with a grim look on his face. "She grew up in a single-parent household. Her mother was all she had, and she died when Halle was really young."
"What?" Prince Joshua's eyes widened tremendously, and he instinctively looked over at the young woman in question fighting her court case as he spoke to Prince Roberto. "Wait, is that why she..." He suddenly recalled the first day Halle was stuck in Dres Van when she snapped at him for pressing her for her family's contact information, that way he could call and explain her situation to them, but she yelled at him and exclaimed she had no family to contact.
"Look, Josh..." Prince Roberto saw the look on Prince Joshua's face, sympathizing with him as he spoke. "Halle's the type of girl who keeps everything inside and tries to deal with any problems she has all on her own. She's not the type to just come right out and tell you everything about her, especially not her past." He frowned a little as he thought of his sister's stubbornness. "And she definitely doesn't like to ask for help with anything, either."
"Where was her father when she was growing up?" Prince Joshua looked a little angry as he turned to Prince Roberto, who only seemed to flinch at his question.
Prince Roberto had a guilty look on his face as he tried to think of a way to explain. "Well... He just wasn't a part of Halle's life, so it was all on her mother to raise her. But..."
"But what?" Prince Joshua shook his head, waiting for Prince Roberto to continue.
"Halle's mother had Leukemia, and she was in and out of the hospital a lot." Prince Roberto grabbed the back of his neck as he awkwardly avoided Prince Joshua's questioning stare. "They couldn't really afford any of the experimental cancer treatments that could have potentially saved her life, so Halle decided when she was very young that she would become a lawyer in order to help her mother sue her absentee father at least for the child support he never paid, which could have helped them pay for the treatments." Prince Roberto frowned as he watched the purple-haired Prince's reaction to this news, and he knew it was only about to get worse with what he had to say next. "For as long as I've known her, Halle has always been thinking about what's the logical thing to do in every situation. She never had time to make friends with any kids growing up, since she was always studying and taking extra classes to graduate early. She was always so focused about her future as a lawyer and never really lived in the present, and because of that, she really missed out on having a fun childhood."
Prince Joshua looked absolutely stunned as Prince Roberto told him all of this, and he somberly looked over at Halle's strong figure as she continued arguing her case to the judge. He knew better than anyone else what it felt like to have no childhood, or no parents, for that matter. "...how young was Halle when she decided to abandon her childhood and focus purely on her studies to become a lawyer?"
"Ten." Prince Roberto frowned a little, staring off at his sister as depressingly as Prince Joshua was. "She graduated early from high school at sixteen, got a full-ride scholarship to the best law school in the kingdom, and eventually graduated when she was twenty." His eyes almost seemed dead as he wore a melancholy expression. "But by the time she finally became a lawyer, she was two years too late to help her mother..."
Prince Joshua jerked his head away from Halle to stare at Prince Roberto with widened eyes. "But wasn't that the entire reason she worked so hard to become a lawyer in the first place...?"
Prince Roberto felt his own heart plummet to the bottom of his stomach just thinking about what his sister went through growing up. "Yeah. So she stuck with the career anyways, and has been using it to help anyone she can ever since..."
Prince Joshua stared aimlessly at Halle's smiling face as she hummed and danced in the kitchen, feeling absolutely distraught as he recalled everything Prince Roberto had told him earlier.
"Prince Roberto..." Prince Joshua turned to look at the brunette with a strangely somber look on his face. "How is it that she can keep smiling like that when she's been through so much pain...?"
Prince Roberto shrugged his shoulders and looked across the room at Halle's bright and happy presence in the room that Prince Joshua seemed to be completely transfixed on. "I have no idea. I guess you would have to ask her that, don't you think?" He smiled bitterly and looked to the purple-haired Prince, waiting to see what his next move would be.
Whether or not Prince Joshua did anything with this information was completely up to him now. Prince Roberto saw how the typically cold and detached Prince looked at his sister, and the way she looked back at him with that soul-piercing gaze... He had never seen Halle so happy in her life, and because he knew her so well, he absolutely knew for a fact that she would let the secrets of her past keep her from acknowledging that happiness she felt with Prince Joshua.
So...he gave her a little push. After all, what else were big brothers for?
Prince Roberto watched as Prince Joshua carefully avoided Sergio the cat and joined Halle in the kitchen. She appeared surprised to see him at first, but then she smiled at him and struck up a conversation. Prince Joshua just looked into her eyes no matter what she was saying, completely transfixed with her in every way.
As Prince Roberto found himself smiling at the two who only had eyes for the other, like they were the only ones in the entire world, the house phone began to ring.
Halle looked away from Prince Joshua and over at the ringing extension over by the couch Prince Roberto was standing next to. "Oh, that must be Carrie with an update on the files I asked her to take care of for me." She beamed over at the brunette Prince and delicately pointed to the phone. "Robbie, would you mind getting that? You can just put it on speaker."
"Sure!" Prince Roberto grinned and happily picked up the phone, but the second he put it on speaker phone, a sexy, alluring voice purred from the other end of the line.
"Isn't this mystifying?"
Halle groaned at the sound of her assistant's voice, and she slapped her forehead in annoyance as the other two Princes just looked at her in shock. "What is?"
"That right now you were thinking about me, and then out of the blue your phone rings, and it's me?" Carrie's low, racy tone of voice rang out through the entire room, only eliciting more confusion from the Princes. "How's that for a deep, personal bond on a spiritual level?"
Halle had to bite down on her tongue to keep herself from laughing at the looks of both confusion and terror on the faces of the two Princes in the room. "Carrie, you're on speaker phone." She smirked devilishly as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Say hello to Prince Joshua and Prince Roberto."
Carrie's voice cracked so hard and so fast that it almost sounded like someone had smacked her over the head with a clipboard. "...WHAT!?" She let out a horrified shriek of embarrassment, back to her usual tone of voice immediately. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Boss, why didn't you tell me you had company?"
Halle only smiled as she rolled her eyes. "Why must you always insist on comically answering the phone with pretend dirty talk?"
There was a slight pause before Carrie answered that with a hint of hope and silliness laced in her voice. "Because it's hilarious and shows just how close of friends we are?"
Halle just chuckled under her breath and shook her head back and forth. "Uh huh. Sure." She then changed the topic to get back on track with the conversation. "Anyways, what is this regarding? Did you file all of the paperwork for today's trial?"
Carrie's cheery voice rang out from the other end of the line. "Mmhmm! I just wanted to let you know that everything is taken care of."
Halle smiled as she crossed the room over to the landline and looked down at the phone. "Nice job, Carrie."
"No prob, Boss~!" Carrie's melodic voice chimed over the phone one last time before the sound of the call being dropped rang out, and Halle hung up the phone.
Prince Joshua never looked more alarmed and confused in his entire life. "...you and your assistant have a very strange friendship."
Halle turned her head to look back over at him in the kitchen with an exasperated smile on her face. "Tell me about it."
"I'm just glad you have friends other than me for a change!" Prince Roberto grinned boyishly as he reached over and gave Halle's arm a playful shove.
Halle immediately frowned at the notion, getting on the defensive as she returned to the kitchen to fetch a serving plate filled with sandwiches she had just prepared. "I have friends, thank you very much!"
Prince Roberto crossed his arms over his chest as he watched her and Prince Joshua return to the couch, and they all sat down with the plate of sandwiches in front of them on the coffee table. "Oh yeah? Name two, not including myself or your assistant."
Halle swallowed a big bite of her sandwich awkwardly as she waffled to think of her limited friend list. "Well, um..." Her eyes wandered over to the purple-haired Prince oddly inspecting the commoner's food before him, and her eyes lit up like stars. "Ah! Prince Joshua! We're friends, aren't we?"
"Of course." Prince Joshua didn't even hesitate to answer that with a stern look on his face, and he glanced over at Halle before he looked back down at the little sandwich in his hand. Halle felt her heart swell when she saw the look of delight on his face as he took a bite of the sandwich she had made.
Prince Roberto frowned as he shook his head. "Josh doesn't count."
Halle snapped her eyes wide open in shock, tearing them away from Prince Joshua only to look over at the brunette Prince curiously. "Huh? Why not!?"
Prince Joshua seemed to be just as irritated by that remark, and he stuffed his face with another sandwich as he glared over at Prince Roberto. "Why don't I count as her friend?"
Prince Roberto's shoulders fell as he looked back and forth between the two unbelievably. "Guys, are you being serious right now...?"
Were they both seriously that dense?
Halle ignored the look on her brother's face as she crossed her arms over her chest. "What about Jan and Albie? Do they count as my friends?"
Prince Roberto shot her a scrutinizing look as he rose an eyebrow. "Well, you don't really talk to them much outside of whenever you're with us, do you?"
Halle slumped a little from where she sat next to Prince Joshua, frowning ever so slightly. "...no, not really."
"Then they don't count." Prince Roberto firmly nodded his head with his arms folded tightly across his chest.
"But...!" Halle held up a finger in her defense, only to be interrupted by her brother once again.
"Halle, your friends basically just consist of people you work with." Prince Roberto made the observation with a slight look of worry on his face.
"That's not true!" Halle dropped her jaw at Prince Roberto's comment, and she looked across the room over at the black cat slinking away in the background. "...Sergio is my friend too."
Prince Roberto sweatdropped at his sister's statement. "He's a cat, Halle..."
"So!?" Halle got on the defensive once more, and she shot straight up from where she sat. "So what if I don't have a handful of friends outside of work and whatnot!" She looked between Prince Roberto and Prince Joshua, keeping her eyes on the purple-haired Prince. "I have you guys, Sergio, Albie, Jan, Carrie... You're all I need!" She looked back over at her brother with a little pout on her face. "Why do I need to have a bunch of other friends to be considered normal when I have you guys...?"
There was a long pause before Prince Roberto abruptly shot up and glomped his sister in the tightest vice grip of a hug. "...AWW, THAT WAS THE CUTEST THING YOU COULD HAVE SAID JUST NOW!"
Halle let out a choked sound as she floundered in the big, clumsy Prince's arms. "ACK, WHAT THE!? LET GO OF ME!"
Prince Roberto spotted a few cardboard boxes stacked on the floor behind her, and he suddenly let go of her as his curiosity got the best of him. "Oh, hey, Halle. What's that?"
"Huh? Oh, that." Halle turned and looked over at what Prince Roberto was staring at, and she walked over and picked up all three of the file boxes and plopped them on the table in front of him. "It's all of the documents and research I've complied for you, as you requested."
"Three boxes of it!?" Prince Roberto dropped his jaw at the three large boxes filled with stacks of papers and books with sticky notes wedged between the pages. The entire thing was tediously organized and color-coded.
"Yes, three boxes of it!" Halle stared at him incredulously, a little mystified by how turned off from the idea of doing research her brother was, compared to herself, who loved doing it. "When you ask for my help, I'm very thorough about it!" She stood up straight and looked a little lost within herself as she stared at him. "Look, because I can't be there to help you myself, since I can't enter the castle, this is my way of backing you up. If I can't be there to help you in person, the least I can do is be there for you on paper."
Prince Roberto took her words to heart as he wore a sad, unbalanced smile on his face. "Thanks, Halle..."
"What is all of that?" Prince Joshua stared incredulously at the three boxes of papers and books, letting his curiosity get the best of him.
"Well..." Prince Roberto awkwardly reached up and scratched at the back of his head, avoiding eye contact with the purple-haired Prince.
Halle looked from Prince Joshua's confused face over to her brother's lost one. "Can I tell him?"
Prince Roberto hesitated for a brief moment before he then nodded his head in approval. "...yeah. Go ahead."
Halle turned and sat down next to Prince Joshua, looking at him directly in his captivating purple eyes as she spoke. "In Altaria, the crowned Prince or Princess must be married by the age of twenty five in order to take the throne."
Prince Joshua's eyes widened in alarm as he looked over to the brunette Prince sulking before him. "But Prince Roberto, you're already..."
"I know." Prince Roberto didn't even need to hear the rest of that sentence to understand what Prince Joshua was thinking. "If I don't get married before I turn twenty six in a few months, I can't take the throne."
Prince Joshua grew oddly quiet as he looked upon the fellow Prince's weak stature. "But you are the only heir..."
Halle flinched at that statement as she folded her hands in her lap, and she turned to look at Prince Joshua with a look of sadness lost within her eyes. "If Robbie is unable to take the throne simply because he is not married by the time he turns twenty six in October, the next King will be the current King's younger brother."
Prince Roberto leaned up against the wall as he folded his arms over his chest, looking down at the floor as he spoke. "My uncle is really eager to take the throne, and although I don't really know myself if I want to be King just yet, or know if I'm even fit for the position, I definitely don't trust him with it..."
"Robbie, don't say that." Halle cut in abruptly, glaring at the sullen Prince with a look of annoyance on her face. "You will make a great King someday." Prince Roberto looked up at that, and he stared at her in bewilderment as she wore a bitter smile and looked at him. "And I'm not one to sugarcoat things or tell white lies, so when I say that, it's because I truly believe it."
"Halle..." Prince Roberto's usual smile was slowly returning to his face, and he was already feeling his mood begin to lift again.
Prince Joshua curtly cut in, not even bothering to sugarcoat his words. "So you only have three months to find a bride, or you're deemed unfit to be King?"
"Yeah..." Prince Roberto flinched at the thought, frowning a little.
Halle turned and smirked confidently at Prince Joshua as she spoke. "Unless we succeed in challenging the council and try to get the old custom revoked."
"You can do that?" Prince Joshua's eyes widened slightly.
Halle bit her lip as she nervously looked down and off to the side. "Well... It's never successfully been done, but we have to at least try." She reached over and placed a hand on one of the boxes. "This is what all of this research is for: history on the custom and the laws surrounding it, previous attempts of challenging it or getting it revoked... The whole nine yards."
Something she had said earlier had suddenly made its way to the front of Prince Joshua's mind, and he stared at her in confusion. "Wait, why can't you enter the castle?"
Prince Roberto's eyes snapped wide open as he suddenly stood straight up."Josh, I wouldn't..."
Halle bitterly laughed under her breath, staring down at the floor. "Because I...can't legally enter the castle. I've been banned from setting foot on the grounds for the past five years."
Prince Joshua could not have been more surprised by that response. "What? Why?"
Halle looked conflicted as she stared into his eyes with a look of pain reflected within her own. "I'm sorry, Prince Joshua, but I can't answer that. I signed a non-disclosure agreement preventing me from discussing with anyone the incident or the details around it, even you." She looked down at her lap in shame. "I could face legal troubles if I ever were to speak a word of it..."
Prince Joshua looked from her to Prince Roberto as a look of suspicion crept onto his face. "This has something to do with how you two met, doesn't it?"
"I..." Halle hesitated, unable to meet his gaze.
Prince Roberto firmly looked over at the purple-haired Prince with no trance of hesitation. "Yes. It has everything to do with it."
Halle let out the breath she was holding as the doorbell rang, and she stood up from the couch and began to head that way. "Wow, they got here fast."
The grim mood that had been hanging over the room for the past five minutes was now gone, and Prince Roberto looked at his sister's back in confusion as she walked over to answer the door. "Huh? Who got here fast?"
"Prince Roberto!" Alberto's angry voice flew through the door the second Halle opened it, followed by a heavy sigh from the man in question.
Prince Roberto cringed as he slumped his shoulders. "Oh... He got here fast."
"You called them...!?" Prince Joshua looked to Halle in alarm as he spotted both Jan and Alberto standing at the door, not having expected that.
"Of course I called them!" Halle exclaimed defiantly before she smiled at the both of them. "As much as I love having you two over for a visit, you are both the crowned Prince of your respected kingdoms, and you have your duties to attend to." She turned back to the door and held it open for the two butlers, ushering them both to come in. "Albie, Jan! Please, do come in."
Jan had a grievous look on his face as he entered Halle's apartment, standing in his usual perfect posture as he met the eyes of his master. "Your Highness... You had me slightly worried there, just up and cancelling all of your plans for today. Shall we return back to the manor now?"
Prince Joshua frowned a little at the thought of leaving, and he found himself staring only at Halle as he spoke. "I suppose that would be best..."
"Prince Roberto, are you mentally deranged!?" Alberto scolded his master at high volume, instantly causing the Prince to wince and cover his ears.
Prince Roberto waffled to form any sort of response to that. "Wha...! Alberto, come on, I was just..."
"Skipping out on yet another mandatory royal duty." Alberto sharply cut in, completely infuriated with his master's silly behavior, as usual. "You must take your responsibilities seriously, Prince Roberto!"
Prince Roberto cringed at all of the reprimanding. "Alright, alright... I get it. You can stop scolding me now! I'm not a dog..."
Alberto drew in one long, deep, frustrated breath of air as he struggled to keep his composure. "Oh, I could only wish for such a thing to be true. My job would be much easier if I could keep you on a leash."
"Hey...!" Prince Roberto dropped his jaw in shock at his butler's crudeness. "Who's butler and who's master here again!?"
"Pfft..." Halle let out a small scoff under her breath as she stood next to Prince Joshua and Jan, watching the argument before her with complete fascination. "I would imagine that those two will be bickering for quite some time after today." She turned to face Prince Joshua with a sad smile on her face, struggling to keep her troublesome emotions from showing by only smiling harder. "It was wonderful to see you again, Prince Joshua."
Prince Joshua didn't even bother to put on a face as he sullenly looked down at her. "Yeah... It was nice to see...you too..."
"Until we meet again?" Halle tilted her head to the side as she looked up into his deep purple eyes, fighting herself to keep smiling despite the tears that threatened to prick at her eyes.
Prince Joshua nodded his head as he suddenly turned and began to follow Jan out the door. "Until then, Halle..."
Yikes, long time no update. Sorry, guys! Life has been insane these past few months, with my dad undergoing heart surgery and me struggling to finish up the semester. But I sat down and busted out this chapter finally! I hope you all enjoyed it! :)
Read, review, and enjoy!