chapter 3

I was standing in between the need to have my own life, and sacrificing it for my family. But I didn't care what it took or I had to do. 

I had sat to ponder well on it. I couldn't let my family get kicked out on the streets when I could do something to help. If I got married to the Prince, my family sure would be saved from disgrace and utmost poverty. The king would sure not want their in-laws on the streets.

To be honest, I really hated this route i was about to take. But think about it, what other way could I have taken? Jolie's life depended on how much we had in our pockets, in a month's time, we would have no roofs over our heads. I had no choice, Reader.

I sat on my bed stuffing my clothes into a box. My heart raced. Was I really ready for this? 

I grabbed the picture frames by my bed and shove them into my luggage one by one taking time to stare at them. I picked up the last frame, it held a picture of Harry and I.

I felt really bad. Really bad. What would happen to him now? Would I have to leave him with Mum and Dad? I braced myself over and over again. I knew I could take on this challenge. It was just another phase in life, a scary phase I had to go through. It was all for the sake of my family. 

The sparky, hot Gwenevere was about to become a cultured and calm princess. Well, well, I'll just see how well I'l perform as a princess. One thing I was sure of was that the palace was going to enjoy every bit of my drama, every single bit of it. Chuckles.

I looked at my wrist watch, the time was almost ten. Ten, the time I was scheduled to meet with the prince for the first time.

Harry walked in just in time for me to push my box away. He leaned on the door frame.

"Will you come see me?"

I looked at him

"Come here" I sat patting the bed

"Know this, Harry. Mummy loves you, no matter what. I will always love you"

"Yeah, I know..." he replied, his voice really soggy.

"I'm never going to leave you for anything. I'm taking you in my heart and I'll make sure to call you every single day, I promise"

He narrowed his eyes

"Promise" He had to repeat the word cos he knew I was never good at keeping promises. I would promise to get him Biscuits from the store each time I went grocery shopping, but I always forgot.

But, come on, this was not biscuit, we're talking my son here!

"Promise" I repeated nodding. "So, I'll be stepping out for a while now, Sweet. I'll be back in the afternoon, then we can talk till the sun sets. What do you say?"

"That's perfect, I have a lot of things to tell you. There are numerous highlights" He said folding his hands against his stomach

"Oho... hit me, hit me with one" I nudged him

"Amanda's one"

Now I can't believe my seven year old son was already so attracted to a particular girl. This was the third time he would be mentioning her name.

"Oh my G, that's a girl we're talking about here" I replied grimacing

"Yeah, but I'll release you now to go. You're running late, Mama"

Shoot, that was right. I got up immediately and gave him a goodbye kiss.

"Mum, Dad, I'm leaving" I announced and walked out the door.

As I walked to the front porch, I saw a three men dressed in suit standing with their hands folded below their stomachs.

"Miss Malton, the Prince sent us to pick you up" One of the guys said

"Oo...kay" I said scanning the guys one by one.

I must confess, I was wowed with what I saw. A limousine. Impressive, I thought.

"Am I riding in this?" I asked the man

"Yes, Miss Malton"

I guess, at this point, I was getting uncomfortable with me being called Miss Malton, but I didn't give him the permission to call me by name yet. He had to suffer a little and earn that pass, so when he eventually does call me by name, he still would have the same respect. So I thought.

The door of the car was opened for me, and I cat walked my way into it. If you're waiting for me to describe the interior of the limo, you're mistaken. I've been in a limo before, so it wasn't all so fancy for me. Yes, it wasn't.

We got to the front of a restaurant and the car stopped. I got down and was escorted by the guards towards the restaurant. Here, Gwenevere, you're about to meet the prince, I thought to myself.

Written above the restaurant was written 'Amor's Place'. Okay, let's see what's on the inside.

I followed as I was led into the building. After taking too many turns, we finally got to our destination.

A young man sat on the chair, with crossed legs, he looked into a bundle of paper in front of him. His golden hair was neatly parted and permed gently to the side. He was in a green suit which housed a white shirt over black trousers.

He-ll-o-o-o Mr Prince.

I walked up to the table staring at him. He took his eyes from the paper and looked at me. His eyebrow went up immediately. What? Was he amazed by my beauty, or he was not expecting a girl with such a tough face?

"Hello, mi lady" He stood up and extended his hand.

I accessed the hand for some seconds before taking it, that earned me a funny look from him.

"Your highness"

"Please seat" He said taking his seat. "Are you Miss Malton?"

Uh. Didn't he know who he was getting married to. Lord, I felt so insulted, and at that moment, I knew that meeting was going to end in a disaster.

"Yes" I replied "And you are Prince Williams"

"Wlliams Egil" he said "It's nice to make your acquaintance"

"Same here" I responded

"I asked that we meet days before you moved into the palace so we would know a little bits of ourselves... before things get tense"

"That's wise" I said

"So Jolie, tell me about yourself"

I took a very deep breath. it wasn't to get nervousness away, it was to calm my anger.

Something about him just didn't put me in a good mood. The atmosphere, or the air in the restaurant. Something was starting to piss me off, I could smell it coming.

"Uhm. Jolie?" I asked

"Yes, is that not your name?"

Reader, how am I supposed to explain to the prince that the girl he was planned to marry was in the hospital and has her sister replacing her?

"Jolie is my sister" I said keeping it cool

"Oh. You're not Jolie?"

"Yes" I said emphatically

"Who are you then?"

What the-?

"I'm her older sister"

"Gwenevere?" He asked surprised.

"Yes" I answered wondering why he sounded so surprised.

He drank water from the glass cup on the table then stood up and adjusted his suit.

"You can leave, we're done with this meeting. We'll meet later on"

"What?"

"I said, you can leave" he repeated blankly

"Wait a second. You let me leave my house this early, get dressed and come down to a restaurant for you to just ask my name?" I asked, my voice hitching towards anger.

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Total yes! I'm a very busy person, I've got a lot of things to do, and I hate to waste my time so uselessly." 

He took at step backward a gave me a Who-is-this-girl look.

"Miss Malton, I would not have you speak in such manner to me" He said with a little frown on his face

Wow, I liked where this was going.

"And if I did?"

"Then you would really have yourself to blame" He said calmly "I will call you tomorrow anytime, make sure to have your phone with you always. It can be impromptu" He said

"Did you not just hear what I said"

"You didn't make a point Miss Malton. You just bluffed in my ears"

Lord. Did this guy think I was joking? I laughed inside because he didn't know what I was capable of doing any moment from now. I could decide to empty a glass of water on him, or better still give his face a taste of my strong fist, I could also flip the table upside down. Just depended on the kind of inspiration that flowed my way. The well cultured behavior I put on was borrowed from Mum's lectures, and I could do away with it with the flip of my fingers. I was ready to insult every ounce of royalty out of him.

I wasn't some calm naïve girl he probably expected. So I contemplated- should I really show him the real version of Gwenevere?

Or not?

Oops, my calm-girl cover was about to be tossed into the bin.