Chapter 13

• Noah
• "Hey, Ladies." I tried my utmost best to sound perfectly normal while adjusting my glasses which I had gotten from my driver, Daniel, "Remember me?"
• I had wanted to let go of the watch but then I remembered that my initials, N.D were on it and I decided to do a little casual dress up show even though it lasted for an hour.
• Avoiding my mother at breakfast was easy, I simply ate in the royal kitchen while listening to a last minute squabble from Gordon and James. I simply dived my teeth into my sandwich when I sighted them in a warm embrace. It was time for James to go back to the military as his two-day holiday was over. I made a path within myself that if I ever become King, my first rule would be to elongate the holidays that soldiers had to themselves.
• Staring at a teary eyes Gordon, I couldn't pinpoint the last time my father embraced me. Even when he was healthy and fruitful, he rarely shot a glance at what I did. His eyes held no emotions anytime I tried to make a humorous conversation.
• In short, the King of Midon had no sense of humor.
• Or did he hate me?
• He scoffed anytime my cake fell out of my cake and grunted anytime I made a request.
• But this was no time for to discuss the past, was it?
• I just wanted to get my watch back and make those workers forget Matilda.
• I was standing with my hands tightly placed on either side of my hip, studying intently their facial expression. The one who earned a slap from Matilda was smiling brightly and making weird winks at me while the latter was staring point blank at me, her eyes shooting bullets all over my body.
• "We don't, honestly." The one who made weird winks at me spoke up, "But I'm Emily and she's Ashely."
• "Oh hi!" I extended my arm, with a grin on my face. I watched as Emily came around from the counter to playfully shake me while Ashely stood with her hand in her apron, hesitant to come over.
• "Who are you?" she asked with her hand, twirling her blonde hair.
• I crossed my arms across my chest, "Do you remember a certain woman who hit her?" I pointed towards Emily.
• "Oh, you came to apologize in place of your girlfriend and why were you wearing a mask?" Ashely promptly responded as she picked up a pen.
• I raked a hand into my hair. For goodness's sake, why would anyone think that she was my damn girlfriend.
• "She's actually not my-"
• "The blow from your girlfriend still hurts.I had to go to see a doctor." Emily pouted but was cut off by a nudge from Ashely.
• "Stop being dramatic, Em." she said and then her eyes settled on me. Something about her felt odd. She moved closer to me, her hands still buried in her white apron. I jerked backwards impulsively in trepidation. Why was she looking at me as if I was a robber?
• "Tell your girlfriend to apologize." Ashely muttered, "You don't have to coddle your girlfriend. You're a man, after all."
• The way her lips moved without stopping, the way her gaze never left mine was crazy.
• "She's actually not my girlfriend." I finally confessed, a feeling of warmth crawling over my body.
• I looked on as they both stared at me as if struck with lightning.
• "I'm serious. She's honestly not my-"
• "Then who is she? Your sister?" Emily spoke up as she placed her hands on her tiny waist.
• Oh shit. Why do they keep responding with more and more questions. How long was I going to be investigated?
• I was about to respond when Ashley spoke up.
• "We don't need her apology anymore and neither do we need yours." Her lashes batted at me which turned me on, "What so you want? You didn't come here just to say this."
• "Well-" I started with rubbing my hands nervously against the other, the friction producing warmth and fluid consequently, "I think I left my watch here."
• "Where? I didn't see any watch." Emily promptly answered.
• I rubbed my sweaty nose in nervousness. What if the watch got in the wrong hand? I didn't want to get the secret service involved just to a get a watch that had my initials.
• "Is this yours?" Ashley spoke, her fingers holding up the watch.
• I clapped my hands dramatically and exclaimed, "Yes. thank you. Thank you so damn much."
• She extended a hand with the watch resting in her palm. I was about to retrieve it when she suddenly jerked her hand away, gripping the watch tightly with her fingers.
• "Is your name N.D?" Her soft voice was music to my ears but that wasn't my concern at the moment. All I wanted was the fucking damn watch. I was praying desperately to God, begging him to tighten my lips before I began to curse aloud.
• "No." I lied perfectly, "I-It's actually my grandfather's name. The name's Newton Daniel."
• I congratulated myself internally on how smooth I spoke. Back when I was a teen, I found it hard to lie, I recalled skipping breakfast with the family to ride my horse and then lied to my mother's face that I was sick in bed.
• It was actually a guard who ratted me out, accidentally when I dropped a sock. I couldn't forget the disappointed look my mother and Ruby gave me throughout that entire day.
• "Oh." Ashley gasped before hurriedly pushing it into my hand, "I was just trying to be cautious."
• "There's absolutely no problem in being cautious. Not at all." I grinned happily while pushing the watch into my back pocket, "But I still feel a bit bad about not being able to do anything to appease or make you forget what happened."
• "You can give us cash." Emily winked.
• "Stop it." Ashely responded with a glare.
• I loved Emily's energy. It was fresh and it reminded me of Rose. She was everywhere at once, trying to make the conversation less awkward and more friendly. I didn't expect that, I expected more of Emily, grabbing my head like a savage, yelling at me to apologize for what Matilda did.
• "Can I work here?" The crazy question popped out from my lips even before I could actually think it through and then I thought, why would I say that when I was barely hanging on to my sanity?
• What amused me was the way they treated me like any commoner. I would have loved to reveal my identity but I didn't want to pull a trick like that. Matilda needed power and trampled on people using fear but I on the other hand wanted to relate more causally with the people before I ascend the throne. I recollected the way I begged my mother and my father to keep me away from the public eye from the age of ten. It was hard to figure out who I was especially when the photographers had no idea on how I looked.
• I always took the back entrance out of the castle with my trusted driver in a cab. I seemed like a normal person in Boston and I wanted that here....in Midon. One of the reasons why my mother requested that masks be worn during the ball and the garden party. I was dressed differently from everyone obviously but no one had an idea of how I looked like.
• Not even the woman I danced with at the ball...
• The one who fled.
• I broke out of my deep thoughts and shot a wink at them.
• "You want to work here?" Emily suddenly broke into ripples of laughter, "Really?"
• "Yeah." I smoothly answered, rubbing my palm nervously against the other.
• Ashely casted a glance at my face and then my clothes.
• Shit.
• I just had to wear clothes that looked so expensive.
• "Judging from the expensive designer watch-" Ashely started with a light chuckle, "And down to your clothes, I know you have no idea how a bakery shop runs."
• "Why don't you, girls give me a chance, huh?" I asked with a witty smile, "If I get the job tommorow, will you promise to never speak of what happened-"
• Ashely cut in, "So you came with the intention to bribe us?"
• "No." I sharply spoke, "No." I repeated.
• "Then why can't we speak about it, Mr Who Doesn't Want to Bribe us?" Emily thumped her right leg and placed a hand on her hip.
• "Well, for a start. It's embarrassing." I started with a nervous cough, "And secondly, I'm not interested in having anyone hold grudges against me "
• "Okay." Ashely muttered, "Then let's see. Let's see you get the job, Mr Confident."
• Her lips curved into a sheepish grin and I smirked. I loved challenges, I did quite a lot especially from...ladies. It motivated me and fuck, Ashely turned me on.
• She didn't even notice her undone shirt buttons. The way the creamy flesh was threatening to fall out had me staring. Her cluelessness fascinated me but I didn't want her to go around looking like that. I didn't want to stare at first but I found my eyes, not leaving her chest. I wondered how her nipples would look like.
• Would it be too puffy and sensitive?
• Way to go, Noah. I told myself. I was already having sexual thoughts about a woman that I had barely held a proper conversation with.
• I edged closer to her, our bodies emitting heat due to the close proximity. I bent my head low and whispered;
• "Your shirt buttons." I said, "It's not done properly. If you were mine, I would have wanted nothing more but to rip that shirt off you."
• I retreated slowly and watched her face redden. She then took two step backwards and turned around hysterically. I could hear her breathing become faster and I chuckled to myself. I turned around and realized that it was time to leave.
• "What's your name, Mister?" Emily asked with a snarky smile.
• I rubbed my forehead, trying hard to produce a name. Why the hell was it so hard to lie?
• "Leo. It's Leo." I uttered before slowly walking out of the bakery.
• And as I walked on the pedestrian walkway. I realized that the name, Leo was sexy.
• A sexy fake name for a hot man like me.