A subtle knock was heard from the door of the flat in the early morning. The noise stirred the sleeping young girl who was hiding under the blanket. She let out a slight irritated sigh as she grabbed a pillow to cover her head, in particular her ear.
However, the knock didn't stop but only grew louder the longer she ignored it, showing some urgency in its action. It successfully pierced through her defense.
In the end, Ivy gave up.
Tossing the pillow aside, she came out from beneath the blanket. The sunlight invaded her vision immediately, making her eyes squinted before she used her arm to block the light. Then, she dragged her feet across the room towards the door.
As soon as she opened it, Alexander grim face greeted her. He was standing there with his hands on his waist, looking like an angry mom.
"Really, Miss? You just had to get drunk the day before a party?" His voice was laced with disappointment. He shook his head. "You look like a mess!"
Ivy knitted her eyebrows. Her head was throbbing very badly as if somebody was drilling nail into her head. And because of that, she felt nauseous and she seemed to be having a hard time in focusing her blurry sight. The aching pain spreading all over her body did not help either.
She felt extremely uncomfortable, even standing like this exhausted her, she wanted to go back to sleep soon. Without beating around the bush, she spoke lazily, "If you have nothing more to say, I shall go back to bed."
Ivy was about to shut the door when Alexander stick his foot in, preventing her from closing it.
"No, I'm not finished yet." He looked at Ivy with a serious face. However, currently, Ivy was not functioning properly. Her eyes hadn't even fully opened. She was barely conscious.
She didn't see the expression on Alexander face and thought that he was just gonna scold her again for having gone all night yesterday.
....
Hmm...?
Wait a minute, all night? Getting drunk? Did she do that? She didn't, did she?
Ivy tried to recall what went on yesterday. But with the lack of sleep and her not being a morning person, her brain was running extremely slow.
The memories of yesterday flashed into her head by pieces. She slowly remembering the events unfolding at the Young family mansion. The arguments with the Matriarch and Madam Young, then meeting her lame-ass father for the first time, and last but not least, that treacherous old fox.
The memory stopped when her grandfather ordered his men to lock her up in a bedroom on the second floor. From that point, they were just fragments. Random images and indecipherable conversations.
Ivy furrowed her eyebrows. However, the harder she tried to clear up the memories, the more painful her head became. She held on to her forehead. Whatever, it seemed Alexander was right. She might have one too many.
Alexander clicked his tongue, dissatisfied with Ivy's action. The princess was absolutely out of control these days. He couldn't seem to keep up with her whereabouts. Hiring bodyguard was useless as well since she would somehow find a way to lose them. And the princess didn't seem to be pleased either with him hiring bodyguards or assistants to keep track of her.
Alexander didn't want to annoy the princess or disrespect her in any way by being too controlling. The princess was supposed to be the one who held the authority and him abiding her.
On the other hand, Prince Charles as well as His Majesty and Her Highness were pressuring him as well. They wanted him to persuade the princess to return home and they also wanted him to serve her well. They ordered for the princess to always be protected by bodyguards and to be followed by her personal attendant at all times.
Yet, he didn't accomplish any of them because all of those requests were denied by the princess. No matter how much he talked to her about it, she wouldn't budge. It wasn't like he could threaten the princess too. Therefore, the only thing he could do was to blatantly lie to the royal family's face, which considered to be a crime by the way.
Although, His Majesty did say something along the line that he should devote himself to serve by the princess side. So, it was not totally his fault, right? He was just being loyal to the princess.
Alexander sighed. "You need to be careful, Miss Ivy! It's bad enough that you went out all night but to also get drunk to the point of not remembering anything? That is very irresponsible of you and not how a princess should behave!" he chided her sternly, his face dead serious with a tinge of worry written all over him.
"Yes, yes, yes, my dear Alexander. I understand," Ivy answered in a roundabout manner while she was still holding on from her headache. However, it was evident from her voice how frustrated and annoyed she was right now.
"Miss, pardon me, but I really need you to take my word seriously."
"Tsk! You really need to chill, Alex. It's not like I'm officially a princess anyway!" At this point, Ivy had raised her voice which somehow upset Alex.
He really hoped one day the princess would consider his feelings and realized how much he cared of her.
So she would stop worrying him.
Alex let out a long-exasperated sigh. "It doesn't have anything to do with being official or not, Princess. Neither does it need a legalization or the acknowledgement of the public. You are born as a princess and your blood itself is the proof. It's who you are."
Despite his epic speech, Ivy just stared blankly at him. She literally zoned out for the whole sentences. Her mind couldn't process what Alex was saying. She didn't even hear him clearly.
"Princess?"
"Uh..yeah. Got it."
'It's better to end this fast. My head is killing me,' she thought.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "You really heard what I said?"
"Yep. Absolutely." Ivy nodded vigorously. "Um...is that it?" she asked as she massaged her forehead trying to ease the pain.
Alex sighed. "It's only ten. We still have time. You can rest a bit more, Miss. I will come to your room again later to bring you some food and get you ready for the party."
Ivy kept on massaging her head. The excruciating pain seemed to spread across her forehead, behind her eyes, and radiated sharp towards the back of her brain. She had never been this drunk in her whole life. Well, this was so not sexy.
Ivy was currently even contemplating on not touching drinks again. What the hell was she thinking yesterday really?
"Miss?" Alex looked at her with concern.
She didn't seem to hear Alex calling her as she did not give any respond, not even a flinch. Suddenly, her vision blurred, and she had to close her eyes. She staggered back against the doorway.
"Princess!" Alex was quick to hold Ivy arms as he tried to help balancing her. However, the moment Alex held her arms, Ivy winced and her face contorted. The skin under his touch felt like burning as it throbbed in pain, stinging her bones.
With that sudden pain, Ivy snapped opened her eyes. She blinked her watery eyes and looked at Alex.
"Are you okay, Princess?"
Hearing the worry in his voice, Ivy tried to force a smile and said, "Yeah, I'm okay." Although it didn't sound that convincing with her extremely pale face.
"But you look unwell, Miss. I don't you should go anywhere today."
Ivy couldn't wrap her mind around Alex words as currently she was distracted by the aching she felt on her arms. The longer Alex held it, her muscle felt even more painful. Thus, she needed to forcefully pull her hand back from Alex.
It took everything in her to make herself sound okay. "Oh please, Alex. It's not like you haven't seen a hungover person before." She laughed. "I'll be fine. I just need some sleep."
Alex knitted his eyebrows, appearing unconvinced. Ivy straightened her back and pushed Alex by his shoulders. She led him out of the room. She grinned and said, "Make this princess a bowl of warm soup later and steam egg. Okay, I love you Alex. I'll see you!"
Then, she shut the door in front of his face. Alex stared blankly at the door. After two minutes, he shook his head and left.
Meanwhile, Ivy was leaning behind the closed door. She studied the floor as her breathing became erratic. She seemed to be thinking about something as three black lines appeared on her forehead.
Without a moment of delay, Ivy painstakingly made her way towards the bathroom. Her body literally felt like it was being torn apart. Every single move she made, her muscle would convulse in pain.
'What is happening? Is it because she was drunk last night and slept on the sofa?' she thought. But deep down, she knew it wasn't possible. This feeling was too excessive.
Ivy slammed the door open. Leaning against the wall, she made her way to the front of the sink. Then she saw it, her reflection.
Her hair was disheveled, dark circles under her eyes, and her face was as pale as the dead. She was a total mess. Even her blue eyes appeared dim with her exhausted complexion.
She let out a long exasperated sigh before she raised her hand to rub her face. But, she was utterly shocked with the sight of her hand. It was a bit faint, however visible enough to the eyes, a dark red mark circling around her wrist.
She raised her left hand and discovered the same mark as her right wrist. She stared blankly at both of her wrists.
'What are these?'
While she was drown in thoughts, her cellphone rang. She lifted her hand and looked towards the door. Then she looked back at her wrists again. Ivy appeared silent however, currently her mind was undergoing a huge turbulence. Despite the headache, she tried hard to remember what happened last night.
What bar did she go? Who did she meet? What did she do? Was she really only drinking?
The phone kept on ringing, disrupting her line of thoughts every now and then. So, Ivy decided to pick it up in case it was important.
As she turned around, her steps were immediately ceased by the scorching pain on her waist. Ivy grimaced. Her hand, with reflex, grabbed the corner of the sink counter to stop herself from dropping to the ground.
Ivy quickly picked herself up and lifted her T-shirt. A dark ugly bruise entered her vision. Her eyes widened. There was a trace of panic behind that sapphire eyes. She then turned around and faced her bare back towards the mirror. As she expected, there were also marks on it. Faint long red mark across her back. There were a few of them standing in a row.
She pulled down her T-shirt again. Ivy lifted her head and gazed at the mirror. It went on for a couple of minutes until her cellphone stopped ringing.
Still...
There was nothing but fragments of last night memory.