It wasn't the face of the girl but only her voice that she remembered, and the surroundings gathered to be a sunny day with sea. Not knowing when was the time she had been to such a place, she concluded it to be a beach, with the girl who looked around the age of eight or nine, blond hair, blurred face who said the same words in a childish tone. Straining her mind too much Ella felt a headache when she started swaying, close to falling down until a hand stopped her.
"Already having a hard time? I told you that man shouldn't be invited." His concerned voice held a bit of irritation which brought her back from the memory in her mind, only to find herself in her 'guest' room under Roy's hold. When did she arrive here? Gently Roy supported her till the bed to make her sit, slouching down in front of her he took her hands and rubbed the inside of her wrists. Surprisingly it calmed her down and Ella glanced down to her wrists then to his eyes shaking her head, "Nothing. I just felt dizzy." He looked like he wanted to interrogate further but he stopped himself. He placed the box in the front, which must have slipped from her hand. "I guess you don't need this."
"It's a gift. It would be rude to give it back." She spoke nonchalantly as though the pearls didn't remind of a memory to have taken place. "Do you want to keep it?" "I've accepted it," Ella answered not wanting to take the conversation further. Taking hold of the box she spoke, "These are pearls. Like they have been procured recently," as she showed him who wasn't liking that something interested her belonging to another man. But she was too busy to notice his face, thinking about those words ringing in her ears.
"You don't like jewelry." Roy pointed still. "This isn't a jewelry. Stop making a fuss about it. Will you see that the food is ready?" She changed the topic, keeping aside the pearls and asking his focus on her. He nodded and met her eyes, looking annoyed that she was entertaining the thought of keeping jewels even though she didn't like them. Sending the man off with a calm look on her face which dropped down the moment he closed the door.
Thinking a while Ella headed out of the room to her own old room in search of clues. Call her a psychic but she had always believed to think for the worst. Even though it was a memory which presumed to be a happy one, she thought of going through the list of friends or others close to her. Searching for the photo albums Ella went through all the photos taken, which consisted of friends mostly, or to say as people with whom she had acquainted in her age.
Half an hour of her trying to look for any semblance of beach photos or sea, ocean, boat, anything. She found them to be either family trips or business trips to be exact and the others contained to party photos when she was old enough to attend them. The girl was sighting straight, which meant she would have been of same age as the girl. Going back through the lane, she couldn't find anything close to that, not that she remembered every little detail of her childhood!
Frustrated by her own actions she exclaimed, "It's just a memory. Could be any girl!" And if she was important then she would have remembered her or at least had a photo. Keeping all the mess away, she tidied the room and left after giving a last glance.
Cementing her thoughts, she came across an ongoing conversation between two men. "...oil to be taken. It would be in best interests for both the nations."
"Indeed. How soon are you planning on doing it?"
"Even if I am the Prince next-in-line, it isn't always in my hands to pass over such orders." The guest chuckled and continued, "I'll have to talk with the prestigious members involved. Ah, Ella! Please join us." He initiated coming forward and taking her hand with him. Embarrassed with such attention as she wasn't used to it. The times when she was young and still in training, she hid from the world and while she had reached of age, she had to run off only to return back in such a problematic situation leaving her no way to retreat.
"We were discussing about the oil supply issue. The suppliers have been on edge in case the demand for the oil is taken for granted. They are used to playing the market to win it and not just give and take. But I can put a word for you."
"That would be extraordinary. How fast can I expect the results?" She came to the point after taking a seat opposite Zayn and Roy. Seeing that she was talking business Zayn leaned back in the sofa crossing his legs widely, "How fast can you deliver the terms?" "I haven't received your demands yet, Mr. Khan."
"I believe you know that is why I'm here," the man nodded with a straight-lined smile. "I look forward to it then." "Ah, you will be looking forward, yes. I'm told to have great tastes." Ella didn't need to move her eyes next to the Prince who was throwing daggers at her. She could feel it but didn't understand the reason for being the victim to it. Following a maid walking across her sight she spoke with an easy smile, "Perhaps we can decide that after lunch." "Already?"
"Time flies by in London." Uttering that she fended for the dining hall leaving the two gentlemen to their own tasks. She was already having to live with a deceiving one, how can she endure just another one now!
"You do know that you are in London, Prince."
"I gathered that much since I landed here." Zayn said in his deep accent looking over at the man sitting in the adjacent sofa, who then turned back to meet his eyes, "Hm. Careful with your ways around. It's easy to be lost in unknown waters." Both of them gazed each other unblinking.
"Mr. Knight makes such phrases quite often. He's very good at that," Ella interrupted sweetly when she found Roy to speak threateningly to the Prince. "Of course he is." Zayn nodded at last as though he didn't understand the meaning of his words and let go of the stare fight first; Searching for Ella he turned up to her and followed to the directed place. After he was out of the drawing room, she grabbed Roy's hand and dragged him over to the nearest room to talk in private, which happened to be the store room. Not much was there yet as the room was on its way of being 'stored'.
"What is wrong with you? You are behaving weird. And immature." She shouted lowly adding the word he always described her for no explainable reason. He took back his hand from her hold standing close to her private space making her step back, "Why don't you look at yourself first? You go around taking jewels, you go around practically inviting him to give you terms, you are being desperate Ella." And he banged the metal rack behind her where she had paced back to. But his hands stayed there on the side of her head, she would have jumped or been scared but she knew his anger. He would always go around destroying stuffs when angry with her than harming her physically. Which was why she believed she could withstand at least that much.
Ella started, "Roy. We need this deal. You know how importa-" "Don't give me that good crap. I told you that all will have to go by how I want it to." He spoke every word clearly and slowly, moving closer to her inch by inch. In the back of her mind she wondered how was there still space left after him standing too close to her.
"It's not like we have never done this before. Will you have that much faith in me?" She pleaded, wanting to avoid any altercations now. "You mean let you seduce him. This isn't like the other cases. In those cases everyone only wanted favors with the throne. But this man here is to trap you into something that you won't be able to escape even if you create numerous legacies." Roy took all his frustration on this infuriating woman. Calming himself down he leaned his forehead on hers taking breaths from his mouth with closed eyes. Ella didn't know what else to do hence to reassure him she brought her hands in between the left-over space to place them on his shoulders and rubbed her thumbs soothingly.
Noticing that his demeanor was cooling down she carried her hands upwards to rub his neck. "Elle I-I... Don't go away from me." "I'm here." Now her hands were touching his jaw, tracing them slowly. "You went away though." She didn't answer anything to that, not hearing the assurance from her Roy shifted back enough to look into her eyes demanding to accept what he was asking of. She met his eyes and stepped ahead to put her arms on him, hugging him, she repeated, "I'm here. With you." He didn't need another second to hug her closer, wrapping his hands around her, tightly that Ella felt his beating heart.