The girl in front of me is Pokey Clover. My favorite character. My idol. I'm finally meeting her!
"Pokey!" I say smiling brightly.
She smiled back at me "Valentine! no wait— Val? No—Lenlen! Can I call you Lenlen? I like giving people nicknames."
"Of course!" I say.
"Thank you for helping me. Can we be friends?"
I thought of it for a moment. I told myself that I will stay away from her because I'm a jinx to her life. I'm the villain of the story after all.
"....only if you want to..." she said sadly. She must've thought that I didn't want to make friends with her because I suddenly became quiet.
"No! Of course I want to.... it's just that I don't think I can be a good friend to you..." I tell her.
"Well I think you already are a great friend!" she tells me as she takes one of my hand with her two hands.
She's such a nice person... I guess I can just avoid ruining her life right? After all, I'm not the real Valentine.
"Okay!" I say.
***
Two years passed and I went to the gardens to meet Pokey again just like every other day. It's a routine. We became best friends now.
We were drawing some doodles on the ground like a little kid. Living as a kid for five years has officially made me act like one.
"I'm really glad to meet a friend like you." Pokey says.
"Have you never made friends with other kids before?" I asked her.
"No.... There's no kids in the palace. I'm really lonely there."
"Palace?" I must be delusional to think about the palace where I was born. I already know that Pokey is a princess after all.
"Yes, you should come visit me sometime! Father will be delighted to meet my friend."
"W-which palace do you live in?" I asked
"There's only one palace in our land silly!" she says. Could it be... that she live in that palace? "It's still early, we can go now! You can ask your parents first. I shall wait for you here."
I have to make sure. I wouldn't bother asking my parents because I know they wouldn't let me if ever that my hunch is true. They promised that Majesty to not let me know about him after all.
So I said "There's no need. Let's go meet my father—I mean your father."
***
The palace is not far from our mansion. No wonder Pokey can travel to our house by herself. It is a very familiar place yet I can't be too assuming that it is in-fact the palace I'm looking for. I was a baby that time so how could I possibly remember clearly?
Pokey led me towards the front entrance.
"Princess Penelope, who is that kid you're with?" asked the guard. Just let me in guard!
"This is my best friend, her name's Len—I mean Valentine!" Pokey sure is friendly.
I bowed and the royal guards just let me in. I'm just a kid after all. What can I do? Scwing- schwang them? I'm harmless.
"Let me give you a tour!" Pokey says.
"K."
Pokey led me through the fancy halls, through one of their large kitchen, and the giant dining room where a wooden table stretches all the way over there... until we reached her bedroom.
Her bedroom has it's own personal living room, a closet as big as my room, and a bed that can fit twenty adults. That's unnecessarily big but ok.
"Oh I have something for you." Pokey tells me as she walks over her fancy vanity and took out a jewelry from her drawer. It's a really pretty jewelry made out of pearls and diamond thingy in the middle.
"It's my favorite jewelry" she tells me excitedly.
"Why are you giving me your favorite jewelry?" I asked her.
"You told me about how much you like diamonds and pearls"
yeah, that's true... I like the riches. Sometimes I would go treasure hunting in our garden and would find pearls, golds and diamonds buried in the ground. It's one of my hobbies. This dimension really is something.
"But it's yours..." I say pretending to be shy but I actually want to take it.
"No, I really want to give it to you."
"...." I waited a few seconds to pretend to think about it. "...okay." I finally said and wore it. "Thank you" I also said cause I'm polite.
She smiled. "Now let me introduce you to my Father!"
Right... I forgot about that.
***
"Father! Father!" Pokey says as she runs towards the tall man walking on the hallway. He was looking away from us. Pokey hugged him and he hugged her back. Aww that's sweet.
"I invited the friend that I'm talking to you about!" she told him and went to grab me to take me in-front of him.
I had a weird feeling in my stomach.
I was right. It was my Father.
~End of Chapyer 4~