HENRY VISITED the palace.
He was called by his father, the King, to look into a matter, thinking that this was purely for his own entertainment but it wasn't.
He was called in for something worse than his usual jokes. He told me to get married by the end of the year. My jaw dropped. It's not like I can just fall in love with someone within 4 months.
"I've turned a blind eye from your sexual activities and sexual preferences but you need to choose one of the genders." The King stated. His mother started laughing.
"Look at his reaction, dear. This is amusing. We should've done this from the start." The Queen was giggling endlessly leaving Henry to wonder why.
"Your reactions are certainly amusing brother." Princess Athena spoke. She had been reading a book. Again.
"Thank goodness," Henry heaved a sigh, "You weren't serious."
The air felt heavy all of a sudden. His mother was not giggling this time. Athena went back to reading her book. His father sat upright. He intertwined his fingers.
Henry had never been this nervous since he last wet his bed in middle school. The King looked directly at Henry's eyes and spoke sternly.
"You will have to marry a person whether you like it or not."
Henry didn't buy any of this. Why he had the need to marry someone.
"Okay, who put you up to this?" Henry questioned the King but he remained silent. "Was it Lord Timothy? The guy's not even my real uncle."
"How dare you, Lord Timothy is a trusted person in this family. We made him a Lord because of his hard work and he was only giving the advice to help us grow."
"Yeah right, what a bunch of bulls-"
"Brother!" Athena called. "That's enough, let them finish."
"Honey," the Queen spoke, "You can choose to marry a woman or a man, we just need you to get married by the end of the year or else--" The King cut her off. The Queen sounded distressed
"Or else what mother?" Athena turned her attention to her Mother.
"Is this why I needed to live elsewhere?" Henry was waiting for an answer too.
"No." The Queen didn't continue.
"Now, off to your bed Athena, you have a meeting with the Prince of Amaris." The King instructed Athena.
"That guy?" Henry rolled his eyes. "What a bore."
"Enough, Henry." The King's stern voice gave Henry goosebumps. "Go back to your rented house and stay there until I say so."
Anthony was disgusted by the carrot sitting in front of him. He had always hated them. It had no flavor. It was just the 'orange' color and nothing else.
Anthony sighed. He regretted not going together with Alejandro and Eric. But he didn't want to be a third wheel.
This couple stuff is annoying. And it's not like he ever liked someone or someone liked him. It was enough that the cafe customers were mostly couples.
Anthony hastily finished his shopping and went to the cashier to check out. The cashier was a man. He looked like he was in his 20's. He was tall, his hair peeking out from the cap. Wore glasses, a mask, and wore black sleeves beneath his work clothes. His brows were furrowed, as if he was having a bad day.
"Your brows are furrowed, if you don't want people to be scared of you stop furrowing it." The guy glanced at him and laughed.
Anthony was taken aback.
"How are you? Anthony." Anthony had recognized the man's voice.
"Prince?!" Flustered, Anthony blurted a bit louder than Henry expected. He drew attention from the other cashiers and customers. Henry laughed.
"Let's talk later, I'll meet you at your cafe at 7 pm. If that's okay with you?"
"Yeah, it's all good. Yup, very good. I hope you meet me at my cafe." Anthony blabbed until Henry gave Anthony his shoppings. And left.
Why does the Prince of our Kingdom work as a cashier? And he knew my name, even though I didn't say it. Thoughts flooded Anthony's mind.
He spent the day wondering what they would talk about in the cafe. He placed the meat in the fridge along with other products. He made himself a drink and spent the day watching television.
Henry had been thinking about what His mother could be hiding from him and his sister. He hadn't noticed how his eyebrows furrowed until he saw Anthony, again.
He looked nothing like he looked back at his house. He had changed clothes and bought food for a day or so.
When Anthony had noticed him, Henry felt lighthearted.
He never knew just a look at Anthony's flustered face made him forget about what happened. His reactions were very likable for Henry.
"It's… intriguing." Henry thinks.
He might've taken a liking for the guy. But somewhere inside him, he thought that he didn't think the same. Hours passed by and it was time that they met up.
He wore a black sweater beneath his overcoat, paired with his cargo pants and leather shoes. He also wore his watch, which he got for his 18th birthday.
After a long mirror check on his outfit, he was ready to leave.
"Ooh, Where are YOU going?" Elijah appeared.
"Nowhere, just going for a walk." Henry got his car keys and house keys from the table and headed for the door.
"If you are going to meet up with the kid earlier, good luck." Elijah walked away and waved. It was not like Elijah to not butt-in with whoever Henry was meeting. Well, Henry was relieved he didn't stick his nose in his business.
Henry got to his car and drove off.
Anthony was dispirited.
He was still deciding what to wear. He had the entire day to think about it and now, at the last minute, he was stressing over it.
He checked the time on his phone. It was 6:50 pm. He hurried. He picked the outfit that was the easiest and comfiest to wear. It was a large gray sweater with a removable collar. The sweater had the words 'I'm not the only one.' imprinted on it.
He also chose gray sweatpants that went with his sweater. Lastly, he wore rubber shoes. It looked like he was going out for a run. Alejandro laughed when Anthony told him his outfit of choice. He avoided the question of whoever he was meeting up with.
He got his phone, earphones, and placed his house keys in his pocket. Locked the house and left to meet up with Henry.
Henry arrived 5 mins. early and stood out of the cafe. He didn't want to wait in the car and look suspicious.
He checked his watch and it was 6:58 pm. Just two more minutes, Henry thought.
Then he realized. Why were they meeting up? For what? Footsteps echoed in the dark night. Appearing on his left side, Anthony looked like he was going for a run.
Henry laughed out loud.
"Why do you keep laughing whenever we meet up?" Anthony smiled in disbelief. Henry didn't know either.
"Well, shall we go in?" Anthony opened the cafe and Henry followed. He helped turn on a few lights near the counter and sat on the seat Anthony offered.
Anthony, Henry guesses, was preparing to make a drink. Henry took this to examine further the inside. He stood up and explored the shelves. They were stocked with books, just like how he remembered it.
"You can take a book if you like," Anthony suggested.
"But don't I need to pay for it?"
"How did you know?" Anthony's voice was clearly a bit surprised.
"I used to come here," Henry admitted, sliding his hands against the books. "Well only for like 4 times. I always ordered a dark choco drink."
"Ah yes. I knew." Anthony paused. "Well, somehow."
Henry smiled at the book that was on the coffee table as he went back to the chair previously. He made himself comfortable and placed his phone on the table.
Anthony finished making the drinks and brought it to their table. He sat down and placed his phone on the table beside Henry's phone. He handed Henry's drink to him and gave him a spoon to stir.
"So," Anthony started, "Why are we meeting up again?"
Henry chuckled. "Well, I didn't really have any reason." Anthony's face fell. He looked sad. Henry paid attention to Anthony's facial expression.
"But I enjoyed our chat earlier and wanted to chat more with you." Even while sipping his drink, Anthony's expression was easily detectable. A blush spread across his cheeks while he looked away, not meeting Henry's eyes.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Henry snickered silently as he was amused by Anthony's expressions. It was nice being able to read a person by his expressions.
The night proceeded with both of them on the top of their lungs. They talked non stop about anything or everything. It felt like they were drunk from a dark choco drink and brewed coffee.
Laughing out loud, complaining about everything (some things), Henry never thought a day like this would come. He felt free talking to Anthony about anything given that this would be only between them.
It was 10:25 pm. Anthony and Henry locked up the cafe. It had been nearly a day since they met and it felt like they knew each other for a long time. But it was getting late and they had to go home.
Anthony sighed.
"What's wrong?" Henry worriedly asks, "Was I bothersome?"
"What? what do you mean? If anyone is bothersome, it would be me."
"Well, you were certainly not. I enjoyed your company. It was nice to let things out." Henry smiled, looking up to the moon. Anthony peeked at Henry. He looked out of this world.
No one in the kingdom had silver hair like his. Healthy, smooth, and just his. Eyes dark as the night. his skin pale and lips red. He looked like snow white. But he was more beautiful than anything or anyone he had seen.
"The moon is beautiful isn't it?" Henry turned to face Anthony who was staring at him, staring intensely.
Henry felt his face heat up. He raised his hand, covering his face, and looked away from Anthony.
Anthony snapped back to reality. Henry looked away from him which made him insecure again. And again, why is he falling for him? He was out of his league.
Thinking that all the fun they had was just fiction. He felt insecure by the second. He clearly hated being abandoned. He'd rather leave while the wound was fresh but wait, was he just being dramatic?
Is it dramatic to think so much about someone he just met? Someone who he fell in love with at first sight? Or is it wrong?
His heart squeezed at the thought of it. Henry was a prince and he was a cafe owner. Henry was special, while he was not. unfortunately. And he knew that Henry was bound to marry someone someday. Obviously not him.
He couldn't see himself being with Henry for even a week. Don't even talk about their whole life. Anthony had always been naive and he knew it. But it didn't stop him from falling for Henry.
The whole time they enjoyed it, Anthony thinks, 'what if this was just some joke?'. Alejandro had warned him about royals. They loved being superior to anyone. Thinking that Henry might be different is not fair…. Anthony's an overthinker don't you think?
Anthony lowered his head, clearly hurt by simple actions and stopping himself from crying in front of Henry. He started to walk away.
"Well, goodbye then." This was probably the last time they meet up anyway.
A tug on Anthony's sweater paused him from walking. Shit. He was close to tearing up. He turned to Henry holding all the feelings together.
"Can I get your number?" Henry looked desperate.
"Um, I don't mind but what for?" Anthony was clearly dumbfounded.
Henry laughed. "Hey, how many times have you laughed because of me? It's getting kinda rude." Anthony crossed his arms.
"I'm sorry, it's just you were clearly dumbfounded." Henry brushed off an imaginary tear from his laugh. Anthony laughed.
To anyone, it looked nothing special but to Henry, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Beautiful…" Henry whispered.
"What did you say?" Anthony questioned.
"Phone number to keep in contact." Anthony hesitated at first but gave it anyways. They then said their farewells and split up.
"The moon's light perfectly hitting the face of Anthony gave him a little glow and sparkle. He had met an angel. Someone so kind, understanding and gentle… what a person"