"Might I remind you I'm older than you are, Jasmine. And I'm also a prince, so that means, I'm entitled..." His chest opened and raised his arms theatrically, he smiled showing me exactly what I failed to comprehend. "...to as many girls as I wanted."
A surge of anger rose and corrupted the rest of my patience that kept me from lashing out until now.
Not once prince Julong had been this arrogant.
I took a dangerous step forward, nearly slipping on the empty bottle on the floor. I heard silent laughter from the concubines fueling my anger more.
My irritation escalated as I bent over picking it up and every bottle that came within my path on my way to him.
Prince Julong watched me amused at my struggle while the concubines watched with uncertainty. I picked up bottles of alcohol cradling them in my arms until I made it to the one beside him.
It was a fine bottle of the wine aged at least decades old. The sweet tang of its aroma danced under my nose when I reached for it.
Prince Julong's fingers quickly closed in around mine as he held my hand steady, preventing me from taking his wine.
"Let go." I hissed.
"Only if you let go of my wine." He murmured with feral calmness. Everything about him was in control, so sure, that now, I understood why people are terrified of him.
"No!" I said as I refused to sink in.
"I let go if you let go, Jasmine."
I fought to free my hand, but he held me steady with his strong grip and rendered all my efforts useless. Prince Julong barely twitched a muscle, while I fought with every strength I had.
We fought for control like two children who couldn't get along or a couple caught in a lover's quarrel.
I never felt so foolish and so childish, but I cannot help the way I'm acting. I was upset, and I've been upset since the day he came back home from overseas.
"Let go." My voice broke. Aware of the concubines around me, feeling small as I continued embarrassing myself.
Finally, prince Julong had enough, he made a flick of his hand that sent the world spinning. I was spun off my feet and lost my balance. The bottles of alcohol fell off my arms scattering on the floor. I reached for something to hold on to when it was his arm I grabbed on to. By the time I realized what happened, I was blinking confused as I stared at his face hovering over mine, his deep seductive eyes focused on me while I melted on his lap. Prince Julong had placed me on his lap.
"Leave." The prince commanded swiftly.
Confused, I scrambled trying to get off his lap. I got so frightened that I tried rushing out of there like the rest of the scrabbling concubines.
"You stay." Said prince Julong to me. His arm went rigid beneath my back, supporting my weight.
I stilled uncertain what to do.
The prince waited until the entire room was clear before letting his face soften into the same prince I'm familiar with. He must've noticed the fright in me since his voice plunged back into a heart-melting tenderness.
"What is it that's really bothering you, elder sister?" He asked.
He's back to calling me elder sister again.
"The noises," I answered without meeting his eyes.
"Why do I have a feeling you're lying?"
"I'm not lying," I whispered.
"Oh, but I think you are. Do you always lie, elder sister?"
I shook my head soundlessly uncertain how else to react to him.
"Then look at my face and tell me you're not lying."
I couldn't.
"See, you couldn't even look at me." He sighed dramatically.
Face flushed, crimson as the blood filled my cheeks. "You're doing this on purpose."
"What, elder sister? What is it I'm doing on purpose?"
Silence.
"Tell me." He urged sweetly.
Silence.
"I won't know if you don't tell me." He crooned.
Silence.
"You need to speak up, elder sister. I can't hear you."
"Y-you...know." I managed bravely with my soft breath.
He let out a soft laughter. "Look at you, you're a ball of emotions that I don't even know which Jasmine I'm going to see next."
Finally, I looked at him. Julong smiled at me, though I was unable to issue any word of retort. My throat swelled melting every word I tried to speak.
"I can see that you're angry and I could see how jealous you are. Your reaction makes me happy because it lets me know my feeling is not one-sided. But you can't do this, Jasmine. You can't come here and risk yourself getting in trouble with the elder brother. We will both get in trouble, and the last time I pushed myself on you, father sent me away for two years. You need to control yourself and I need to stay away from you. Please, don't make this hard on both of us. You know how I feel for you and my feelings remained the same. It will never change, trust me, I tried to forget, and I tried looking at other girls, but my mind and my heart remained with you. I missed you, Jasmine. I missed you more than you'll ever know.
My breath quivered from under him and I found myself loosening, forgetting about the awkwardness of being on his lap.
"Then I saw you at the day of my return. You hid behind a pillar and watched me the whole time during the parade. I saw how beautiful you are, you're far more beautiful than I remembered, but I panicked because I know you're married now. Not just to anyone but to my brother.
I tried not to look at you, ignoring you as I got closer and even during that evening when you walked into that dinner with elder brother wafting with fresh sex...
It broke my heart, knowing he was doing all the things I only dreamed of doing to you. You're his wife and there's nothing I could do, so I pretended not to notice, not to see you, not to be affected by it."
Prince Julong held my hand and helped me up to my feet. "Go back to your husband, elder sister. There's nothing I could give you that he's not already giving you. Elder brother loves you."
Prince Julong strolled easy steps to the door and called for my guardsmen back inside the pavilion. They scrambled to the sound of the prince's call, stiff as they stood in attention waiting for their further instruction.
"Take the princess back to the palace." Commanded the prince and turned to me, his careful gaze noted details of my face while I tried controlling the sting of wetness in my eyes fighting to surface.
"Go back, Jasmine. And don't tell elder brother about your detour here."