They say that a true selfless act always sparks another. Sometimes, a good deed can be the start of a new life. Sometimes, in our jurney we meet people that completely change our life and we change their life too. We have the chance to do something good for them, an opportunity which occurs once in a lifetime. Sometimes, one single act of kindness can change the course of our fate. "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."
It was a warm June night when fate decided that the two young women should meet. Rylee Kendall was returning home from work when a shout from the dark alley drawed her attention.
"My wallet! Give it back to me, you little brat! You will be sorry for this! Do you know who I am?"
"The woman with the stolen wallet?"
"Tulio, give the young lady her wallet."
The blonde woman admired her brave savior. Tulio knew he is in big trouble.
"But we didn't eat anything today. We need her money much more than she needs it!"
"What did I tell you about stealth?"
"We will lose our fingers if you catch us. But Ry, we're really hungry!"
The dirty little boy had tears in the corners of his eyes. He could win a Oscar so easily!
"You are such a good actor, I taught you too well. Take this money and don't do this ever again."
The boys from street thanked her and ran to the bakery. Rylee turned to the well dressed woman who made the mistake to come in this part of city. The young woman was wearing an expensive black tight dress, a branded red trench and a black veil was covering her head.
"Here is your wallet. Please don't do the same mistake next time."
"Thank you so much! You were amazing! You know those little rascals?"
"I took them under my wings, but they can be quite troublesome. It's late, you better return to your house."
"I don't want to go back there never in my life!"
the medium height woman angrily answered.
"And where will you sleep tonight?"
"I will find something."
"You, rich guys don't know anything."
Rylee was proud of her little rent apartament.
"Thank you for letting me to sleep here tonight!"
The apartament was cute but a little messy, revealing Rylee's wild soul. The guest was impressed by Rylee's huge collection of books.
"You're welcome, Allie, but I have an advice for you. If you don't know to handle on the streets, then don't walk on the streets. Don't complicate your life."
"I will keep that in mind. But I really needed a prison break. I mean, a break from home."
Rylee could see the sadness on her face. Deep down in her soul, she could understand her sadness.
"Let me guess: you fought with your parents, didn't you?"
"How could you know that?"
"I have seen this scenario many times in dramas: the rich girl runs from home and she find the love of her life. But it's not like in movies, trust me."
"How come you live here alone?"
"We moved to the country but I wanted to escaped from that place so I got a job in the city."
Allie saw a pink Bible on the sofa and smiled.
"You are a believer?"
"I assure you I am. It's the best think that happened to me."
Rylee gave Allie a clean pijama and put the food on the table. She closed her eyes and said a short prayer.
"And how do you call these?'"
"Instant noodles."
"They are delicios! I thing I found the love of my life."
The girls looked at each other then started to laugh.
"There is some stew from yesterday, but is still good."
"You know to cook?"
"I am not a great cook, but need teaches you. Bon appetit."
The girls had little chat and then went to bed. Next morning, Allie was gone. Rylee find a note on the kitchen table: "Thank you so much for the last night. I really enjoyed it. Your kindness will be rewarded."
Rylee went to work and forgot about the rich girl. Next week she went to the library. Outside, the skies were pouring their tears as if they were waiting the return of a loved person. The doorbell rang in the quiet library. Rylee was used to be the only reader so she wondered who might be.
"Allie? What are you doing here?"
"I came to tell you the truth. How well do you know the royal family Darzalas of our kingdom, Haardeal?"
"Not too well. I just know that king Nathan and queen Elena are wise and loved by the people, but the princess is pretty spoiled."
"May I know why are you saying this?"
"All kingdom knows about the extravagant shopping of princess Alisia and how many expensive cars she ruins every month. At this rate the royal bank will go bankrupt by the end of the year."
The woman took off her black Luis Vuitton sunglasses.
"Well, let just say that I'm the spoiled princess."
Rylee couldn't believe that she met a member of the royal family, a princess in flesh and bones.
"You are princess Alisia?!"
"In heels and sequins."
"Oh, then... I'm sorry for the royal family. And what is the reason for coming here?"
"After our unexpected meeting, I soon realized that you are one of your kind, Rylee. If I can call you so."
"Please, go on."
"So, I made very thorough research about you. I know pretty much about you, Rylee Kendall."
"Oh, yeah? Then please suprise me, Your Higness."
"You are the eldest child of six children, three girls and three boys. You come from a modest family with high standards. Your parents raised you and your brothers in the spirit of faith and godliness. You finished a high school with mathematic-informatic profile three tears ago and now you just finished the third year of the medical college. Your second sister, Madelaine, will marry in august and your brother, Manuel, works as a cashier in a KFC local. You love to read, to cycling, and you never had a relationship."
"Because I didn't want to."
Alisia took a break and smiled confidently.
"What do you think now?"
"This is the begginer level, Your Higness. Still not impressed."
"Just wait for it. Your father works in Austria at a construction company. Your family had a car accident thirteen years ago and all the people in the car that hit you died. You and your family escaped alive."
"What can I say? It was the hand of the Providence."
"At thirteen years you were hospitalized for investigations because of your very short height."
Rylee was no longer smiling after she heard about the hospital.
"Although you grew much more centimeters then the doctors were expecting..."
"You can talk about everything else, but not about my health issue, Your Higness."
"I didn't know this is an delicate topic, I apologize."
"It is, and that is why I like to keep my private life private, Your Higness."
"Of course, I didn't mean to bring any offense."
"I know. That is why I will listen what you have to say."
"I am here because of my mother. Seven years ago, my elder sister, Iris, married the youngest son of Riker family, the royal family of Transylvania, prince Alfred. My mother thinks now is my turn to find a prince or a king to marry and to become a typical queen who obeys her husband and do nothing else than throw tea parties and give birth to princes. Something that my mom will never see happening."
"Boy, that's the spirit!"
Pleasantly surprised, Alisia enjoyed the spark from Rylee's eyes. For a moment, she seemed like she would have understood the princess perfectly.
"I'm sorry, please go on, Your Higness."
"My mom wants me to behave more like a queen, to obey the rules of the royal house."
"And you don't?"
"If I had obeyed, I wouldn't be here, would I? So she started to pick handmaids for me, in order to control me and to know everything I do, every place I go, everything I eat, how much I sleep..."
"I'm sorry, princess, I wouldn't want to be in your place."
"Funny you say that. This is why we are here. I want to ask you one only question: do you want to live in the castle?"
"What exactly do you want me to do, Your Higness?"
"I want you to be my personal maid."
"To be what?! I'm sorry, princess, but why in the world I would throw myself in the middle of the wolves?"
Alisia chuckled.
"I have the same idea about the royal court. They all are nothing but wolves."
"Exactly! I am glad we agree on this."
"Just think about it: the college fee is really monstrous, right? With the salary I can give you, you will not be able just to pay your fee, but you will be able to buy your own apartment. That's right. You will no longer have to pay the rent."
"How do you know how much is the rent?"
"I have my men."
"But my current job... I can't resign just like that. What they will think about me?"
"You enter data into the computer. And yes, you can resign just like that, it's not difficult at all. I can arrange it in a very short time."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot that you are the princess."
"I guess you don't want to be a burden to your parents, do you?"
Rylee was astonished to see that the princess knows this little detail about her life.
"If you accept my offer, your family will never lack for anything. Your brothers and sisters will learn at the best schools in the kingdom, your parents will never have to worry about financial issues. I can guarantee that I can solve the majority of your problems. And I can tell you have a lot."
Two forces were facing each other: one was wearing luxuriant clothes and smelled of expensive perfume Dior, the other was wearing her modest, but elegant clothes with pride and dignity and smelled of work and books. One drive a Ferrari, the other use her feet or common transport to go wherever she wants. One had everything, but yet she wasn' t happy, other had much fewer possessions but she could find beauty in the small things that life brought on her path. One was exquisite in a modern way, the other was beautiful by her own standards.
They weighed each other with their eyes, each looking for a sign of trust.
"She is beautiful," Rylee thought without a trace of envy.
"She has a natural beauty". The princess was amazed by the inner force of the young and tough woman in front of her. For the first time she noticed the book that Rylee read.
"How many circles did you reach?"
Rylee could never believe such thing.
"You read Dante's "Inferno"?"
"I am not ignorant when it comes to the beauty of art. Believe it or not, literature has always been one of my innocent pleasures."
Rylee blinked.
"Do you have guilty pleasures?"
"I think we wouldn't be human of we wouldn't have."
Rylee finally smiled. Alisia was a princess to her liking.
"I couldn't have said it better, Your Higness. But why me? Because I helped you?"
"I told you your kindness will be rewarded."
"And I told you I don't want money."
"Exactly. You help people no matter their social status or reward. You can't be bought."
"And what do you call what you are trying to do right now?"
"Hiring. I am hiring you to be my eyes and my ears in the castle. I need a trustworthy person by my side who can have my back and who can't be controlled by mom. I know that once you give your loyalty, you're loyal for life."
"And once you lose my loyalty you lose it for life."
"See? You're not afraid of the royals, I respect that. You are the only one who treats me like a human, not like a princess. That's why I chose you. I want to be treated like a normal person. All maids from the castle are afraid of me."
"And I'm wondering why."
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing, just... I'm not the person who fits with the royals, believe me. I am quite... unconventional."
The princess's icy blue eyes pierced her from head to toe. Her natural blonde curls were like a warm sun in contrast to the weather outside. Alisia looked at the petite brown haired woman, dressed in black cotton trousers and an elegant T-shirt in black and red.
"You don't dress popor."
"That's because I learned to buy items that looks expensive with the budget I have. I started a journey of elevating myself and becoming more feminine and stylish."
"But?"
Rylee smiled. The princess was quite shrewd.
"But there is still a primitive part in me which is wild and impetuous. Trust me, you don't want me by your side. I only bring troubles."
Her dark brown and thin almond eyes were sincere.
"I know you have a lot of things happening in your life, but I strongly believe that this is a great opportunity for you. Don't worry, I won't press you, although I would really like you to accept my offer. I just need to know if you are willing to think about it or not."
"I need three days to make a decision. I really thank you for your generosity, but I need some time to think thoroughly about your offer."
"Take all the time you need. Here, this is my business card. But please meditate at my question. And once you make a decision, please let me know about it."
Rylee promised Alisia that she will call to communicate her final decision. They went on their ways, with the strange feeling that they won a friend for life. All three days Rylee was looking at the yellow card, biting her lips. She was asking for guidance in prayers and she thought deeply about all the possible consequences. On the third day she called her mother and told her the whole story.
"What do you think, mom? Should I take it?"
"I always told you not to interfere in the strangers's life, but you won't listen. That life in the palace is not for you, dear. I am sure it is a trap, listen to me."
"You think I won't be able to handle the royals, right? You never believed in me, mom".
She hang up the phone while bitter tears ran down her cheeks.
At the end of the third day, she called Alisia and told her decision.
"I accept it."