The games finally wound down and everyone left the dining room for the kitchen where lunch fingers had been laid out. Josephine and her husband had taken their meal in their room. Prince Alexander and Caroline were making eyes at each other across the dinner table. Leroy and Adela were discussing work as they ate. Lucia found herself seated at the kitchen island next to Prince Michael. They were away from everyone.
"It's good to see you so carefree," Prince Michael told Lucia.
She had been munching on a sandwich and watching her siblings. She turned her head and looked at him in surprise. His statement had come out of the blue.
"You have been gloomy and cagey this weekend," he explained, "I was beginning to think something happened at the school you were at or while you were volunteering."
Lucia took her time to swallow the food in her mouth. She hoped the couple of seconds would give her ideas as to how to respond to him.
"I'm sorry," she said.
Prince Michael frowned at her. She was already doing it. Shadows were filling her eyes and she was stiffening.
"Don't do that please," he whispered, "You are the one person I can truly rely on. Don't pull away from me. I will go crazy."
Lucia looked at him consideringly. He was right. She had been unintentionally punishing him for her own feelings and mistakes. He did not deserve that. Good friends did not do that to each other.
"I'm sorry," she said again, "I had not meant to."
"And now you are on notice," Prince Michael, no, Mike, was looking into her eyes as he spoke.
She had called him Mike before she had left. They were friends. They had agreed that in private there were no titles between them. She had adopted his full name and title to remind herself of her place. In order to spare Adela's feelings, she had forgotten the promise she had made to him. She would keep it now. Adela would come to understand that they were just friends. If Adela did not forgive her after she had distanced herself for three long years, then Lucia needed to change tactics.
"I am," she said with a smile.
Adela noted when Prince Michael smiled back at Lucia.
Did they not notice that they were leaning into each other? Were they not aware that they were looking into each other's eyes like long-lost lovers? Adela was forced to look away from them when Leroy tapped her shoulder. She tried to blink away the hurt and rage in her eyes but she did not think she succeeded.
"Where's your mind at?" Leroy asked her, "We need to sort this out before we push it to marketing."
She tried to focus on work but she could hear them talking at the kitchen island. Their voices were low. She sneaked a look in their direction and she saw that they had their heads together and had abandoned the food.
"Adela," Leroy called out her name and she snapped her head in his direction.
She was not the only one. Because of how loud Lee had been, Lucia and Prince Michael were looking in that direction too.
"So, you have no definite plans for university?" Prince Michael brought Lucia's attention back to him.
"I am thinking of working on my degree remotely while I work on something," Lucia told him as she pushed her plate away.
"What exactly are you planning to work on?" he asked her as he pushed his plate away and put his elbow on the surface of the island.
Lucia looked down in embarrassment and wondered if she should tell him. She felt so stupid for her indecision.
"I was thinking of doing something charity-related for the first few years," She admitted shyly, "Maybe I will open a business once I figure out what I am good at."
"You have many talents," Prince Michael reassured her and she giggled at that.
He had no idea what talents she had.
"Really?" she asked with a cheeky grin.
"Yes, really."
"Name one talent," she dared him.
"I did not say I know the talents," he tossed a her with a grin, "I said you have many."
That caught Lucia off guard and she threw her head back and laughed.
Her siblings and Prince Alexander looked her way. Caroline and Prince Alex had smiles on their faces. Leroy just looked curious. Adela, on the other hand, looked angry. She shuttered her face before getting up and walking out of the room. No one noticed. No one except Leroy got up and went after her. She stormed up the stairs with Leroy silently on her heels.
The siblings ended up in Adela's room. Adela glared at her brother as he walked in after her. She wanted to be alone. Did he not get that?
"Get out Lee," she told him.
"No," Leroy responded.
There was a serious expression on his face. He closed the door behind himself and then faced her. His face was set. He was on a long overdue mission.
"You have to ease up on Lucia and give up on the Crown Prince," he told her.
"Excuse me?" the hurt was palpable in her voice.
"You have been treating Lucia like she is not part of the family," he told her.
Adela crossed her arms in front of her. She looked at him and said nothing.
So, this is what this is about, she thought grimly. Why is everyone defending Lucia to her? Is no one on my side? Does no one see my side of things?
"Fine," Leroy said, "Say nothing. It's fine. At least listen."
Adela fought the urge to put her hands over her ears. She was not a child.
"Lucia went away to accommodate your delusion that you might marry Prince Michael if she was not around. That has not happened in three years. It would never happen. Give up."
Adela could not believe she was hearing this from her own brother. She could marry Prince Michael. She could. He knew she was worthy of that crown.
"The man does not like you in that way no matter how many versions of yourself you present to him," Leroy's voice allowed no protests, "He will never like you."
"He will!" Adela insisted, "If you give me a little more time, he will."
Leroy was not sympathetic to the tears of hurt welling into her eyes.
"Even if he does," his voice was hard, "Are you going to insist that Lucia hides away from the family for the rest of her life?"
"She just needs to stay away from him for a little bit," Adela's voice was small proving that she knew how ridiculous her logic was.
"No," Leroy told her, "You need to accept reality and start treating Lucia like your sister again. She is not your enemy."
"Leave," Adela told her brother.
"Excuse me?" Leroy raised a brow.
"Get out, Lee!" Adela yelled at him.
He nodded and turned towards the door.
When he was out of the room, Adela threw herself onto her bed and began to sob.
He did not understand. She could not give up on the Crown Prince. Their mother would never let her live it down. As it was, she got to hear how well Caroline had done. How much pride Caroline was bringing to the family. She could feel her mother's pointed glances. She could just about hear them talking about her.
Poor Dela, who could not marry a price. She's a waste of her mother's careful rearing, that she is. Look how Lucia with no training got the prince without exerting any effort. Why couldn't Adela do it?
It hurt. She wanted to be the one her mother looked at with pride. She wanted to be looked at with awe and not pity. Leroy did not understand. He had never been in her shoes. How could he understand?