Chapter 18 Cape of Doom

I leaned on the table in front of me as I poked the remains of my unfinished food. Don't get me wrong, I like the food but I think my stomach doesn't have enough space for them which is a shame.

"Rose, I'm gonna leave you for a bit, okay? I just have some things to handle first." Nate stood up from his seat in front of me and wiped his mouth with his napkin before setting it on the table. "You be good now while I'm gone, okay?" He looked at me as if begging me to stay put. He probably thinks that I'll wander off somewhere while he's not around.

I can't blame him. Somehow I see a pattern wherein they leave me for a second and trouble seems to appear.

In response to his request, I mocked a salute. "Yes sir! Take all the time you need." I said. Nate gave me one of those uncertain looks of his before he left the room but not before giving me a warning look before he left the room.

As soon as the door closed behind him, I fist pumped the air and shouted a "YES!". Immediately, the door opened once again and Nate's head appeared behind the door. "Excuse me?" He's asked with his eyebrow raised.

I gave him a sheepish smile and an innocent look. Not wanting to make it obvious. "Nothing. Have fun!"

He pointed a finger at me and gave me a warning look. "I'm warning you. Behave." with that, he once again disappeared behind the doors.

What am I? A dog?

I grinned evilly as I thought of ditching this place and going for a hike. Oh yeah!

I stood up rather quickly and, in the process, bumped the table and caused my own plate of dessert to fall on the floor, staining it with chocolate.

Oh *$%^&*!!

"Nate is gonna kill me!!" I whispered to myself, now in panic mode. See what I mean when I say trouble follows me?

What to do? What to do?

Look for something to wipe it off! Yes! That's it!

I scanned my surroundings for something big to wipe it clean. My eyes landed on a fabric at the back of Nate's chair. It was green and silky.

And it was the perfect rag for this mess!!

I reached out and grabbed the fabric and started to wipe the floor clean as fast as I could. Who knows how many minutes/hours I have when Nate comes back?

I wiped the fabric back and forth, making sure the floor is all clean and sparkly once again. When I was already satisfied the floor was once again clean, I threw the fabric on the sofa at the side. Just in time though, because Nate just came back. I quickly stood up from the floor and hid my hands behind my back.

Yes, probably not the best move for the innocent look.

"What were you doing?" Nate asked suspiciously.

"Nothing suspicious. I promise." I said and added a sweet smile to it. LIAR!

"Okay." Nate said uncertainly. "Did you have enough rest? Are you ready for the next lesson?" He asked. Instead of answering, I gave him a nod.

Throughout the whole afternoon, Nate just taught me on how to respond and act when there's a guest and how to talk to them properly. He told me that when someone asks me a question and when my mouth is still full, I would either nod, if the question is a yes or no, or shallow my food first before answering.

"Aren't you tired of this practice?" I asked.

"What?" Nate asked in confusion.

I gestured towards the table. "This. Isn't it very tiring to always have to do this? Be polite and act like a lady/gentleman?"

Nate stared at me for a moment before he chuckled in amusement. "When you put it that way, I guess. But when you have lived through all your life doing this then I guess it's pretty normal."

"Well that sucks for me then." I muttered under my breath pretty low for a human ear, but I guess it wasn't as low as I suspected since Nate started to chuckle.

"I guess you'll just have to get used to it then, right?" Nate smiled, but not his usual flirty smile but one of pure amusement. He got up from his chair and went to the dinner table and picked up a plate as he started to fill it in. When he came back, he set down a huge slice of steak in front of me. "Get your knife and fork and start practicing on how to cut." He ordered.

"What? But didn't you already see me cutting my steak when I was eating my lunch?"

"You could have fooled me. I saw you using your fingers while you were cutting it. You even stabbed it multiple times while I wasn't looking. That's called cheating, you know?"

"Darn! And I thought that you really weren't looking." I muttered. I knew I should have brought some scissors!

"It's not that I wasn't looking. I just did it on purpose since you were having a hard time eating so I just made an exemption." He smirked as he said it. "Now go and start cutting."

I let out an exasperated sigh as I grabbed my fork and knife on the table and started to cut through the meat. Not a moment later and I was already stabbing it in frustration. Nate, on the other hand, was busy laughing his butt off at my frustration.

Nate whipped some tears from his eyes before he spoke. "I could watch you all day and won't get enough of it."

"Aha ha. Very funny. Glad to know that you're enjoying seeing me struggle."

"Indeed I am." Nate chuckled once more. "But that's because you're doing it all wrong. That meat is already dead. No need to kill it a second time. And besides, I already showed you how to do it, but apparently you were not listening, am I right?"

I didn't say anything and instead faced my now murdered steak. I did pay attention, but it's easier said than done.

"Hold the steak with your fork then use the knife to cut through it at an angle. Move your knife back and forth to slice through it neatly. Don't stab it. No stabbing on the tables. You'll scare your table mates." He instructed.

I rolled my eyes at him and started to follow his instruction and moved my knife back and fork.

"Good. And gently push your knife to the steak." he said.

"Good. Now gently push your knife to the steak." I mocked and earned a playful glare from Nate as I did what he said. Not a second later and I successfully sliced the meat. "I did it!" I cheered and raised the fork with a slice of meat on it and wiggled it in front of Nate, showing it to him. "Ha! I did it! Lowisimos! I did it!"

"Yeah yeah." Nate waved his hand at me. "So you had cut it. That's good but you mustn't wave it to a person as if it's a weapon." He smirked and watched me with amusement.

"Who cares?! Now I'm gonna have a taste of this victory!" I was about to put the slice of meat towards my mouth when Nate stopped my hand from doing so. He gave me one of those adorable smiles.

"Aren't you gonna share your victory? I was the one who told you the technique."

No one is stealing my food.

"No. This is MINE. I cut it. Go and cut your own. Now shoo!" Using both of my hands, I pulled the fork towards me, fighting against Nate's strong grip.

"Oh no you won't! Not if you're not gonna share!" Now Nate was using both of his hands as well as he fought for that piece of meat on the fork.

All these for that piece of meat....

"It's mine!" I screamed and started to pull it towards me. If ever, I think Nate was going easy on me since he was pretty much enjoying himself. In fact, he was laughing.

Going to my last resort, I bit his fist.

"Ow!" Nate flinched, but didn't loosen his grip. Instead, he also bit my fist hand but a little gently.

"Eww! Nate." I glared at him.

"What? You bit me first!" He whined.

"But that doesn't mean that you also have to bite me!"

"Then what am I supposed to do then?"

"Nothing! Just let go of my food damn it!" I pulled at the spoon with all my might, but the bastard was too strong.

"Let me share your victory too!"

"Are we really fighting for just this piece of meat?"

"Hey. I'm just going with the flow over here." he said as if he just realized what we were doing just now.

***

A few minutes later Nate and I decided to just share the meat. He said that since neither one of us likes to give in, then might as well part it in half. After all the silly drama of ours, we decided to continue our lesson. But after a while, Nate got carried away and started to tell me some funny stories during his experiences at parties.

"So there was this guy who was drinking his wine at the table while I was telling a story, I think he was Duke from another family." He started. "As you might know, I really hate it when someone does that to me, you know? Doing other things instead of paying attention to me."

I scoffed at him. "In love with yourself much?"

"Hey, if you're as good looking as me then you won't be surprised." He defended. "Anyways, while he was drinking, I decided to take that opportunity as I said, 'The more you talk, the thicker your double chin becomes'."

I gasped. "You didn't! That is rude."

He grinned at my reaction. "Oh yes I did. And let me tell you that he choked on his wine that time. It was really funny. Everyone from our table was laughing, except for the man of course."

I laughed at that. "Obviously. So what did he do? Did he punch you or something?"

"Do I look like the person who'll let someone ruin his face? NO." He said in a duh tone. "And besides, before he could do anything to me, I told him that I was just kidding."

"And? What did he say?" I asked, suddenly interested.

"Well, he didn't say anything but I could tell that he was pissed off at me." He shrugged as if it really doesn't matter to him.

"And he still is pissed off at me whenever we meet."

I burst out laughing. Well duh. Who wouldn't be pissed at what he just said? As I was laughing my butt off, one of the two double doors suddenly opened and in came both Dan and Ren. They had their arms crossed and were raising their eyebrows at us, a perfect mirror of each other. "What's going on?" They asked.

Nate got up and wiped his hands on his lap as he faced the twins. "Nothing. We were just talking. Is all." He said, then he eyes the two suspiciously. "What are you guys doing here?" 

"The Queen asked us to fetch you two. It's almost time for dinner." Ren said, still eyeing Nate. While Dan was grinning at me and waving. "Hello Princess!"

"Hey." I waved back.

"Come on, Rose. Let's go. You two can go ahead. We'll be right there." Nate said to the twins. While Dan was happily whistling while walking towards the door, Ren had an annoyed look on his face as they left. As soon as they left, Nate had a confused look on his face and eyed the back of the chair. He scratched his head and started to look for something. "Have you seen a green cloth here somewhere?" He asked.

I started to think back and then remembered something. "Oh, It's on that sofa over there." I said and pointed towards it. Nate followed my finger and a sigh of relief appeared on his lips. He walked towards it, picked the cloth up, and started to tie it around him with the golden chains on it.

My jaw dropped as I watched Nate tying the cloth around the collar of his suit.

That was Nate's cape!? I used a Prince's cape as a rag! I murdered it. No wonder it was too pretty in the first place!!

"What's wrong, Rose? You look pale." Nate asked as he looked at my face, which was probably pale as he said.

"Huh? I'm fine! Nothings wrong! What? Do you see something wrong? Nothing right? So why are you asking me!? I did nothing wrong!!!" Okay, I may have sounded a little defensive there but I wasn't thinking clearly.

Nate gave me a weird look. "Okay?"

After that, Nate and I walked to the dinning hall. The whole time Nate kept trying to open up a conversation with me but I would just keep my mouth shut. Not allowing the conversation to flow incase I'll mention the cape thing.

And to my defense. It is their fault for wearing capes! I mean, why would they wear those? They're not Superman or Batman anyways. Got my point there?

It's not my fault!

"Are you really okay?"

"Yeah."

"Why aren't you talking?"

"Sure."

"Are you even listening?"

"That's cool."

"I'm a virgin."

"Great."

Nate threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "I give up!!"

"Yeah...sure."

Nate didn't say anything after that and instead, focused on finding our way to the dinning hall. As we entered the room, I immediately made my way and sat beside Dan and Ren. I know for sure that these two would protect me. Nate sat beside Fred, which I was thankful for because I know that he would be able to stop Nate from jumping at me WHEN he finds out.

Dan and Ren gave me curious glances as I sat quietly on my chair with my back straight and cutting my meat on the plate. I took a sneak peak at Nate who was doing the same. The cape on his shoulders had chocolate stains on it, which was really obvious. Fred seemed to notice it too and tried his best not to stare. The twins only noticed it when they saw me looking at Nate with a nervous look. They followed my gaze and almost burst out laughing until I stepped on their foot. A sign to tell them to keep their mouths shut.

I was in my best behavior in order to distract them from Nate's cape.

Look at me. I am an angel. A very well mannered angelic princess!

"Why Rose. It seems that you're doing well on your lesson with Nate." The queen commented as she watched me applying the proper etiquette on eating. "Good job, Nate." The Queen praised him before her eyes darted on Nate's cape. Her mouth opened to make a comment about it but I passed her a plate of salad. "Eat." I told her with a tight smile that says 'don't even mention it'. The queen shut her mouth and went back to eating.

I almost sighed in relief, but then Ace went to the room. "Your highness, I'm sorry I'm late. I had a lot of-" he stopped and looked at Nate's back. "Nate, what happened to your cape?"

As soon as Ace said that, the twins burst out laughing while I screamed.

"What do you mean what's wrong with my cape? It's perfectly-" Nate stopped in mid sentence when he saw the chocolate stain on his cape by his shoulders. His jaw dropped as he detached it from his back and examined the damage I had inflicted on it. "This was my favorite cape..."

I took that time as I slowly got up from my chair and made my exit like a ninja. I even crawled on the floor!

"ROSE!!" 

"I'm sorry!" I yelled back as I covered my face in embarrassment and fear.