Chapter 5 - Her Royal Highness

I was running. It wasn't the same 'run to your lover and jump into their arms' run like I see some do. I was literally running like a madman, trying to get to the closest Harmony employee who was about to leave the stadium.

"Excuse me! Excuse me!" I was yelling frantically, trying to get the employee's attention before she got to a door.

I dashed and willed myself to run as fast as I could in my heels. I barely got to her.

"Excuse me!" I huffed. "I'm sorry to bother you," I managed to say in between breaths. The employee looked genuinely concerned.

"Honey, are you okay?" She asked, her brows furrowed. I was still panting so bad, I actually held a hand up, asking for a minute. And then something changed in her face, like she knew what I was about to say to her–which she probably actually didn't.

"Oh, you got Unmatched, huh? No worries, honey. It does happen. Maybe next year?" She smiled condescendingly. This might have happened quite a lot to her. Men and women running to ask why they weren't Match and if there was a mistake. It might have been the reason why the employees were trying to scramble out of the stadium as fast as they could. Nobody wants to be the person to tell someone they haven't found a Match for them, yet. Or if they ever will.

She started to leave, but I held onto her, startling her. Unfortunately, that is NOT the question I needed answering.

"I'm sorry. No. I've been Matched," I said, feeling lightheaded from the run…and probably from my Matching result as well. "It's just that, I think there's been a mistake."

"Honey, the app never makes a mistake," she said firmly, emphasizing "never."

Then, I showed her my Matching screen, showing the Prince's name.

"See? This is a mistake. I have never met…the prince," I whispered the last part, afraid someone else might hear. "I'm a commoner. I'm so average, lightning won't strike me even if I'm the only one in a field. That's how un-special I am. So, this–" I waved the screen, "might be a mistake."

The employee was genuinely surprised, and I can see she's also quite confused.

The royal family has Matched and married "commoners," before, but they only really Match with the upper echelon of the society: diplomats, owners and heirs of billion-dollar businesses, higher politicians, AA-list celebrities, socialites, and the most influential people. Not someone from a regular town who sells old nth-hand books. I'm not even from the city. I don't even have a thousand followers on my social media.

Again, I'm as average as average comes.

The Harmony employee looked at me and the screen a few times. She sighed, then told me to come with her, and I did, leaving newly-Matched people embracing and giggling behind me.

The Harmony employee, who introduced herself as Crish, walked briskly, nodding once at her colleagues, who smiled at first then got confused when they saw me following her. I just smiled awkwardly.

Then, we entered a room much like the first one I entered with Hank, but this one is much larger. Half a dozen long tables lined the center of the room, filled with people on their laptops and computer screens. This seems to be a hub for the HarmonyMatch app.

Crish signaled me to follow her and told me to be careful where I walk as lines and tangles of wires littered the floor.

She walked toward the front of the room, where a bigger screen was, flashing with data I will never understand. Standing in front of it is an older man in his 50s, who seemed to be the leader of the pack.

Crish told me to wait as she approached the man and whispered something to him. They then looked at me at the same time. The man beckoned me to approach him.

"Can I see the confirmation?" He said in his croaky voice as soon as I was within earshot. I showed him my Matching screen.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Vivienne Skye Harper."

"Your mother's maiden name?" He asked again, typing into a computer.

"Mendoza," I replied. He asked a few more questions, like my birthday and how old I was and if it's my first Matching. I answered everything, and he typed onto the computer.

Then, we waited. He scrolled and looked at the screen intently. I looked around and a few people were staring at us from their computers. Staring at me.

"Miss Harper," the man said, getting my attention. "From what I can see here, there's no mistake. It could be that the app has just chosen you as the best fit for His Royal Highness."

I just stood there, shocked and confused and feeling like I was out of my body. Sure, the prince is drop dead gorgeous, and from my memory of him on the news and on TV, he was charming and well-beloved.

But he is the prince. Compared to him, I am no one.

"If the royal family insists, I could look deeper into this and see if there had been an issue deep within the app's system. But as of now, I have received no such order from the prince nor the king," the man said.

"Maybe they haven't seen the Match result, yet?" I asked. But I know they have. Prince Christopher Caelum Asher Renault-Lee definitely has seen my face and my information on his own phone.

"I'm quite certain they have, miss Harper," he said.

I don't know what to do or what to think. I need time to process everything.

"Crish, if you may please escort her Royal Highness to her family, that would be great," the man told Crish. For a second, I didn't understand what he said–what he called me. Not until Crish bowed in front of me and told me gently to follow her.

"Wait, what did you call me?" I turned to the man, who already had his eyes locked on the big screen. He turned around and said, "You have been betrothed to His Highness. As of today, you are royalty, Your Highness," he said matter-of-factly, and tipped his head.

I tried to find any malice in his voice or action. Anything that would suggest he was making fun of me. But there was none. He was saying it as if it were a fact, like saying we need oxygen to live.

I turned to Crish, who gave me an I-understand-but-we-can't-do-anything smile. I just let her guide me.

After a few steps, the man called Crish.

"Oh, Crish. Before I forget, call security to escort you and Her Highness," he said. I furrowed my brow. "News travels fast, especially if it's as unique as this one." He said, answering my questioning look.

"They probably don't know it's me, yet. If anything, securities will alert them that IT IS me," I told him.

"Your Highness, it's time you know that vultures aren't just birds. They are also people. And some are incredibly talented at being manipulative and thieves," he merely said.

"Paparazzi might have gotten the Prince's Matching result somehow," Crish told me. "It's quite possible they know you have Matched with His Majesty and have your information." She looked at me with a sort of pity in her eyes.

And then it dawned on me: Serenity.

"Shit, my sister!" I ran. I can hear Crish behind me, calling for security backup.

My soles and calves were burning. I had been in heeled Mary Janes the whole day, and I have been running in them. So, I stopped for a second and removed them. With my pair of Mary Janes in hand, I ran barefoot through the doors and the hallways.

I've just been trying to get to my sister before vultures hound her that it didn't register that several security guards have formed a semi circle around me, protecting me from several people pointing their phones at me or gawking at me.

I saw Bianca with a man in his arms, looking at me with confusion in her face. I saw several other faces as I tried to maneuver my way out of the HarmonyCenter.

It is true. In mere minutes, news of me Matching with the Prince has spread.

Then, I saw Finn. He was with a beautiful blonde woman I recognized from college–Vanessa. She was one of his classmates in one of his subjects. I knew she always liked him and hated me and bullied me whenever Finn was not around and acted like I was her best friend when he was. And now she is clinging onto him.

I expected it to hurt. But from everything I'm trying to process, I can't seem to feel pain or jealousy for him and her. Probably a little annoyed that the app chose her for him.

Finn was still looking at me, surprise in his face as he saw me running barefoot, with a bunch of security surrounding me. Then, I saw the answer hit him, and he didn't look happy. Neither does Vanessa, as she saw him looking at me, then looking at me and seeing the chaos around me.

She looked annoyed, mouth open wide.

But I can't spare them more of my time. I could see outside the stadium, and I knew exactly where Ren was. A few people, some with high-end cameras, are flocking her.

I ran as fast as I could, ignoring the hot pavement under my feet, or the scraping of the rocky landscape.

"My sister, please!" I told the guards, and a few nodded their heads in understanding. They ran faster ahead of me, trying to diffuse the crowd around my sister, who was in total shock and disbelief.

I got to her a minute later.

"I'm sorry, get in the car, quick!" I practically pushed her as papparazzi and media and a bunch of other people I don't know tried to surround us, but the guards were doing a pretty good job of getting them off our back.

"Miss Harper, is it true you Matched with the Prince?" A reporter asked, reaching his mic out for me. I don't answer.

"How do you feel now that you're going to be part of the royal family?" Another asked.

"Have you met the prince before?"

"Why do you think you've been chosen?"

"What's so special about you?" I heard another one scream as I got inside the car, throwing the Mary Janes in the back seat.

I don't know what to feel. I have never met the prince. I don't know why I have been chosen. I'm not special.

I wanted to answer, but I know better than to do so. Instead, I threw my head onto my palms and laid it on the dashboard.

Ren, my beautiful, loyal sister, knew better, too. She didn't ask questions, but instead, she started the engine and drove away from the center, leaving the chaos behind us. I could kiss her now.

As we drove away, I looked at the crowd in the side mirror, Finn Yamada and his bride among them.