Once their plates were cleared away, Catherine helped her mother clean the dishes up. It took her awhile, due to her pregnant condition but eventually she got the dishes cleaned. When she was finally ready she turned to her mother."So, Mama, can I have a few minutes alone?""Hmm," she hummed in response, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you already had two minutes.""I can use five," she responded with an innocent smile.Queen Diana nodded her head slowly before walking to the living room where she was sitting on the couch. Catherine smiled at her mother before quickly following her into the living room. Once they were both sat down on the couch Queen Diana looked towards her daughter. Catherine could sense the questioning gaze that she was giving her. She could tell that her mother had a lot of questions on her mind. She knew why she had asked to be alone, especially after the last night that they spent together."Is something wrong Catherine?" her mother asked with a slight tone o
Her father immediately began to jog towards her as she stood there, holding her stomach. She couldn't help but smile brightly when she noticed his happy look as he saw her standing there. She watched as he ran up to her and lifted her off her feet in excitement. After a quick embrace between father and daughter they separated and stepped back, smiling at each other."How are you feeling?" he asked curiously as he studied his daughter.She shrugged lightly before responding: "A little tired, but otherwise fine.""Have you had any problems? Any pain? Has your stomach been bothering you?" her father inquired."Nothing really, Dad. Everything has been fine. Besides that, I haven't been sick. It's nothing serious, so stop worrying.""Ok, alright. That's all that matters to me.""Yeah, that's definitely all that matters to me too," Catherine replied.Then, without warning, Catherine launched herself towards her father and hugged him tightly. He returned the gesture happily, wrapping his ar
Catherine felt her heart begin to pound furiously in her chest."Do you think I give a damn about that?" she practically screamed, grabbing hold of her mother's arms tightly. "I've already told you that I'm not going to date any boys that aren't my brothers! Especially not some guy that doesn't even know my name! I'd rather die first!"Mrs Ellen glared angrily at Catherine for a moment before letting out a sigh and resting her forehead against hers. She then slowly shook her head as she spoke."If I'd known that this would happen, I'd have never asked you to move here, Catherine," she whispered.Catherine remained silent."And I'm sorry for dragging you into this mess. I just thought it was the only way to keep you safe, Catherine."Catherine opened her mouth to respond, but no words came out. She just sighed heavily, closing her eyes."I'm sorry," her mother repeated, her voice softer.She slowly moved her face away from Catherine's and gazed back at her husband, who was looking at h
The sounds of her mother humming happily filled the small apartment, making Catherine feel at ease despite the fact that she was still tired and sore. She closed her eyes and focused on the song that her mother was singing softly. The tune sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite pinpoint why it was playing in her head. Suddenly, an image of a very young girl in red riding boots and a matching coat appeared in Catherine's head. She frowned as she tried to remember who the girl was, but her mind refused to provide her with any answers. She frowned lightly and opened her eyes, deciding to focus on the melody instead. A few moments later, Catherine's eyebrows arched in realization.That's right... it's Catherine! Catherine smiled softly as she remembered the day that they met for the first time. She hadn't expected that the child would become such a big part of her life. She had been surprised when the child showed interest in her, but she hadn't minded it in the slightest. She liked
Catherine bit her lip nervously before taking a deep breath and beginning to speak."Yesterday morning I went to the park with Catherine," she began hesitantly.Serena nodded encouragingly, urging her to continue."Well, we were there for about twenty minutes or so, before I started getting bored." She laughed lightly, looking towards the ground. "I mean, we spent practically all day yesterday doing nothing, and I wanted to do something new today.""So I suggested that we go back home to get ready and take a walk in the park before heading to your place to meet everyone. I figured that the sun might help wake us up since we slept so late last night and we didn't have dinner. Then, we were walking back to the road when we started hearing voices…"Serena looked puzzled by Catherine's words."Voices?" she repeated in confusion. "I don't hear anyone."Catherine paused, frowning slightly before answering slowly, "I know...that's why I called you. Because I couldn't make out where they we
Their plan worked perfectly. They all arrived to the party, laughing loudly, joking around, and enjoying themselves. Catherine was happy to be able to spend time with her friends again. When they arrived at their houses, they ran upstairs excitedly and changed their clothes before coming down. Then they headed straight to the party without bothering to change anything else. At first, everyone had tried to convince Catherine to dress differently, but she refused. The girls knew that they wouldn't be able to change Catherine's mind unless they gave her some extra time to try something else. After all, her friends agreed that was she usually very particular about her clothes, so they all thought it best to play along with her wishes.When Catherine arrived at the party, she immediately spotted Serena sitting on one of the couches with Catherine, She smiled happily at the sight of of her Catherine looked extremely happy. She was smiling, blushing, giggling, and waving at her friends as
As Catherine continued to stare off into space, trying to find answers to questions that seemed so obvious at first glance, the boys had finished changing clothes and were now heading toward the door. Everyone stood up and walked toward the door. Before walking out, Serena called out for Catherine to wait for her she slowly turned around and faced her."What is it?" she asked.Serena nodded toward the group standing near the entrance, where the others were waiting. Catherine stared at her friend for a moment before understanding suddenly dawned upon her. She understood why Serena had called her and why she had called her over. She also realized why everyone was staring at her. She glanced at the crowd nervously, her eyes darting back and forth between everyone's faces. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what she should do next. She didn't dare move, because she didn't know what they were waiting for her to do. She didn't know if she could do it. What if they expected som
"Are you okay? You don't seem okay," she said.Catherine hesitated. She didn't want to lie to Kate, but she knew that she couldn't tell the truth, either. She didn't want to burden her friend with her problems, since she was clearly busy enough with her own problems. She couldn't burden her with anything. She was supposed to be happy, but somehow she couldn't. She couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened to her tonight. Everything that had happened to the people that she loved. She couldn't stop thinking about her parents or what they would think if they could ever see her now. She couldn't stop thinking about her brother or father. Her brothers wouldn't allow her to continue staying here. Not after tonight. She wouldn't be able to handle it if they decided not to help her. She knew that they had already done enough for her, but she needed them more than anyone else. She needed them more than she needed anything else in the world. And she didn't want them to give u
"It sounds like your husband was really great." He remarked. She nodded slowly, not saying anything in response.Julian knew that she probably needed to process what happened before she could continue talking to him about it. He waited patiently.After a few moments, she took a deep breath and lifted her head."Do you remember when I said that my mother passed away a year ago? Well, it wasn't actually a death. It was a suicide." She revealed quietly. "We had just moved here after that." Julian nodded. He remembered the day perfectly. He had taken her to visit her mother and she had shown them around the house. They had visited the cemetery and Serena had talked about her mother for the entire time.She seemed happy. It was obvious how fond of her mother she was. Julian smiled slightly at the memory."Well, she did it. I think that my father may have been responsible. After he found out, he got violent. And he didn't take it well when she killed herself." Serena explained. She shrugg
The sound of soft footsteps alerted Julian to the presence of another person entering the room. He turned around and gave his visitor a weak smile."Hi" He whispered. She returned the gesture with a soft smile of her own."How are you?" She asked concerned, moving to sit down next to him. He glanced at her briefly and shrugged."I'm alright. Tired. I think I caught a cold. I feel pretty gross, too. My throat is hurting." He answered honestly. She chuckled."That happens sometimes when you get sick. Have you eaten anything?" She asked him. He shook his head. "I can cook you something.""No, no. I can eat when I have the chance." He protested."You shouldn't. It can cause more harm than good." She told him. He sighed quietly."I know. But I'll eat anyway. If it means that I won't starve to death, I'll eat." He insisted. She laughed again."Okay" She agreed after a beat.Silence fell between them as they both stared blankly at the wall opposite of them. After a few minutes of silence, h
"I see…" She paused for a moment before she spoke again. "Can I ask you something though?" She inquired. Julian nodded absentmindedly. "What happened?" "Why did you have that conversation with her?""Because…” He started explaining vaguely. “Because…" He trailed off as he tried to find the words to explain to her. It was true that he didn't want to burden her with anything concerning his relationship with Serena. However, he knew that he couldn't hide things from his family forever. If he did, then eventually they would discover that something was wrong with him. He sighed heavily as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration."Dad, can you give me a minute? I'll be right back" He whispered. Without waiting for his father to respond, he ended the call and went back inside the room. He stood behind the couch for a few moments as he listened to the soft sound of Serena's breathing. He could barely make out any sounds from the living room.He approached the sleeping girl slowl
“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry.” She smiled reassuringly, hoping that her boyfriend would believe her. Julian smiled back at her.“Alright then” He said in response. He leaned forward and pressed another tender kiss onto her lips. A few seconds later he released his fiancée from his embrace and turned to open the horse carriage. Before leaving the parking lot he glanced at his wife once more. “Stay inside, all right? No wandering around alone.” He added.“Sure. Don’t worry.”“I don’t care if you stay inside the whole time, I will still worry.”“Okay” She laughed and waved at him as he drove away. She waited until he disappeared from view before returning to sit down on the sofa once again. She was silent for several minutes, pondering what he had told her before. As she sat there and stared ahead at nothing particular, she suddenly felt like she was suffocating.She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them again, she found herself sitting there sta
He smiled gently and leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his fiancée's forehead. She chuckled quietly and moved her hands to hold the back of his head. They stayed like that for a few moments before Julian pulled away."I need to go check on something." He announced getting up from the couch.Serena watched curiously as her husband headed towards the kitchen. She tilted her head to the side and crossed her arms in front of her chest."Do you think that he might be cheating on me?" Serena whispered to herself.Suddenly the sound of footsteps caught her attention. She looked behind her and spotted Julian leaning against the door frame watching her."Hm?" She hummed. He shrugged his shoulders."Nothing. I guess you should come with me." Julian told her as he gestured towards the hallway."Where are we going? And why?" Serena asked."I'm checking if my mother and father are home and if they have any guests." Julian answered as he walked toward the closet to retrieve his jacket and t
After another minute or two he started moving his hand slowly. He caressed her side slowly, enjoying the feeling of his thumb brushing against her tender skin. He pressed a gentle kiss to her inner thigh and started teasing her.“Please….please don’t….stop” Serena begged breathlessly, her eyes still closed. The prince smirked and continued to stroke her thigh slowly. He reached the peak again, but hesitated. Just as he was about to push inside her and make her come, there was a knock on the door.Serena froze and tensed in his lap.“Are you expecting anyone?” Julian asked calmly as he continued to stroke her inner thigh slowly. The princess shook her head no and slowly slid off of his lap.“No, it can’t be my parents. They aren’t home yet." She muttered worriedly. Julian furrowed his eyebrows. Something doesn’t seem right. He looked over to his wife and noticed that she was staring intently at the door. There was fear evident in her blue orbs. What could it possibly be.“Go answer t
“I love you so much Serena.” Julian said placing a few quick pecks on the girl’s lips. He heard some gasps around him and saw that everyone else were looking at him weirdly. He frowned and pulled away from the girl. “We have to pay for these groceries so let’s hurry up okay?” He said before grabbing the shopping basket from her hands.A few minutes later they were leaving the grocery store and Julian couldn’t hold back the huge grin on his face. This is definitely the best day of his life and he wouldn’t change any minute of it. He finally proposed to his beautiful queen and got a yes from her."I am so happy." He thought happily.He looked over to Serena who was walking next to him and noticed that she was also smiling like a fool. As soon as they got in the carriage, he reached out and held her hand. "So many things happened yesterday. Our parents came, I proposed to her, she said yes, she said yes to marrying me and I kissed her." Julian laughed and squeezed the princess’s hand
“You look cute today.” His girlfriend said while looking at the prince who is smiling at himself while wearing his blue coat and holding his hand. “How can I look cute when you are wearing the prettiest thing on earth?” His boyfriend said kissing the redhead’s hand.“You are lucky I love you then.” Serena chuckled taking the boy’s hand and heading towards the exit of the park, the prince couldn’t stop smiling.They arrived at the ice rink where they usually meet each other. Their friends is there already waiting for them and they went to the ice skating rink together. This is where Serena found her boyfriend. He was wearing a red robe with scarf wrapped tightly around his neck, gloves and long coat. The boy was smiling brightly like a mad man while trying to keep his balance on the slippery ice, he looked adorable."Do you like it?" Asked Julian while looking at her. The princess was busy admiring her boyfriend, her heart was beating rapidly inside her chest and she felt herself blu
Suddenly, the dragon let out a deafening roar. It echoed throughout the entire pier and caused many people to yelp in pain and fright. Several people started crying and clutching onto their friends' arms tightly as if they would fall apart at any moment. Serena couldn't take her eyes of the terrifying beast which was now standing proudly right before them, roaring and snorting menacingly. It was impossible to tell how many people were trapped inside those gigantic jaws, as the darkness prevented them from seeing. But judging by the loud growls coming from the creature, they must've been close to death.After a few seconds the roaring sound gradually decreased until it eventually disappeared, leaving behind an eerie silence. The crowd was dead silent. Everyone remained motionless, except for the tears streaming down their cheeks and the shudders that wracked their bodies. No one made a peep or uttered a single word. Everyone was glued to the horrifying creature in front of them, a