"Sorry." She whispers, letting her gaze wander towards the ground."Don't apologize. What happened?""Nothing. Nothing that you need to worry about."Sergio rolls his eyes."Of course I need to worry about it. It must've been pretty traumatic if your eyes look like that."Serena shakes her head once more, refusing to meet his gaze."I said it's fine." She repeats.A heavy silence settles over the room again. They remain like this for a couple more minutes before Sergio speaks up once more."I'm sorry." He says suddenly.Serena glances up at him curiously."For what?""For hitting you. I was angry and scared. I didn't mean it.""I understand. Don't worry.""But still...I wish that I had stopped it sooner."Serena nods, averting her gaze from his again."Me too." She murmurs quietly.The two stay in that position for a short while longer before Serena decides to stand up, walking across the room and sitting down on the floor next to her bed."Come on." She tells her brother, gesturing t
She lets out a soft sob, burying her face into the pillow. When she comes home, it will most likely be a death sentence. No one will accept her. Her family won't accept her. They won't let her leave. And she knows that they're right. She'll never leave. They'll lock her in here and they'll kill her and she'll never see the light of day. She'll stay locked away until the end of time, unable to come out. Unable to see anyone and able to hear anything at all. Just her and her dark thoughts. Alone. Forever."Hey, kiddo? You awake?"She blinks her eyes open slowly, staring up at the ceiling blankly. She doesn't reply, not bothering to move from the comfortable position she's fallen asleep in. Her heart clenches painfully in her chest, feeling like it's going to burst out of her chest."Kiddo?" Sergio calls out again, concern lacing his voice.No response. He huffs, shaking his head softly."You haven't eaten anything today, have you?"Her breath hitches in her throat, her entire body fre
The older man seems to notice her distress, and walks back towards the bed slowly, sitting next to her."You can tell me whatever it is, you know," he states gently, a warm smile playing on his lips.She swallows thickly, glancing up at him hesitantly."It's... It's nothing," she answers shakily. She hates herself for sounding so weak. She hates it. She wants him to know that she's strong and brave and independent. Sergio raises an eyebrow at her, a playful smirk appearing on his face. "If you say so..."She bites down on her lower lip anxiously, avoiding eye contact with him."Don't worry about me, alright?" She says. "It's nothing."Sergio frowns. "Nothing?"Serena nods."Are you sure?" She shrugs."Okay… Well, if you need anything, I'll be downstairs," he replies with a small smile, standing up and putting his hand on her shoulder reassuringly, squeezing lightly. "Just remember that I love you, okay? Don't forget that."She smiles weakly. "Yeah."His expression softens, and he l
After she finishes brushing her teeth, Serena grabs her phone and goes downstairs. Sergio is still working, sitting at the kitchen table, reading a newspaper. She walks towards the table slowly, unsure of whether she wants to ask him if he knows where her father went and why he hadn't told her. But before she can decide what to do, Daniel looks up and greets her with a smile. "Hey! How are you feeling?" He asks cheerfully.Sergio forces a small grin onto her face. "Much better," she replies quietly.He looks at her suspiciously. "Really?""Yeah," she confirms with a nod. "Sorry about waking you up last night.""No problem," he assures her. "I've missed talking to you. And I'm glad that you're okay."She smiles sadly, moving closer to the table so that she can sit down beside him. "Me too."There's a long silence between them, neither of them really knowing what to say. They both seem lost in their own thoughts, both of them having different reasons for being here.Serena isn't comp
He frowns slightly. "I...don't really want to talk about them right now. It's really embarrassing.""It wouldn't bother me, Sergio," she assures him earnestly. "Whatever you wanna tell me, I will listen."He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. "It's nothing important.""It's obviously something," she insists. "If it bothered you, you wouldn't have brought it up. Come on, spill it."He gives her a small smile. "Nothing. Forget about it. It was just a silly memory anyway. Now we better get going before Dad realizes that we've been gone all morning.""Good point," she agrees, taking a quick glance out of the window. There's no sign of her father' car yet. She guesses that he must be driving around town. He usually drives around during the weekends anyways, so it doesn't really make sense for him to be here already.She follows Sergio upstairs to their room, closing the door behind them. He takes off his jacket and hangs it up carefully by the closet before sitting down at his desk
"Hey," King Sergio mutters, placing a soft kiss on the side of her head. "Please don't cry anymore. Please."But Serena does not want to listen to him.She squeezes her eyes shut, her hands clutching his shirt tightly as if she wanted to pull him away from her. But instead of separating, he holds her tighter, kissing the side of her head once more."I'm here," he repeats softly. "I'm here. Don't cry." This time, she does cry."Shh." Daniel strokes her hair gently, pulling her even closer to him. "Let it out. Let it all out."Serena cries quietly, burying her face further into Daniel's chest as tears continue to stream from her eyes. She clenches his shirt as she continues crying. It feels good, actually, to cry like this after all these years. She never knew how much she missed it until it finally came back to haunt her once again. Her entire body trembles violently, and it seems that she hasn't stopped trembling since yesterday afternoon. She doesn't care if Sergio notices. She
He sighed heavily. Things were going to be different now that they were going to spend the entire weekend together. This was the first time they had gone out somewhere together for more than five minutes in months. He was sure that they would enjoy themselves very much, but…Sergio shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts.The sound of the front door unlocking broke him out of his thoughts, and he quickly got out of bed and straightened out his uniform as best as he could. He quickly walked out of his bedroom and headed downstairs towards the living room, hoping that he could avoid his mother and father for some reason or another. He was afraid of what they would ask him about his sister, and he just wasn't ready to deal with it. Maybe he should tell them everything, but for now, he was hoping that they wouldn't ask. After all, he knew exactly how they would react if they knew how badly Serena was feeling. They would probably scold her for not telling them sooner, and
His stomach growled again.Maybe he could skip the breakfast. Yeah, he definitely should skip the breakfast. And the coffee.Sitting in a crowded cafeteria was the last thing that Sergio had expected when he woke up. He didn't even consider skipping his morning shift. Not when there was the possibility that something might happens.As soon as he opened his eyes, he felt like he was going to throw up. His headache had become unbearable, and he wished that he hadn't slept so long the previous night. Everything was spinning. His vision kept blurring every time he blinked, and his body was aching everywhere. He felt like his whole body was burning up. The lights above his head were blinding him, and his ears felt extremely sensitive. His head was throbbing, and he wondered whether he was going to be sick.But he didn't. He managed to force himself to sit upright, and forced himself to swallow the nausea down so that he wouldn't make a scene during the meal. He didn't want his parents to
"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