THREE YEARS OLD RACHEL pretty much didn't understand half the things people spoke around her just as how people didn't understand half the thing she spoke. But that didn't mean she didn't get it when someone was excited about something.

When she had heard her cousin Cami squeal around about wearing pretty dresses for the tea party at the castle with her friends from the other kingdoms, Rachel had rumbled through her own closet for her favorite gown.

As she sat in front of her dad dressed in the blue princess gown with frills and nets and everything nice, her eyes turned googly at the sight of her father painting her toe-nails with careful precision.

"Dada, what wis wea warty?" She asked with curiosity gleaming in her turquoise orbs.

Her father looked up as he finished painting the last toe-nail.

"You mean, tea party, Rach?" Daniel asked his daughter with a smile who nodded her head vehemently like a bobble head.

Daniel pondered over how to explain, "Its like a gathering where the girls serve each other tea and talk, I guess?"

Little Rachel nodded her head again as if she understood her father's words.

Looking at his daughter, the werewolf prince seemed lost. He knew she didn't understand a word and he had no clue how to explain.

"Baby, it's like princess party in Sofia the first." Ariana, his wife said from the doorstep smiling at the father-daughter duo.

Rachel instantly seemed to understand as she squealed and ran over to her mommy in excitement who in return picked her up and kissed her cheeks.

Daniel stared in awe.

These were the times he adored his wife even more when she spoke and understood Rachel just as well as she understood him.

"Rach, stop moving. You'll mess the colour up." Her father pointed at her toe-nails in mortification which had taken him half an hour to paint.

"Whoopsy." Rachel giggled as Ariana put her down on her feet.

"I'll go wincess warty!" The little girl squealed before running out the room with her small chubby legs and floppy steps.

Daniel and Ariana looked at their daughter with fond smiles on their faces.

* * *

As Rachel waited beside her cousin for their guests to arrive, she craned her neck to catch a glimpse of a black car approaching through the gates.

"They wis here!" She squealed and Cami grinned down at her little cousin.

The car pulled in through the driveway to halt in front of the two werewolf princesses who stood at the entrance garden of the castle.

The first girl to walk out of the car was Andrea who was dressed in a black frock and had cat eyes goggles on which hid the view of her eyes. She flipped her shoulder length hair over her shoulder in a dramatic way and sauntered over to the waiting princesses.

"Hi, Cam!" The vampire princess hugged her girl bestfriend and then flashed a bright grin at Rachel, "Hey, cutiepie!"

"Hey." Rachel whispered, placing her hands over her mouth to suppress her giggles.

'Andrea was cool because she always called her cute.' Rachel thought.

"Where's Nora and Elizabeth?" Cami asked glancing over Andrea's shoulder for the rest of her girlfriends.

"Nora got sick so she couldn't make it and Liz is busy doing homework due for tomorrow." Andrea chimed in stopping her search.

Cami looked at her friend in question, "Don't you have homework too then?"

Andrea shrugged as if it wasn't the first time her missing out on her schoolwork and flashed a wider grin Cami's way who shook her head in humour.

The vampire princess would never change.

"But don't worry, I bought someone!" Andrea pulled open the car door wider to reveal Charles cooped in.

Charles waved at the girls and got out of the car. One of these days Andrea was going to take him to a graveyard and he wouldn't even be surprised. He had nothing to do in a girl's tea party and yet he was here, dragged along by his ears by his bestfriend.

"Hey, girls!" The boy's awkwardness turned into a full grown charming grin.

"Hey, Charles!" Cami waved back.

Rachel who stood next to her cousin the whole while stared at Charles with big doe eyes as if he was an alien. She had thought the party was only for girls?

"He no girl." She tugged onto Cami's frock making the girl give her a queasy smile.

"Yup, Rach. But he's here for the party. Why don't you introduce yourself to him the way I thought you?" Cami suggested.

Rachel wondered for a moment how her cousin had thought her to greet and then nodded vehemently before turning to Charles with a wide smile, "I'm Wachel!"

"She means Rachel." Cami said from the side.

Charles grinned nodding his head as he extended his hand forward to the little princess, "I'm Charles. Nice meeting you, Rachel. You look beautiful."

Rachel's grin widened while Andrea gave Charles a horrified look.

"You cannot flirt with someone younger than you!" She complained making him look at her quizzically.

"But you flirted with Elian two days ago." He reprimanded.

"Elian is not a three year old." Andrea shrugged as if it changed the fact he was still younger than her.

Charles rolled his eyes dramatically just the way Andrea always did. With each passing day, he was becoming more and more like her.

* * *

Seconds passed into minutes and minutes into hours as Charles awkwardly sat between the two loud princesses talking and laughing.

He had no clue what they were on about. But he knew very well that if he stayed a minute longer, he'd go mad.

Even the other little princess had hopped off few minutes ago after trying to comprehend for an hour what they were speaking.

"I'll just take a walk around the garden. You girls enjoy." Charles smiled at the princesses.

Cami nodded passing him back a smile while Andrea rolled her eyes at Charles traumatized face but let him go anyways.

Charles wandered, his fleeting brown eyes glancing around at the floral garden where the tables for the tea party had been set.

The lush green grass underneath his feet tousled in the wispy wind as if it were a horse's mane being caressed by its owner. The garden had wild flowers of different colours—blue and yellow and red—trimmed and shaped into perfection.

He ran his hand through the flora, brisking in the feeling of the leaves gently pricking his skin. It felt lovely. He wondered whether he was allowed to pluck a flower.

Just as the thought flashed into his head, he spotted a little figure hidden among the plants and plants of flowers. The girl plucked a flower then another and then another until she had no small arms left to hold them.

Charles grinned pushing away the leaves to reveal Rachel standing there. The little princess who had turned at the noise of leaves ruffling looked like a deer caught in headlights.

"Whoopsy. Wou waught me!" Those doe-like turquoise eyes widened visibly, "No tell Dada." She whispered to Charles as if sharing a secret in her barely understandable language.

The boy pondered for a full one minute what she meant before he caught onto the last sentence.

"Are you stealing flowers?" He whispered back, playing along.

"No?" Her eyes stared into his like a hawk.

"Then why not tell Dada?" He asked quipping his head to the side as he saw her think about it.

"Dada wove flower. He be sad." Her plump small lips formed into a pout as though her response was supposed to make sense.

"You mean he loves flowers and he'll be sad if you broke them?" Charles asked again to which Rachel nodded obediently.

"Hmm." He hummed before looking at her, "Then you should give him some too. He'll be happy again then."

Rachel stared and stared to the point Charles almost thought she didn't understand a word he said but then she squealed making him look at her in surprise.

"Wou wis wevy smart!" She squealed louder running over to hug Charles, half the flowers falling off her tiny arms in the process.

The boy blinked back in surprise not knowing what to do as Rachel clung onto his legs since her height couldn't reach his torso. He felt more stuck then he had felt at the tea party all of a sudden.

He patted her back softly trying to act polite as the girl squealed for heaven's knew what reason.

When Rachel finally moved back from hugging Charles' legs, the boy let out a sigh of relief.

"Wou likey flowers?" Little Rachel asked him with wide, curious eyes.

Charles blinked at the confusing words, "You mean whether I like flowers?" He asked to which she nodded fervently, "Yeah, I do love them."

Rachel mulled over his words before scooting down and picking up a blue rose from the ground. She patted the flower to ward off any dust particles.

"For wou." She said presenting it happily to Charles.

The boy stared at the flower than at her doe eyes in confusion, "For me?"

"For wou." She nodded.

"Why?"

"Wou likey flowers too."

Charles smiled at her constant use if 'w' instead of other letters as he took the rose from her hand.

"Thank you." He grinned before scooting down himself and picking up a red rose, "And this one's for you."

Rachel grinned back as she took the flower from his hand, "Whank wou!"

"You're welcome." He smiled as the girl waved him goodbye and ran inside the castle calling out for her father.

That day, when Charles returned back to his home, he pulled out the small crest he hid under his bed and placed the blue rose inside it carefully as if it were treasure.

It was the first time someone had given him a rose. No matter how small or clueless she was while giving it to him, he'd treasure it.

---------☼︎♔︎☼︎---------

Age of the characters in the chapter:

Andrea/ Cami/ Charles - 8 years
Rachel - 3 years

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What's your favorite moment from the chapter?

Does anyone happen to find any hint?👀

Also, isn't Rachel a cutie?🥺