Calix

Once upon a time, a handsome young prince lived and loved, and in return was loved by everyone. He had everything he could ever want, and ever wish for. He was contented and continued living a life painted with beautiful lies. The prince's emotions tragically died and since that day, died his belief in the truth.

Until she happened. She arrived like a whirlwind of complexities, clumsiness, bluntness and sheer, adorable wildness. She was everything that the prince despised to be, but perhaps, somewhere deep down, desired to become.

She was weird. Oddly straightforward. And with a fiery mouth that hid demons of the past. To everyone's surprise, the beginning of the tale of the misunderstood, tragic prince and the fiery, clumsy, bold woman began with a kiss.

Of course, this is neither Sleeping Beauty nor Snow White. And this tale was never all rainbows and sunshines, filled with sweet songs, birds chirping around, like, as she quotes, "A royal-romance movie or book."

This has always been a tale of two humans.

Just two humans who precisely find themselves in the clutches of hilarious circumstances, without fail.

Ironic, isn't it? Those hilarious circumstances has led them, to the present day.

A mess of true emotions.

A mess of true beauty.

And no longer a beautiful lie. But, a beautiful truth, painted by her.

Isha Sen.

My girlfriend. Not fake anymore. But my girlfriend and everything in between, before and after. Mine, and I am gladly hers.

The feelings I am truly feeling now or have been feeling after our intimate moment that night, or when we turned our fake relationship real, could have been embarrassing for the past Prince Calix.

But for the present Prince Calix or just Calix, I feel giddier than a teenage boy experiencing the emotions of a first crush. However, this is more than a temporary crush. And I have never been happier to admit that I was wrong previously.

This is beyond anything temporary.

Isha grumbles, her entire face flushing red when I sneakily capture a picture of her while she is struggling with the ice-skates.

"I wasn't even posing well!" Isha's grumble rises with the increase of my laughter, as in a deliberate attempt to tease her (plus capture the raw, memorable moments of me and my girlfriend), I snap more pictures of her.

"Calix—"

A grin forms on my lips just as I notice the frown disappearing, and a crimson blush covering her cheeks when I quickly swoop down to steal a short kiss.

"Our personalities have been switched, it seems," Isha mumbles, trying her best to stay composed and all serious.

"Is that so?" I beam, brushing away the strands of black hair from her face. From what I have observed these past few days, Isha gets extremely flustered when I am too close to her face and body. Cute. "What can we do now? You decided to take this changed man on a date. Now deal with it."

She chuckles toothily, "I suppose so. After all, I should compensate for our miserable haunted first date and then by the end of this date..." she smirks competitively, "I will be winning the bet."

"You sure do want to declare me as 'boring' after our bet ends today, mhm Isha?" I lean close whispering into her ears, and tracing my fingers across her sweater clad waist, "Even after the pool date or, do you need a reminder of what happened right after I got into the pool?"

I struggle to contain the laughter dying to burst out of my lungs when I see Isha's face, which is now as red as a tomato. And in a moment, flapping her arms like a swan, she pushes me out of embarrassment.

"What's gotten into you, Calix? You have become awfully bold since...since that." Isha blushes profusely. "It's 24th December. Do you have any idea how hard you make my heart pound, blood rush to my face, and wetness pooling down there with the way you have been boldly teasing me ever since the last date, for the past week?"

Funny how it is my turn to blush profusely now. This is one of the things I love most about Isha. She does not hesitate to express her true emotions. One moment she is all shy and flustered and then the next moment, her mouth goes off and doesn't seem to stop until she lets everything out. I might even envy her for not possessing this certain trait.

I flinch when the woman snaps her fingers in front of me. "Where did your mind drift off to, Prince Charming?"

A laugh rises through me. "Prince Charming? Did I just get promoted from Prince High Horse?"

Isha raises an amused eyebrow. "Perhaps. But the stakes are high. And you must know this, Your Royal Highness, I am very strict. Who knows? I might demote you to the title of Prince High Horse again."

"Is that so?" I hum playfully. "I shall be on my best behaviour then. Although, I must admit, the previous title has always been very endearing. But to be your Prince Charming, doesn't sound too bad. Shall we, my lady?"

I see Isha suppressing a smile, as she maintains a composed mien and takes my outstretched hand, "We shall."

As I guide her to the ice-skating rink, for some reason, I catch all the blood draining from her face as she cautiously steps on the slippery ice, while clutching onto me as if her life depends on me. I assumed naturally that Isha would be an expert ice-skater since the idea of doing ice-skating, was her idea.

I was quite surprised but joyous no less when Isha had revealed some days ago that as compensation for our first miserable date, which had begun with the bet, she wanted to take me on another one, right before Christmas (as Isha had also once mentioned this, that day at her apartment before her family had arrived). So here we arrived early in the morning today, at the only winter resort, located in the North of Syncitia, in a quiet place named Fleurina. A place which remains covered in snow all round year, hence, a tourist attraction for the ones who enjoy snow-capped mountains, winter sports, hot chocolate. Well, although I had insisted but Isha did not allow me to book the entire resort for us. In her words, it would have been "too much to steal others' plans for Christmas Eve."

Honestly, I do not care unless the matter involves Isha or me. However, I listened to the woman and thankfully, since not many Syncitians flock around Fleurina, I did not have to conceal my identity either. Although there were the issues of paparazzi but one glare from my bodyguard Kev was enough to chase them away.

The bottom line is, although I was elated since I have always loved travelling to mountains, Isha doesn't. She despises the cold. So to think she would conduct our last date at a place as cold as Fleurina, was needless to say, confusing.

"Woah," Isha gasps when she loses her balance but my tight hold on her waist, steadies her body.

With an interrogatory tone, I question, "Isha, by chance can you not...skate?"

Isha laughs awkwardly, which gives away the truth in an instant. "I can—well, yes...I cannot."

I sigh, cupping her face softly, "Isha, we could have done something different or gone somewhere else for our date. Perhaps, a beach like you prefer. We did not have to—"

Isha shakes her head, cutting me off mid-sentence. "You once told me, ice-skating is one of your favourite hobbies and of course we had to come here. You love mountains!"

I smile, "Isha, as much as I appreciate the thought, you didn't have to do this for me."

"That's the thing! I didn't have to but I wanted to," Isha answers with a reassuring gaze, "I wanted to make our last date, well the last date of our bet, memorable. And come on, it's 24th December. What better place than snow-capped mountains!"

I sigh, unable to control the benign gentleness spreading across my chest. It feels selfish to find the things Isha has done in order to match my preferences, so likeable, when I am aware of our opposite tastes in life. Yet, this moment, right here, right now, makes me want to sweep her off her feet, spin her around, and kiss her.

And I do not hesitate. In the midst of other tourists ice-skating to their hearts' content, I sweep Isha off her feet without any prior warning, pull her tightly but ardently in my embrace before capturing her lips in a fervent manner. Isha does not need to have an aristocratic status or the title of princess to be showered with such fairytale-worthy treatment.

In my eyes, Isha is already a princess. My princess.

When I pull away, she gives me a surprised look, "What was that for?" Even though her expression suggests she did not hate my reaction.

"Just appreciating the fact that I am the luckiest man on Earth," I sigh with a chuckle while pressing my forehead against Isha's.

"That's an exaggeration, come on."

"It is not." My fingers thread through hers as I guide her to the centre of the ice-skating rink, the smile as sweet as sugar not disappearing from my lips, "Follow me. Trust me."

Isha's face pales once again when she realizes we are proceeding to skate now. Her figure visibly trembles.

"Isha, do you trust me?"

"I...do."

"Good," with a soft smile, I pull her closer, my arms tightly wrapped around her waist to support her, and her arms, around my neck. I place a peck on top of her head. "Just relax and feel the music. Follow the manner in which you dance. Imagine, dancing on something concrete and not ice."

"Alright," Isha breathes through her mouth as she closes her eyes and allows me to slowly glide across the ice with her.

The melodious tune of Rewrite The Stars by Zac Efron and Zendaya, blares through the indoor ice-skating rink as us couples indulge in a fairytale-like moment. Lights are dimmed, allowing the starry night, visible through the massive glass windows, to prance across the sky with us.

Never had I ever been fond of or believed in magical moments, worth being engraved in memories. The ones that make you believe 'happily ever after's do exist, the ones that jumble up your emotions into a complicated ball of heavenly mess.

But with Isha, I am ready to think even the unthinkable. Ready to imagine the unimaginable. And ready to experience the untold truths against the lies on the foundation of which our lives had initially been entangled.

Only with Isha.