A festival.

What was supposed to become just a tour had become more than that and she was proud. Proud at how well they had prepared, at how well it was going. So far so good, everyone looked happy, and a lot of people had actually turned up for the event.

Just as they had planned, less than half of Niyagra was secluded and the people had access to all that was left. It was barely even four o' clock yet and they were almost out of tickets.

Everyone was happy. You could see how happy the kids were playing in their masks as they were led by their parents, how excited they were to learn about the culture of Niyagra and to associate with other Niyagran kids whenever they stopped by a cultural spot.

They had their bodies painted, with pretty leaf crowns on their small heads and tiny wands in their hands. Everyone looked so happy, so amazed to be within the walls of Niyagra, it was going really well, better than Anne-Marie had ever imagined.

Anne-Marie dropped her box of festival lights right on the table, exchanging smiles with the older Niyagran lady behind the table selling sea shell jewelries right before she retreated her gaze to the stand beside her where Noa stood, sharing fliers for donations. Her smile brightened when she saw how Noa bent over to give a little boy a soft pat on his head. Kind of weird because she never pictured Noa to be a fan of children.

Anne-Marie found her way to her just as the little boy and his mother walked away from her after taking a flier. She coughed into her elbow one time, shaking off the chill that passed through her spine.

"Someone looks like she has been working really hard."

Noa turned to her immediately, smiling for a short second and turning her smile into a pout immediately. She took a deep breath when Anne got closer to her.

"Well, what do you know?" Noa asked her. "You lots can't really do anything without me now can you?"

She folded her hands behind her and took a quick scan around the area, she was satisfied, satisfied at how well things were going so she let out a really heavy sigh.

"Looks like things turned out really well in the end."

Anne-Marie followed her gaze too. She needed to embrace the pride she felt in all their hard work.

"It happens that Bre was right, a lot of people are really curious about Niyagra. I was the entire day yesterday and being here again just makes me so calm. We're almost sold out on tickets can you believe it?" She turned back to Anne-Marie again.

Anne-Marie nodded.
"Aubrey is a Genius." She had to admit. "We'd not have done any of this if she hadn't brought it up. We'd be able to save the Niyagra village today because of her idea to hold the tour here."

"Woah." Noa scoffed a chuckle just as Anne-Marie slowly turned to her. "what has come over you pee?" Noa smirked. She couldn't believe her ears at all. "Did you just that admit Bre was a genius?"

Anne-Marie blinked.
What was wrong with that?

"You just said Aubrey was a genius, you just gave her credit for all this."

"Is that a bad thing?"

Noa scoffed.

"You never give anyone credit for everything." She told her. "Especially not Aubrey. You always thought she was slow and stupid. The old you anyway. Really, what happened to you?"

Anne-Marie let out a nervous scoff.

How was she making so many mistakes pretending to be Paris? Did Paris really think Aubrey was slow?

She tucked her hair behind her ear. How on earth was she going to ever explain that now?

"Oh well, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that nothing about you is predictable or constant Paris Vutron, I mean, this new you is a lot to process, but I kind of like it when you're not a bitch, especially to Bre."

A bitch to Aubrey?
Was Paris really like that to Aubrey? Didn't she like her so well?

"Ever since you got back, I noticed Aubrey changed too. She's more outspoken now."

"And you think it's because of me?"

"It's certainly not because of me." Noa shrugged her shoulders. "Come on Pee, you know Aubrey, she's terrified of you, or should I say the old you, now she's just...happy. I kind of felt bad for her everytime you had to scold her for doing something wrong, she always did all she could to do right by you and she never hated you for it which I find really strange. She was even more worried about you when you got shot than any of us,"

Anne-Marie smiled.

"Typical Aubrey, she's always worried about everyone. That's because she has the biggest heart-"

"And because she's scared of being alone."

Anne-Marie froze. She swallowed back her saliva slowly. Noa exhaled.

"I know you hate it when people make themselves your responsibility and that's what tips you off the most about Aubrey but I feel you should go easy on her. She can be a bit clingy sometimes and I know how everyone talks about how she's your least favorite and how she's always taking all your bullshit because she's nothing without the group, but that's not entirely the truth. Aubrey is an amazing person and you know this too, she genuinely cares about you and it has nothing to the recognitions she gets from being a P3, with everything that's going on in her life, and her parents always busy with one thing or the other and not really having any time to actually be in her life, we're just all she's really got."

Anne-Marie could feel yet another chill pass through her spine. She had no idea, she had no idea that was what Aubrey's life really looked like.

"Oh that's right," Noa's voice snapped her back to consciousness again. "Aubrey isn't the only one we should thank for this idea, I mean Valerie made a big contribution the other day in class. I wonder if she's here today, I'd like to see the look on her face when she finds out what you did. She's going to be so angry."
Valerie?

"I mean I hate to say it, you know I do but we should give her some credit too." Noa chuckled so hard, causing Anne-Marie to laugh faintly too. She literally forgot how her eyes were dizzy and her insides were burning hot, all she could think of was Noa's joke.

Noa clapped her hands

"OMG I can't wait for your engagement with the prince this weekend. No wonder the king and queen aren't really paying attention to what it is we're doing. The palace must be really busy as we speak."

Oh.
Anne-Marie had almost forgot about her royal engagement in two days. She couldn't believe how she let it skip her mind when it did. Not that anyone could blame her, being inside that palace always reminded her everyday of what Saturday was.

Her engagement.

Just like Noa had predicted, the palace was indeed busy. The king and queen were also busy trying to make preparations for the engagement in place and that had to be why the royal guards or military weren't already on their way to destroy the whole event they had planned.

The king had decided to let Aiden do what he wanted, just so he was going to be in good spirits at the engagement. Anne-Marie could not phantom how exhausting her week had been, from having her entire diet changed, to having different designers walk in and out of the palace, taking her measurements in order to make her the perfect dress, even cake testing, she remembered how she had to do that with the queen and also check out the designs and music for the event, like that wasn't enough, there she was, still trying to be there for Niyagra. At that point, she couldn't blame her body for acting that way.

Noa twitched her brow.

"You sure you're okay Pee?" She asked Paris. "You look kind of pale."

Oh, that.

If Anne-Marie was being totally honest with herself, she didn't exactly feel good. She literally woke up that morning feeling so cold and tired. It look a lot from her to pull herself up from her bed and get dressed early to help. She knew exactly what Noa meant when she made reference to how pale her skin had become and how weak she looked. She thought her mild make up did something to hide it but it didn't look like she did.

She was about to say something when-

"Mum look, it's prince Aiden!"

They both could hear how the huge yells and whispers by everyone were slowly starting to overshadow the music playing in the background as everyone around the area found their way to where Aiden was, coming out of the huge building behind them.

Anne-Marie slowly turned too.

Black on black.

There was only one man Anne-Marie knew could kill any look in a trench coat and turtle neck unapologetically and it was Aiden. That had to be one of his many fortes, his basic but no such thing as basic dress sense.

She wished he let his hair down in a bob more often and his smile, his dimples were everything. She could literally feel how her heart melt everytime he smiled at a child or exchanged handshakes with a parent or teenager.

She had anticipated his great entrance but the feeling was always the same whenever she saw him like that. It was like it was the first time. He was beautiful.

"Don't feel bad about it." She could hear Noa say behind her. "I mean, no matter how bad you feel, you possibly can't feel worse than Harry."

Anne-Marie narrowed her gaze to where Harry stood beside Aiden, watching the people show their love to him.

"He's standing right there and anyone would take him for a bodyguard. It's like he's almost invincible." She tried to hold back her laughter.

"But it's not his fault. Everyone would always be invincible as far as the prince is concerned, no one can measure up to him. The prince was born to steal the shine wherever he went. He's precious content and everyone likes precious content. In two days, you're going to be get just as much recognition he does. Everyone's going to know you're his betrothed. Your face would finally be on the royal magazine and billboards. The entire Breton would know your name, and not just the citizens of the imperial city. Your fan base would be increased by millions of people all over the world. You'd no longer be known as the daughter of the prime minister but as the fiancée of the prince of Breton, the future queen of Breton. Oh my, saying that out loud really gives me the chill."

Noa rubbed her arms together as she narrowed her gaze on Aiden.

"I really can't wait."

Anne-Marie blinked her tired eyes as she watched how Aiden slowly turned his gaze to her. Her heart stopped beating when he smiled at her, exposing his perfect dentition. His smile was so pure, so innocent and when he winked at her, it was like he took her soul with him. Anne-Marie couldn't believe how much influence he had on all the parts of her body. It was like they acted independently of each other whenever he was around her.

She watched him turn back to the older women in front of him, his smile widening.

In two days, she was going to be engaged to this man, not as herself but as someone else, why did she feel so guilty? Why did she feel so guilty all of a sudden?

It wasn't right, nothing about what she was about to do was right and she knew it. What could she do about it though?

Those were one of the times she missed him, Abel. If he was there, he would have had a truck loads of things to say to her, he'd have probably knocked her back to her senses.

She missed him everyday.

Memories like this were what Abel would have moved the earth for, memories of the prince. Everyday she saw him, she was strangely reminded of Abel.

How was he?

Was he eating well? She knew Oliver told her he was recovering but she wanted to know how much. She had so many questions and seeing how all those kids that loved Aiden surrounded him with happy looks on their faces made her wish Abel was one of them. He would have given anything to see the prince one time, and she'd have given anything to make his wishes come through, but she couldn't. She was never going to.

She buried her gaze to her folded arms, forcing the tears in her eyes back. She was going to give anything to return back to her life, to her old life. At that point, nothing else mattered.

Aiden let his gaze drift back to her, just as the smile on his face slowly disappeared. For some reason he felt some type of way, he couldn't really place a finger around it but he could tell she wasn't happy.

"Autograph."

His thoughts got cut short when one of the teenagers asked for his attention. He forced his gaze back to them and forced a smile on his face as he signed on her T-shirt.

Anne-Marie sniffed and turned back to Noa, giving Noa a chance to study how paler she got. She forced a smile on her face.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay?"

Anne-Marie nodded.
She was, she had to be okay.

"Come on, lets share these fliers." She took the fliers from Noa just as Aiden traced his gaze back to her. For a second, it was like there was a log on his chest. He couldn't shake off the sight of her looking so pale.

Worry.

He exhaled.

He was worried.