Hiya lovelies pictured above is one of the many beautiful streets of Santorini.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Good morning your highness," Dave the butler said, bowing his head in respect.

Yesterday I managed to sleep earlier which resulted in me waking up early today. I decided to experience what people who wake up early do and so far all I got was that they had more options when it came to food for breakfast.

"Oh come on Dave! You're older than me by what, thirty years! You don't have to address me that formally." I stated.

Dave was a sweetheart he was about the same age as my father, but a little bit younger and very devoted to the royal family. He was always here whenever we needed him. He was also very professional and strict at times, almost like a second father to me.

"I know Nina, but I'm just surprised that you woke up earlier than everyone today, are you okay?" He laughed.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I'm alright Dave. It's a lovely day today, lots of sunshine. I was actually going to go for a quick morning run."

Dave raised his eyebrows as he clapped his hands in disbelief. "Have fun! But don't forget to take Mateo if you go out. My son needs more time working, he's too lazy nowadays."

How could I even forget about Mateo. Every time I stepped out the palace he magically appeared out of nowhere. It's like he spies on me, I shuddered at that thought as I skipped to the entrance. I was not about to let Mateo ruin my happy mood.

"Stop right there. Where do you think you're going all by yourself?" Mateo asked from behind.

I groaned in annoyance. "I can't even get a little bit of freedom to go out for a jog these days," I muttered to myself quietly.

Mateos ears perked up at the sound. "What was that?"

"Nothing at all. I didn't hear anything." I said sweetly, giving him the fakest smile ever.

He gave me a dirty look and just like that we were on our way to god knows where this jog would take us.

After a solid fifteen minutes of jogging nonstop and overtaking Mateo, I decided to take a break to drink water. My break gave Mateo the opportunity to catch up with me.

By the time he stopped in front of me his face had turned a tomato red colour and he was huffing loudly. "Damn woman, since when could you run this fast, and you call this a jog!"

I guess Dave was right after all, Mateo was really getting out of shape. Normally he would've beaten me by a few metres but today he was tired in just a few minutes.

"I was born to run like the wind," I joked. "Seriously though, you should start getting back to shape, how can you be my bodyguard if you can't even catch up to me."

Annoyance crawled it's way onto Mateo's face as he stuck his tongue out to mock me.

"I'm more stronger than you though. I bet I could lift you up easily," he said proudly.

I had no doubt about that. For the short period of time we fooled around with each other he was always casually throwing me around his shoulder.

"I miss those times." He whispered after momentarily pausing.

I had to agree with him. Those days spent with Mateo last year were amazing, we had so much fun. "Me too."

All of a sudden I felt hungry.

"Let's visit one of the quieter streets of Santorini and buy some Greek style yoghurt since we're here already." I motioned, pointing towards the street at the end of the road.

A small smile made its way on to Mateo's face. "I knew you would say something like that. When have you even gone a few hours without food?"

I sneered my eyes at him and pointed at his chest trying to come up with an argument but failing. The sound of rich laughter erupted from Mateo's throat. At the sound of his hilarious laugh I laughed too, as I recalled the numerous amount of times me and Mateo visited little restaurants back home in Spain whenever I was hungry.

I guess you could say Mateo was my food buddy.

The sound of birds chirping broke me away from my thoughts as I looked around at the scenery in front of my eyes, strolling along the historical streets of Greece in Santorini with Mateo by my side.

We passed by beautiful, white villas with blue, circular rooftops and huge swimming pools near their front entrances. The sun smiled at us from above as the warm breeze ran its way past us. Little children rushed to get into the pool for some cooling down time as their parents lounged behind them in sun beds, reading either the newspaper or a book. It felt so heartwarming to watch how normal families functioned in every day life.

Hopefully one day I would live like that too, carefree and relaxed.

Mateo's voice broke me out of my trance. "We're here."

In front of us was a small, cute cafe which was filled with delicious food. As we walked in the sweet, sugary smell of baked cookies wafted into our noses. I inhaled a long breath, taking in all the goodness before getting in line to order.

"I changed my mind. I don't want yoghurt anymore, I think I'll have some cookies and baklava. I've never tried baklava before, and I heard it's delicious here in Greece," I explained to Mateo as we reached the till.

The elderly lady at the till looked at us with a big smile. "Oh yes dearies, our baklava here at Chafia Cafe is one of the best baklava's you'll ever eat."

Mateo ordered for us as I looked around. The place was not too full, it was only eleven in the morning and people were slowly starting to mill in.

I took a seat by the window, overlooking the streets.

"No one's noticed who you are yet. That's a good thing, maybe the locals here don't use TVs that much or read newspapers." Mateo said with a visible grin as he sat down on the chair opposite me.

I shook my head. "I saw people read newspapers, they probably don't recognise me. I'm just relived at that."

"Mmm," I moaned taking a bite into the piece baklava. "These taste heavenly."

"Are you seriously moaning over food right now?" Mateo asked with an incredulous look.

What could I say the baklava and cookies were simply amazing!

They were both different and unique in their own way which made me want to order more but I stopped myself. Mateo was drinking a strawberry milkshake and had a butter croissant in front of him in a delicate glass plate.

"So have you made any decisions yet?" He questioned whilst slurping down the remaining bits of his milkshake.

"I assume we're talking about the suitors," I replied. Mateo modded his head in response. "Yes I mean there are a few that are on my mind but I still haven't made a clear decision yet."

Mateo hummed in response.

"I really do miss you Nina. I miss us being together." He said with a solemn expression.

I didn't know how to reply to that so I just smiled in agreement and let our conversation fall to silence.

"Can I get you anything else princess Nina?" The elderly asked as she approached our table.

"Wait, you knew I was the princess all along?" I questioned, confusion seeped its way into my mind.

She winked. "That I did, but I also value your privacy. I knew you wanted to be lowkey and not cause too much attention on yourself."

Mateo laughed at her statement. "We were hoping to fit in."

"So far you're doing a very well job with the casual clothes princess Nina is wearing." She mentioned, her tone laced with humour.

Immediately I looked down at my clothes. I was wearing simple black leggings and a light blue vest, my running clothes.

We ended up talking to the lady for an hour and when it was finally time to go she handed us some free cookies.

'I saw that you liked the cookies, here's a little gift.' She had said.

After protesting over paying, she ended up winning and we left with our hands filled with free goodies and a promise to come back soon.

The walk back to the palace was quick, Mateo busied himself with thoughts and I examined how the locals lived. Once we arrived most of the suitors had finished with their breakfast and were getting ready to spend the day playing competitive sports like football.

My eyes met with Ahmed and he sped up to reach to my side."You should come watch the game Nina, it'll be fun."

Although I wanted to watch some of the men make fools of themselves whilst playing I had to politely decline since today was Monday, which meant I got to spend the day with Nikolai. I was really excited to show him all the good food I was holding. I sauntered my way over to his room and knocked on his door, waiting for either him or his girlfriend to answer.

After a few minutes of waiting I was just about to leave when Nik unlocked his door.

"Sorry for taking long, I was in the bathroom," he answered sheepishly. His eyes dropped down to the bags in my hand. "I assume there's some tasty food in there."

Beaming in response I walked over to the sofa and opened up the packages in the bags. Nik stood behind me, his face full of delight at the sight of all the sweet desserts in front of him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There we have it, the end of another chapter!

What did you all think about Nina and Mateo's morning together?

Who's ready for more action between Nina and her suitors!

Once again, thank you for reading. Don't forget to vote, tag, comment and share this story to friends and family who might be interested.

Stay Safe lovelies!