บท 51: Epilogue
Francine
"Surprised to see me, Princess?" Jeremiah smirked.
To be frank, I did not expect to see him here let alone be completely casual as if nothing had happened. 'Twas as if I hadn't lied and he wasn't heartbroken.
"How..." I had a lot of questions regarding his presence and knowledge of things, but I couldn't voice them out. It was as if a lump got stuck in my throat. I could not find my voice. But then it suddenly clicked.
He was that new guard!
But before I could speak, he stopped me.
"It's alright," He softly spoke. "Besides, I wanted to be the one talking as I called you here."
I simply nodded, still trying to find the right words to say.
He took a deep breath before starting.
"Do you remember the day we officially met in that coffee shop?" I nodded, smiling at the memory.
"Honestly, that was the first time I had ever seen you up close. All those days, I had just been stalking you - or well, stalking Charlie I guess and I'm sorry for that. Although, I realize I should be apologizing to Charlie- but... what the hell! What you don't know doesn't hurt you."
I simply chuckled at his behaviour. He was acting fidgety around me now - the once confident and flirty Jeremiah I knew, was a nervous wreck now.
He chuckled nervously along with me. "However, ever since that day - I felt drawn to you more and more each day. There was this instant...call it a...connection of sorts that I felt. We'd talk for hours- whether on face-time or simply texting. We'd go on dates and just be ourselves. I didn't even know you were a real princess back then. Now I understand why you stiffened all of a sudden when I called you 'Princess'. Those were some good times,"
I laughed and shook my head. God, it felt like it yesterday!
He continued. "The day I brought you home I saw my family warming up to you and to be honest, that was the best feeling in the world! It just felt so right...you fit in so well with my family that for a split second I thought you were a part of it. Even after I found out everything from Phobias, I wasn't ever going to blame you for what you did. I knew you had a valid reason."
So, Phobias did meet him!
I shall catch him later.
"When I woke up each day I had something to look forward to. And I wanna experience that feeling for the rest of my life,"
I blankly stared at him, processing each word.
He smiled, looking at my baffled self.
"What I'm trying to say is..."
"You are my perfect match, Queen Francine Elizabeth Maxwell."
---
Charlie
Just like Hazel had mentioned, he was there - leaning against the rails on the rooftop.
Why was I sweating so profusely? And why was my heart beating so hard like it would rip out of its cage if it could?!
It was just Augustus.
You know better than that! Why don't you just admit it?!
Shut up!
"Hey," I called. Augustus turned to face me with a grin.
"You're here,"
"Well, your sister told me you wanted to see me,"
"That I did," He admitted. I strolled to stand beside him as I took in the surroundings. The sun had set and filled the sky with all its colours (mostly, yellow and red). The silence between us was comfortable. None of us wanted to break this peaceful silence. After all, peace had finally returned to all our lives.
However, all good things must come to an end.
"It's finally over," I broke the silence. "I can't believe McCrae is out of our lives forever!"
He stared at the distance, smiling to himself. "Yeah, it's finally over. We can all return to our normal lives now,"
"New normal lives," I said. "It won't be the same, anymore,"
"I agree,"
The atmosphere was quiet again. Both of us didn't know what to talk about.
Augustus cleared his throat. "So Charlie, what do you plan to do now that everything's over?"
Honestly, I did think about that a lot of times. At first, I wanted to go back and live my normal life. But now, I didn't have anything there. Not the job, not my dad, and definitely not Nicole! She'd be where Sam will be.
I wasn't so sure anymore what I wanted to do with my life.
"Dunno. Haven't planned anything yet," I paused. "What about you? You taking over the throne, right? The new King of Scotland! Honestly, you'd be better than your dad,"
He shook his head, chuckling. "Sorry to burst your bubble, Charlie but I'm not taking over,"
My eyes widened in shock.
"What?!"
He nodded.
"But didn't you wanna take over? You were trained for this! The Kingdom needs you!"
"Relaaaaaax, I realize that. But ever since I met the real you, I've started questioning certain aspects of my life. I wasn't so sure if what I was trained for coincided with what I wanted to do with my life. Turns out, I want something else out of my life,"
His words reminded me of Francine - save the part where Francine was okay with ruling her kingdom but Augustus was planning to run away from the whole thing.
"I am relaxed! I was just shocked to hear that from you,"
He chuckled. "Kind of a surprise, isn't it? Francine's still ruling but I wanna escape from it?"
"Yeah," I paused for a split second before continuing. "What is it that you want from life?"
He turned to face me, his once icy blue eyes radiated a warm blue colour. I could see all the emotions swirling inside of him, his walls finally shattering.
"You," He breathed out.
I froze.
He continued. "You're all I want from this life and the next life, and next, and next...until eternity. You're the one I wanna run back to when I'm tired of fighting. I'm myself when I'm around you. I wanna be with you wherever you go, be your partner-in-crime, help you fight your battles, be there when you're happy, or sad, or just frustrated. I wanna be by your side for the rest of my life and also after I die, if possible. I wanna go on adventures with you and at the end of the day, hold you close to me while admiring the beautiful sky,"
I blinked a few times. Did he...feel that way about me?
My heart swelled with emotions.
I...I didn't know what to say to him.
He smiled.
"Long story short, Charlie Annie Robinson, I don't deserve you, but you're everything I wished for,"
•—The End —•
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