In the Loch cottage…

The loch's garden was covered with Christmas lights and white paper lanterns. The end of the garden was a cliff and beyond that was a glittering body of water that was a part of the loch. The property had beautiful scenery brought by the towering tall trees and colourful gardens, plus the body of water that just run across the side of it. ​​

The cliff was particularly high from the body of water that ran down below, so the Montarini's had to create a long stair going down to a small ducking area where Huzey's tug boat was nesting.

This property originally belonged to the Dugmoch's, but over the years, the diamond prince got Dr. Miles permission to develop the place and put up a cottage in there for the trios to retreat into if they needed such. However since the property proved more useful to the diamond prince because of his plans of creating an underwater museum, Dr. Miles was planning to give off the property to him.

The thin moonlight added to the beauty of the night, it looked like a crystal diamond pasted in the sky together with dots of stars sparkling around it, they acted as a beautiful picturesque on the Little Missus' birthday party.

There were only few guests who attended—most were from the Montarini and Dugmoch's household and few of their neighbours, making the party a very private and intimate event. Xhemin was there wearing a vintage floral dress with yellow daises in it, her long ebony hair was braided and was laid out neatly in her shoulder. She just looked so perfect for spring time, so was the two boys who wore the same shade of floral polo and shorts.

The night was perfect and the laughter and lively bust of country music was making the party full of fun. Every maidservants and labourers were dancing and cheering while the rest were enjoying themselves with the blast of party drinks. Senior Hans and Dr. Dugmoch were there in one corner cheering for the crowd of people who were running around the dance floor.

"The trees are green in spring time and the flowers are…la la..la.." Ziggy was singing while dancing gleefully with maidservants in the dance floor. He was having a great time and didn't miss any songs that were on the beat.

"Huzey stop playing that drum and come and dance with me!" Ziggy shouted at the Diamond prince who was sitting with the live band hitting off an old wooden made drum. Xhemin was beside him, sitting on one of the instrument's box while sipping off a drink.

Huzey just shook his head dismissing Ziggy's plea. However despite his reluctance to join in any form of dance, his face was beaming with brightness and enjoyment showing how entertained he was with everyone who was partying.

"He's stealing the night" Huzey glanced at Xhemin in a voice loud enough for her to hear "Go and dance with them!"

"I've been dancing all night, my feet already sores" She answered back while offering Huzey her own cup of drink. Since Huzey's hands were busy with the drum, he drunk off the drink she offered with his mouth while Xhemin was holding the cup.

"This one is really delicious," Xhemin told him while holding the cup for him, making sure the prince get enough taste of the drink.

Huzey nodded in agreement after tasting it. "I guess it was a new mixture of Ladies drink Ziggy had created"

"He finished it up already?" She asked raising a brow at the thought. It was only a week since Ziggy narrated how his father asked him to create a new mixture of party drinks and seemed that Ziggy had brought the first sample to her party. Ziggy wanted to be a doctor but being a Montreal, it was innate in him to have skills in making wines and drinks—wines and liquors were the their family's official line of business that had stood strong for many centuries, and so it was kind of expected that such skill runs in their blood.

"He had brought a couple of galloons I guess" Huzey tell off.

"A free taste on my birthday" She said laughing about the thought "What a good advertising scheme"

Huzey smiled at her remark and focused on hitting the drums again for the people dancing happily in the dance floor.

Xhemin went to refill her glass, leaving Huzey at the mini stage created for the band. She went into the table where the foods and drinks where and as she was filling her cup, she heard some weird faint sound coming from underneath the table. Creasing her brow upward, she instantly bent down and checked underneath only to find a squirrel eating up a round of cookie secretly down below.

"You little beast" She said with a smirk "You are stealing my party food"

She watched the small animal finishing up and although the squirrel knew that he had been caught, he didn't run away. This particular squirrel was used to her presence since she and the two boys had been regularly rummaging around the loch cottage and were very friendly with animals. So the little creatures in the loch were not afraid of them anymore.

"Here" She reached out another cookie to the pretty little thing "Where are your friends little beast?"

She was referring to the other squirrels around but it seemed that something caught up in her throat when she realized she had been calling the thing little beast.

Beast.

Well, of course he won't come. He didn't promise her anyway and also it would only be chaotic round here if he suddenly appears.

Xhemin sighed. For the first time she realized the complicatedness of falling into a man like him—a man like the Lagdameo heir.

Why did Darryl turn out to be the Lagdamoe heir? She seemed to be just an annoying coach back then in the conference.

Fate.

How playfully fate had been.

Xhemin's thoughts about the beast give her some emptiness and for once, the lively music that was filling the place turned into a deafening sound that seemed not to fit the thing she was feeling—cold.

Suddenly she felt weary and the crowd of people laughing and dancing exhausted her. For once she stood up and walk away from the party, she needed a little peace, a little fresh air, a little solitude to ease her mind. And she had the perfect place for that.

Without making the crowd notice, Xhemin went into the cliff and started stepping down the duck. Since the cliff was high, she was rather sure the music will not sound as deafening up in the garden. Perhaps she can have a little privacy down the duck and have all the freedom let go of the emotions she felt and come back before everyone will notice her absence.

"Hey" A call halted Xhemin's steps in the rocky cliff stairs. She looked up and saw the diamond prince looking at her with curiosity. "What are you going to do down there"

Caught off guard, Xhemin took a few moments to pause before answering "I don't know. Probably do some thinking"

Huzey's once bright face slowly fade in to a neutral look "You okay?"

"I'm fine…of course I'm fine" She answered faking up a smile at him before withdrawing it. There's no point in faking up emotions around Huzey, that doesn't make her comfortable. Huzey was her best friend, so was Ziggy, and there's nothing in the world she wouldn't tell them—more so hiding off what's really in her head.

"I just need some fresh air, that's all" She plainly told him and she knew although the words she uttered were vague, Huzey will already understand what it meant. They had memorized each other completely and so they knew each other's gestures and words.

"Well it's not safe down there alone" Huzey settled as he understood that the girl needed some privacy.

"Let me accompany you, I promised I won't say a word down there…" Knowing that she wanted to be alone undisturbed, he made a promise to be of no trouble to her.

"Okay," She permitted. Huzey was the kind of friend who would just look at you and pretend he doesn't exist at all when you needed some space. On different occasions while growing up, she can't count the times she needed to be alone and the diamond prince will be just sitting by her side, reading a book or doing nothing, watching over her while she overcome her own emotions.

Xhemin continued descending in cliff while Huzey followed behind. They were no words uttered further but suddenly a loud cracking a gushing sound made them halted their steps in panic. They both looked up to where the sound came from and saw a big tree falling off toward them.

"Xhemin!" Huzey screamed when he saw how the girl was stunned upon the view of it and knowing it will hit them both, he grabbed the girl toward him to protect her from any casualty. He did it as per his instinct, an attempt to protect Xhemin form the fall off.

Xhemin closed her eyes knowing that it was impossible to avoid the accident. She felt Huzey's body covering hers and felt some pain in her shoulder before everything went off in span of seconds. She felt her heart beating still as she grabbed the tingling pain in her shoulders, her hands wet and she knew she bleed from there. The accident shook her knees, almost ready to give up, so she grabbed on to something she could at the cliff's wall where the stairs was adjoined into and waited for the pain to ease.

It didn't take long before she heard everyone running to the cliff.

"I saw the Little Miss and the prince strolling here few seconds ago" Someone shouted that aggravated the chaos.

"Xhem! Huzey!" Someone called, more like Ziggy's voice.

Xhemin's shoulders were very heavy and although she was still conscious, she was almost fainting from what happened. She opened her eyes and looked up only to find the shadows of the people from the top. That part of the garden was not well lighted so she cannot recognize them clearly and her injury was blurring her senses.