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I groaned and stretched as I left the palace. It felt nice feeling the warm sunlight on my face after such a stuffy day. I glanced at my watch, wondering how much time I had left to make it to class. Kevin was supposed to pick me up in a few minutes since Ashton was away.

I looked up when the sound of footsteps rounded the corner. Raúl came towards me, but his eyes seemed to go right through me as he wandered into the courtyard. His lips were uncharacteristically turned down and he filled the air with sighs.

I went up to him to see what was wrong. He finally noticed I was there and tried to paste on a smile.

“Princesa.”

“You don’t have to call me that, you know,” I smiled.

“I know, but it’s my new nickname for you.”

“Are you okay?” I asked as I sat beside him.

“Yeah.”

“Hey,” I gave him a soft nudge with my shoulder. “It’s just me.”

He sighed and allowed his smile to crumble. “Honestly, no I’m not.”

“What’s wrong? Is it something I can help with?”

“No. It’s just that Thalia and I broke up,” he said softly, kicking a tuft of grass.

So that was why he looked so down. I frowned.

“I’m sorry. I know you liked her quite a lot. Maybe you two can try talking things through,” I suggested.

“I can’t do that anymore.” He shook his head. “She won’t answer her phone. I don’t blame her though, it’s my fault. I should have listened to her. I wanted to make her happy, but I ruined everything instead.”

He ran a distraught hand through his hair, and I patted his shoulder to try and cheer him up.

“Was that a gift?” he asked, nodding to my necklace.

I automatically reached for it and a small smile rose to my face as my fingers ran over the intricate, yet delicate design of the small pendant.

“Yes.”

“It’s the royal flower,” he said with a slight smile. “I’m guessing it’s from Ashton.”

“It is,” I admitted as a blush tinged my cheeks.

It was still pretty hard for me to come to terms with the fact that I had gone out with Ashton. It was even harder to come to terms with the emotions I was feeling towards him. It wasn’t possible for me to like him. Was it?

“I thought giving her gifts would make her happier,” he continued. “I thought it would make her like me more.”

“Well a gift might make her happier, but it doesn’t have to change the way she feels about you. Sometimes it’s the little actions that make a big difference.”

He mulled that over.

“Is that why you broke up?”

“Yes and no,” he said slowly. “I kept buying her gifts, but she said they were too expensive and returned to them to me. I tried to get things that I thought she would like, but they only seemed to make her angry. We argued.” He sighed. “She asked me not to buy anything else and said that if I did, she would end the relationship. I agreed, because I didn’t want to lose her and I didn’t want to make her sad. I thought everything went back to normal until today.”

His eyes blazed angrily as he stared at the ground.

“Did something else happen?”

“She’s gone.”

“Gone?”

“My mother found out about our relationship. Thalia returned everything I’d gotten her, but she had kept the flowers I gave her in a vase in her room. My mother saw those.”

“But they’re just flowers,” I frowned.

“They were a rare kind of flowers that only grow in the southern part of the kingdom” he scratched his neck nervously. “They might have cost a few hundred dollars.”

“Woah.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “She fired her. I found out when I got home. I don’t know where Thalia went and I can’t get through to her.”

He punched the bench with an angry growl. “She was working here to save money for school and now it’s all my fault that she got fired. What should I do?”

“Give her some time,” I suggested. “And give your mom some time to calm down. Maybe she would have been okay with your relationship if you’d talked to her about it first.”

“That wouldn’t have worked,” he snarled. “She would have fired her immediately.”

“But you’re old enough to choose who you want to date,” I protested. “So why is it such a big deal for her?”

“That’s how she’s always been,” he sighed. “Unlike the other guys, I didn’t live as a noble all my life. I was a regular guy until six years ago. Everything was simpler.” A smile crossed his face as the memories of his childhood floated across his mind. “It was the life I wanted. My family wasn’t rich, but we were happy.”

“I didn’t know that. How did you end up here then? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“We were all happy with a simple life. But my mother wasn’t. She constantly asked my father to buy her things. Shoes, bags, dresses… all the designer items that the noble women strut around in. He saved up and finally managed to buy her an expensive bag. She was happy, but she still wanted more. She left him for the Lord of Everton, rank Beta. It turns out she’d had an affair with him years ago. He is actually my biological father. She finally confessed everything before she left my father. He was heartbroken.

“My father couldn’t afford to give my mother a lot, so I wanted to change that. I thought Thalia probably wanted the same things, so I showered her with gifts.”

“I’m sure she appreciated them, Raúl. But material gifts only bring temporary joy. Not everyone enjoys things like that. It can be burdensome, especially when the other person can’t give you anything in return.”

He paused to let that sink in.

“You’re right,” he decided. “I should have paid more attention to her feelings. I got so used to my mother and her friends competing to buy expensive stuff, I just assumed that Thalia wanted to live like that too. I must have hurt her feelings.”

“Did you move in with your mom six years ago?”

“My other siblings chose to stay with our family and I wanted to stay with my dad too, but I was the youngest, and the Lord of Everton's son, so she took me with her despite our protests. So that’s how I met my biological father. He doesn’t have any other children, so I’m stuck here as his heir.”

“That must have been hard for you,” I frowned. “To live a life you don’t want to…” I trailed off. I didn’t want to get trapped like that too.

“It could be worse,” he shrugged. “I still get to visit my family. With them, I don’t have to be Lord Raúl of Winchester, rank Beta. I can just, you know, be me.”

I nodded. “I get what you mean.”

He smiled at that. “My mother can’t accept my choice though. She loves living the life of a Lady. She doesn’t want me to marry someone without a rank. When she found out that my girlfriend was the person who was working for us, she was furious.”

“I don’t get why ranks are so important,” I sighed. “I mean it’s respectable, but is it worth risking your happiness?”

“Are you asking me? Or are you asking yourself?”

I glanced up, suddenly realizing that I was echoing my own doubts.

Raúl flashed me a knowing smile. “It will be okay, princesa. Do what makes you happy.”

“I wish it was that easy.”

“It sounds easier than it is, doesn’t it?” he chuckled. “I know. My future is looking very arranged marriage-ish.”

“That sucks.”

“It does.”

“You can change it,” I said. “You don’t have to do what they want you to.”

“I know. My biological father is not a bad man. He’s depending on me to be his heir and I don’t want to disappoint him either. I’m still trying to decide.”

“I’ll help you in any way I can,” I smiled.

“Muchas gracias, princesa,” (Thank you very much, princess).

He gave me a dimpled smile. “It’s nice speaking Spanish to someone. My mother only speaks to me in English now.”

“Well you can talk to me in Spanish anytime,” I grinned. “That will help me learn it too.”

“Oh yeah?”

I nodded. “I’ll have the Duolingo bird shaking in his boots.”

Raúl’s laugh echoed around the courtyard at this. I grinned, happy that he was feeling a bit better now.

We chatted for a while and then watched as birds did loops in the sky. They were so free.

“I won’t give up,” Raúl said, after a moment. “I’ll take your advice and give Thalia some time. Then I at least want to apologize to her.”

I nodded. “That’s a good thing to do.”

“Do you think love is real?” he asked after another moment of silence. “The romantic kind.”

I thought of my parents. “Yeah.”

A small smile played on his lips. “Then I won’t give up on it.”

“I’ll be cheering you on.”

He pointed at a cluster of purple flowers beside us.

“Those are a special type of flowers,” he explained. “They only bloom when they want to. Each of them blooms at different times of the day, whether it’s rainy or sunny.”

I studied each flower. Some of them were already in bloom while the rest weren’t.

“They bloom without fear,” he continued as he stooped beside the flower bed. “They do it in their own time, when they’re ready.”

He gave me a meaningful smile and pointed at one of the flowers which had suddenly opened its petals.

“Take your time and decide when you want to bloom, princesa. Then you will bloom fearlessly and beautifully. Don’t give up on love either.”

“Thank you, Raúl,” I beamed as he came back over to where I was.

“It’s nothing. I want you to be happy.”

“You’re a sweetheart.”

“Raúl the sweetheart,” he mused. “I guess I am that too.”

“You know a lot about flowers, huh?”

“Let’s just say I did my research,” he said with a slight blush.

“So you have political knowledge and flower knowledge. You really are the great guru,” I teased.

“I am a jack of all trades” he grinned. “Raúl the greatest.”

“Oh yes, Great One,” I giggled, standing up to do a curtsey.

“Raúl’s head is big enough. Don’t hype him up any more.”

We turned towards the voice to see Kevin leaning against a statue with an amused expression.

“Someone sounds jealous of my awesomeness,” Raúl teased.

“I’m taking Liz away from you. Your delusionality might be contagious.”

Raúl pouted at that and I couldn’t help but laugh at their banter.

“Good luck with Thalia,” I winked as I hugged him goodbye and left with Kevin.

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