Raashid was living his life at it's fullest for the past few weeks.

And it was all thanks to his friend Adailia.

After Adailia stopped chasing after him and became his friend, his life took a complete 180° turn.

Not only was he having fun talking and discussing things with her, but also taking her advice for the empire into consideration, which was surprisingly good.

He never knew Adailia was smart.

Sure her brother and father were the pride of the nation, but she never showed anything other than her psychotic and obsessive nature.

But now that she had shown him how smart and a fun person she actually was, Raashid wished she would've 'opened her eyes' a bit earlier.

He had everything he ever wished for right now.

A group of friends, happiness and someone to love.

Love.

He felt all giggly and butterflies erupted in his stomach as if he was some teenage girl having her first crush and not the Empire's Crown Prince.

But he can't help it.

Just the sight of those black hair was enough to make him smile ear to ear.

Raashid never knew what love was.

His mother and father being the Empress and Emperor were always busy. His mother would spend only one hour with him once a week as a kid and his father once a month.

Sure he had Mari and Caiden who cared a lot about him, but sometimes, he would feel as if the two of them were more close to each other than to him.

But Raashid was fine.

He didn't need love.

Because....he was afraid of it

The only type of love he ever experienced as a child was of Adailia's- controlling and psychotic.

Every time he would ask her to leave him alone, to stop hurting people around him, to let him breathe without feeling her presence, she would tell him that she can't because she 'loved' him.

If that's how love is, Raashid didn't need it.

But then he met Rose.

Her black hair went well with her fair skin. Her emerald eyes, which were so similar to someone, yet Raashid could never pinpoint who it was, because, by the time he tried to figure who those emeralds belong to, he was already lost in them. And being drunk didn't help it.

They had barely met more than 6 times. But that was enough for Raashid to fall in love with Rose's simple and funny nature.

"You ready?" Asked Mari, Raashid nodded and Caiden just huffed but did nod.

They were going to the bar.

For the last time.

Barely two months were remaining till Raashid was announced as the Emperor and the amount of paperwork he had reached the sky.

But he still had to go.

He had to see Rose.

And confess.

Raashid was not sure if Rose liked him. Just like he wasn't sure of her age. When he first met Rose he was sure she was around his age, if not, then younger. However, when Rose was on her fifth glass, she starts calling Raashid child, kid or any other synonym for that.

That confused Raashid. He was so obviously a man.

He then started thinking she didn't see him as a man. But then she calls Caiden 'baby and innocent pure child' which makes Raashid feel a bit better, thinking she doesn't think of anyone as a man.

So maybe he could take a chance and become a man from a child in her eyes.

She could always reject him, but if she said yes... She can become his lover. Then later his Empress. And then they can do all the couple things he read in that romance novel which he stole, no, borrowed from under Mari's bed for tips and pick up lines.

His face burned at the thought while Caiden threw him a stink eye.

Caiden had been moody because last time he didn't went drinking with them, Mari refused to take Caiden and only Raashid and he sneaked out.

Mari was not willing to take Caiden to the bar because the last time they went there together, Caiden cried and ran half the town in the middle of the night and even though Mari was a mean and 'doesn't give a fuck' kind of a person, he was not going to let his childhood friend die in a ditch and ran after him.

Mari, not being athletic could not keep up with Caiden and was thankful when he passed out while running.

But then the problem arrived as to how in the hell would Mari take this bulk of a dumb boy back to the bar, which was at the other end of the town.

He obviously couldn't.

Mari had been developing stronger mana and was able to perform the toughest of the spells and create complicated magic circles. Water was still his strongest strength, but he was also developing different powers because of his growing mana. One of them was teleportation. So he used that, dropping Caiden in the palace and leaving Raashid and Rose alone.

Mari when woke up the next morning, thought he was forgetting something and when he realised what he forgot he teleported back to the bar to find Raashid passed out outside in the alley where the bar workers had left him with some other drunkards.

After the orphanage incident, Mari was allowed to use magic outside the school grounds, in case of emergency. But he obviously misused that.

"Then I'm opening it." Mari said and started muttering some words with a lot of concentration and hands outstretched.

After a minute or so a silver huge circle appeared on the floor with detailed designed patterns.

Raashid and Caiden jumped in and landed on their feet in the alley just a corner away from the bar.

Mari soon teleported himself and the trio made their way inside the bar, dressed like common people and having their hood on, just in case if they spotted someone who knew them, though that was a very rare possibility.

As soon as Raashid entered the bar, his eyes searched for the familiar black hair and when landed on the said person, a smile instantly took its place on his lips.

They had agreed on meeting on this date.

When those emeralds caught the sight of the trio, instantly brightened and she waved at them, a bright smile on her lips which had Raashid's heart beating loudly against his rib cage.

"Hey, Cinnamon! I missed you." She greeted Caiden first when they approached the table in commoner's language.

Raashid's smile dropped a bit when she wished Caiden first.

What about me?

"Oh, Rose! I missed you too." Caiden said, giving her his charming smile. Raashid sometimes didn't want Caiden near Rose. He couldn't have her falling in love with Caiden's charm. His heart would probably not be able to bear that.

"Hey Radish. Good to see you." She greeted him, instantly lifting up his mood.

"Hey, Rose. It's good to see you too." He greeted Rose, the love of his life.

When they were seated, they ordered beer and started talking about what they were doing the last week.

Raashid had mentally prepared what he was going to lie about doing this week just to keep the conversation lively, Caiden and Mari just nodded or added in a word or two but did not elaborate much.

Though most of the time, Raashid would forget what he was going to say just by looking at Rose's happy face and he started wondering how in the world was he going to confess without fainting.

That is why Caiden (though angry) suggested a day prior that he drink up some more, cause he would need some 'liquor courage'. Mari, however, was against the idea of 'liquor courage', saying Raashid's drunk ass would just end up puking on Rose.

And like the 'smart' person Raashid was, he never listened to Mari and always believed in Caiden's dumb advice.

So that day, he got extra drunk, while Caiden was not allowed over glass by Mari.

Coincidentally, Rose too, drank a bit too much. Rose was the best drinker amongst them but she would usually pass out after her seventh glass and her brother, who looked nothing like her, with white hair and red eyes would come to pick her up.

At first, Raashid didn't believe him, but he was always on the edge after Rose passes out so he only lasts a minute longer before he himself gets consumed by darkness.

That day Rose was able to drink up her eighth glass, but she looked so sleepy and barely alive that they had to call it a day.

Raashid quickly told Mari to stay where he was because he had to confess to Rose.

Raashid then rushed out following Rose to the dark alley.

"Rose!", Raashid called.

Rose stopped, stumbling a bit and hummed. Her eyes growing heavy every passing second and she looked delirious. Rose was walking towards the same alley where the reaper waited for her each time and was currently leaning against the wall watching the incoming drama.

"I-i..." Raashid couldn't bring himself to say anything as he stared at Rose's face.

Then he remembered what Caiden advised him and his eyes went down to her pink plump lips.

Raashid gulped.

He slowly approached Rose, who was swaying and tripping even as she stood.

He brought his hand up to gently cup her cheek.

Then he brought his lips down to meet her.

As soon as her soft lips touched his, Raashid panicked.

What if she doesn't like this?! What if she slaps me because I'm a bad kisser?!

But his worries disappeared when Rose moved her own lips.

He took that as a sign to continue and moved his lips against her slowly and gently, one of his hand caressing her cheek while the other running through her straight black hair. He's been practicing on his pillow every night before sleeping.

He was lost in the kiss when he felt Rose slip her tongue in his mouth. Soon they were battling for dominance.

Adailia did say that kisses involve tongues.

He thought as he closed his eyes.

And just when he did that Rose blacked out completely and went limp, her head lulled over her side.

Raashid in panic, grabbed her waist while his other hand was still tangled with Rose's hair.

Or rather, Rose's hair, or what he thought was her hair, were still tangled in his hand.

Yeah.

Her wig just slipped.

He looked at the familiar pink hair and his eyes widened like saucers as he stared at the girl in front of him.

It was Adailia.

His friend.

Shocked, he accidentally dropped her on the floor with a thud, causing Rose, or now Adailia, to mutter a curse (while still sleeping) directed towards the reaper who, her subconscious mind thought, was carrying her, while the white-haired guy was clutching on his stomach barely able to contain his laughter.

Hearing her body slam on the floor broke Raashid's reverie. He quickly got down and scooped her up in his arms in bridal style, apologizing for his rudeness, while gawking at her face in confusion.

Now, a normal person would've put two and two together and figured out what was going on.

But drunk Raashid was dumb Raashid.

Adailia? What's she doing here? And where did Rose go?

Drunk Raashid simply couldn't understand why his friend was in his arms while the love his life just disappeared out of nowhere.

"Ahh! She just had to ruin it! It was so fun!" Came a laughing voice as Raashid turned to see Rose's so-called brother, his red eyes glistening with amusement

The reaper was able to become visible but did not tell Adailia that and let people think she was a lunatic cause he loved messing with her. He was now visible to human eyes and was going to take Adailia back home since the show was over.

He tried to take Adailia from Raashid but Raashid kept a firm grip on her as he stared at the guy (or two guys, he didn't know) in front of him.

"Where are you taking her? And who are you?" He asked. Even though he was drunk, he was not about to let his friend be taken away by a stranger.

"Her brother." The guy with white hair simply said and again tried to take Adailia from his grip, "Didn't I tell you that earlier as well?"

"No, you said you were Rose's brother. This is Adailia. Her brother is Aiden." Raashid said.

The white-haired reaper stared at him incredulously before sighing and mumbling, "God, help this child."

Raashid frowned. He could now see four white-haired men.

"Look, she is Rose." The guy said, pointing at Adailia.

"No. Rose is Rose. Adailia is Adailia." Rasshid said with finality and stared at the four guys in front of him with a weird look on his face, wondering why they were spewing such nonsense.

Then he started wondering where Rose went.

He looked around to see if Rose was still there but everything was becoming more blur.

The white-haired guy took this as an opportunity to silently scope up Adailia and leave.

But Rashid still caught up the moment.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rasshid asked lowly, taking out his dagger as he realised that this guy is trying to kidnap his friend.

The white-haired reaper panicked and thought about distracting Raashid and said the first thing that came to his mind, "Nice kissing skills, bro!" He said with a thumbs up.

Raashid then lowered his arm and smiled proudly, "Thanks. I practiced a -"

Raashid blacked out after that, slumping on to the ground.

The reaper sighed in relief and disappeared with Adailia just as Mari came out to check if Raashid puked on Rose or what, just find him passed out on the dirty ground.

Mari then called out Caiden for help and teleported all three of them to the palace.

__

____

Raashid woke up a bit late the next day. His throat was dry and his head pounded a bit.

He sat on his bed and gulped down the water on his nightstand when suddenly the images of yesterday's event flashed in his mind.

He dropped the glass.

He couldn't believe what he had done.

And what he had discovered.

Rose, the love of his life, was Adailia, his former enemy but now a friend.

Several things went through Raashid's brain at once.

She tricked me. She knew who I was but she didn't say anything and sweet-talked her way into my heart.

A voice in his head said.

No.

Raashid thought firmly.

I was the one who approached her first. I was the one who talked to her first. She could've been just drinking that day like me when we met for the first time. It all could've been coincidental. Maybe, she didn't say anything because she didn't want to get caught too.

Raashid knew how nice Adailia and Rose were. Adailia has changed. He knew that. He believed that.

But somewhere deep in his mind, he still couldn't help but think negatively. What if it was all her plan from the start? What if is she is still the same Adailia who he once knew?

And what about his feelings?

He loved Rose.

But what about Adailia?

He didn't have any romantic feelings for her.

But both of them are the same bloody person!

His conscience screamed at him.

He knew that. But just couldn't accept it.

He needed time to sort out his thoughts.

And feelings.