𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺.

♥️

I woke up with a throbbing pain in my back and a heavyweight on my chest.

I looked down to see princess Asleep on my chest with her hair was tossed around while her hand was right above my wound making sure I wasn't directly sleeping on it since I did not wear a shirt today.

In a way, it warmed my heart.

It made me feel warm at the way she cares, she always did small things, but things that valued. I every moment I spent with her was one that made me feel like I belonged, and I welcomed it. It's weird to put it in words but I crave to belong, maybe it's because I am an orphan with no parents but my only wish is to belong.

Belong to someone.

When my dad died I spent a lot of time resenting my mom, why did she leave us? Weren't we enough for her? Was I a bad kid?

But with time, I learned that I'll never know maybe that's why I know how Sierra feels. I understand why she blames herself, even when she's done absolutely nothing wrong.

One of the reasons I resented Mary, initially was because of this. I don't stand in a position to question her but I want to, I hold grudges. I hold grudges because she never anything. Of course, I'm grateful that she was always there for princess but why did she never try to help princess run away? Ah didn't she report to the police? Why didn't she do something?

Why did she decided to stand back, look at princess suffer and then later help her heal? Why not protect for once and for all?

The questions were unending and so were my thoughts, I know princess loves Mary, like her mother, but princess is after all...princess.

She'll never blame anyone, she'll never question anyone and at the same time, how could she even think of question someone who is like a mother to her.

I understand princess, but as someone whose seeing this from a third-person perspective, I feel bothered and protective.

Protective because this is my life we are talking about.

My princess.

I looked down to see Sierra open her eyes and look back at me, she made no effort to get up and neither did I.

We enjoyed each other's company, and I decided that now was the time.

I'll tell her, what I plan on doing next.

I ignored the pain in my back muscles and started running my hands through princesses long brown locks.

"yesterday, when I went to visit those monsters, I also talked with my lawyer" I started and maintained strong eye contact with princess, I needed to let her know that she succeeded.

I needed to let her know, she won.

"Your father, I have filed more than ten different legal charges against him ranging from fraud, misrepresentation, stealing and malpractices to abuse and harassment. As for Harry, he's going in for life imprisonment, I made sure of that."

I said, giving the outline of where our conversation was heading as princess kept staring at me intently.

I took a deep breath and continued, "the company, your dad's company, it's bankrupt and there are two options. One, I seize all the profits or two, I revive it. The papers you s-stole, they proved that the designs your dad was using weren't actually his own."

Princesses hands, curled up, now holding my shirt tightly in them.

"I want you to make the decision, princess. This isn't my fight alone now, it's our fight and if you want to end the company, I'll do it immediately, and if not, I'll get to work for that as well."

I smiled and caressed princesses cheeks while I continued, "I've been blessed with one heck of a woman, a woman who can rule her own empire and needs no king. I know, that when you will make the decision, it won't be in vain. I know you understand business and how it runs while you also understand the emotions that are attached to it, for us. Right now, whatever decision you make, will be the final decision. No questions asked I trust you, completely. But, know that, if you plan on reviving the company, This time around, you will hold a position in it. Enough of staying inside and letting your talent go to waste, you're one heck of a businesswoman, potentially the best one out there and I will always stand beside you through thick and thin. Take the call, love"

Princess pulled back slightly and sat up straight, while she continued staring at the space in front of her.

Maybe she needs time to decide.

Internally, I was dying to hear her speak, but I knew better than to pressure her.

I pushed myself to get up and struggled with the ridiculous amount of pain in my back. Soft hands pushed me back onto the mattress and I looked up to see princess frowning.

"S-stay" she mumbled and laid down next to me again.

I turned and looked at the time to see it was seven in the morning, humming to what princess said, I tried turning towards her but failed.

When princesses noticed it, she immediately placed her head in my shoulder again, pushing herself closer to me helping me calm down.

I looked down to see Champ, still asleep on his bed near the washroom.

"Let's sleep for some more time, love" I mumbled and both of us drifter back to sleep in each other's embrace.

♥️

The next time I woke up, Sierra was still sleeping...thankfully.

I gently rolled her on the bed completely and grunted at the pain in my back.

I have to do it.

I took a deep breath and ignored the pain completely hoping to sit up straight, once I was up I pulled the laptop from my bedside table and started going through all the emails and contracts.

After around another hour, I heard princess whimper and immediately put down my laptop turning towards her.

She kept whimpering for a few minutes and then suddenly opened her eyes as though trying to run away from her nightmares.

Without creating too much chaos, I pulled princesses head onto my lap and started talking to her calmly, trying to calm her down.

Once princess calmed down I decided to get up and get breakfast but just then, someone knocked on the door startling princess.

"Come in" I expected Maya to walk in but instead, Xander peeped in and smirked once our eyes met.

"Never In a thousand years did I imagine that I'll have to knock on your door, but I guess, it is what it is. Didn't want to scare myself by seeing things I shouldn't have" Xander said and playfully shrugged, walking up to the bed and sitting on one end of it.

"At least, you're learning with time," I said, rolling my eyes.

Xander looked down at princess and smile faded slightly, "hi popcorn, how are you? I really want to be an older brother to you but I feel like I'm failing miserably"

Sierra looked up at Xander and slowly sat up, she continued staring at him for a few minutes before breaking the eye contact and looking down again.

Xander pulled something out of his pocket and smiled at Sierra, "it's okay popcorn, don't worry, here, look what I got?"

He took princesses hands in his and placed a small stone in her hands.

I frowned and continued to stare at the scene in front of me.

"You're giving her a...stone?" I asked Xander with a raised eyebrow and shrugged at me I looked at Sierra to see her eyes were stuck on the stone in her hand.

What's with the stone?

"M-m-moon-" Sierra tried to speak but failed, Xander smiled at princess and patted her head lovingly.

"Yes popcorn, it's a natural moonstone. You won't be able to speak for some time even if you want to because you haven't spoken in a long time. Give it time, you'll get used to speaking again, okay?" Xander said and smiled at Sierra who continued staring at her stone.

"When will you stop causing trouble, I hate that I don't hate you honestly." Xander continued, now with a change in his tone as he stared at me with narrowed eyes.

"Who even told you that I don't already hate you?" I backfired and Xander decided to smile back at me sarcastically.

"Seeing how it's you, who calls my personal secretory every evening to keep a check on my health instead of straight away calling me, speaks a lot" Xander grumbled, making me want to throw him out of the room, I hated it when people realise I care.

"You, Xan, are not worth a talk. If you have a problem, you'll hide it from me, that's the only way you handle things in life, by hiding them instead of sharing them. A moron, that's what you are" I grunted, talking back.

"Well, you preach but fail to follow. Who needs a doctor now, me or you? And why didn't you call? Clearly, you're the moron, in this case, you moron." I rolled my eyes and decided to ignore what Xander was saying when suddenly, the most unexpected thing happened.

A burst of small laughter echoed through the room, while I and Xan looked at Sierra, in relief. My princess was laughing, she wasn't laughing out loud but at least, she was happy.

I looked up at Xander and he nodded at me, reassuring me but this was good.

Princess was healing.

"Enough distractions, lay down" Xander ordered and I frowned looking at him.

"What?"

"Lay down, Moron. I check to check the injury, you decided to not tell me about. Fun fact, just like you talk to my secretory, I too, talk to a lot of people to keep up with you" Xander said, smiling sarcastically at me.

I grumbled and refused to move, why do I even care for him?

Idiot.

"L-lay" Princess said softly and pushed my shoulder gently, trying to make me lay down as Xander smirked.

He knew he won, idiot.

I laid down, on my stomach as Xander went to the washroom and got the first aid box again. "I'm going to wrap it up, again and create a few pre-wrapped bandages for you to change into. Don't you dare think, you can get away with bullsh!t, I'll come back and check on you every two-three days" Xander said and pressed on my back with some extra force making me choke because of the pain, to reinforce his point.

I felt a soft hand wrap around mine as I looked up to see princess looking at me, with worry clear in her eyes.

"I'm okay, don't worry" I mumbled, trying to calm princess down.

"He's okay popcorn, morons like him won't let you live in peace that easily. Anyways, Maya's gonna be here with some seaweed soup and salad soon, she called me some time ago" Xander reassured.

I scoffed at the first half of the statement and decided to ignore Xander's presence completely.But internally, I cherished these moments.

These moments are exactly what make it worth fighting the world for, these people are the ones I'll always fight the world for.

"I'm okay, I really am," I said, softly, to no one in particular.

I felt sierras hand tighten her hold around me for a brief moment, and I looked up at her to see her looking back at me, this time with a new brightness in her eyes.

"K-keep com-company, w-w-with safe"

I smiled, can this day get any better?

Xander hummed not understanding the situation completely, "Alex, did you get stabbed because you were trying to have your main character moment, looking like a fighter or something?"

Of course, the idiot decided to ruin the moment.

♥️

Did you guys like it? 🥺

I might take a week extra for the next upload because I have exams going on, and well, these are my first semester exams and I can't mess up.

Pray for me 🥲

Anyways, my friend has this amazing book called 'render me starless' on her profile and you should totally check it out :)

𝓥𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓒𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓐𝓷𝓭𝓕𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀

𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮- 𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪.𝘩𝘢𝘩𝘢