Princess was sitting in front of his favourite bosses' uncle- Marcus Johnston. Unlike Cut Throat who was who he said he was, and did what he said he would do, Marcus Johnston was a wild card. Too coward to really live his life the way he wanted to. Princess stared at him in confusion, how did he get to become this way? How could he after growing up with the privileged life that very few people across the globe get to live, still not really know who he was?

"I called you here..........because well I'm sure you already know.........you're best friend probably already told you.........." He said waiting for Princess to bite the bait. But Princess did not take it, he should be man enough to at least say what he wants to say. He feigned ignorance "tell me what Marcus?" he asked slowly, he could see the irritation show on Marcus's face. Sigh, Good Lord just spit it out already ! Princess thought irritably

"Judy is expecting .............my baby..." Marcus said finally. Princess wanted to roll his eyes, he couldn't contain his irritation with him

"Un hun......and ? Will you be taking responsibility?" Princess asked

"Of course I am ! You think I will let a Johnston heir just roam around growing up in destitute conditions !"

"And there it is ! The reason WHY she doesn't want to give you the time of day !" Princess said, exaggerating his hand movements, "Now you just asking for it..."

"What are you going on about ......."Marcus asked

"Look Marcus this is absurd. You want the baby? Well then make peace with the mother as well...it's just that simple....when you say things like 'destitute conditions' ........you know what that is? That is plain disrespectful! Because those 'destitute conditions' were good enough for you to make the baby?" Princess spat out at Marcus

"Hey ! Look ! that's not what I meant !" He said growing red in the face, Princess puffed,

"Did you put her up to this ? Because that's exactly what she said to me...and she's never spoken to me like that before ..."

Princess huffed again "Oh you wish, she's been far too kind with you ! You know what Marcus just be a man !"

"Be a man you say? Funny thing it coming from you !"

"Oh I'm all man honey !" Princess said swaying his hands again, "You are just a jerk, get it together and start treating Judy the way she deserves to be treated...........WITH RESPECT" Princess said, slamming down his glass of water, while getting up and heading out of the restaurant.

Urgghhhhhhh ! Marcus Johnston just makes him so angry, the complete opposite of his younger nephew. Just wait until he hears about this......Princess thought as he sashayed his way to his pink convertible.

********************

Leila was really nervous on the days leading up to the Royal Ball. As far as she could remember she had never been to anything remotely close to such an event. Her Aunt Margot made sure of that. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she wasn't a people's person either, so she wasn't sure how she was going to handle being in a social climate with her fellow peers at Royal High.

She wouldn't be surprised though if they were all made to sit in some corner and watch the others have a ball.......could that be the idea? But when she asked the other beggars, none of them mentioned anything like that, to her surprise she found out it was the one event, where they were in fact 'allowed' to mingle with the other kids, but there was something in that, that still tugged at the dignity of the charity kids Leila thought feeling oddly sad.

She remembered telling Loide and Clifford about her predicament; well it was quite simple really. She had nothing to wear, she didn't have a clue about make-up and hair and what not. Nothing compared to what Pearl , Alicia, and Oliya would talk about non-stop anyways.

Mr. Clifford, had been very generous and kind towards Leila, and more than that, he really knew what he was doing! Together with Ally the head stylist, Clifford, and Ms. Loide her head secretary, the team worked tirelessly to find something that would really suite Leila's style. At first they bought along a variety of pieces of clothing together with sketches and designs from across the globe with well established brands. But nothing that they showed really felt authentic to Leila, some of them were entirely too exposing and left very little for the imagination, some of them were too restricting on her body that she thought about how she would even walk in it let alone go to a ball, and others were just straight up weird.

"Err...Mr Clifford?" Leila asked meekly after another grueling session where she had to try on dozens of designer dresses

"Yes Ms Adams?"

"May I make a suggestion?"

"Yes....sure, please go ahead..."

"Any chance we can try some people.....designers I mean......who are not so well established?"

Clifford, Ally and Loide all looked to each other a little puzzled

"What do you mean Ms Leila?" Loide asked her cautiously

"Well.......you know how you have bought me item pieces from very specific designers ?"

They nodded their head in agreement

"Well.........I was thinking........what if........we tried to use brands that are not so well established...?

"You mean designers who are not so famous?"

Leila nodded her head hoping that they would understand what she was alluding to

Ally dramatically put her hand to her mouth "That's an excellent idea ! Excellent initiative ! I've seen A-list celebs do that all the time ! They use not so familiar talent and give them exposure ! Why sure we could do that !" Leila sighed in relief, that she didn't have too much convincing or explaining to do.

And there in their journey began. She found something she liked. She liked it for several reasons, firstly it wasn't made out of some rare African diamonds, it also wasn't that labour intensive, she felt comfortable knowing that it didn't take an army of people to stitch her dress, and most importantly it was practical. It allowed her to move, and was easy on the body. All in all, when she had tried on the dress for the final fitting , she really liked it. Wow. She said looking at herself in front of the mirror. It fit like a glove and was unique.

There was a sharp knock on her door

"Ms Leila everything alright in there? Can I help you zip it up?" came the voice of Ally

"Ye.....yes......can you come help me zip it up ....please?" she said quietly still staring at her reflection

Ally and Loide stepped in to her dressing room. Their jaws dropped onto the floor

"Wooooooooow........" Ms Loide said in a whisper, Ally had her mouth still hanging open

"I don't believe it......." She said meekly, and emotionally, Leila turned around in shock looking at Ms Ally, she dramatically took out a tissue and burst into tears....

"Wh.....what...is it?" Leila said in shock......feeling bewildered at their head stylists behavior "...... is everything alright ? Ms. Ally?"

"She's just very passionate about her work Ms. Leila" Loide said rubbing the shoulders of Ally in a comforting gesture. "And to be honest......she's never had to dress a female before....... she's always researching on trends, styles, forecasting new features but she's never been able to work to her full potential before...you know?" she said ".....I'm sure it must be a very emotional moment for her." Ms. Loide finished, smiling in pride at Ally

"It's just that.......she looks so beautiful.........and t-t-t-t-to think...that it was a biigg gamble of my car...career...I was re-re-really haf-haf-having nightmares thinking if I could pull it off ....but you look so.....owwwwwww..." Ally said bursting into tears again. "There... there" Loide said, gently patting her again....

Leila stared in shock at the sight of her, jeez the rich are really a special kind of crazy to think she got emotional about clothes !

"Err...Well how about we get Mr. Clifford in?" Leila said awkwardly, Loide quickly turned to the door opening it "You are not going to believe what she looks like..." Leila could hear her telling him

Leila turned around so that Mr. Clifford could get a look at her attire, he was a lot more composed than Ally, but with the sudden wet corners of his eyes, Leila could tell it meant a lot to him as well , "Ahem........." He cleared his throat softly "Master Zach is going to be blown away.......as am I Ms. Adams...." He said softly making Leila blush. And then suddenly as though getting out of his trance and in a sudden business like tone "Great! Now that we found the dress, Ally please get the hair and make-up teams ready, Loide, you are responsible for the shoes and accessories"

"Got it" Ally said matter of factly and switched on her Bluetooth piece and immediately walked out of the dressing room, with her clipboard in hand

"Yes I'm on it!" Loide said matter of factly as she too, stood up to go out with a determined look on her face

"Ms. Leila? Your other staff will help you change out of your outfit?" Leila nodded in response "...I will be leaving now, I have a short meeting with my event management team, and I must say I am just soooo happy with your choice!"

"Yes, this African Designer really out did himself......." Leila said enthusiastically

*****************************

Zach stood in anticipation at the bottom of the stair landing, waiting for his partner to arrive. The day of the Royal High School Ball had finally arrived. And today he let the worries of the world fall away as he wanted to savior this moment for the rest of his life. As per usual none of his staff had mentioned anything about Leila's preparation for the Royal Ball as they were under strict instruction from Leila to not tell him a word, so to be honest he didn't know what to expect. But today felt like the most normal day in a teenage boys life. Waiting for his date, so he could go to a high school ball. And he loved it.

"Okay , okay, stop texting every 5 seconds, I'll be down in a sec" Leila replied to his text

"You said that like 10 minutes ago..." he responded. Why was he so nervous? It's not like he hadn't seen her before, but for some reason his heart trembled and his body was shaking, it was such a strange feeling for him. Even when he was caught in a deadly situation conducting operations for C40, he never felt so nervous, not even when he went through his training phase with C40 did he feel so nervous....but today it was a new feeling altogether for him.

It wasn't just him, it was his whole staff and Leila's staff that were lined up waiting for her to arrive. There was exciting chatter all around them, and Zach felt their excitement rub off on him.

He frowned checking on his phone again, it had been 5 minutes since he last spoke to her, should he text her again? But just then he felt the exciting chatter all around him subside, into a deadly silence. It was as though he could almost hear pin drop silence, and he put the phone back into his pocket looking up, his eyes meeting with hers...she stood in front of them all, at the top of the staircase with Ms Loide , Ally and Mr. Clifford by her side........ There it was. The moment he will never forget. That girl Leila Adams was pure magic.

******************

Zach helped her up into the car, holding up her dress train. He was mesmerized. She turned to stare at him, her beautiful eyes unsure of herself. "Err......how do I look"? she asked awkwardly....But Zach, kept staring at her

"oowkkaay....are you listening to me?" Leila asked looking at her partner strangely

"Wha-what ? Y-y-y-you—look in-cred ...I mean incredible!" Zach said stuttering. Leila blushed and playfully hit his shoulder giggling "ow Zach what's gotten into you?"

"Sorry.....I'm really just ............" he sighed.... "Enchanted." He finished off softly. Leila blushed again,

"Thanks....couldn't have done it without you..." Leila wanted to give him a hug.....but stopped half way in the middle of doing so........awkwardly.......

*******************************************

"Boss ........are you sure you must do this? Should we really do it this way?" Princess asked his boss teary eyed ....as a professional strategist, for him to be asking this question ...this question to which he already knew the answer to ........Princess knew it was ridiculous. More than anything else, he wished and hoped his boss had an alternative response for him.

"Then give me another way! Princess you are a strategist with PhD's in several backgrounds... ...give me another way !" Xavier responded to Princess, in frustration. He could tell it weighed on him heavier then he let on...

"But...but ...Will he forgive you? Your relationship has already been on edge ever since...." Princess stopped short of finishing his sentence....

Xavier's face hardened, as he said confidently "I'm making the hard decision so he won't have to...... apart from Marcus....he's truly my only other family.." Princess knew his boss well, though he sounded resolute.... there was a sadness to his voice, that he hadn't heard in a long time.

"He won't understand.......at least not for now........but........ I'd rather have him angry at me and be alive, then anything else....." Xavier said.

Princess stared into the abyss feeling sorry for the predicament his boss was in, "I'm not sure if it would be a blessing or a curse to have a friend like you boss..." he whispered,

"I guess a little bit of both........ " Xavier said sadly sighing deeply.

"For the last last time ......Are you sure about this boss...?" Princess asked, hoping against hope that he had missed something, he had over looked something, some tiny detail which would give him some glimmer of hope that there indeed was another way....

"When am I unsure?" Xavier responded, putting his tailor fit blazer on. It was going to be a hard day ahead, but all the preparations were already set in place. There was no turning back now........ "how long till the ball starts again?" He asked, without bothering to look into the mirror.

"About 30 odd minutes or so..." Princess replied looking into his pink glittery watch.

"And his head butler.....are you sure about the intel? Are you sure he can be trusted ?" Princess asked suspiciously

Xavier smiled, "He and his family owe the Johnston family a very big due.......a VERY big due, which was never settled till recently. Trust me.....the intel is good...."

"Err...will you be going like THAT to the ball?" Princess asked, curious about why Xavier hadn't yet covered up all his tattoos.

Xavier smiled his handsome smile "for them ......it will be like a costume if you will.........but for me.......it's the one day where I have taken my costume off..." He smiled, rubbing his neck and feeling his scarred skin without the cover up on.

Packing his set of small blades and black gun into his pockets he closed his slim suit blazer

"Can you get the car ready....I have a ball to get to" He said. Today was a special day of sorts, he was on a mission .....not against an enemy...but against a friend......not for gain.....but for loss........neither exclusively as Cut Throat nor as Xavier...but as both. And although he hoped that this day would come sooner, where he was able to be his authentic self in front of the world.......it saddened him that it was on this particular occasion....