Katherine's POV:

"Alex, what are you doing here?" he faked being hurt and put his hand on his heart "You're kicking me out already, you wound my heart cupcake" I rolled my eyes, such a drama queen

"You know that's not what I meant, I..." I was interrupted my the jerk that has been ignoring me for a while now "Alex, mate, what are you doing here?"

"Perfect you're here" am I missing something? Since when do the both of them actually talk to each other nicely "I came to invite you both to a party that the CEO of the company I work for is holding"

"Can we bring a date?" Nate asked and Alex shook his head. Did he meet someone, is that the reason he's ignoring me? 

"You and Katy will go together, so you can't bring a plus-one. I'm only supposed to bring one person with me, but I managed to bring you both as each other's dates. Still, you could mingle at the party. The CEO of the company has a mansion here in New York so the party will be at his house. The party starts at 8, be there by then" he waved us good-bye and left.

Nate nodded to himself and left as well to god knows where. He didn't even bother acknowledging my presence. This is how it's been for over a week now so it's no surprise. He gives me a cold shoulder and acts like a bastard towards me. 

He even started bringing his mistresses all over again, and they're even more now. He does it in the living room and when I catch them, he smirks at me and continues. It's like he's doing it all on purpose and he wants me to hate him. 

The problem is I don't hate him, it's just that seeing him do all of that to me breaks my heart. He's hurting me by treating me the way he does and by sleeping around in front of me.

I came in acknowledgement with the fact that I like Nate and that's why seeing him do all of that tears my heart into pieces. I want to hate him like he wants me to, but I can't for some reason. Maybe it's because of the fact that I like him.

I know Nate well enough to know that whatever he's doing, he's doing it for a reason. I remember the day we went out shopping how it went great until we went to eat. That's were it all started and he started acting different towards me. I wonder what happened? 

Whenever I tried to talk to him about it or even ask questions, he would either brush me off or snap at me. In other words, I never got what I wanted out of him.

I brushed all these thoughts off and started to get ready for the party. I have four hours to get ready, I just hope it's enough. Don't blame me, I'm a girl and I take time to pretty myself up. I headed to the shower and washed my hair and body.

I looked at the hour and now I have three hours left. Damn, where did that hour go?! I dried my hair and started curling it, then put it in an elegant high messy bun. For make-up, I put pink eye shadow that matches the colour of my gown, some mascara, and the red lipstick that Nate told me to get. 

My gown is a pink lace dress that fit till mid waist and the rest flowed til the floor. The back of the gown was backless revealing some of my skin, but the rest was covered. Over all, the dress was pretty decent and not too revealing. 

I'm a tad late now so I quickly put my black heels on, took my clutch, and hurried downstairs.

"You're late" Nate said without even looking at me. I didn't reply because I was busy taking in his appearance. He wore an all black suit with a black tie and his hair was brushed back neatly. In all, he looked hot.

He started walking towards the door, but when he didn't hear me following him he turned "Why aren't you...." he froze when he saw me. I smirked inward.

"Cat got your tongue, am I that hot?" as I talked, I slowly turned 360 to give him the full view. He scoffed and rolled his eyes 

"Aren't you being too cocky now?"

I walked to him and caressed his cheek "Deny all you want baby, but the truth is written all over your face" I whispered in his ears, bit his earlobe, then left to the car. 

I could feel how his whole body tensed under my touch and how he was trying to hold a moan when I bit his earlobe. I smirked knowing he could get affected just by my mere touch.

.................................

"We have to pretend we are together just until we get in, then we can go our separate ways" Nate whispered to me as he put his hand on my bare back. I tensed at first because I felt electricity igniting through my whole body under his touch, but then I got used to it.

I nodded and did as told. The moment we got in, he let go of the arm that was around me and stood aside. Suddenly, I miss his warmth and touch. I sighed and shook my head trying to get Nate out of it, and started looking for Alex.

"Nathan is that you?" Nate and I turned to the source "Gray buddy" they hugged then Gray turned to me

"Aren't you..." Nate interrupted rudely "What are you doing here?" Well that was rude, I wonder what was that about?

Gray turned to him and smiled "I am..." Alex interrupted this time "You guys know each other?"

"What's with everyone interrupting me tonight" I heard Gray muttering to himself but everyone heard him quite clear. I couldn't help but chuckle as everyone did too 

"I'm terribly sorry sir" Alex said and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"No problem, let's just hope no one interrupts me this time" we all laughed at him "Anyways, as I was saying. This is a private party that I'm holding for my company, how did you end up here?" he pointed at Nate

"Alex invited me here, seems like he works for you" Alex nodded but still looked confused 

"How do you guys know each other though?"

"We're best friends" Nate and Gray said at the same time. Alex nodded and excused himself.

"Nathan don't be rude, introduce me to your date" Gray looked at me but talked to Nate "She's not my date" Nate said drily and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Real mature. Gray looked back and forth at the both of us confused

"Ignore him, he's just being a kid. I'm Katherine, a friend of Alex" I said and extended my hand. Gray laughed and took my hand "I'm Grayson Evans, pleasure to meet you"

"Don't flirt with her man, you're married" Nate said angrily while Gray laughed "No need to be jealous mate, I love Stella, so she's all yours"

Nate scoffed "I'm not jealous. I'm out of here" he said and headed towards the bar.

"You know, this is the first time I see Nathan get jealous over a girl. You must be quite special to him" Gray suddenly said while still looking at Nate who was drinking and flirting with the girl next to him

"You call this jealous, look at him. He practically left me and started flirting with women" I scoffed 

"I see, you like him as well. Just give him some time, he's basically having an inner battle with himself. I can see it right through him, I've known him since forever" 

He sighed "Nate had a rough childhood. It's not my story to tell, but all I can tell you is that he spent his entire life pushing people away for a reason. He thinks that everyone sticks with him of money or fame, or at least their own benefit. That's why he never does relationships. I can see you're a good person, so give him some time. Try to show him that you are different by your actions. You don't need to wait for him forever, just a while, and if he doesn't realise or approach you then let him go. He's a good person, trust me you won't regret it" he patted my shoulder and left.

"Are you alright, you look lost in your own world?"  Alex stood next to me and asked. I nodded yes "Care to dance with me then?" I smiled and nodded again

He took my hand and walked us to where everyone was dancing. He placed his right hand behind my left shoulder's blade and took my other hand in his . He started dancing to the song and I followed.

"You're extremely good at this" I smiled "Benefit of being a princess" whoops, that slipped 

"Princess?" he asked confused. I sighed, he deserves to know the truth

"I'm Princess Katherine of the east side of Isles Island. I'm sorry I didn't mention it before, but for once I wanted to be treated like a normal person" I started and ended up telling him everything, including my arranged marriage and running away from it.

"Wow, that's terrible" I nodded "How come you didn't recognise me and you're from the Island?"

"Actually I know nothing about the two royal families. I don't keep up with these things, there's no need for me. But now seems like I need to, especially since my friend is a princess" I smiled

"You can't tell anyone about this or my identity though, especially Nate" I warned and he nodded.

After my dance with Alex, I danced with a couple of other people, talked to some people, and had a couple of drinks. Surprisingly, some people recognised me. I look at the time now and it's almost 12. We've been here for almost four hours and I'm starting to get tired.

"Katherine, have you seen Nathan?" Gray came out of nowhere. I shook my head "I'm worried about him. The last time I saw him was when he left to the bar, I'm worried he's drunk somewhere"

"How about you look for him here and I'll see the second floor" he nodded and we separated. I headed upstairs and started looking room by room. When I reached the last door, I heard moaning. I opened the door and felt like deja vu all over again.

"Here I was worried about you and you're just here bedding a stranger. You know what, I know exactly what you've been trying to do for the past week. I might not know the reason behind it, but it's clear that you're trying to make me hate you. The sad thing is it's not working, but you managed to hurt me and even break my heart because I got to know that I fancy you. Too bad you just lost me, even as a friend" I wiped the tear that fell on my face and left the room. 

"Are you-" I quickly interrupted him because I might start crying again any second now and I need to leave this place 

"You don't have to worry about Nate, he's just upstairs bedding someone. It was nice meeting you Grayson, I enjoyed the party but I need to leave now" I smiled weakly and walked out of the front door.

The moment I got into the car, I burst into tears.

Nathaniel's POV:

Terrible, that's the only thing I'm feeling now. I know I shouldn't feel like this because I'm pretty sure all of what she did was an act because she's marrying me. Still, I couldn't help but feel terrible.

"You, out of here! I need to talk to this arse" Gray looked fuming. The girl, whatever her name was, nodded and left the room.

"I hope you know that she left crying. Look, I know you think everyone wants something out of you, but she's different" he sighed in disappointment 

"That's what I thought as well, until about a week ago, I found out she was the princess I'm arranged to. She probably arranged the whole thing with my father"

He shook his head in disagreement "Did you talk to her or you started assuming things on your own? What if she was forced into this thing as well, you won't know anything for sure until you listen to her side of the story. You can't just assume things!" he snapped at me

"I know I met her once, but I can tell already that she is a lovely person. I can see from your eyes that you like her so please get over your fear and don't lose her. I just hope it's not too late, although after I saw the look on her face, I think your too late"

...................................