Katherine's POV:

I was driving fast, and tears were blurring my vision, but not enough for me to crash. My heart felt empty, and the pain of its broken pieces was too much. I was running away from a lot of things, yet I didn't know what they were exactly.

The only thing I knew was that I loved Nate. But I was running away from him, to protect my heart.

I took a glance in the rear-view mirror only to find that the cars that were behind me where nowhere to be seen, then shifted my eye contact to the backseat as I heard some noise. I couldn't see anything, and I knew I was alone in the car, yet I had a discomforting feeling that something or someone was with me in the car.

I quickly glanced back at the road at the sound of the car horn, trying to alert me that I'm almost about to hit the wall. Just as I straightened the car, something forced my head to hit the steering wheel and lose control of the car all over again.

My head felt light at the effect of the strong force my head took. I was blinking hard trying to force my eyes to focus, but then again, the same thing repeated like deja vu. My head took a stronger hit this time, and I could feel the car swinging too much.

I took a quick glance in the rear view mirror at the backseat trying to catch a glimpse of the person trying to cause my faintness, or more like my death. Sadly, all I saw is a blur, and no matter how much I tried to concentrate, I couldn't see anything.

My head was smacked to the steering wheel three times, roughly, before I took my last breath and lost consciousness. I was sure I was going to die, because the last thing I saw, was the car heading furiously towards the wall.

I gasped, sitting up straight and opening my eyes wide. I took in my surrounding while resting my hand on my throbbing heart to calm its heavy beating and assure myself that this was all a dream.

A dream that was both a bliss and a nightmare. It terrified and confused me as I was certain that I was in love with Nate to the point were my heart hurt for running away from him more than the pain he caused me. I kept thinking the whole time throughout the dream that I was protecting myself from further pain by running away from him, but deep down I felt the opposite.

Another thing I was certain of was that this dream wasn't only a dream. For some reason that I have absolutely no idea of, I knew it wasn't a dream. It felt too real.

I felt every break in my heart, every hit I took to the steering wheel, and the last breath I took. I can remember every single detail clearly, I can feel every single thing, and just by that I knew it wasn't only a dream.

Once my heart went back to its usual rhythm, I got off the bed heading to the bathroom, but froze as I glanced a figure with the corner of my eyes, completely covered and laying on the other end of my bed.

I tip toed to the side of the bed where the figure was laying and slowly removed part of the cover to reveal the figure's face. My gasp of surprise turned to a smile, and relief washed over me as I saw Nate's face.

I jumped on the bed from happiness and hugged Nate tightly, waking him up from his sleep. He blinked a couple of times while groaning, then his eyes turned wide open as he realised everything.

"I have no idea why you were sleeping next to me, but I'm going to ignore it since I'm happy you're back safely" I said with a smile.

Slowly, my smile started to fade as I remembered the reason he left in the first place. I let him go and moved back from him, my eyes never meeting his all the while.

"I'm truly sorry you had to run away like that because of the pain I cause you. I never meant for it. I never meant to break your heart, I was only trying to protect you from the pain. I just needed to know if we had a chance, so I wouldn't trap you in a relationship we both might end up being forced into. I was trying to avoid the pain you'd feel at that time" my voice was barely audible through my tears.

He held my shoulders all of the sudden, taking me by surprise, and forced me to look him in the eyes. His eyes were still puffy from just waking up, his hair was messed up, but it looked good on him, and I bet his voice was still thick and husky.

"Don't blame yourself for anything. I only went to America to clear my mind and think well. I probably shouldn't have done it that way and made you worry, but I'm here now. And I'm going to support you and be there for you, but know that I'm going to silently fight for you as well" he kissed my forehead and moved away, getting off the bed.

I looked at his attire, and noticed he was still dressed in his daytime clothes, then looked back at him as he had started talking again.

"I'm sorry for sleeping next to you. I just wanted to check on you after coming from the airport and before going to my room, but I ended up falling asleep without realising" he excused himself, then went to his room.

I let myself fall on the bed and covered my face with my hands, then started crying. Too many emotions were bottled inside of me, and I felt the need to empty them. I cried for Nate, I cried for the pain I caused him, and I cried for his broken heart.

Nate never deserved any of the pain I caused him, and I never deserved him. It was a fact, and I knew it clearly deep inside of me. He flew all the way back here to be with me, and avoid the misunderstanding of giving up. With everything he came with, including his exhaustion, I was the first thing on his mind to check on. And even though it was clear that we're not together anymore, he would still comfort me and be there for me when needed. And what do I do for him in exchange? I break his heart.

I removed my hands off my face and sat up straight, taking a couple of deep breaths. I went to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready, decided that I needed to go back to my old routine of a full schedule of meetings. Anything to ease the tension as well as the nervousness of my date with Hugh.

Tonight is my date with Hugh and the chance to start figuring things out. Between Nate's arrival and his soon knowledge of this date, I'm afraid his heart won't be able to handle it and he'll leave again. I'll always choose Nate's happiness over my date or any other thing so I should probably inform him of my plans tonight, or just sneak out.

With all these thoughts clouding my mind, I didn't realise that I've been staring at the bathroom's mirror for a while. I quickly when back to my process of getting ready, finished my make up and got into my royal attire.

My schedule turned out to be busy as I was hoping, from one meeting to the other, continuously until the afternoon, with only one break in the middle of the day. It was more than enough to keep my mind off thinking and after I'm done, I'd busy myself with getting ready for the date. Hopefully, everything goes well and I'd have a thinking free day.

The day was spent as planned, the only problems I had to think about were work things, and I was glad, because they were nothing compared to mine. I could solve the world's problems, everyone but mine.

By the end of the afternoon, I was in my room looking through my closet for a suitable outfit. I had no idea where we were going, or what he had planned for us, all I knew was that I'm supposed to be dressed a bit fancy but comfortable at the same time.

After looking through racks and racks, the only thing I found that could be counted as both fancy and comfortable was a khaki striped maxi dress with spaghetti strips, paired along with black round toe espadrille wedges with ankle ribbon tie.

Using the curls I did in the morning, I added some volume to my hair and pulled it back into a low ponytail. I didn't bother adding any makeup and stuck with the simple makeup I did in the morning, only adding a bit of lip gloss for the final touch.

My phone rang just as I finished. I took a quick look at it to double check that the sender was actually my date.

"I'm outside. I bet you look as good as I'm imagining, if not even better"

I smiled shutting the phone, reached for my purse and headed for the door. Just as I opened the door, I froze seeing Nate right by my door, with his clenched fist hanging as he was about to knock on the door.

He look at me from head to toe, twice, then his expression turned confused "Are going somewhere? Isn't it a bit late for a meeting? And isn't this outfit a bit unsuitable for a meeting?" confusion was still painting his face.

"I'm not going to a meeting" I started guiltily.

"Then where are-" he paused for a second, then his expression turned sad "Oh"

"If you need anything, just let me know" his tone was gentle and sad. I was left stuck in my place, while he left with pain written all over him.

I felt pain for him, and all I wanted to do right now was cancel this date and run to Nate, and apologize to him. The problem was I already caused him pain so cancelling my plans wouldn't undo it for him.

I fanned my face with my hands to stop the brimming, and headed towards the car. Once Hugh saw me, he got out of the car and went for the passenger door, opening it for me.

"You look even more beautiful than I could ever imagine" he whispered to me once I was settled in my seat "Now if you would allow me, I need to cover your eyes" he waved the blindfold at me.

"Are you going to kill me?" I nervously joked.

"I could never do that" he replied while laughing. With my permission, he blindfolded me. Instinctively, my other senses started becoming stronger.

I could hear Hugh get in his seat and start the car. I could feel the friction from the movement of the car. And I could smell Hugh's cologne fill the air inside the car.

With darkness all around me, I could feel the drive never ending. Then the car stopped, and I could hear Hugh open his door and close it, then open mine. I felt his cold hand hold mine, and I couldn't help the shiver that ran through my body.

The only person who would always hold my hand was Nate, and unlike Hugh, Nate's hands were always warm and felt good against my skin. But with Hugh, all I felt was weirdness.

Hugh helped me get out of the car, still blindfolded. The air was cooler wherever we were, and the area had total silence surrounding it.

I could feel us climb a couple of steps, then the surface turned smooth. Probably because we went to an indoor place, but the problem was I can still feel the cool wind. I heard a chair being pulled, and then Hugh guided me to it, probably.

He stood behind me and slowly untied the blindfold, letting me adjust to the sudden change to lightening. I gasped, but it was a shocked and sad gasp.

Hugh took us to the same place Nate took me on my birthday. The planetarium. The place were he promised we'd make plenty memories in, each special in its own way.

"We can't be here" I quickly stood up "This place is ours. I can't destroy the only thing we have left" I whispered through my tears.

"What are you talking about? Whose ours? And why are you crying?" he tried to reach out to me to comfort me, but I moved back.

I was hurting too much because even though I hurt Nate, I still respected all the memories we had. And if he knew I went on a date to our place, he'd be devastated and I won't blame him if he decides not to ever forgive me.

"We can't stay here, this place is ours" I kept repeating myself. I quickly held Hugh's hand, ignoring his confused look, and walked us out of the planetarium, heading towards the car.

"Now that we are out, could you please calm down and tell me what's wrong?"

"Nate and I have a lot of memories in this place, its ours, and even though I don't remember some, I can still remember the rest"

"Why don't you remember some" his eyebrows knitted. I froze, it slipped my memory that no one knew I lost a part of my memory.

"Remember when I got into an accident?" he nodded "It resulted with retrograde amnesia"

His eyes opened wide, shock was written all over his face "How come I didn't hear of this?"

"Because no one knows and I'd love to keep it that way" he nodded in reply.

"So you don't remember me?" I shook my head.

"I only know the basic things about you. Who you are and that we were arranged to each other"

"Nothing else?" he confirmed, but in a weird tone that I couldn't understand, but had a bad feeling about.

I nodded.

"Alright, so now how about we move everything to the back of the planetarium so we could continue this date?"

I smiled, nodding.

He quickly made a few calls and in no time, everything was moved to the back. The view out there was as beautiful as the view inside, if not better. The whole area was open, no lights surrounding it at all, so you could see each and every star clearly.

Stargazing.

Why did this whole thing feel familiar? I had the same feeling I had in all the places Nate used to take me to in hopes of remembering.

Once we settled down, I kept stargazing silently, but I could feel Hugh's intense stare at me. He was looking weirdly at me and I could sense something unpleasant was on his mind.

"Do you still love him?" I turned to him at the sound of the question.

"This morning I had a dream and I was certain in it that I was in love with Nate, but in reality, I only like him. I'm not able to fall in love with him without my memory" I answered honestly.

"Is there a chance you might fall in love with me or would your feelings for the king remain in the way?"

I remained quiet, because I didn't know the answer myself. The dream I had this morning confused my feelings, because the love I felt towards him, was stronger than a dream.
..............................

Author's Note:

I've mentioned this as an announcement on my profile, but probably not all of you saw it. I applied for the wattpaders choice awards for this story, Royalty Undercover, and my submission was accepted.

In this awards, people vote for the story they like under the genre the author chooses. If you guys do like my story and think it's worth it, then this is link to vote.

www.wattpad.com/775305407-the-brigade-awards-2019-the-wattpaders-choice

You can vote by leaving an inline comment under the title of my story. Each comment counts as a vote and you can vote as much as you'd like.

This is something important to me because if do actually win, then it proves my writing is good and all the time and hard work I put into writing isn't gone to waste. So I'd like for all of you who actually like this book to vote for it.

Thank you ahead if you decide to vote, each comment counts and I do really appreciate it, and I really hope you support me with this.