The night was cold but the stars were beautiful. Beautiful enough for a walk. She couldn't sleep. No matter how she tried to, she had a heaviness in her heart, an emptiness she wasn't sure she could fill. She needed to clear her head, to wrap it around the few weeks that had just passed by.

Being there, being at the hospital had brought a lot of memories, sad memories, a lot of worries to her heart. Her heart was heavy and taking deep breaths while watching the stars always helped. Her court maid had recommended the open royal pool and her recommendation was perfect.

The royal pool was indeed beautiful. Anne-Marie could see the stars no matter where she stood. The entire room was filled with white fixtures and walls. The scenery had to be the most beautiful she had ever seen in her entire life, and the pool it had to be the most soothing area in the entire palace, very calm too. Calm enough to put her in the mood she needed to be. She narrowed her gaze towards the sparkling pool water. The blue lights in the huge pool were beautiful and it made the water so enchanting. Too bad she couldn't get in.

Anne-Marie slowly pulled herself into one of the white chaise lounges, burying her head into the book in her hands, her small diary. It was the only thing she had from her former life, her real life. The only thing she had besides the key holder that reminded her of the life she belonged to. Writing in her diary was her escape place, that little book was where she kept everything about herself. It was her life and that was why she kept the fact that she had brought it from crystal lake from Oliver because she knew if she told him, he was never going to let her keep it.

In the wrong hands, her diary could be a really dangerous tool for their plan. That was why she never took it out of her sight. She took it everywhere with her. What was she supposed to do? No one besides the Vutron's were supposed to know who she was, who she really was so she couldn't really talk about it with anyone, the secret was killing her and so was her anxiety, writing down how she felt was the only way to let off steam once in a while.

She opened the book.

"Dear diary...."

She paused.
What was she even going to say? She wasn't sure there was much to talk about besides what happened at the hospital. Her new life was very much the same and she was starting to complain about everything a lot. Was that it? Was she really going to pin down another complaint again?

She exhaled and turned her head towards the pool. She had a lot to say, but she was tired of writing them all down, of writing down the same things over and over again. She could see her reflection inside the water and she could see the stars too.

She looked just like her and with everyday that passed, the resemblance became even more noticeable. It had only been a few weeks and she was already starting to get too used to this life, to her life. Everyday that passed, every second she pretended to be Paris felt like she was starting to go under, to go in too deep and she couldn't just imagine when it was all going to end.

She couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen when she got caught, if she got caught. She was scared. Every day of her life, not being able to talk to anyone about it, scared her. Everyday she woke up, it was another scary day of always wondering how long she had left till it happened, till one of her friends found out who she really was, till the king and queen found out the truth, till he found out the truth, Aiden.

She held her breath for a second and turned back to her diary. She closed it slowly. There was nothing really to write about. Nothing she hadn't written before anyway. She turned back to the water and froze for a second.

It wasn't as still as it was a few seconds ago. She narrowed her eyes into the pool as she saw something start to rise from inside it, more like a figure and then black hair. Aiden pulled his hair out of the water quickly and it made her shoot up from the lounge in a second, widening her eyes as the rest of his body stood above the water.

Her jaw dropped.

Was that a halo over his head? She was almost convinced there was. The sight of him pulling himself out of the water after he pushed his wet hair all the way back and away from his face was enchanting. It was like he was sparkling, like he had absorbed all the stars' energy into himself with the way he was shining, that wasn't all she noticed. He was shirtless too.

Shirtless?

She held her breath immediately while she took a long look at him, almost choking on her saliva. The more he tried to walk out of the pool, the more of his muscles she was exposed to. He had a perfect build, it even looked better when he didn't have any shirts on. The muscles around his breasts were defined to an extent and made really amazing lines from the top of his chest till the top of his belly button, demarcating his belly slightly in two parts, and highlighting each parts into three tiny segments, abs as it was commonly called. Her eyes widened when it caught a glimpse of Aiden staring back at her and that was when her jaw dropped.

"Oh my goodness." She turned around immediately and placed a hand over her eyes to stop her from seeing anything else.

Aiden walked out of the pool, letting the water that had drenched his white pants that stuck to his body come to the ground and wet it as he walked towards one of the lounges, taking his eyes away from her as he did.

"Were you in the water all along?"

Anne-Marie asked him with a rather high pitch in her voice not bothering to even turn back to look at him. Who would blame her? She was still so shocked to her bones. She thought the pool was empty before she walked in. She had no idea Aiden was inside especially since the water in the pool was so still. How was he able to stay inside for so long without her knowing?

Aiden threw his white robe on himself, taking his time as he made way to wrap it around him.

"What are you doing here?"

His voice made Anne-Marie shake a little bit. She still wasn't over what had happened back at the hospital. It was one of the few reasons she had a hard time sleeping. The thought of him lifting her like that and on top of the slab filled her head whenever she closed her eyes and it made her heart race too and now there he was again, speaking to her, his voice piercing through her soul like thunder.

Back to the question, what was she doing there?
What was she doing there really?

Aiden stood behind her, waiting for an explanation at least, tilting his head a bit to the side so he could look at her. Anne-Marie turned her head slowly like she was trying to see if it was safe enough to turn completely. She let out a relief exhale when she caught a glimpse of his robe.

She turned around to face him. He still had water dripping from his hair and tickling down his face, making a hard line round his jawline and even the top part of his curvy lips. Anne-Marie blinked twice.

"W-what I'm doing?" She stammered. She was barely even thinking straight at that point. Aiden raised an eyebrow at her.

Go ahead, explain yourself.

That was what the look on his face said.

"Not anyone can be in here." He went on to tell her. "It's the royal pool and kind of like my personal space."

"P-personal space?" She said softly and then shook her head to snap out of it. "Oh, oh, I'm sorry." She told him. "I was told I could come here."

"You were?" Aiden asked her taking a step towards her. Anne-Marie took a step back on impulse. "By who?"

For every step he took towards her, she took one backwards. It was becoming a habit to not want to be so close to him. She was scared what she would do.

"The queen gave me her permission."

Aiden scoffed.

"The queen?" He left trace of water behind him as he walked towards her. He was enjoying it, the look of surprise and terror on her face every time he walked to her. "Are you stalking me?"

"Stalking you-" Anne-Marie scoffed out a smirk. She couldn't believe her ears. Why on earth would she be stalking him? "I can't believe you."

"Mnn." Aiden curved his lower lip.

"I didn't even know you were here. You think I'd have come here if I did? I don't enjoy being around you either just in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh really?"

"The only reason I even accepted this crazy idea to be here in the first place was because Mr Vutron-" she shook her head "I mean my Dad, he wanted it. I don't like being around you either."

Not like he asked her any of the things she was saying but Aiden didn't stop her. He just kept walking forward, watching her as she kept walking back slowly, she probably wasn't even seeing where it was she was going until she felt the back of her feet hit the wall. That was it, she was already at the wall just like the other time by the palace lake. She rolled her eyes, why was this becoming a habit?

Aiden stopped walking. He stared at her for a short second, taking a long look at her while she left her gaze on him. Why? Why was he looking at her like that with his eyes squinted.

"Why is water wet?" He finally said.

"What?"

What was that? Aiden waited, he waited like he was actually expecting an answer from her. Was he serious? Was that really a question? A question he wanted her to answer? That was awkward, really awkward. Anne-Marie scoffed silently.

"What is wrong with you?" She whispered to herself but he heard her. Aiden took a deep breath and then exhaled.

"You know," he raised his hand to his right brow and scratched it gently for a second. "The more I think about it, the more it becomes clear to me."

Became clear to him, what was?

"You have changed." He said to her.

Anne-Marie swallowed hard. What did he mean? Had she done something to give herself out? Did he know something?

"I-I don't-"

"Ever since the accident," he went on, "it's like you're a whole new person, way different from the person you used to be before the engagement party."

Anne-Marie blinked her eyes fast. Now she was scared, and dumb too.

"You've become even more annoying."

Anne-Marie froze.

"What?" She squinted her eyes.

"And your obsession with me has grown worse too."

Anne-Marie raised her brow. Was that it? Was that what he was trying to say? She couldn't believe her ears.

"Obsession?" She blinked at him, pointing at her chest. "Me?"

"Your silly desperation to be my queen, your father's silly dream of owning this country has gotten even worse since the shooting even after I made it clear that you'd never be the queen of Breton, that you'd never be my queen."

"What?"

"You keep doing everything I hate, crossing boundaries you're not supposed to cross and doing the things no one else has dared to do. First you call me by my name, then you slap me in front of all those people, you even scolded me earlier." Aiden's smirk grew even wider. He scoffed.

"When I think about it, it's kind of amusing how brave you've gotten recently. What amuses me more is the fact that I don't even have a suitable punishment for you, I'm supposed to be upset about it, but I'm not."

Anne-Marie stared at him for a second.

"Are you sick?" She asked him.

"What?"

"Are you sick?" She repeated, making sure her words were even clearer this time. "I'm asking you if you hit your head somewhere perhaps because I swear to God, I don't understand a word you just said,"

Aiden scoffed.

"Are you calling me mad?" Aiden's smile grew wider. "Add that as the fourth thing you've done that no one else has ever done before."

Anne-Marie rolled her eyes, she was having a migraine just standing there and talking to him. Maybe she just had to leave, to go back to her room before she ended up doing something else she was going to regret.

She drew a deep breath.

"I've run out of time entertaining you." She said to him. "I'm mentally exhausted from talking you." She dropped her shoulders reluctantly. "Let's just talk in school tomorrow okay?"

Aiden scoffed.

She turned and took a step to leave when Aiden turned too, he grabbed her by her arm immediately to stop her from taking another step and before Anne-Marie could register what was going on, he pulled her to him, turned her around with her arm behind her, and placed one of his arms in front the wall just as he pushed her gently to it, pinning her to it the wall, yet being as gentle as he could.

"Let go." Anne-Marie warned him as she tried to pull her arm away from him him but he didn't let go. "You won't let go?" She kept pulling but Aiden pinned her further to the wall and pushed himself slightly closer to her. Anne-Marie stopped fighting when she felt him lean over her, aiming for her ear.

She suddenly became even colder, her heartbeat was doing it again, slowing down just like it did the other time at the lake. She could literally hear her own heartbeat especially when his breath touched her skin, when his face drew closer to her neck, causing her to be paralyzed up to her waist. She gulped hard when she heard him breathe on her neck.

It felt so good.

Aiden had a huge smile on his face the whole time. He knew exactly what he was doing to her and he enjoyed it.

"You." He whispered into her ear. "You're hiding something aren't you?" His voice gave her the chills.

Anne-Marie gulped again.
Hiding something? What did he mean? What did he know? Anne-Marie could suddenly not breathe. Her anxiety was up the roof, her muscles started to tense all of her sudden, her palms were sweaty too. She felt his hand slide past her side, finding its way towards her belly region. She could feel the walls in her lower abdomen tighten as his hand brushed through it, trying to find her other hand.

Butterflies.

There were butterflies in her belly again. She clutched her shirt as Aiden grabbed her diary from her hand immediately and raised it in the air to have a good look at it, pouting his lips. It was only then Anne-Marie had realized what exactly it was he was after. He let go of her and took a step back. Anne-Marie turned to him immediately.

"Give that back!" She tried to reach for it but Aiden stood on his tip toe, making it even more difficult for her to reach him. He flipped the cover over and stared at the front page filled with butterfly stickers.

"Weird."

"Aiden please." Anne-Marie beseeched him. She couldn't let him flip the next page over. She knew her life was hanging by a thread at that moment, the moment he did, she knew she was going to get found out, she was going to lose everything including Abel. "You can't read that."

Aiden lowered his gaze to her, watching her while she struggled. It was a scene to behold. He chuckled, flickering his tongue on both his cheeks one after the other.

"Why not?"

"Don't read that." She stopped jumping just so she could look at him. "Give that back."

"Now you say that with so much enthusiasm, I'm even more curious to know what is inside this book of yours. I want to know your deepest secrets."

"It's not yours to know, it's not yours to read, give it back please." At this point, Anne-Marie was frustrated out of her mind. It was like getting the book from him and stopping him from reading it was all she could think of. How could he think of playing right now? That wasn't even a situation to play with.

"Please!"

Aiden rolled his eyes.

"Fine," he said. "I'd give it back on one condition."

Anne-Marie couldn't even put her racing heart to rest. Condition? What condition?

Her eyes were watery but she still managed to maintain a firm aura. She tried to curb her frustration at least, to be calm. She let out an exasperated sigh and then nodded.

"Fine." She told him. "What do you want?"

Aiden frowned immediately.
How on earth was his smile able to disappear in just one second and why was he staring at her like that? His bright eyes staring deep into hers. Anne-Marie was speechless all of a sudden. He wrapped his hand around her and pulled her close to him with one pull, lowering her his head to her gaze.

Anne-Marie held her breath.

"W-what are you doing-"

"Be still," he told her. "I'm just trying to see something."

His breath on her face was like heaven. At that moment, it was like her world was spinning, her head too especially when he pulled her even closer. She watched him raise his hand to his chest and leave it there, like he was trying to check for a heart beat. His heart beat was normal.

What exactly was he looking for? Why was he acting that way? Aiden didn't know either, for all he knew, he was just going with his instincts. He needed to know what it was that changed since the day at the pool, since she slapped him. He was normal, his heartbeat was normal.

"What are you doing?" Anne-Marie had to ask him again. She tried to push herself back but him grip on her was just too tight. "What are you-"

Aiden pushed his face closer to her immediately, leaning really close to her like he was about to kiss her. He froze right there, when his lips brushed softly against her for a short second. Anne-Marie had her eyes widened in shock and her hands and legs too numb to even move in her defense. Her eyes, there was something about her eyes, something he was only noticing just then, something he saw the other time on the bridge but now, it felt more...intense. He could see how frightened she was, how frightened he made her and then it came, the racing heartbeat he was waiting for.

His heart was pounding like it was about to poof out of his chest. It was racing faster than it ever did. He was anxious. Why was he anxious? Why was he suddenly feeling that way when he was with her? That had never happened before. What was this feeling? Why was he being like this?

There was a tiny voice in his head, a really tiny voice that kept saying the words "kiss her" over and over again and he kept fighting. Fighting to hold back because lord knows how he just wanted to, it was the second time, the second time he was being like that around her. That was crazy.

It should never work Aiden! Snap out of it!

He pushed himself away from her immediately and let her go. Anne-Marie gulped hard as she slowly raised her hand to her chest to feel her heartbeat, to stop her heart from being so excited. She clenched on to a fistful of her dress and squeezed it, trying to push as much air as she could into her lungs.

Aiden threw her book on the ground beside her.
He was done playing around. Anne-Marie slowly lowered her gaze to her diary, she was still in a lot of shock to even reach for it.

"I was never going to open it anyway."
He said to her, his frown worsening. He wasn't? Then why did he act like he was? Why did he put her through all that?

He had to leave. Aiden knew he couldn't afford to stay there anymore or he wouldn't know what he was going to do especially since the voice in his head was still speaking to him.

He looked away from Anne-Marie and blinked for a second, thinking about what just happened. He turned immediately and started to storm towards the door until he was out of it.

"Your highness."

He walked past Elijah and the other guards who walked away from the corner where they had been waiting. They went behind him immediately.

He couldn't think straight. His mind was all over the place.

"Your highness." The guards standing in front of his room bowed when he got to the front of it. They went ahead to open the door immediately and Aiden walked in, paying them no mind. He hadn't breathed yet.

He stormed up the small stairs leading to his king sized bed and threw himself on it immediately, taking deep breaths as fast as he could, trying to push all that air into his lungs at once. He sat up from the bed quickly as images of what had happened kept replaying in his head, focusing his gaze on the antique bedside table beside him.

He saw it.

The key holder Anne-Marie had given him before.
What was this, why was he being like this? Why was he suddenly developing feelings he never did before? Why?

He scoffed as he slowly reached for the key holder from the table. He narrowed his gaze on it for a long minute as his frown worsened even more.

He was disgusted. Disgusted by the thought of it. How could he? How could he even be accommodating such thoughts? It stood against everything he believed in. The Vutrons were people he had to get rid of, and whatever it was he was starting to feel for Paris Vutron had to go. He could never even consider it then and he knew he shouldn't at that moment. He threw the key holder into the empty trash can beside the table.

He couldn't think of it.

He threw himself back on his bad, lifted his pillow and threw it over his face.

What on earth is wrong with you Aiden-Cree?