Anne-Marie hurried to clean her eyes the moment she heard a faint knock on the door. She couldn't believe how she woke up with tears in her eyes and how she had been crying ever since. Her heart was heavy, really heavy and she was sad, worst part was she didn't even know why.

Her throat still felt so sore and she still felt tired a little bit, probably from sleeping for so long, her lips were dry and her eyes felt so tired. She hurried to clean every trace of tear on her face right to beneath her jaw line as Denise found her way into the room, being as gentle as she could.

"Hey," she said softly just as Anne-Marie sniffed and turned to her.

"Hey," she replied, managing to let herself smile a little bit.

"How are you feeling?" Denise drew closer to the bed and sat right beside her.

"Better," Anne said as Denise placed a hand over her head to check for a fever, she wasn't burning so hot anymore. Denise lowered her gaze on her as she pulled her hand down from her head.

"Are you okay?" She asked her in the most sincere and concerned tone ever. "Do you need anything?"

Anne-Marie shook her head,

"I'm fine thank you."

"The doctor said you could come home with us by tomorrow. He also recommended bed rest for the whole day." Denise exhaled and then slowly reached for her hand, she squeezed it.

"The past few weeks must have been really hard for you hasn't it?" She said, keeping her eyes glued to their joined hands as her voice broke a little bit, Anne-Marie watched her carefully, too numb to even speak or answer her questions. "You must have been so lonely and scared."

Denise rubbed Anne's hand slowly.

"It's nothing." Anne-Marie told her. "I'm so sorry that I let you and Mr Vutron down again, I should have made sure I was healthy enough."

"Oh dear," Denise raised her hand to her head and gave her a soft pat. "That isn't your responsibility, it wasn't your fault you fainted so don't blame yourself for it." She dropped her hand and narrowed her gaze on Anne-Marie. "We shouldn't have insisted on that documentary, you should never have gone to the palace and exhausted yourself so much. I'm so sorry you had to go through that, I know how hard this all must be for you, I know how hard it is adjusting to this life, I know how scared and confused you are. My husband and I, we should have known better, we shouldn't have made you carry on so many responsibilities, no matter what, you're still a child, and as far as the whole world is concerned, our child, that makes your health our health and priority, we should never have taken that for granted."

Anne-Marie sniffed.

"It's nothing at all Mrs Vutron," Anne-Marie forced herself to smile again, she didn't want to look weak, she didn't want to give Oliver or Denise a reason to think all of it was too much for her to handle, to even consider making a stop to their deal. She had to be strong, she knew she had to put up a strong front.

"I'm fine, I promise. It's nothing at all. I'm blending quite fine, Paris' friends are good to me and everything is fine in school, living your daughter's life isn't as hard as I thought it would be."

Denise scoffed out a chuckle.

"You sound just like her." She said smiling. "She always loved a challenge, it was like there was nothing she couldn't do, she never took no for an answer and she never-"

Denise froze when she realized, she sniffed, she couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe she had just talked about Paris in past tense. She had been so positive the past few weeks but for the first time she was actually speaking about Paris like she didn't exist, like she was dead. She scoffed at her mistake as tears clouded her eyes immediately. How could she be so silly?
Anne-Marie lowered her gaze to her.

"Mrs Vutron, are you okay?"

Denise sniffed and raised her head to her, forcing a smile on her face.

"I'm fine," she lied. "I just-"

"You miss her don't you?"

"Don't take it the wrong way Anne, I know my husband and I brought you here as a temporary replacement for our daughter, I know you're two different people but I can't help it, I can't help but be remained of her everytime I see you. I really miss her." Denise nodded. "Everyday. I pray for her everyday, that she gets better and comes home too. That way everything could go back to normal and you could go back to your home, to your brother, I know you miss him a lot and I know it's selfish for us to keep him away from you, I just-"

Denise exhaled, she didn't know what to say.

"I'm scared." She said finally. "I'm scared at how far we are all willing to take this, at how much we have sacrificed to get here. There's so much I wanted to do with her, I know I wasn't her favorite person in the world, I know she didn't like me so well but she is everything to me, she means the whole world to me that's why this entire situation has me so frustrated. There's so much I want to tell her, I know I never had a child but I was content with having just her as my child, mum, I wanted to hear those words from her so badly, even if it was just going to be one time. I was going to wait, to wait for her to trust me, to let me in and so I hesitated and now, I might never be able to do that and I regret it. I should have tried harder, I should have done all I could, I might never get the chance to tell her," a drop of tear fell from Denise's face, "I should have protected her, right from the start, I should have never let my guard down, I should have protected her."

Denise sniffed and cleaned her eyes. What was wrong with her anyway? Why was she suddenly saying a lot of silly things to Anne-Marie, things she had no business knowing?

"Forgive me," she said. "I've just been in and out of my head a lot lately,"

"Mrs Vutron," Anne-Marie started, Denise raised her eyes to look at her. "I know I'm probably the last person that you'd ever want to hear this from and I know I can never replace or mean half to you what Paris means to you so I can't make up for the hurt and sadness you feel right now, the emptiness, but I can try. For the rest of the time I'm going to be here, I can try to be the kind of daughter you wanted, the version of Paris you prayed for. We could do everything you want, if it means you'd get to be happy again, I know you probably already know this but I've not had a mother in years so I might actually suck at it but I can try, if you let me I can try to fill your heart with all the love Paris would have given you if she was here to."

Denise let out a tiny smirk, somehow, the things Anne-Marie said filled her heart with so much warmth, so much so that the tears in her eyes had dried up but Anne-Marie meant every word. Out of all the people she had met her entire life, Denise was one of the few that were nicest to her, she wanted to do everything she could to make her smile again even if she had to practice how to be Paris a hundred times.

"I got something for you."

Denise said as she got out her phone slowly. Anne-Marie watched her carefully as she pushed a few buttons. What was she doing? Denise raised her head to her and smiled right before she handed it to her. Anne-Marie hesitated for a second before she slowly took the phone from her.

"It has to be our little secret okay? My husband can't know I got this." Denise smiled, she was so anxious to see the excitement on Anne-Marie's face after she watched the video.

She held her breath the moment a video of Abel appeared on the screen. Anne-Marie gasped immediately, placing her hand over her mouth, tears watering her eyes as the video started to play.

"Mickey, Mickey come look, it's for Anne-Marie."

The smile on his face was still the same, and he looked healthier, better than he did before she left, he looked really happy too. She watched how Mickey quickly hurried to the scene with an excited look on her face.

"Really? Is it really for Anne-Marie?" She asked him, not entirely convinced.

"Yes," Abel nodded right before he turned back to the phone with Mickey.

"Oh my," Mickey had her hand over her mouth in excitement. "Is she rest going to see this?"

Yes!
Anne-Marie wanted to shout those words at the top of her lungs, her mouth was trembling and she was getting too emotional to speak, the tears in her eyes were falling faster than she had expected and the excitement on her face was unmatched.

"Anne-Marie, did you hear? it happened just like you said it would, we were moved to a bigger hospital, one of the best! The doctors here are nice and the nurses are beautiful and there's a big television in this room I don't get to share with anyone. God, I used to think hospital food was disgusting until we got here, the food I eat here tastes better than anything I've ever eaten in my life! I get to eat what I want, when I want it. I have my own nanny now, I also got books, lots of them and new editions of the royal magazine, hold on, let me show you."

He turned the camera to the little library in his magnificent room. Anne-Marie could see how he struggled to get up from the bed even when he didn't have to, he almost staggered

"Careful," her and Mickey said in sync but he got up anyway. He needed to show her, to show her everything. Just like Oliver had promised, it looked like he kept to his end of the bargain. Anne-Marie could tell Abel was taken care of just by looking at the huge room he was kept in, it was bigger than any of the houses they ever lived in.

"You think this is big?" Abel turned the camera back to him, "wait till you see our bathroom and the kids' play ground, it's magical." He jumped back on his bed and bounced on it.

"Be careful," Anne-Marie whispered like he could actually hear her.

"Marie," Mickie hurried to the screen. "How are you? Are you eating well? Sleeping well?"

Anne-Marie let out a tiny sob,

"A lady came over today," Abel said, " she said she was your boss and asked us to make this video, she said she'd make sure you see it. I also heard you go to school now, how is school? Did you get to meet your Prince Charming?" The smile on his face widened.

"Don't ask her that Abel, you'd make her shy." Mickey said beside him. He chuckled, Anne-Marie chuckled too.

"I'm okay now Marie, I don't get sick anymore, really, the doctor said I could go home in a few days, it's amazing isn't it? I hope you can come, but if you can't, it's totally fine, I understand. Uhh," Abel tried to think for a second. "Don't worry about us Marie, we are fine, your company is taking good care of us. So don't worry about us anymore, just eat well and sleep well and do well in school."

"Yes Marie, you don't have to worry about us, we are fine." Mickey told her. "I'd continue to look after Abel so don't worry and just live your life."

Abel nodded. He turned to the door and back to the camera.

"Oh, the nurse is here." He said. "I have to go run some tests again, I've got to go."

"No wait," Anne-Marie said. She didn't want him to, she wasn't done yet, she still wanted a few minutes, just a few minutes with him.

"Be good okay?"

"We love you Marie," Mickey yelled as she waved at the camera.

"Eww," Abel said and smiled.

"Don't go please,"

"Break a leg okay?" He said. "take care, got to go, bye."

The screen went blank.

Silence.

Anne-Marie tried to be silent, she tried to cry silently so as not to irritate Denise but Denise understood, she could see how she was holding back, how she held on tightly to the phone and pulled it to her chest, hugging it tightly as she let out loud sobs, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

Denise exhaled.
She pulled herself closer to Anne-Marie and gave her a hug, she knew she needed it. Anne-Marie held on tightly to her and started to cry as loudly as she could. She couldn't hold it in anymore. Her emotions were all over the place just seeing him again. She had realized how much she had missed, how much she had missed him and how happy she was to see him, how happy she was to see he was okay.

"That's Alright," Denise gave her soft pats on her back. "That's fine, cry all you want, don't hold back."

Anne-Marie clung on tightly to Denise's shirt and cried even harder.

"Thank you," she said "thank you so much, thank you so much." She couldn't stress it enough. She was happy, she was grateful. Seeing Abel again meant so much to her and so she was grateful.

She went on crying over and over again.
She let it all out. She didn't hold back, she couldn't hold back.

She was grateful.

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

Aubrey walked into the house first, gripping on tightly to the arms of her bag while her mother walked in right behind her, and then her father. She didn't stop walking, she knew she was in a lot of trouble to. The ride back home wasn't quite eventful, coupled with how bad her day went, she had to indulge in the silence all through the journey from the hospital, not like anyone really said anything to her on a usual day.

She never really got to be in the same car with both her parents so that day was a given. Crazy how it took a virus scare to get them to give her a little bit of their attention.

"And where do you think you're going young lady?"

Aubrey froze, she didn't take a step further to the stairs the moment she heard her mother's voice.

"We need to talk, now."

Aubrey exhaled and whirled around, taking her time, it was only going to take a minute anyway, at least before their phones started to ring again.

"Your mother and I got a call from the bank earlier," her father started, raising his hands to his hips. "I'm not even going to talk about how extravagant you've been lately but associating with terrorists Bre, that wasn't how we raised you."

Raised her? Was he serious?

"They are not terrorists dad,"  Aubrey finally found the strength to go on. "The people of Niyagra are kind people, they are Breton too. They are just misunderstood."

"Misunderstood?" He asked her. "Do you not know how the king feels about them? How they refused to submit to the royal family? To the rest of Breton?"

"Dad, you're sounding like the people of Niyagra aren't the victims here, besides, we weren't doing anything wrong, all we wanted was to help them,"

"Help them?" Her mother added. "You wanted to help them without even considering the risk of being in their infected village? How is that even reasonable? What if you had the virus? Weren't you thinking about us? About your baby brother?"

"Mum, we made sure to take real safety measures. We weren't at risk today."

"I don't know what has come over you Aubrey," her mum folded her hands on her chest. "I really can't tell what you're thinking anymore." She paused. "And what on earth did you do to your hair?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes. Fancy them just noticing. Her mother gasped.

"Aubrey Delaney Bolton! What on earth has come over you?!" The tone of surprise in her mother's voice was alarming.

"You know what?" Her father said brushing his hand through his hair, "I don't blame her for any of this at this point, this is all your fault." He turned to his wife. "You're the reason she's like this."

Gwendoline scoffed in disbelief as she slowly turned to him,

"Excuse me?"

Here they went again, Aubrey rolled her eyes, she knew exactly what was going to come next, another argument just like always.

"You were supposed to keep an eye on them, that's what mothers do, you know nothing about her, you're basically never present in her life and that's why she goes around doing things she's not supposed to do simply because there's no one to stop her."

"My fault? How is anything my fault? How does looking after the kids become my responsibility alone and not yours? Since when did it become my job to babysit the kids? I do what I can, I can't say the same about you, all you ever do is work and travel city to city, you're never home,"

"Oh please,"

"At least I try. When was the last time you were ever here or at any of Aubrey's parent teacher meetings? Or any of Solomon's hospital visits? I've been the one doing everything, keeping this family sane and you're just going to turn around and pin this on me?!"

Aubrey guessed right. They were fighting in the middle of a conversation again and they had not not even noticed.

It had always been the same with her parents. They were barely ever together and whenever they were, there had to be another fight coming up, that was her life, that was why she always got away with everything because they always got into a fight the moment they tried to reprimand her. She turned around and started to walk up the stairs and they didn't even notice. They were so busy yelling at themselves to even notice Aubrey was already finding her way to her room.

Her day was crazy enough and more crazy was what she didn't need.

She had done one of the bravest things she never thought she could ever do that day and she didn't know how to feel about it. Standing up to Paris was one thing she thought was impossible all her life but she did it, she finally did it, why didn't it feel so good?

She opened the door leading into her room and walked in, she could still hear her parents screaming from down stairs. Their voices were so loud, too loud but it all went away when she slowly shut the door. Thank God for sound proof.

She felt so lonely,

Too lonely. She wasn't supposed to feel that way, she knew that but she just couldn't help herself. She was hurt, really hurt.

Aubrey pulled her bag pack and threw it on the ground, throwing herself on her big comfy bed and cuddling on tightly to her big teddy. She drew a deep breath and the moment she did, a drop of tear fell from her face, and another one.

If heartbroken was a person, it had to be her at that moment. Everything that had happened at Niyagra kept replaying in her head, every single thing.

Why did she have to be the heartbroken one? Why did she feel so guilty for standing up for herself for the first time? Why did it hurt so much? Why did it hurt like that?

She shut her eyes and buried her face in her teddy. She cried her heart out.

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

"The king wants you to represent Breton at the sovereign nations' peace keeping conference in Berlin right after your engagement party on Friday, we've made preparations for your travel, reservations at the Grand Hyatt hotel, and also called to cancel all your prior appointments for Saturday up until Sunday."

Aiden scurried down the hallway with his secretary right beside him, keeping him updated on his schedule as usual while his guards tagged along right behind them.

"Also, the queen would like you to be present at your royal fitting for your engagement ball tomorrow morning." The tiny lady went on. "the king has also requested for your presence at the meeting with the lords and ministers in an hour. Right after your fitting tomorrow your highness, you have a board meeting at the royal mall and right after, your presence would be needed at the opening of the grand mall in Hemisphere, you'd get the whole afternoon off right after but a few people from royal publishing, those in charge of the royal magazine, have requested for a meeting with you regarding the issue and publication of the royal engagement event, you were supposed to have the meeting with them last week but we had to postpone it because of your interview with the people's club, and at evening,"

Aiden stopped walking immediately and they all stopped walking too. He let out a weak breath. He knew he had to stop her from talking or she was never going to stop. It was always like that for him, he never even got a day off, even with his engagement getting closer. Good thing he was used to it.

The position of prince in Breton was no joke, for a nation that had a history of being ruled by powerful men, Aiden sure as hell he wasn't going to be an exception. At the age of four, he already studied all the political positions in Breton and their responsibilities, at the age of six, he was attending political meetings with the king, at the age of seven, he rode his first horse and already mastered the elements of sword fighting, making an entrance and wise contributions in Breton's affairs, visiting hospitals and orphanages and reading them stories and at the age of ten, he fired his first gun, had his first kill at fourteen when the iron rebels invaded one of the hospitals he had gone to.

Responsibility was one thing he had to learn at a young age, it was the duty of every prince to be responsible for his people the moment they were born, regardless of age. In Breton, age didn't really matter to someone of royal blood especially since she adjusted her age of accountability according to the law to be sixteen years.

The older lady held on to her tablet, hugging it tightly as she stared into his eyes.

"A-anything wrong you're highness?" She stuttered.

Aiden drew a deep breath and leaned closer to the little woman, he was about to say something when he heard a cracking sound from the door in front of them. He froze right before he found his gaze shifting towards the direction of the door.

It was it, the room Anne-Marie used to sleep in at the palace. Funny how he had never been there all the while she was there but standing there at that moment, he knew which one. He narrowed his gaze on the court maids that walked out of the room with a few bags and boxes.

Why? Where were they taking them?

"Your highness," he felt Elijah's presence right beside him even as he didn't take his gaze off the ladies as they walked away. "Someone from the Vutron mansion came over to get all of the young Miss' things. The queen gave her consent to move out of the palace while she recuperated."

Oh, was that it?

Aiden returned his gaze back into the large room to have one last look at how empty it had become for no reason even when all the fixtures were still in place right before one of the court maids closed it.

She was leaving the palace? Was she really never coming back to the palace?

Somehow, something about the thought of it left some form of loneliness and emptiness inside of him. He turned his head slightly to where Elijah was standing,

"How is the situation at Niyagra?"

"Just as you instructed your highness, today, the best doctors in the country have been deployed to curb the situation at Niyagra and funds have been allocated to the Breton center of disease control to provide more vaccines to help eradicate the virus. Everything should be settled in one week your highness."

Aiden nodded.
At least some good news. It felt really good to know that their plan to help the people of Niyagra worked.

Aiden walked into his room, hands in his pocket as the door closed right behind him. It had been a long day and all he needed was to rest just a little bit. He walked briskly past the golden pendulum and then the tiny bedside table, heading straight for his bed when he froze.

He turned slowly and retreated to the bin beside the bedside table. He scoffed when he realized it was still there, the key chain Anne-Marie had given him before at the lake. Did the maids forget to empty the bin again? Not that they could help it, it was barely ever full.

Aiden bent over for some reason and reached for the key chain, he slowly took it out of the trash can and lowered his gaze to it. A tiny smirk appeared on his face. For some reason, the strange looking key chain made him remember, made him remember her and that day at the lake. Her image flashed through his head and it made him smile just a little bit.

Aiden walked to his bed and threw himself on it, making sure to leave his flip flops on the ground as he raised his legs to the bed. He slid his hands into his pocket and got out Anne-Marie's bracelet, the one she had sacrificed for Niyagra. He lifted it to his face and let it drop just so he could have a good look at it properly, raising the keychain along side it too.

He scoffed.

How was her wrist so tiny?

He smiled a little bit at how his heart had warmed up to the thought of her immediately.

He exhaled after the thought of what happened at Niyagra crossed his mind and lowered his hands.

How was she? Was she okay? Was she awake now?

He couldn't help but remember how devastated and scared he was after she fainted, how worried he was at that moment,

He let out a weak exhale, raising his bright eyes to the really high ceiling.

What is wrong with you Aiden? Why do you really care so much? What is really wrong with you?

He exhaled.
What was wrong with him?