Royal Elite

One year later,

I stand at the corner of the exhibition hall.

My view is concealed by a statue that looks like poop. Astrid would call it some sort of art, but it still looks like poop to me.

Anyway, I'm not hiding at the corner like a creep for the poop statue.

I'm here for the two sketch drawings on the opposite wall. Two ethereal sketch drawings.

The first is a black and white phoenix sketch. It's another take of the tattoo that Astrid's mother did for Lord Clifford.

I've been there when she obsessed over every line saying that it'll never be like her mother's.

However, I wasn't there when she did the second sketch drawing - I was kicked out every time. She even had a lock with fingertip access on her art studio so I don't peek at it.

I considered breaking and entering, but I backed down last second when she begged me for a favour.

What? I hate it when she keeps things from me.

Nothing would've prepared me for what's in front of me. I'm the first believer in Astrid's talent. When she told me she's having her first nation-wide exhibition, she was out of her skin with joy. I told her that they're lucky to have her, not the other way around.

Because, holy fuck, look at that sketch. Look at how she captured the moment seconds before scoring. The determined look in my eyes. The tightness of my muscles.

She didn't even miss the way the T-shirt stuck to my chest or my wind-tousled hair. It's like a living breathing being, not a sketch hanging on the wall.

Astrid stands near her drawings, laughing and smiling at Dan, her father and a few of his friends. She's been complaining that Lord Clifford always makes his friends buy her drawings, even those non-exhibited ones. He told her they won't buy them if they didn't like them. Secretly? Her father and I have been trying to buy back whatever drawings she sold.

What? As her husband, I have the right to them first.

And yes, I married her shortly after proposing. Proposing was only a means to an end, anyway. A way to make her feel like we have time ahead when in reality, I wasn't going to give her time to think and realise that I don't deserve her.

Because I don't.

Astrid pushes away the darkness lurking inside me. I don't know where I would've been if it weren't for her.

Probably lost at the bottom of a bottle, drugs, and a fuckload of addictions.

She purged all of those and became my only addiction. Thinking about her calms me down. Seeing her gives me peace. Touching her drives me fucking insane and anchors me at the same time.

So yeah, she's my bloody everything.

Astrid calls me her muse and whispers in my ear every night how much she was lucky to find me.

The joke is on her.

She's the muse.

I am the one who's damn lucky to have found her.

A wave of pride invades me whenever a random person stops in front of her sketches and gives an appreciative nod.

Seeing her glow is the reason I've been hiding like a creep. I love watching her from afar, knowing full well that she'll end up in my arms tonight. That she'll tell me all about her day and demands to know everything about mine.

Our eyes meet, and I'm a goner.

I've always been a damn goner for those expressive bright greens. They don't only look at me. No. They see fucking through me.

Astrid and I always shared a connection. A way for us to find each other no matter how long the distance.

The world around us disappears for a second as her lips pull in a wide smile. She's wearing a sleeveless dark blue dress, proudly showing her Sun-Moon-Star tattoo. Her hair is pulled up, accentuating the pale curve of her neck, begging for my lips on it.

She excuses herself from the circle and quickens her pace towards me.

As soon as she's within touching distance, I wrap my hands around her waist and pull her into me.

Her palms stretch on my shoulders as she looks up at me with an unsure expression. "I thought you had practice?"

"You're more important."

That familiar red hue covers her cheeks. She's still as adorable as three years ago when I saw her blushing for the first time.

"So," my gaze trails behind her to Daniel and the girl hanging onto his arm. "Daniel's plus one is... interesting."

"I know, right?" She laughs, then nudges me. "You should've seen Aiden's plus one. I think he only came over because of her."

"Can't argue with that."

"So, why are you hiding here?" She pauses, face sinking. "You don't like the sketches? It's okay, I mean, I can take it."

Did I say she was adorable when she was blushing? She's even more so when her lips are pursed, readying herself for the criticism she thinks I have.

"You can take it, huh?" I tease.

"Yup. It's like totally normal. I mean, it's -"

"Princess." I cut her off.

Yeah?" She stares up at me with so many conflicting emotions that dig paths straight to my heart.

She loves my approval as much as I fucking live for hers.

"They're perfect. I know I'm not supposed to choose, but these are your best work yet."

Her face lights up and I fucking love being the one behind it. "Really?"

I nod. "Absolutely."

She hugs me with tears shining in her eyes. "I love you so much, Lev."

"And I love you, Astrid."

She pulls back and for a moment, we just stare at each other. She's smiling and staring up at me with glinting eyes and I'm here battling the urge to kidnap her somewhere so I can show her how that look drives me fucking nuts.

"I'm so happy they're your favourites," she says.

"Well, my absolute favourite is still the first sketch you did of me. Nothing can beat that."

She hits my chest. "You did steal it!"

I smirk. "Proof, princess?"

"Ugh. You're so infuriating sometimes."

"Only sometimes? I need to step up my game." My lips hover over her ear before licking the shell.

"Levi!" She fights a moan and fails. "We're in public."

"Who cares, princess?"

"My dad is here."

"He saw us naked on our first time."

She groans, smiling. "Don't remind me of that."

"Don't they have a storage room or something around here?"

"They might." She licks her lips. "Why?"

"Just to celebrate."

She raises an eyebrow. "Only to celebrate?"

"Amongst other things."

Her eyes heat, matching what must be written all over my face. "Things like what?"

"Guess you have to find out, huh?"

Her warm breath tickles my face as she teases me with a sloppy kiss. "Will it be worth my time?"

"Oh, it will be worth your time all right." I pull her into my side. "Lead the way, Mrs King."

"After you, my king."

The End

The Ferrari comes to a slow halt in front of the coffee shop.

Right next to the new boy's Range Rover.

The gloomy evening sky matches the air inside the car.

I rest one arm on the steering wheel and stare at the text I sent Elsa an hour ago.

Aiden: Your place or mine?

I waited for her reply, but nothing came.

Instead, I had a text from Knight telling me he saw her around this area with the new boy.

She ignored my text to go out with him.

Van fucking Doren.

She took him here of all places. This coffee shop is where our story started. This is our usual place, and she stained it with someone else.

I clutch the phone tighter and draw in deep breaths.

The need to go in there and smash the place to pieces overwhelms me.

Better yet, I should smash the new boy's face.

I warned him not to threaten what's mine, but that's all he's been doing.

Elsa can think of him as a friend all she likes, but no one would convince me that he doesn't have a hidden agenda.

He didn't approach Elsa just because he's dying to be her friend.

He approached her for other reasons, and I'll uncover them even if it's the last thing I do.

Keeping my arm on the steering wheel, I lean against it and watch through the coffee shop's glass windows.

They sit near the window, talking and appearing like a fucking cliché.

He's wearing jeans and a leather jacket. She's in skinny jeans and a fuck-me T-shirt that keeps falling off her pale shoulders.

She has the decency not to wear in dresses and put on makeup this time.

A part of my mind recognises that she's not focused on him. He's the only one talking and eating while she's fiddling her fork around in her plate. Her gaze gets lost in the distance more often than not. Even her nods are absent-minded.

All those facts are supposed to cool me down.

They don't.

The only reason I'm not barging in there is that I have no idea what I'll do to him.

And her.

She can defy me on anything except for this.

She can be stubborn and hot-headed all she likes, but she has no right to play this card.

I suck in a deep breath and watch for her tells. Her lips are set into a line which means she's deep in thought - and it's not with the new boy's conversation.

Lucky for her.

Unlucky for her, she made a huge mistake by bringing him here.

By smiling at him.

By choosing him over me.

Doesn't she know that she's slowly digging his grave?

The more she laughs or smiles at him, the more creative I become about finishing his miserable life.

Soon.

Very soon.

For now, she's the one in my sights.

Elsa can challenge me in anything except for this.

She can be stubborn all she likes as long as she's mine.

Movement catches in my peripheral vision.

On my far right, a familiar car slows down to a stop. The driver is dressed in a ski mask, but I recognise him.

I smirk as he exits his car hides behind the new boy's Range.

I should feel sorry for what's about to go down.

I don't.

Van Doren had it coming and now he'll pay the price.

Just like Elsa will tonight.

The End

Age eleven

Cole is an idiot.

He's been saying these things to me lately that I can't get out of my head.

He said Kim will hate me, that she'll eventually choose some other tosser over me. He said girls always change for the worst and I'm only her friend.

Friendzone.

I asked Dad what that means, and I don't usually like asking him for things.

Dad said a friendzone is when a girl only likes you as a friend and that's all.

That's not all.

Kim is my best friend, but she's more than that.

She's... everything.

Ever since Mum left, Kim has been the shoulder I lie my head on. Her lap is the best place to sleep on.

Watching her eat the green M&M's I picked for her is the best scene I've ever laid my eyes on.

I love lying on the grass with her as she reads from her fantasy books. It's not because of the way she narrates, she's bad at that considering how she skips over words when she's too excited to know what happens next.

What I love is the way her green eyes turn round and huge whenever a plot twist happens.

More than anything, I love how she only comes to me when she's feeling low about how Jeanine treats her, but also when she's thrilled about the smallest things.

Kim is more than a friend, she's family. No, not only family, she's more.

She's my Green.

I don't want to be stuck in the friendzone or whatever that tosser Cole said.

He told me I need to keep my distance, but I don't want to. So instead, I'm going to do something friends don't do.

I'm going to do something that will keep me as her knight forever.

We had a pact. I'll always be her night. Today, tomorrow and in the whole future.

Kim is standing over her little brother's bed. She's singing to him in a soft tone. It's a song she invented about how he's so pretty and that she loves him.

Kirian's eyes are fluttered closed, but she keeps singing some more until he sighs in his baby voice.

As she stands there, I inhale a deep breath and tap her shoulder. She turns around and a smile breaks on her round face when she sees me.

I lean over and press my lips to hers.

I don't know what I'm doing, but Cole said he did it, so that means I can do it too.

Kim freezes, but she doesn't pull away. She just remains there and I do too. She tastes a bit of pistachio. I love pistachio just because she loves it. I brush my mouth against her one last time and step back, rubbing my nape.

"Xan?" she asks, her cheeks turning an adorable shade of pink.

"What?" I shove a hand in my trousers' in my pocket, not wanting to blush too.

"What was that?"

"We're not only friends," I say. "We're more."

She grins and takes my hand in hers. "Of course we are."

I tuck her to my side and hug her so close, she protests then giggles as she wraps her arms around my back.

Green and I are more.

So much more.

We're everything.

The End