The Free-Spirited Princess
A/N: My first attempt of writing in present tense. R/R always highly appreciated.
Summary
Obsessed by romance stories between royal and commoner, Princess Irene determined to marry a commoner herself. Her dream was to live in a cosy cottage house with marble kitchen where she could bake chocolate chips cookies.
On the day her first commoner crush broke her heart, she met a kind-hearted bartender. She thought he was perfect: a commoner and a poor student who's kind, hardworking, smart, and good looking. He was the typical novel commoner.
What she didn't know, he wasn't really what she thought he was. Bartender and poor student were only his cover...
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Note:
- This is a work of fiction. Places and characters are all fictional. Any similarity to real people, dead or alive, is a coincidence
- This story is not about any historical people. The kingdoms/countries mentioned in this story are totally fictional.
- Story takes place in modern times.
"Bloody bodyguards! Can't you just leave me alone?!" I swear at my vibrating cell phone. "Stop ringing me!" I scold. I take out the battery from the back of the phone and continue sipping my glass of wine.
I ditched my two bodyguards at the royal show (it's a kind of funfair, carnival, or I don't know what you call it in your country). I told them to win me a giant teddy bear at one of the shooting stand. They don't get much chance to practice their shooting skills unless someone tries to kidnap me so they were pretty excited when they had a chance to shoot those floating ducks.
When they were not looking, I escaped. I wanted to be alone. I was so looking forward to going to this fair with Michael, the commoner guy whom I had a crush on since forever. But guess what, he ditched me for Sarah, the sexy blondie who lived three doors away from my dorm room. Apparently Sarah and Michael is an item! And I'm the only one who doesn't know!
Everyone knows Princess Irene has a crush on Michael. And no one dares to tell Princess Irene that Michael had asked Sarah out! They must be afraid of being shot by her bodyguards.
And yes, I'm Princess Irene.
I'm the baby princess of this kingdom. That means I'm the last child and the only daughter of the King. Being female and the last one, I have a very slim chance of inheriting the throne. I would only ascend the throne if all the males of my generation abdicated or dead which is pretty unlikely as there're so many of them.
So yeah, I pretty much have a normal life, apart from the guards who follow me everywhere, of course. My parents don't really put much pressure on me the way they do on my eldest brother, the crown prince. I don't have to be home-schooled or join the army. I went to normal schools and my parents allowed me to live outside the palace when I started university one year ago provided that I would take my two bodyguards with me. I agreed. Living outside the palace is what I always wanted. It 's the first step towards accomplishing my life mission: finding my commoner lover.
Since young I had been obsessed with the story of forbidden romance between a royal and a commoner. Lucky for me I'm a princess. All I have to do is find a commoner whom I can share forbidden romance with. Okay, so maybe it isn't going to be forbidden because this is the twenty-first century. Marrying within the royal family is recommended but marrying an outsider isn't forbidden. It takes out the thrill of dating a commoner, but I guess that is okay. I surely don't want to be beheaded later on when I end up marrying a commoner.
The main thing is, I want to go down history as the princess who marries a commoner. I often fantasize about the day I bring my commoner boyfriend to the palace. I would tell my parents, "this is the man I choose to marry. I don't care what everyone's going to say. I will marry no one but him". And then my father goes, "if you insist on marrying this commoner, you're no longer my daughter!" How dramatic is that? But again, I don't think that would happen since my father wouldn't really mind me marrying a commoner as long as he's a nice guy.
I'm a free-spirited princess. I want to be free and be able to do whatever I want. If I marry the prince of our neighbouring kingdom or the son of a duke, I will be living with formalities for the rest of my life. On the other hand, if I marry a normal, good looking, intelligent, and hardworking commoner guy, I would be able to live in a normal cosy cottage house in a quiet suburb with a nice marble kitchen where I would bake chocolate chip cookies for my children who're playing with the dogs in the garden and my husband who's washing the car in the driveway. Awww.
Okay, you just let my imagination controlled me. You must never do that again. I need to focus if I were to tell you my story. Where was I? Yes, Michael.
Michael is this genius who studies to be a doctor. He has sky blue eyes, well-built body, light brown hair, and well-tanned skin! He's gorgeous. And of course I'm not the only one who thinks so.
I first thought, who wouldn't want to be with a princess? Okay, maybe I'm not blonde or sexy, but come on! I'm not bad looking and I'm a princess for crying out loud! Who could beat that? Everyone wants to be with a princess. I know the prince at the next kingdom wants to! His parents even came all the way to ask for my hand. Luckily I was only sixteen when that happened. My parents thought I was too young to be married. Phew.
No way was I marrying the prince. Especially not the crown prince of a strange land. I have enough problems with living in my own palace, let alone other people's palace.
Okay, I'm side-tracked again. Back to Michael. I have been trying to befriend him since I first met him in the student union meeting earlier this year. He was the representative of the faculty of health science while I was the representative of faculty of creative arts.
So we became good friends. And tonight, I thought he would eventually tell me that he liked me because he asked if I would go to the royal show with him. Apparently though, he wasn't asking me if I would go to the show with him. He was asking if I would go to the show. Full stop.
I was waiting for him in the entrance to the fairground with my two bodyguards when I saw him coming my way with his arm around Sarah's waist. I didn't understand what happened so I approached them. "I thought we're supposed to go together?" I asked right out.
Michael just looked at me with confused expression. "What?"
"You asked me if I would go to the royal show with you," I reminded him.
"No," he replied. "I asked if you would go to the royal show."
"What?" It was my turn to be confused. "But you said, you'll meet me here."
"Yes and I'm meeting you here," Michael said casually. "The three of us, uhm I mean the five of us," he eyed my bodyguards, "can go together if you want to."
"I'm Sarah," Sarah introduced herself.
"I know who you are." I glared at Sarah. Come on! We live three doors apart in the same dormitory!
"Yes, but what you don't know is I'm Michael's girlfriend."
"WHAT? Is this true?" I asked Michael.
He nodded.
My face reddened in anger and embarrassment. I turned around and left. I heard Michael said to Sarah, "you don't need to do that to her." Sarah replied, "it's time for her to know."
Sarah was lucky that I didn't order my bodyguards to shoot her on the head then and there.
So after I ditched my bodyguards at the duck shooting stand I went to a bar downtown and ordered some drinks. I love this place because it has live soft music played from the piano. I'm planning to sit here pitying myself until my guards manage to find me.
I don't understand why Michael chose Sarah over me. I thought there was something between us. I even told him my secret obsession.
"I want to marry a commoner," I told Michael one day.
"But you're a princess," he told me.
"Yes, but this is the twenty-first century, it's quite alright for a princess to marry anyone she likes. Plus, no one is going to care. It's not like I'm going to be a Queen one day."
Michael just laughed.
See, I told him right out that I wanted to marry him! And what did he do? Laughed. He just didn't get it.
I sigh. I twirled the wine in my glass.
"Love trouble?" the bartender asks.
I sigh some more. How can he know?
"You know, alcohol is never the solution," he said again. I notice he has a foreign accent.
I look at him. "You're a bartender. You shouldn't discourage people from drinking."
He smiles. "Write it down." He hands me a pen and a piece of paper.
"What?"
"Writing can help sorting out feelings. When you write it down, everything becomes clearer. I do it all the time."
I raise my eyebrows. What a strange suggestion from a strange bartender. Nevertheless I receive the things he gives me.
"You know, you look familiar. Have we met before?" he asks.
"Are you flirting with me?" I ask back. That is the typical pick up line guys use on girls.
The bartender laughs. "Well, I don't mind if you think that way but you really do look familiar."
That's because I'm a princess, silly! I appear in the media plenty of times. But I'm not about to tell him that. "No, I don't think we have met."
He smiles again. "Oh well, I thought I asked." He then turns around to get something.
Seconds later he put a bowl in front of me. "Ice cream?" I asked when I see what's inside the bowl.
"A much better alternative to alcohol," he winked. "On the house. Enjoy."
Before I can say anything he leaves to serve another customer.
A/N: Okay, so how was the first chapter? Worth continuing?