Unannounced

He is looking a lot brighter than the last time I had seen him. Even though he still has a bit of seriousness on his face. I want to speak up, but then, before I even do, Charlie speaks up.

“Holly molly, it’s his royal highness.”

“Your highness,” Mr. William says immediately he cites him. Sofia says almost the same thing. It seems I am the very last to acknowledge his presence. And so I immediately do so.

“Your highness,” I say, hugging the tray towards me.

I am about to say more, but then Mr. William walks up to him, astonished obviously by his presence.

“It’s such an honor to have you here, your majesty. Please, what would you like to have?”

I am still looking at him when Charlie calls to my attention again. “Seems your cake shop is about to get famous from the crown prince visiting here.”

I ignore Charlie’s statement and look towards the windows. I see a car parked outside, with some of the bodyguards I had seen in the palace. He sure certainly knows how to make a grand entrance. And he is quite lucky to be here at about 9 am. Most students were in their classes receiving lectures by this time of the day. But one question pops up in my head, what is he doing at Princeton College, And coincidently at the shop where I work.

“What would you like to have your highness,” Mr. William says to the prince, with a face glaring up a wild smile.

On hearing Mr. William ask for a request, I do not bother to look towards the prince. Then turn towards Charlie to err my mind out.

“You really have to stop doing this, Charlie. I do not like it.”

“Just one date Jamie. That’s all I am asking,” Charlie says, giving me a puppy face look like a puppy.

On him saying this, the words of Mr. William suddenly comes back to me, on giving Charlie a chance.”

“Just one date,” I say to Charlie.

“Really? You would go out with me?” he says, standing up with a wild smile on his face. One could almost see his complete set of white teeth with the way he smiled.

I am walking back to the counter with the tray in my hands when I hear the familiar voice calling my name.

“Jamie,” the prince says.

I turn towards the prince with a shy smile on my face before rubbing the tip of my ear lobes. I only do this when I was shy. But I certainly do not know why I am feeling shy. If Mr. William and Sofia knew papa worked at the royal palace, they would hold me up with many questions.

“What are you doing here,” I ask the prince.

“Do you own the place? For a cake shop that’s not very polite to ask me, you should at least offer me some cake.”

“I am sorry about that, your highness. I am just surprised to see you here, that’s all.”

“I think it’s high time you stop calling me your highness. You should call me by my name, Frederick.”

“But your highness I…”

“Not again,” the prince cuts in.

“I am sorry.”

“You should stop apologizing too. You did nothing wrong. Just call me by my name. And I would call you by yours.”

“Okay,” I say, still robbing unto my ear lobes.

Mr. William walks in with a tray of pineapple cakes and a glass of orange juice to compliment. He sets the tray upon the table while I stand to watch as the prince sets to put the first slice inside his mouth. When I look towards Charlie, I see he is going through his phone while eating his strawberry cake.

“You seem to be looking over at your friend over there. Is he your boyfriend?”

“Charlie? Oh, he's not. He's just a senior who happens to be very nice to me.”

“From the looks of things, it seems like he likes you, Jamie.”

“How can you tell?”

“I just know so many things, jay,” he says, taking the first slice of pineapple cakes. But then what he calls me causes me to feel uncomfortable. Only mother called me jay. She was the only one who was allowed to call me jay. I want to tell the prince not to call me jay. But then I cannot say anything but let out a fake smile.

I walk back to the counter. Clearing the table as I watch the prince eat from his cake slowly. I am very certain the cake he eats at the palace is a lot better than this. But then I am again distracted by the buzz on my phone. Causing me to let my hands in on my apron to check who the caller is. But then it’s only a text from Charlie. Which reads.

“How can you look so Adorable with an apron on. I cannot wait for our date.”

When I look towards Charlie, I see a smile is lit on his face, which causes me to smile too. But then my face suddenly drifts towards the prince, who I see is staring at me. His face is quite cold like he had been staring at me for a long time. This makes me uncomfortable. Maybe if I asked him what he was doing at Princeton University, he would lighten up. I drop my phone on the counter desk, about walking towards the prince when Charlie calls my name again.

“Jamie, I would be on my way now. I need to see my thesis supervisor. I would have loved to stay more, but he urgently needs to see me.”

“It’s fine. You can text me when you’re done.”

“Alright, Jamie. Bye, CSP.”

I almost groan on hearing Charlie call me that. But then I recall that Mr. William is watching me.

When I look towards the prince, I notice he is almost done with his cake, meaning I would have to soon pick up his tray. But then I notice the empty leftover of Charlie’s strawberry cake, which he hardly touched. He hardly touches any of the cakes I gave him. I would have to clear his plate and then the prince’s plate.

I walk up to Charlie’s table to pick up his plate before heading towards the prince's table, but then I see Sofia walking over to his table. She has a slight smile on her face, which defines her very blue eyes. Sofia is beautiful, but she doesn’t stand a chance with the prince. Princess Charlene is going to be his future queen.

“Would you like more cake, your highness?” Sofia asks the prince, still smiling at him. At this point, I am quite interested in her flirting skills. She seems so confident, talking to the prince. Maybe one day, I would be as confident as she was in talking to the prince with someone I like. But right now, I have a ton of assignments to deal with.

“That will be all, miss.”

“My name is Sofia.”

“Well, that will be all, Miss Sofia. Thank you for the cakes. They were nice.”

“You are welcome. What brings you to Princeton College, your highness?”

I would give Sofia a high thumbs up for this. Because she is asking him the exact question, I would have asked him if I could start a conversation with him.

“Well, I heard they sell nice cakes here at Shirley’s cakes. So I came to try it out.”

“Wow! You should come here more often, your highness,” Sofia says, still smiling at the prince.

I am eavesdropping on their conversations, but then, when I raise my head to look towards the prince, I see he is staring at me. This causes me to lower my head again, calculating with the price book on the counter.

“I would be on my way now, miss,” the prince says, standing up. I turn over to look at Mr. William, but he is no longer in the room.

I watch as the prince walks up to me. I want to ask him what he really came here for. But then he speaks before I do.

“I would be on my way, jay. See you soon.”

The words do not leave my mouth anymore. I stand still, watching as the prince leaves the room with security guards. I am still staring at the exit door when my phone rings again. When I look towards my phone, it is a call from my thesis client Pete.

I clear my throat slightly before answering the call. “Hello,” I say.