Hope

It felt to Maria as if time stood still as Henri's face slowly made its way towards her.

She watched as he stopped for a second before he closed his eyes, as well as the gap between them.

His gentle lips met hers and the slight pressure of them made Maria's heart flip in her chest as she felt her eyes flutter shut.

He pulled away for just a moment before his slightly open lips pressed against hers again, and his hands that had been cupping her face started to travel to the back of her neck and base of her head so that they could help her be able to tilt her face up slightly.

She leaned in towards him, completely in the moment, and placed her hands on his chest before they both worked together to deepen the kiss.

Maria felt those familiar butterflies bouncing around in her stomach.

Henri pulled away slowly after a long moment, and he opened his eyes to look at her as she opened her eyes to look up at him.

"Thank you for the lovely afternoon," he said, still just inches from her with his hands wrapped around her neck.

"Mhm," was all Maria could manage to reply, still breathless from her first kiss.

She could tell by the way he remained frozen in front of her that he wanted to kiss her again, and something in her body pulled for it too, but he dropped his hands and gave her one last heart-warming smile before he started back down the hallway to return to his own room.

When Maria was a little girl, she was frightened of what her first kiss would entail.

She always figured it would be something that happened on her wedding day with whatever stranger she was forced to marry.

She had heard from Jason and his travel friends that all of their first kisses with foreign women in the places they visited had either been incredibly passionate or incredibly awkward, and she had always assumed that hers would be the latter.

She was grateful for Henri at that moment because she could not have dreamed of a more perfect and safe encounter.

When she finally felt like she could move again, Maria turned and quickly entered her room so that she could recover from her racing heart in peace and solitude.

She took her sandals off and threw them to the side before she jumped onto her bed and turned to lay on her back.

With her pink dress and brown curls falling all around her, Maria placed her hands over her face and sighed as she smiled thinking about the kiss she just shared with the cute, funny prince from Denmark.

Maria had dreamed of being able to find love but knew that with the restraints around her with being the future Queen of Greece, that it was unlikely to happen.

It was no secret that she had been dreading the suitors' arrival and what it entailed, but for the first time in a while, she now had hope that this might just turn out alright for her in the end.

And it was all thanks to Henri.

Filled with new life and a renewed dream, Maria made the change in her mindset at that moment that she would put her all into this experience.

She knew that going on these dates and fully investing herself was the best way to secure her future happiness.

Maria was pulled from her dream state when she heard a knock at her door and she blinked a couple of times so that her eyes could adjust to the now dark bedchamber.

She quickly sat up straight and patted her hands down her hair and dress in a rushed attempt to straighten them as she called, "Come in!"

Alexandria entered the room and took in the sight of the princess who looked much more at ease than she had that morning.

"My Lady, everyone is in the dining hall waiting for you to join them for dinner! Did you lose track of the time?" she asked looking around the room, "It's so dark in here".

"I did. I was too busy daydreaming, I suppose," she replied as she hurried to fix the straps of her sandals so that she could get to dinner quickly.

"Daydreaming you say? I take it you had a nice stroll with the prince then?" the maid questioned, smirking up at Maria.

Maria felt her entire body heat up and she turned away from the maid to run out of the room as she yelled behind her, "I'll see you after dinner!"

"Yes, my Lady!" the maid called after her, chuckling to herself as she lit candles to bring some light to the room.

'I really need to get better at keeping time,' Maria thought to herself as she held her dress to not trip on it and power-walked down the hall to the dining room.

She had always been very punctual but something about these last few days had really messed with Maria's ability to stay focused and on task.

When she started to near the dining room, she slowed down to prevent anyone from seeing her in a frantic state and tried to calm her heart that had started beating fast due to her quick movements.

She entered the room to find that everyone had already found their way there, and she was the last to join.