CHAPTER # 38

*Chatter* *Chatter*

"It's quite crowded I see," I said, entering the main hall of the Royal Academy where the registration process is currently in progress.

We came here with our escorts, Sir Ryan and Sir Brian since we can only bring one guardian per person and as for our parents? They said, "We know you can do it by yourself. We'll send you good wishes from here" and pushed us out of the house, both of us!

"Yeah, and I didn't see Aiden anywhere. He should be here by now." Anne said while turning her head side to side.

"Oh my innocent Ann, he's a 'Royal'. Why would he come and wait for so long? He is a VIP so of course he'll get you know~" I gestured with my hands to Anne while she nodded her head as she got an idea of what I meant.

"These Royals are good. No trouble, no worry, just go and do the registration, get treated like you are God and get everything done for you, so lucky, Sometimes I really get irritated by these Royals like 'I am Royalty, treat me with respect', especially that Aiden. Whenever he says this line, I have a really strong urge to just whack his nose" I complained.

"Oh really? And why haven't you done so yet?" a voice from behind me suddenly spoke up.

"Because he is 'Royalty', you idiot" I said and paused for a second.

'Wait a sec. That voice...' I thought as I recognized who the voice belonged to, cold sweat took over my forehead as I froze to spot.

"Oh Aiden! Hi!!" Anne exclaimed while waving to the person behind me.

Shit...

I slowly turned around just to witness Aiden with crossed arms and a knight behind him trying to hold his laughter.

"H-Hi Aiden" I said with an awkward smile.

"Hi. Mind completing what you were saying earlier? You want to, what? Break my nose?" he said, stepping forward towards me.

"Oh no...how can I say that to 'The Royal Highness'" I blankly said while averting my eyes.

"Oh really? So are you saying I heard wrong?" He said.

'This Motherfu!!#!@'

"No, Your Highness, I wasn't talking about you, I was talking about the Aiden in the story we both just read." I said, covering up for the mess I made.

"Story?" Anne whispered as I shushed her down.

"Story? What's the name?" Aiden asked.

"Survival of Aiden" I bluntly said as all of them stared at me blankly.

"Oh really?" Aiden said, attacking the last straw of my patience.

"Don't you know anything other than 'Oh really' Huh? So what if I said that? Yes! I was saying that about you! I really want to whack you in your face whenever you say 'I am Royalty. Treat me with respect', like I want to break those bunny teeth of yours right now! At this moment! Now say one more word and you are dead!! Understood! Your Royal Highness!!! Now shut up and let's go before it gets more crowded!!"

I snapped at him and said everything in one breath. Every single one of them got taken aback by my sudden outburst.

As soon as I finished, I stomped my way out of there whereas everyone was still in shock, a few unknown people also stopped to watch the show. Sir Ryan also followed me after snapping out the shock.

"I'm sorry on her behalf" Anne said with a slight bow as she dashed after me, followed by Sir Brian whereas Aiden was in a soul shaking shock and why wouldn't he be? He is the first Royalty to be treated like this. Whereas his knight was having a hard time controlling his laughter.

Soon both of them also followed up. We candidates stood in the line as our knights took positions a little further away from us.

"Sabi?" Anne whispered as she was standing behind me.

I hummed as she pulled me closer.

"Woah! Chill girl!" I whisper yelled.

"You shouldn't have said that. Look, Aiden is angry now" Anne said as I looked behind her to find a sulking Aiden.

'Oh my sweet Ann. You should not fall in this cute trap! It's all an illusion. You are way too innocent, but on the other hand, Aiden also is innocent...at least right now. Now, I feel bad.' I thought.

I sighed as I replaced places with Anne.

"Stop sulking, okay? So what if I said something to you? We are friends! And friends don't have formalities. They say everything openly without any secret in their hearts. I'm sorry that I spoke too much but what I said wasn't wrong" I said, trying to prove my point as Aiden just blankly stared at me.

"Look, Friends are someone that are as important as your family and sometimes more important, because they know you, they are with you, even in the situations that your family don't even know you ever went through. They don't have any secrets with each other. They stay truthful to each other.

A true friend is that person who corrects you when you're wrong, helps you up when you fall, after they finish laughing; stays with you in the shadows when you think you are alone, prays that you fail the test with them and if you pass the test…they'll be the first one to congratulate you after having a little cursing session with you.

And there are no formalities between friends. If their is formality then, there is no real friendship because friendship is all about messing around, doing weird thing together, calling each other stupid names, ganging up on one friend, dragging eachother in awkward situations, being the goofiest version of yourself, being the best version of yourself and being the realest version of yourself...

Friendship is all about trust and comfort. Not only friendship but every other relation out there requires trust.

If I'm not saying my heart out to you that means I'm not comfortable enough and if I'm not comfortable then Your Highness...we were never friends" I said as Aiden stared at me with an unreadable expression.

"Woah Sabi! That was awesome! I never thought friendship was that deep!" Anne exclaimed while clapping.

I heard a few more claps as I turned to the direction they were coming from our escorts...all three of them.

'Well that's embarrassing' I thought, getting a little flustered as I just spoke what came into my heart, ignoring each and every presence.

I looked over towards our escorts one more time when Aiden's knight caught my attention.

'That knight...isn't he the same knight that we met at the palace? What was his name? Zen? Yeah! Sir Zen. He looks quite young now that I look clearly, like around the age of the Crown Prince...wait! Why did I think of him? Gosh!! Remembering his name flashes that incident over and over in my mind. Ahh! That was embarrassing!' I thought a red tint took over my face, recalling the dancing incident.

I looked towards Aiden as he was still silent.

"What happened now? Why are you silent? Didn't my long honey-like speech melt your heart?" I asked as he still silently stared at me.

I gestured a 'What you looking at' look to him as he finally spoke, "You said that if I say one more word, I'm dead. That's why I remained silent since I treasure my life." He said innocently as I blankly looked at him before exclaiming,

"Aiden!!"

Everyone laughed at his behavior, whereas I was just looking at him in disbelief.

"Next!"

A voice spoke. It was the man sitting on the registration desk.

Guess it's our turn?

I walked over to the desk as Anne again took her position behind me.