Chapter 16 - Caged Bird

By the time Yelena went to see Prince Felix, it was already 9 p.m. The dazzling stars and the moon which was in its full glory that night brightened the beautiful Silveren. The luxurious VIP Guest House built by white marbles radiant under the bright sky.

Captain Yelena greet the Prince who was always busy with his work. Though he came to Silveren as the Representative of Edeladon; he also came as the Representative of Royal Group. So, he needs to balance his time as the ambassador of his country and his family business.​​

"Your Highness."

The Prince face brightened up at the sight of Yelena. He instantly put down his files and looked up to her. "Are you here to talk about me sneaking out today, Captain?" He already saw this coming.

"Yes, Your Highness. We have all your official schedules but not the unofficial ones. I beg Your Highness to give us those too; so we can make necessary arrangements in advance." Yelena formally requested the Prince.

"I understand what you say. But apart from being a Prince, I have life as a businessman too. You didn't expect me to go to business meetings with armed soldiers, didn't you?"

Yelena understands the Prince's standing. She thinks of a solution but the Prince beat her at that.

"Let's do like this. You can dress up as my personal assistant and accompany me in my business meetings. One of your team members can be the driver and the others can be on standby at a distance." Prince Felix suggested, inwardly praising himself for his brilliant idea.

Like this, he could spend more time with this woman!

Reminding herself that the Prince's safety should come first before her personal matters, Yelena reluctantly agreed to Felix's suggestion.

"I hope that in the future, Your Highness won't sneak out again without protection. I understands how you feel but it is very dangerous for you to be alone."

"Do you think you really understand how I feel? The suffocation and the longing for freedom; have you ever experienced such scary feelings?" He gave her a doubtful look.

His pleasant face was gone as he recalled how he used to longed for a normal and simple life.

"Yes. I spent almost two decades of my life being sheltered, controlled and restricted. For others, it was protection; but for me..." She paused for a while when she realised that the Prince stared at her with amazement. "I felt like I was a caged bird." She concluded in a low voice.

"Are you okay?" Felix felt guilty for confronting her with such question. Did his question hurt her and made her realised bad memories? To be the one who hurt her never crossed his mind for even once!

Yelena instantly fixed her composure. "I understand you, Your Highness. So please, inform me even if it's just a simple outing with no important purpose. Our team may be punish severely if anything happens to you, we may even end up behind bars. But we are not afraid of that."

She paused for a while and continued.

"If anything happens, our country will lose its pride and the peace between two countries will be at stake once again. That's what we are afraid of. So, I beg you to cooperate with us." She pleaded with the Prince.

Felix opened his mouth to say something but Yelena outspoken him.

"I will take my leave then. Please have a rest, Your Highness." Yelena bid goodbye and hurriedly stormed out of the room.

Felix stared at the disappearing form of Yelena. "She always leave after saying what she wants to say. She never listened to me." He muttered to himself. "Goodnight, Yelena." He said with a slight smile.

As soon as she walked out of the Prince's room, Yelena closed the door and leaned her back on it. She take a deep breath and shook her head to arouse herself from her busy mind.

Why did she always talked too much when Felix was around? She always said what she must not say!

She placed her hands on her chest and felt the rapid thumping of her heartbeat. She reminded herself again and again that she must focus only on her duty and nothing else.

* * *

In a large mansion at one of the best localities in Silveren, one handsome young man was sitting alone in his room with a phone on his hands.

He pressed out one phone number but just before dialing, he hesitated the idea and put down his phone. Then he picked up his phone and the same cycle repeated over and over again.

Maurice Serano was reluctant to call his fiancée after many years. He couldn't muster up the courage to talk to her, not after what he had done.

He felt guilty for ignoring her just like that. He wished that he was a little brave at that time. Though their engagement was a secret between the two families, his two close friends were aware of it.

But when his closest companions laughed at him when they knew that his fiancée will be joining the army instead of her mother's company; he felt utterly humiliated.

He was so embarrassed that he made the wrong decision which he regretted since then.

Time passed by unknowingly. By the time he realized his mistakes, it was so late. His fiancée had already changed her number and moved on.

He heard from others that the beautiful princess of TR Group had become an independent and elite Army Officer.

He remembered himself not paying attention to any other women despite the number of beautiful women vying for his attention during the past 6 years.

No other women could make him feel the sparks and joy that the teenage and innocent Yelena gave him when he was just 20 years old!

He then made a decision to try his best to make up for his mistakes when he return to Silveren. And now the time had come to try his luck.

After pondering for a while and recalling his regretful memories, Maurice finally called Yelena.

* * *

Yelena was about the leave the control room when she received a call. She looked at the caller ID and only saw a number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Elen."

The man from the other line doesn't introduce himself but from his voice and how he called her, she could tell right away that it was Maurice.

'Elen' was the nickname he gave her and no other person never called her like that, except him. Her hand that was about to reached for the doorknob paused and she stood still next to the door.

When he didn't get any response, the man introduce himself. "I'm Maurice."

"I know."

"I'm sorry for all those years."

"So what?"

"Can we meet and talk in person?"

"I'm sure I already told my mother that I will say when I have the time."

"I'm aware of that. But -"

"If you knew, then I'll hang up now. As you know, I'm in the army and I'm quite busy. Goodbye, Mr. Serano." Yelena bluntly replied and hang up the call right away.

She then leave the control room and act like nothing happened. In fact, it doesn't affect her that much. Maybe it had been so long.

* * *

After Yelena gave him the cold shoulder, Maurice put down his phone and get lost in his own thoughts. He told himself not to be faze by it and that he deserved the treatment his received.

He reminded himself to try more harder in the future.....