Chapter 72 - EXODUS, Surprised...

The children removed their masks one by one, and you could hear gasping and shocked murmuring around the ballroom. Student's that would normally never speak with one another had been conversing with each other the whole time and enjoying themselves. But, now everything had changed.

For some of the guests, the unmasking meant the beginning of new friendships, while others were disgusted after finding out who the other person they had been having fun with the whole time was.

Akira and Jeffrey already knew the whole time their true identities even before the unmasking. However, the one that got the shock of her life was Pearl. Standing next to her was the most dashing young man she had ever laid her eyes on. More handsome than the twins and Jeffrey.

She couldn't believe her luck to have been asked to be his dance partner, and her face turned scarlet red with just the thought of him holding her almost intimately a while ago. 

The young man turned around and properly introduced himself.

"Hello! I'm Crown Prince Edward of Stonasia. Nice to meet you!" His smile was so sweet and tender that Pearl's heart was thumping so fast that she couldn't catch up.

"H-H-Hello!" She stammered as she greeted him back while her heart was beating so fast. "I'm Pearl Grant, the first daughter of the United States Of America." She properly introduced herself. She figured that she needed to mention her position to match the person's title in front of her.

Ms. Shannon and Ms. Williams saw them, and both exchanged secret smiles. 

"Don't you think they look good together? It seems we might have a future Crown Princess in the making." So whispered Ms. Shannon to Ms. Williams, who nodded in agreement. 

===

Jeffrey took Akira's hand and went to introduce her to Crown Prince Edward properly.

"Happy birthday, your highness! I would like to introduce to you the sister of James and Ashton. Miss Akira Jones. A good friend of mine." He then ushered Akira to greet  Prince Edward.

"Happy birthday, your highness! Nice to meet you,"  Akira said shyly. Just like Pearl, she couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. Although she always thought that her twin brothers' features were God's gift to humankind, this one in front of her was way beyond that.

He looked like Adonis from head to toe. Her eyes were bulging out of their sockets, and Jeffrey saw it clearly from the corner of his eyes.

Prince Edward smiled, and a heavily dented dimple appeared on one of his cheeks while he greeted her back. 

"Thank you! This is the best birthday I have ever had in my entire life. To be surrounded by so many beautiful people..." He jokingly said while looking back and forth between Akira and Pearl.

Seeing that, Jeffrey quickly pulled Akira back to their place in the middle of the dance floor. It was as if he had eaten vinegar after seeing how Prince Edward was eyeing both girls...

===

While all that was happening, Ashton excused himself and suddenly disappeared to who knows where leaving Ava in the hands of James, who was just standing and watching what was happening in the middle of the dance floor.

Suddenly, all the lights dimmed. A voice rang coming from somewhere in the vicinity before the curtain behind the dance floor rose up. 

Ashton appeared with his signature blond hair with a headset microphone; he was in the middle of the rest of the members of 'EXODUS'; they then began playing the happy birthday song. Everyone in the room chimed in with the group and sang along.

While they were singing, the palace chef and his assistants came in, rolling one humongous cake that required at least six people to push. It was taller than Crown Prince Edward. 

Right behind the cake were King Alexander and Queen Alexa, followed by President Grant, First Lady Andrea, Jeff, Ann, and lastly, Tanaga and Ashley. They all chimed in as well and happily sang with EXODUS.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, happy birthday... Happy birthday Prince Edward!!!!"

After they sang to Prince Edward, everyone clapped their hands and shouted greetings to him. In turn, he thanked them before proceeding to blow the 18 candles all around the cake.

Once that was finished, the palace chef and his assistants rolled the cake away from the middle of the dance floor. They parked the cake on one side of the room, and then they began slicing it to share with whoever wanted to eat. 

However, the children were more interested in the idol group EXODUS than the big, tall, giant cake.

When the music stopped, Ms. Williams handed the microphone to King Alexander first to wish his younger brother a happy birthday and give a speech. Then it was passed one by one from Queen Alexa to the last adult. 

===

After saying their birthday wishes to Prince Edward, all the adults left to give the children time to enjoy the EXODUS mini-concert. 

Once the adults were gone, the children were cheering and jumping for joy because of the surprise concert they were about to see. Then, the music began, and Asthon started singing…

One by one, everyone started gathering in the middle of the dance floor. However, now that all the children were no longer wearing masks, it was not as easy for the boys to ask the same girl they had danced before when they were wearing masks. But, the girls were different. They were not afraid nor shy. Instead, they quickly grabbed the hands of the person they danced with before and pulled them into the dance floor.

Soon, the dance floor was packed. Finally, Prince Edward decided that he had enough dancing and asked Pearl if they could take a break. Jeffrey and Akira were getting bumped left and right and also decided to take a break.

James and Ava had to step back to get away from the crowd that started gathering closer to the edges of the dance floor. It was getting so jam-packed that they were getting pushed further and further away.

James had to protect Ava several times from getting stepped on or pushed. Finally, he had enough of it; he pushed Ava to one of the corners before shielding her with his arms and body.

Ava was stunned and couldn't utter a word. She wanted to tell him that it wasn't necessary, but when James pushed her, she just shut her mouth while holding her breath…

James had to put both hands on the wall trying to prevent Ava from being squished to death. Their closeness with each other was not helping either. He started to sweat, unsure if it was because of the crowds or because of being in a very intimate position with Ava. 

Unknown to them that Ashton's hawk eyes were secretly watching them… 

The idol group 'EXODUS' originally planned to sing about three songs to gift Prince Edward. However, after only one piece, Ashton motioned to his group secretly from behind to stop after that one song.

He needed to do something about those people that caused James and Ava to be in close proximity. The only way he knew how was to stop the mini-concert so they all would disperse, and it would lead Ava to be free from where she was at.

===

Once they stopped, Ms. Williams and Ms. Shannon went in the middle of the dance floor, and both of them were holding a microphone.

"Children, listen up! The party officially ends now! Slowly make your way towards the exit and wait for your parents or service to arrive. I hope you enjoyed this wonderful present that Crown Prince Edward had given to all of you for his 18th birthday." Cheered, Ms. Williams showed two rows of white teeth.

"Goodnight, everyone!" Added Ms. Shannon. Once the children started moving, Ms. Shannon quickly went towards the door to help usher the children out of the ballroom.

The EXODUS members were quick to step out of the makeshift stage and exited to the back, where they were taken to a receiving room to wait until everyone was gone.

Once inside the lounge, Ashton quickly put on the black wig he had been using, then changed his clothes to the one he was wearing earlier before sneaking back into the ballroom to look for Ava and James.

But unfortunately, James and Ava were nowhere in sight. 

===

Meanwhile, in the east wing of the Palace, King Alexander was having a serious conversation with President Grant while King Ramon, Jeff, and Tanaga were also conversing about business matters.

"Brother-in-law, what do you think of my younger brother Prince Edward?" King Alexander's face was solemn as he spoke, looking straight at Daniel.

Daniel wasn't able to answer right away. He knew that King Alexander had a reason for asking. He had to think of a politically correct answer, or he might get himself into a hot seat.

"Hmm, he's a fine-looking young man. He reminds me of you when you were younger and still courting my sister." He then followed it with laughter. "What made you ask such a question?" He asked in return to put it on King Alexander this time.

"Well, when we went to wish him a happy birthday, I saw that he was next to my niece, and I saw the way she was looking at him. I know... I know... they're still young.. But, someday, he would need a Queen, and who could be better suited than Pearl?" He said with sincerity.