The King's Beloved

Badump! Badump! Badump!

Their hearts kept on beating faster and louder they could almost hear it, given the dead silence in the bedroom. Clavis stared unto Selena's eyes, and Selena to his'. Unfamiliar and unaccustomed they might be with love and romance, yet there was no denying the feelings they're experiencing right now.

"Was it because of the kiss?" Selena asked herself. "Or the things he said? Or the way he looks at me? Or the fact that he's too handsome to reject? … Or was it something before that? The way he treats me? No … it's something else".

At the same time, Clavis also questioned himself, "Heightened emotions, wild thumping of the heart, excitement … these feelings are activated by the hypothalamus of the brain releasing dopamine and norepinephrine, or oxytocin and vasopressin. But … why do I feel there's something more? Something I don't understand? I am the wisest of all yet … this is something I cannot comprehend".

"Why am I feeling this way? Is this … love?" they both thought in unison.

"Clavis," Selena sweetly called his name. "Any more than this and I …" she hesitated, but decided to continue, "I think I might -"

"- Might what?"

Selena blushed hard again before she managed to say what she wanted to say.

"I might fall for you!" she had to shout it to hearten herself.

Clavis was startled with what she just confessed. But ... he also dismissed the thought of it as soon as it came.

"Fall … in love?" Clavis asked. His face spelled confusion and hesitation. "But love - is just an illusion. It is merely a concept that couples think of, when in reality it is either lust activated by the body's hormones, or infatuation - a feeling of affection or attachment, which is also produced by hormones. It is not an actual, existing thing. It is just -". Clavis halted from his spoken pondering. His eyes widened as he saw Selena … crying from the things he was saying.

Clavis felt his heart sting as he saw Selena's tears. And for the first time in his life, emotion took over his calm and logical demeanor - he panicked. He didn't know what to do. He reached out his hand to wipe her face but Selena slapped his hands and quickly got up from bed and came rushing out of the room.

Clavis' hands trembled. He kept on telling himself to follow her and to get up but he couldn't move. He wasn't even blinking his eyes. He remained there, fixed on his position.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" Selena angrily kept on repeating in her mind as she walked fast the hallways of the mansion. As to where she was going, she didn't know. "I told you! I told you many times! Not to fall for that ice block! Because he's a jerk! A total jerk who doesn't believe in love! After your whole hearted confession, he just brushes it off like that? So all those things he said and do, even that stupid kiss and flirting - it was all fake! He's probably just lusting! That pervert! Argh!"

Tears kept falling from Selena's eyes - both from her anger and sadness. Her heart shattered at the thought that Clavis wasn't feeling the same thing. That it was nothing for him at all. Her eyes and her cheeks felt hot. Her feet stopped on its tracks. She stood out of nowhere and kept on crying. Wiping her tears didn't do any good as they just kept coming, without any plans of stopping.

"Be strong and take heart," she kept on chanting to herself.

"My dear, is that you?" a kind woman's voice asked from behind her.

Selena inhaled deeply before looking back, she knew who that voice belonged to.

"Mother," she greeted her while crying. Then, she quickly ran towards her and hugged her.

"Oh my, what happened my dear? Why are you crying?" Mitis was startled. She hugged Selena back, and patted her head gently. "Hmm … let me guess. It's because of my foolish son isn't it?"

Selena didn't manage to say anything and just nodded. Her face was buried in Mitis' shoulders.

Mitis sighed. "This morning I just saw you two, sweetly cuddling each other while sleeping, and now this. I thought everything was going smooth. Mind telling me what happened?"

Selena and Mitis took a long walk as they talked about everything that just happened and all the things Clavis said. Mitis got furious and shook her head in dismay upon hearing her son's idiotic words. Their feet led them to one of the gardens in the mansion, which was near Mitis' bedroom.

"Hmmm … that son of mine needs to be taught a lesson!" Mitis firmly nodded.

"What lesson?" Selena stopped crying now and calmed herself. Only her eyes and nose remained red from all the weeping.

"The lesson of not taking things for granted".

"Huh?" Selena didn't understand what she meant. "What should I do then?"

"From now on, you'll be sleeping with me!"

"Woah? For real?"

"Yes! You'll be staying in my room until he comes to get you".

Selena looked down. "But … there's no way he'd come looking for me". She smiled bitterly.

"Don't underestimate the power of absence, my dear. Hmf! I'm sure a day won't even pass and he'll already come looking for you".

Selena hesitantly agreed. Deep inside, she knew that Clavis won't go looking for her.

And so, Mitis brought Selena to her room which she shared with her husband, Clavis' father. It was an awkward situation to meet your father-in-law for the first time wearing his sleeping robe. This made Selena laugh though. Mitis cheerfully introduced them to each other and when she said that she'll be staying with them for a while, she could have sworn that she saw her father-in-law looked horrified and disappointed. He's probably sad that he won't be able to cuddle Mitis for a while.

Clavis' father had the same light blue hair and blue eyes as he does and they looked almost alike, except his father looked older, more mature, and fiercer. But despite the fierce face, he always showed a gentle and sweet smile for Mitis. This made Selena envy their relationship. She hoped that someday, they could be like that too … or in any case they divorce, that she finds someone else to love, and experience such warm and tender love.

After settling down, the three of them slept, with Selena on a bed Mitis prepared, beside them. Morning came, then afternoon, and evening again, then repeated itself over and over.

There was no sign of Clavis ever arriving.

And Mitis was very wrong in thinking that Clavis would come immediately to fetch her.

Hours turned to days, and days into a week …

And still no sign of him …

Selena got lonelier and lonelier each passing day.