CHAPTER 19:

“Ezequiel! Brother!” Noah hugged him tightly, trying to believe if he was there.

It was a very emotional reunion for all of them. King and Queen were still in tears.   

“Would you stay in the White Palace?” The queen inquired hoping to God he would say no.

White Palace was presented to him on his seventeenth birthday. It was a little outside the city with dense forests around.

He had requested to prepare the palace for his friends. But he had no intention to stay there in near future.

His job would be done much better if he stayed here.

“No mother. I will stay here for few days.” He smiled hugging her again.

When he was at last retiring for the night, Noah came to his room. His baby brother had surely got some height. 

“You wanted to see me Eze!” He sat on a chair looking around. God! How he missed his brother.

“Look at you. All grown up and handsome!” Ezequiel ruffled his hair before taking a seat in front of him.

“Not more than you Ezequiel. The girls at school still talk about you.”

“Hmm. How are your studies going?” Ezequiel asked him

“It’s going well. But … why do I have this feeling that you want to ask something else?”

Ezequiel chuckled at that, “You sure have grown up Noah.” He admired his intelligence.

“Ok. I will be direct. No beating around the bush.” Standing up from his seat he started pouring the drink in the glass, “Do you want some?”

Noah shook his head declining the offer. With the sinking heart, he could sense what the conversation would be about.

Taking a big chug from his drink he smiled while observing his glass, “Noah. There is this girl who used to work for the palace. She must be around 16 or 17. She was underage, that I am sure of. Do you know about her?”

“I usually don’t handle the lower staff, Brother. If you remember, you were the more responsible one among us. I never paid any heed to anything like this.”  

Ezequiel was observing him, with thoughtful eyes. Taking a deep breath he tilted his head, “Why not Noah? As a crown prince, you should …”

“No no no. No brother. No crown for me. Please. Keep me away from all of this.” Noah raised his palm to stop his elder brother.

“Noah. We both know. You are the one who deserves this. Not me… I … I am not … one of you.”

“No Ezequiel. All your life you were getting trained for this. If anyone deserves this crown it’s you. No man!”

“Why not Noah?” He asked quietly.

“The throne comes with a lot of responsibilities. It comes with rules and regulations. How to walk, what to eat, the appearances. One can’t even marry by his own choice.”

Ezequiel managed a fake scowl on his face, “Oh. So is this about a girl?”

“No!” Noah almost jumped, “But I want to live a normal life with my own choices.”

“Why do I find you a little more defensive than it should be?” Ezequiel said with a teasing grin. “Ok, we will discuss it again Noah. This girl. I need to find her.”

“Why do you want to find her, brother?”

“I will let you know once I get to her. I need your help.”

“Help? How can I help you?” Noah felt agitated but tried his best not to show it on his face.

“This girl was your schoolmate. Got employed here in the palace. Had a crush on you.”

“What?” Noah bolted straight in his chair, “That girl told you …”

“No. she did not tell me anything. I just … sensed.” He shrugged making Noah chuckle.

“There are so many girls who are my schoolmates and have a crush on me. I mean seriously …”

Ezequiel threw back his head with a burst of hearty laughter. While Noah realized looking at his face, how much he had missed his brother.

When his laughter subsided he looked at his younger brother’s face, “I am planning to visit the school tomorrow.”

“Wh … What? But why?” Noah’s mind started racing.

“I need to find her, Noah.”

“But remember? You don’t know about her face or anything else.” Noah pointed it out to him.

“Agree. But I do remember her scent.” Now Noah was about to fall on the floor.

“Scent? Which scent?”

“Vanilla. She smelled of Vanilla.”

…

Hazel was helping Ivy with packing. Tyler was taking her to his hometown along with Christian for few days.

“You should have agreed when he invited you. He thinks of you as his own.” Ivy complained while checking Chris's stuff.

“Come on Ivy. It’s your time. Enjoy it.” She said while pinching Christian’s cheek lightly, “I would miss you two.”

“I know. Just call, if you need me.”

“I know Ivy. Relax! I would be fine. Besides, Dustin is just a few minutes' drive away. He promised you, he would keep an eye on me.” Hazel rolled her eyes inwardly.

“Yeah. I know. Or you can ask Prince Noah to stay with you.” Ivy said mischievously.

Hazel who was tickling Chris shot her a glare. If looks could kill!

Tyler came to pick them up. Ivy was giving her instructions while sitting in the car until it drove off. She strictly told her to be careful about the security and not to take any popsicles from strangers. Well! Not exactly!

But Hazel understood, Ivy was just being protective like a mother hen.

The next day there was nothing special at school except Prom night preparations. So she could use one or two hours for a movie and popcorn.

She was planning to call Dustin to join her when the doorbell rang.

“Noah!” she opened the door letting him in. “What is it?”

The moment he closed the door he leaned on it taking deep breaths. “Why are you panting? Were you in a marathon?”

Pushing her aside gently he sat on the couch holding his head, “Noah?”

She was getting worried now. She went into the kitchen and brought a glass of iced water which he emptied in a go.

“Apple pie.” He tried to steady his breath. “If someone is after my perfume. What should I do?”

Hazel frowned as if he had lost his mind or gone crazy. She even placed her cool hand on his forehead to check his fever.

He just shoved it away. “Hazel. Please tell. Someone is after me. I need to get rid of this smell.”

Hazel placed her hand on his arm, “Either take a long bath to get rid of it, or …”

“Or?”

 She raised her arms, “Or apply that perfume to the whole city.”

He thought for a moment, then his face broke into a smile. He looked at her and hugged her.

“Noah?” She pushed him a little irritated.

“How many bottles of Vanilla shampoo do you have, Apple pie?”

“umm. A lot. Ivy made a fresh batch before leaving.”

“Hmm. Let’s go. We are distributing the bottles to our High school folks.”

“What? But … How? And what do you mean by that? Are they buying?”

She still thought he was acting all weird.

“I am buying all of it. Now move your ass, Apple pie. My few employees will help us in distributing.”

Hazel took her jacket and left home with tons of Vanilla shampoo bottles with her. It took few hours but they managed to cover most of the students.

At last, when Noah pulled over his car in front of her house she turned to him.

“Mr. Prince Noah. Care to explain?”

Noah chuckled but Hazel could sense he was a little uneasy now.

“Noah. You owe me an explanation.” Noah knew she would not take any shit right now so he took a minute to think, “Apple pie. Do you remember I told you I would be needing a favor? The leftover task?” 

Now it was her turn to feel uncomfortable, so she just nodded. He held her hand and gave it a little squeeze.

“The moment you enter school, just let me know. I will tell you there.”

“There? In school?” She blinked. “Why not here?”

“Because you need to do the task in school.”

“Ok.” She laughed. Maybe she took it all wrong. It might be about a Prom dance. He had become such a dear friend of her since the day she caught the chalk in the air.

Everybody after that day had started admiring her openly making Lilly more jealous.

Maybe Noah gave her money intending to help her and now he could not come up with any excuse.

She smiled when Noah got off the car to open the door for her.

He unlocked the door of her house, entered, and then when he found nothing suspicious he left, asking her to lock the door. He even stood outside the door until she had safely locked it.

…

The next day she waited for Noah while preparing the hall for the prom night.

He was nowhere in sight. Just then she heard a commotion outside the hall.

Mr. Atkins entered the hall and clapped to get their attention, “Students, you all are requested to go outside the building and stand there with your class fellows. Please do maintain discipline.”

Nobody understood the reason for such peculiar order.

“Might be some VIP official or a Royal on inspection.” She heard somebody saying.

“Come on Hazel.” Dustin approached her to hold her arm when somebody held her other arm trying to stop her. She tilted her head to find Noah standing there.

“Where were you, Noah?”

Instead of replying, Noah eyed Dustin. “Dustin, she will join soon. You can wait for us outside.” When Dustin did not move, Hazel nodded silently asking him to go ahead.

“Where were you, Noah? Why are you late?”

“Hazel there is not much time. He is here. When you see him there, just consider yourself deaf! Blind!”

“What are you saying? Who is here?”

She looked puzzled. What was he talking about?

“Him. He is back. But don’t …”

The instant she looked at him sharply, he knew that she understood.