CHAPTER 4:

Today was her school and for some unknown reason she was feeling heaviness and a little pain in her lower belly. But she chose to ignore it. She could hardly wait to get done with the school.

When she was having lunch with Lily in the school cafeteria when two boys approached them. One of them was tall and blond while the other one shorter, a little chubbier.

“I think it’s harder to resist me today.” Lily whispered in her ear while pasting a fake smile on her face.

“Can we sit here?” the taller one whose name was Dustin asked them. Lily nodded, her smile turning a little smug. She was sure both of them were there because of her.

“I am Dustin and he is Tom.” He introduced with an easy smile. “And you must be Lily and Hazel?”

Hazel nodded with no clue about why they were there.

“So why you people are here?” Lily tried to chew her lower lip a little trying to make a pout at the same time.

Today was the day Hazel would have idea about how popular she was.

“We are here to ask for help.” This time it was Tom. He had glasses perched to his nose and he was pushing it back.

Lily crossed her freshly shaved legs and bent a little while taking a bite from the apple, “What kind of help you want?”  

Dustin was still serious when he eyed Hazel, “Can you help us with Algebra? We still get confused about finding ‘x’.”

Disappointment crossed on Lily’s face but Hazel just shrugged her shoulders, “Sure Dustin. Just let me know if you want it during lunch time or after school.”

“How would you manage after school?” Lily batted her lashes a little dramatically then turned to them with an innocent smile. “She is employed at the Royal Palace and work there … As a maid.”

Hazel did not know what was the need of this piece of information but what Tom said made her a little speechless.

“We know about it. Who doesn’t?” then he gave a side smirk, “About more than half of the class is already impressed by her intelligence. And now she is earning when most of us are dependent on our parents.”

There was praise in his eyes. Noah had asked her not to share any kind of information about Zeki outside or inside the palace with anyone but him.

But most of them had the idea about her job in the palace. First it was just Lily but within a day, news spread fast letting everyone know about it.

It seemed like Lily had swallowed a bitter medicine. She stood from her chair with her tray. “I guess I should leave now. Don’t want to be late for my next class.” 

“But isn’t the next class after 10 minutes?” Poor Tom seemed a little flustered.

On the other hand Lily seemed to be furious with Hazel. She was expecting her to come running after her. But she seemed to be glued with the boys.

Poor thing. This is the first time someone has even looked her way or tried to talk. They had to invent the reason. And Algebra was a perfect one. They approached her because of me.

Half the class impressed? Ha-ha. My foot.

After the bell rang, Hazel came and sat beside her panting. Lily did not even look her way. Hazel knew what was going inside her head. She started tickling her. Lily who was shifting here and there on her hips could not control her laughter.

“Lily. Enough of that. I am dying to know about that boy. You were telling me something about him. Now spill.” Hazel knew her weakness.

Lily smiled and then shifted near Hazel to share a new kissing experience.

But today when Lily was telling her about her kisses, about intimacy, about boys who were ready to jump off a cliff for her, Hazel wanted to tell her about a boy who was blind, sat on a wheel chair but was brilliant as hell and his smile was enough to kill the girls around him.

He was much better than all the boys Lily used to rumble about.

Getting along with the palace chores was also not too easy. She was waiting for the night impatiently, to meet him.

The lower belly pain was still there but she might be imagining it. She related it to the change in her diet. Her focus was solely on Zeki.

Now she knew why girls used to enjoy talking about their dates, crushes, and love lives.

She wanted to tell everyone about Zeki but she was pledged for secrecy. At last when the time came she ran to the elevators. She had that silly smile on her face.

Upon reaching the roof top she found him there already waiting for her with a glass of water in his hands. She tip toed and reaching out she covered his eyes with mischief.

“You need to remember princess that I am already blind.” there was amusement in his voice.

Shit. Her teachers used to call her brilliant and here she was being merciless and mean.

He held her hand which was covering his eyes and pulled her around to make her stand in front.

“Why are you late tonight?”

“It was hectic today Zek.” She sat on the same stool. He was still holding her hand. “I had school today, then the chores here took time.”

“Working 8 hours must make you tired Princess.”

“No. It’s not 8. Prince Noah lessened it to 6 hours.”

“You know Prince Noah?”

“…”

She had completely forgotten that she was supposed to keep maximum secrecy.

“Oh. You mean Prince Noah? He is my school mate.” She knew she should not tell him about Prince Noah being her class mate.

“Hmm. Somebody seems to have a crush on Prince Noah!” He said a little mischievously.

“Who doesn’t? But now I have got another, bigger crush.”

“Really? And who is that?”

“You.” First his face turned serious and then a small smile broke on his lips.

“Believe me Princess. You have much better options than me.” He said while taking a sip from his glass

“You haven’t seen me Zek. Otherwise you would never ever think of sitting here and talk to me.” Her lips curved up a little looking at him sadly.

Her head was bowed when he playfully tickled her hand making her grin.

“Today our teacher asked us to write about something which does not exist in real life but can be found only in books.”

“And what did you write about? Prince Noah?”

“No. Princes do exist in real life.” She pointed out. “I was never fond of becoming a queen or princess.”

“Then what did you choose to write?”

“Ok. Promise me you won’t make fun.”

“I won’t. Now spill.” He said a little sternly.

“I wrote about werewolves.” He almost choked on his water.

“You wrote what? …”

Without realizing he had intense emotions on his face she kept telling him, “Werewolves. I love their books. After reading werewolves’ stories I used to imagine myself as a Luna.” She giggled.

She had never shared such things with anyone except her grandmother.

Thankfully he was not laughing but just smiling when he sniffed something in the air.

“Can you smell something Zella?”

“No. What?”

“Umm … something like cheese and fish.”

“Are you serious? How do you know?”

“The smell is literally in the air.”

“That was supposed to be a surprise.” Sitting on a small mosaic stool near his chair she started unwrapping something. “I brought you a fish n cheese sandwich.”

After unfolding the wrapper she placed the plate on his lap. “Here. Eat it.”

“You made it for me?”

She nodded smilingly, again forgetting that he could not see her.

“hmm.” After taking the first bite he smiled. “Awesome.”

“Really? You Like it? I never liked cooking. Usually I go for boxed cereals and chocolates and ice-creams. But I avoid cooking as much as possible.” She had never chatted this much in her life. Not even with Ivy. No doubt Zek was a good listener.

She again felt the unfamiliar pain in her stomach, “I don’t know. But I think my tummy does not like the palace food.”

She stood from the stool. The pain became a little unbearable making her to in-draw her breath a little sharply.

“Princess. You alright? What happened?” he got worried.

“It’s nothing Zek. It’s there since morning and I don’t know why, I think it has something to do with digestion.”

But for some unknown reason he looked more concern now. “Zella sweetheart. Tell me. What is the problem?”

“Problem? There is nothing to tell Zek. Because there is no problem. Just a little discomfort.” She tried to soothe him.

“Princess. Believe me. I have been a warrior. And have fought enough wars to know the smell of blood.”

“Blood?” she wanted to laugh when she felt something unfamiliar, tickling down her legs starting from her thighs. When she looked down she was horrified to see blood droplets running down.

She had never seen blood droplets except occasional injuries while playing when she was a kid and none of them had been serious. She was standing there with her legs a little apart, totally clueless about what to do.

 “Princess?” Zek’s worried voice forced her to smile and to look at him. Then understanding dawned on his face “Let me call someone for you.”

Zek pressed a call button on his wheel chair. Within minutes a boy aged 20 or 21 years was there.

“Sir.”

“Please bring a maid immediately.” He said in an authoritative tone.

After few minutes a maid was there. Zek instructed her to go with the girl and attend her. Hazel who was nervous as hell, let out a sigh of relief when the maid did not ask her any questions about her presence on the roof top.

They were no doubt well trained and trust worthy.

While cleaning herself and getting changed into new pair of clothes she smiled to herself. She had gotten her first periods.