Unplanned Happenings

𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐄

                                  ♚

He died. 

I still made the decision to fly that day, although my mind was far from what was happening. When Gina heard the shattering glass, she rushed to where I was, she didn't need me to utter a word before she knew what had happened. 

She sat beside me, comforting me. 

Funny thing was that I didn't even sob. I sat there in a confused state–most likely the most confused I'd ever been in a long time. 

                                    ♚

Crossing and uncrossing my legs for the umpteenth time, I took a glance at Father's throne and wished he would just appear and save me from all of this misery. I doubted if I could go through all of this alone. I wished for the ground to open and swallow me whole. That wasn't going to be a bad way to rectify the situation, would it? I hoped it would miraculously bring me back as well. 

"He was our King and we need to give him the befitting burial that he deserved!" Nobody is arguing with you, you sick fuck! I was honestly weary of all of these back and forths we were having. When I assumed we were making progress, they'd shock me again. I was done.

My father died yesterday. I woke up this morning in a country I was in no way used to to hear that the noblemen–a group of dumb men, in my opinion who were second to the king of England, had come to the castle, and demanded my presence for a meeting that was in no way planned. I had to go on with this shit. It was literally my life. 

The whole time, I'd been quiet because I felt like it was pointless to say anything. It felt so wrong to see men in their sixties and seventies arguing like young children, fighting for their toys. I was so sick of this shit that I wanted to get up and yell at all of them to shut their fucking mouths up. We were gathered here for the burial arrangement and not to watch who could argue the longest among them all. The funny thing was that we could actually get people to plan these things for us, but according to them, the whole country had to be involved because he was our late King. Like I said earlier on, I was so done with this bullshit. I needed a fucking break. 

"Lady Monique, you seem to have kept mute the whole time. Is there anything you'd like to say? I mean, he was your father." A man I assumed to be in his mid-sixties asked me. He must've observed my reticence during the time frame of the meeting. 

Thinking carefully about what I was about to say because they said you only got a chance to make a first impression, I cleared my throat loudly and said, "After the King, the noblemen are next in authority. For now, I'm only the daughter of the late King so I guess I'll let you all make the decision." 

My words came out very carefully and I was very grateful for that. 

They all seemed impressed by my choice of words. I mean, why wouldn't they? Men loved respectful women who bowed to whatever it was they commanded, wasn't it? A bunch of fools they were! 

The argument continued from there and like I expected, the meeting was postponed till tomorrow. I tried to brace up for what was to come because I knew so well that it was going to take a while before they made any decisions. I just wished that a miracle would happen.

 I sat patiently, waiting for them all to leave because I just needed a moment with myself. I'd spent only a day in England and it'd already been an experience.

There was one of them that seemed reluctant to leave--as if he knew I was waiting for everyone to get the hell out. I noticed that it was the same one that asked if I had anything to contribute when they were arguing about how Father's burial was going to go.

"Lady Monique, can I have a word with you?" He asked as he approached me where I was sitting.

I wanted to shrug and just say sure, but I knew better than to say that and so I said, "Yes! Yes of course." One might've even been able to detect that my exhilaration was fake. What was there to be excited for?

He sat by the chair next to me and pulled his nankeen trousers up, showing quite an amount of leg hair and his shoes. Very eighteenth century-like.

"You seemed a bit off today at the meeting. Is there a problem?" I definitely was not ready for this.

"I'm just still in shock that Father is dead and have yet to come to terms with it. Give me time." I said, my tone offering as much respect as it could give. The last thing I needed now was rumor spreading that the late King's daughter is a rude and spoiled brat. I mean, haters could hate and all, but my plate was full with enough at the moment.

"I'm so sorry about it, but life must go on. I just wish all the other noblemen would stop acting like children and all come to an agreement about how we would bury our dead. I know the whole discussion made you a bit uncomfortable." If I could give this man right here a hug, I swear on my life, I would carry out that specific action with no hesitation. 

"Thank you so much, I appreciate it." I guessed this was the time where I was supposed to ask for his name and all. Guess what? He could shove his name down his throat. I didn't care. I had enough to deal with. 

He stood up to take his very much awaited leave. I was confused regarding whether or not he required me to see him off. 

Gina visited my chamber no sooner than the last one of them departed to ask about how the meeting went and how I felt overall. That girl, bless her heart.

         

                                        ♚

I'd made up my mind  to miss Father's lying in state, owing to the fact that I realized so damn early that I would have a horrifying mental breakdown--as if I wasn't having one already. Luckily for me, the noblemen had to all agree. They said it was best I didn't make any public appearances until the day of the funeral so as to pay my last respect to Father. Not to lie, I was terrified. 

It wasn't as if the sight of dead bodies scared me--once in a while when I had some free time, I'd sit and watch horror movies where a thousand people died with Gina–they weren't really dead, but still. Also, I mean, we were all going to die one day, but the mere thought of seeing Father's remains triggered something I couldn't quite identify.

A lot of humans were assembled downstairs in one of the halls--the solemn hall from what I'd heard--it was used to pay respect to very important persons in England after they'd passed, looking at Father's lifeless body while I laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling--that was basically all I'd been doing lately. I'd done less talking and less eating--thanks to the heavens that even if I lost a couple of pounds, it would be difficult for anyone to notice since I was quite big in the weight department. At one hundred and eighty pounds, some people considered me obese--well, many people, albeit I'd never felt insecure about anything. I'd been too occupied to worry about what anyone thought about my body. The most dangerous thing I could avoid even if I attempted so hard was the media. They'd always sent their men to take pictures of me when I would be getting the littlest of things done. Some would make memes of me. It had me so worked upon most times, but I didn't start a fight and it was never my intention to initiate one for as long as I was in the spotlight. 

Just when I was about to continue my thinking, the door opened. I refused to give myself the trouble of bothering who it was since I knew it was Gina. Or so, I thought... 

"Gina..."

"Lady Monique,..." Disagreeing to let whatever person it was go further, I cut her.

"What are you doing here?" Swiftly jumping up from the bed with fear shining so bright on my face, I questioned.

"One of the noblemen said to come and check if you're doing okay since your presence has been very scarce." I could now see who it was.

From my guess, she was a maid who worked here. Slim and tall with golden curls, she was nothing compared to me at all since she had the type of body that could make a world-class supermodel. She still had a lot of years ahead of her as she looked so youthful, maybe a handful of years out of teenagehood. 

"Where's Gina?" That was all I could mutter since Gina had been my comfort zone for the past one week. My brain could not come up with a response so reasonable to give her. After all, I couldn't remember ever owing her one. 

I made a mental note to ensure that I always locked the door to my room or wherever I stayed. Maybe that could happen and maybe not... 

"Is it the maid that always goes around with you?" She knew not to ask that and when she awaited my reply and I gave none, she said, "She was summoned by one of the cleaning ladies to assist her with something. I'm sure she'll be back before you know it."

Something wasn't right. They were all aware that Gina was all mine. There'd been enough people to handle the cleaning as far as I was concerned. 

Gina had gone to get food for me and I flaked out, waking up to continue staring at the ceiling and thinking, only for my thoughts to be interrupted by the one who I didn't know her name.

"Don't come to my room again," I warned. It was all I could manage to say. Sincerely speaking, at the point where I was mentally, I didn't give an ounce of wariness if someone saw me as rude.

She nodded and walked out of the room. At least she was obedient. If she'd carried on with her speaking, I would have shut the door in her face. 

I returned to my former position; laying in bed and thinking and straight away, the door opened again and this time, I knew it was Gina.

"I heard someone sent you on an errand," I said, still lying in bed and not caring to change positions to get a better view of her. 

Deeply, she breathed in and out  a few times before sauntering to stand by the wall side where I could see her very clearly.

"Jesus, girl .They're literally all sickos in this place." Instantaneously, I became interested in the conversation so I sat up.

"What happened?" I tucked loose strands of black hair that had made their way to stick to my face back into the elastic band that the hair was packed roughly into. I really needed a make-over badly. Gina had offered to help, but I'd turned down the offer so many times. Tomorrow, everything would be up as I'd need to get a lot of things done to my body since it was the day we would be laying Father to rest.

"Okay so, when I was about to hop into the car with Solomon, some woman saw me and called me. She had some sort of old clothes on and she smelled like fish. She said to come and help her rinse the dishes." She stopped, taking some time to get some more air into her lungs before she carried on.

"Do you know what pissed me off the most?" She went on.

"What?"

"The fact that they have fucking dishwashers. There were so many of them lined up and none of them was in use. They're probably there for decoration. Everything about here is so fucked up and that's such a turn-off for me. The Wi-Fi here is so fucking shitty." She walked to sit on the bed with me and I raked my fingers through her brown hair.

"Lady Monique,..." I hindered her from continuing before she had the chance to do so. I was over this whole Lady Monique nonsense. I didn't need to tell Gina two thousand times before she understood me.

"Mhmm Mhmm." I shook my head. " Not the Lady Monique shit today please."

She raised her two hands up in the air as if to signify that she'd heard me.

"I'm sorry, I'm just a little exhausted."

I nodded and she knew I was no longer in the mood to talk. She let me be.

We were both aware of the rampage that was going on downstairs because of Father's lying in state. Only a couple of steps was all that was needed for me to take to see his body, yet I didn't want to go in that direction.

Gina was supposed to get me food at a restaurant she said she saw while she was going around town, but truth be told, I wasn't hungry, although she'd convinced me a lot of times to eat and this just happened to be one of the few occasions where I gave in.

"Do you still want some food? I could quickly throw one or two things together."

I nodded and she walked towards the door.

"Just when I thought she'd gone, I heard her say, "We're going to need to get a router if we want a good internet connection." I guessed the next thing that happened was that she disappeared. 

I was one who always liked the door closed, but Lord knew I’d been too lazy to get my ass up.

♚

On a number of occasions, I'd wished I wasn't born into a life like this and this moment that I was in was one of those instances. I valued my seclusion so damn well, but today happened to be one of those days where I couldn't have my way because of tradition. 

Father was going to be laid to rest today.

Gina stood by the vanity table as she watched as my make-up was applied by some unknown people and my hair was also done by ones who I had no idea about. From what I'd gathered this morning, they were people who usually took care of females during the burial of a loved one. I asked if I could be excluded from this dumb traditional bullshit, but they said it was mandatory. If I could use my societal status against these people, trust me, I would. Do these fuckers actually know who I am? Very certain if I'd said that aloud, I'd be mistaken for a presumptuous bitch who didn't care for her people. 

How could someone whom I had no memory of just walk up to me with the excuse of wanting to do my make-up and hair? They didn't even want to let me at least use my products. When it came to things like this, I had no choice. 

One of the ladies dabbed the brush against my cheeks, spreading the foundation and other products around like she was giving it some finishing touch before she stepped aside. I said a silent prayer to God to not let me break out seriously after this session since I didn't know the products that were used on my face. 

I looked straight into the mirror and I had to admit, the look was nothing I'd seen before. Staring at the timepiece on my wrist, I saw that it was 8:00 am. My gaze returned back to the mirror right in front of me.

The make-up wasn't the celebratory type since it was obviously for a burial and at the same time, it wasn't too dull. It was just okay. I wasn't impressed, yet I wasn't disappointed. 

My black hair was styled in a French plait and I gripped tightly onto the handle of my black purse. I stood up and took another look at myself in the mirror before someone I didn't know opened the door for me. The sound of my heels clicking against the floor echoed in the air and with the amount of silence, I was certain everyone could hear. 

                                   ♚

The funeral went by in a blur. 

                                    ♚

"This was very impromptu, lady Monique, but life must go on." One of the noblemen said. 

Another meeting was held immediately after the burial. I was followed to the castle. 

I sort of knew where this was heading, but I didn't want them to say the words yet. 

"I know." I nodded. 

"What I'm saying is, we have no time to waste. You will become the next queen of England." 

I froze.