*Please read the last part of the Author's Note after the story (you don't have to read my rant)*

Sit up straight. Don't cross your legs, put one ankle behind the other instead. Place your hands on your lap and smile kindly. After staring at myself for a good couple of minutes through the mirror, I exhaled and slouched back down. How I even survived princess lessons, I don't know. I hate how I'm always expected to be perfect or whatever. I'm just human, a typical teenager who doesn't see the point in becoming an image of something they're not.

I stood up from the chair and carried it to the desk where it's supposed to be placed. I grabbed my brush and ran it through ny messy excuse for hair. I then went over to my bed and plopped down onto the soft mattress, not caring if the prissy lavender dress I'm forced to wear gets wrinkled. A knock from the door made me sit back up, groaning as the door opened to reveal a familiar brunette in a black suit.

"You've been here for less than two weeks yet you already feel entitled enough to barge into my room uninvited." I said, raising an eyebrow at him as I crossed my arms across my chest, something I tend to do whenever I see him.

"Hey, I knocked so I guess that counts as my permission." He said, chuckling as he closed the door behind him.

"I did not say 'come in', Prince Shawn."

"Then I am deeply and greatly sorry, Princess y/n."

I shook my head at him and laughed as he sat beside me on the bed. I must admit, having him around is amusing. Since we're apparently arranged to get married, we had to sit beside each other in every dinner, every lunch, even breakfast but at least I was able to make side comments with someone near my age about topics our parents talk about. And, no, I don't know if he knows about it. But within the past days, we were able to get acquainted, become friends even.

"Lavender, huh? First time seeing you in a dress that isn't a shade of pink." He said, leaning back against the headboard.

"You've seen me wear black before therefore that comment is invalid." I said, hitting him lightly with a pillow.

"I said dress. Leggings, sweatpants, and sweaters fall under a different category."

"Fine. What are you doing in my room anyway?"

"Got bored. I was able to convince my dad not to make me go with him to his meeting but then I was stuck on my own with nothing to do. So I thought, 'hey why don't I go bother y/n for a bit?' Then I realized how wrong it would be if I asked you to go to my room instead now here I am."

"So I'm just your back up plan now? What a friend you are, Shawn."

"That's not what I meant and I know you know that."

"Is it? Because I would never let anyone think of me as an option and that hurt." I said, mockingly placing a hand on my heart and giving him a pained look.

He glared at me then quickly changed his expression by opening his eyes wider, sticking his lower lip out, and bring his palms together in a begging manner. "I'm sorry, Princess y/n. I really am. What must I do in order for you to forgive me?"

I pretended to think about it while placing a finger on my chin. I tried not to look into his wide, puppy like eyes since I know that I would give in right away without a fight. Not gonna lie, I kind of have a soft spot for this idiot of a prince but he doesn't need to know that.

"How about you... Go fuck yourself." I said before quickly messing his hair up, standing up from the bed in order to be prepared in case he was going to chase me.

"You. Did. Not. Just. Do. That." He said, pausing in between the words to jokingly make his voice sound angry.

Before I knew it, he has gotten off the bed in order to get me. I ran away from him, practically going in circles in my gigantic room just to avoid it. But me being me, when it comes to running, I'm either not fast enough or can easily trip over nothing. In this case, he almost caught me which made me trip over my own feet in shock, causing me to fall down onto the light gray carpet with him falling on top of me. He quickly recovered and trapped me in his arms. His fingers soon brushed my sides, causing me to squirm and erupt into a fit of laughter. After several attempts to stop him from tickling me, he finally halted but still hovered over me.

"You have no idea how many times I have imagined being in this scenario with you." He muttered, his deep brown eyes looking at me, from my face to my feet.

"You have imagined me under you in this scandalous position? You perv." I replied, smirking as I tried to ignore the presence of heat rushing from my ears to my cheeks.

"That too. But I prefer the idea of being this close to you."

"Charming. Is that how you got those girls to sleep with you?"

He looked away, not before I saw the pained look in his eyes, and got off me. I shouldn't have said that. God, I'm an idiot! I didn't mean to say it out loud. It's just that I have the tendency of blurting stupid things out when I'm in an uncomfortable position. He bit his lower lip as he sat across from me, against the foot of the bed. His eyebrows were furrowed and one could tell that he was mad and hurt just by how tense his posture was. I pushed myself off the floor and sat up as well, my back against the dresser.

"Is that really all you know me for? Hasn't the past few days been enough to change how you see me as?" He asked, his jaw clenched tight. "Am I seriously just a royal fuckboy to you? I thought you would have seen past that by now! Fuck, I like you, y/n! I was trying to show you that earlier but you keep bringing my past up!"

I just remained silent, guilty for even bringing it up.

"Do you want to know why I did that? I mean, it's obvious that it interests you so much. To make things short, I was a wreck. I felt as if I wasn't good enough, that I shouldn't be alive. I heard that alcohol helps you forget the shit happening around you so I got wasted. Then I thought that maybe taking someone home would also be a good idea since if I do so, pleasure will replace the emptiness inside. None of those fucking worked. I then tried to end my life by taking a dangerous amount of pills but I stopped myself just before it could reach my mouth. I'm a broken piece of shit."

He brought his knees up to his chest and placed his elbows on them as he sobbed into his hands. I slowly moved towards him, my heart aching for him more and more with every second that passes. I placed my hand on his shoulder and took a deep breath as a few tears escaped my eyes.

"Shawn... I-I'm sorry." I said, shakily. "I shouldn't have said that. I'm an idiot. I tend to say things I don't mean when I am placed in a situation I don't know how to respond to. God, I hate myself so much right now."

"I just thought that maybe I erased that idea from your mind by now."

"I'm really sorry. But hey, the past doesn't define who you are now, right? And Shawn, I'm glad you're alive because I can't imagine my life without you. You literally just came in here and turned my bland, black and white life into a colorful mess."

He lifted his head off of his hands, his puffy, red eyes met mine. I gave him a weak smile and moved closer to him. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and brought me to his side. I rested my head against his shoulder as his rested on mine. We sat there in silence as our tears stopped streaming down our cheeks. At this moment, nothing mattered. It was just me and him.

"Ten days... I met you ten days ago yet I've already fallen for you." I muttered, looking down at my lap.

"I could say the same thing." He said, his lips presses against the side of my head. "Y/n... I have a confession to make. It's something that has been bothering me for the past days and you have the right to know it as well."

"What is it?"

"One of the reasons why I'm here in your kingdom, other than to create an alliance, is because our parents have arranged us to be engaged. They'll be announcing it later this evening during the press conference. Thus the reason why we're all dressed up."

"I know."

"Wait, what?"

I just giggled before looking up at him. "Why do you think I was absent when you and your family were welcomed to the kingdom? I was angry at my father for striking the deal, thus the reason why I even sneaked out that night. I didn't want to be engaged to someone whom I did not know nor love. But now... I don't mind it anymore. In fact, I'm thankful that my father did make that deal."

"I am too."

"Where are you going?" He asked, holding my hand to stop me from walking as I stood up.

"To fix myself up. It is simply improper for a princess to have wrinkled clothes and puffy eyes according to my tutor."

I walked towards the white doors leading to the bathroom and closed it behind me in order to make sure that he wouldn't follow me. I looked at myself through the mirror once again. The skirt of the dress is not too wrinkled so I guess I can just have a maid smoothen it out quickly later on. The lavender lace sleeves are perfectly okay, thankfully since I thought they were torn up during the "tickle fight". I ran the brush through the strands of my hair once again and tied it half up with a plain black band. I went over to the vanity and did my makeup. Foundation, concealer, bake, contour, bronzer, blush, highlighter, light violet and gold cut crease, winged eyeliner, mascara, false lashes, and a mauvey pink lipstick. Once I was done, I grabbed a comb from one of the drawers and went out of the room.

"You look absolutely stunning." Shawn said, smiling as he walked over to me.

I smiled and took his hand, leading him over to the chair by my desk. I fixed up his hair, which I ruined earlier, to make him look presentable. My sister came into the room and froze once she saw me standing beside Shawn as I finished putting his hair up in a quiff.

"Um... Both of your presence are required at the ballroom in five minutes." She said awkwardly before leaving the room right away.

"Let's go. I don't want to get yelled at by my mother for being late." I said, slipping on a pair of heels and making my way over to the door.

"Wait." He said, grabbing my right hand and holding it in his left. "To make things official, will you, Princess y/full/n marry me?"

"Yes, I will Prince Shawn Peter Raul Mendes."

He took my left hand and slipped on a silver, diamond encrusted crown ring on my ring finger. He then brought it up to his lips and kissed it, a smile forming on his mouth. We walked out hand in hand and made our way to the ballroom, the second largest room in the house. The first being the library. Once the doors were open, we were met with dozens of cameras and microphones pointed towards us. We finally reached the stairs in the other side of the room, overlooking the entire venue where our parents were standing.

"Everyone please settle down. We have an announcement to make." My father said, stepping up to the podium.

The crowd of reporters shut up and my father proceeded with his speech about the planned alliance with the other clan. I quietly stood beside Shawn the entire time. I nervously held his hand as he squeezed mine in reassurance. He pulled me closer to his side and placed his lips near my ears to whisper something.

"By the way, do you have plans tonight?" He asked, keeping the volume of his voice low.

"No, why?"

"I just want to spend more time with you and maybe continue our little moment in your bedroom."

"If you're trying to imply that we should have sex tonight then no. I prefer to save that for the honeymoon."

"Damn it."

I elbowed him on the ribs and gave him a look before focusing to the long ass speech. His thumb stroked my hand in circles as we waited for the announcement that would surely get several criticisms about it.

"In line with this, we have come to an agreement that our first born children will be arranged to get married. Both of them have agreed with this arrangement. Y/n and Shawn, please step forward." My father said, bringing both of us back to reality. "So any questions?"

We did as we were told, my hand gripping his tightly out of nervousness. Several reporters started shouting out questions, making it difficult to understand what they were saying. With a swift hand movement, they quieted down and raised their arms instead.

"Your Highness, don't you think it's a bad decision to have someone who has a seriously bad reputation as a king?" A reporter wearing a gray suit and her blonde hair up in a bun asked, pointing the tape recorder to me.

"With all due respect, I don't think that's an appropriate question to ask but to answer it, I don't really look at the things that happened in the past. He was young and troubled at the time. I personally have come to know him well enough that I could say he isn't the same person he was at that time."

"Your Highness, how are you sure that he would not do all those things behind your back?" A man with gray hair and a black suit asked, the pen and paper in his hand prepared for my answer.

"Could you please stop talking about him as if he's not standing right beside me? And stop jumping to conclusions when all you know are the things you have heard since you do not know him personally. Fine, he made a mistake but that doesn't mean he would do it again. Fine, he may be a royal pain in the ass sometimes but that does not make him a bad person. If all of your questions are about his past actions then I think we're done here."

"Although everything seems to have been covered by my beautiful wife to be, I would just want to clarify some things before we completely end this conference." Shawn said, stepping closer to the microphone, letting go of my hand in order to direct it near his mouth. "What's past is past. I'm actually trying to redeem myself by trying to help out with my kingdom. And for these past days, I have gotten to know the princess I am to get married to. I have fallen completely for her and I am not the same person as I was before. I will not dare hurt her like you think I would. So kindly keep your criticisms to yourself if you don't know the truth."

He took my hand in his again and pulled me with him as we left the room. I could hear the chatters of the crowd behind me as the door closed. I trailed behind him as he pulled me to the all too familiar portion of the palace. He opened the heavy wooden doors and led me into the room.

"Royal pain in the ass? Really?" He asked, chuckling and shaking his head.

"It's the most accurate description I could think of. Sorry." I giggled, biting my lower lip to make sure I don't end up laughing hysterically.

"I'll let that pass... for now."

He placed his hands on either side of my waist and pulled me closer. His deep brown eyes stared into mine as we stood their quietly. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let myself get lost in the moment.

"I'm so lucky to have you." He whispered before leaning down and crashing his lips onto mine.

And I'm lucky to be with him...

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A/N: The later parts are horrible and I wasn't able to incorporate Lost In Japan in this as much as I wanted to. I know I promised I would post this before April 10 but I didn't know how to end it and when April 9 came, we had a meet and greet with the ones in charge of camp, then the camp proper the day after that. When camp ended last week, I had to spend the rest of the day sleeping since I only had three hours of sleep during camp since my friends and I were talking until 2:30 AM then our wake up call is at 6. And then workshops for production management started last Thursday and Hiligaynon Literature yesterday... Everything has been hectic and I'm TIIIIIRED. Pray for me since I still have to make a Hiligaynon monologue and memorize it and a poem (which I barely understand since it was translated for me from English to Hiligaynon) for tomorrow

BTW should my next imagine be based on Call Out My Name by The Weeknd or I Can't Make You Love Me by Bonnie Raitt or one song and then the next, the other song? But guarantee, it will be kind of sad and there will be no part 2 for it.

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