The Royal Contract

Besides, her recollection reminded her that he was supposed to say something when Haley interrupted him. She noticed these things and usually bugged her until she had answers.

“On second thought, I do not want to know.” She suddenly changed her mind, believing that it was not her place to ask him about his past when she also had several of them in her closet.

Thankfully, one of the event managers called her for some minor issues that she had to attend to, excusing herself from dealing with Marcus at the moment.

She marched towards the party organizers only to learn that it was nothing serious but resolved immediately. Since she was there, she reminded them to serve the food after the breaking ceremony, which would soon ensue.

Having no other options, she walked toward a group of people she needed to talk to, including the project manager. “Haley, can I have a word?”

“Sure,” Haley responded, excusing herself from the crew building the project and walking with her. “What is it?” The architect asked her.

.....

“We are going about to do the breaking ceremony. Is everything in order?” Her nerves were suddenly on edge, but there was no reason for her to be nervous.

Haley seemed to be a friendly person. Besides, Dani would not be friends with her if she was not. But, she suddenly felt intimidated by her.

She wondered if it had something to do with her previous relationship with Marcus or whatever they had in the past. She could not help thinking if she was another fling of Marcus that he dumped after he had lost his interest.

“Yes, I already arranged everything. All we need is your signal.” Haley smiled at her, which seemed so authentic that she felt guilty for feeling this way against her.

She suddenly realized that she was jealous for no apparent reason other than she might have had a previous relationship with her current boyfriend.

It was suddenly ridiculous to blame the woman she was trying to befriend with such notions for a past that happened long before she and Marcus were together.

“Ok. I guess I will check on one more thing before we should start with the ceremony.” Jacky instructed Haley as she was about to move away from her.

Then, a hand stopped her from making more steps, preventing her from living. It held her arms, not tightly, but enough to make her look back.

“I am sorry, but about earlier,” Haley said, staring at her as she kept her grip on her arms.

Jacky knew she was about to say something about Marcus, but her timing was just off today as another voice shouted her name, calling her attention.

Haley immediately released her hand and stayed quiet about whatever she was about to tell her. She did not plan to stop her. She wanted to know what was going on with the two, but it had to wait till later.

“Jacky.” Dani walked towards them with two little kids hanging on both sides of her hands. “Finally, you meet my friend, Haley.” She greeted them both again and introduced the two kids to her.

“I promised them cakes. Can we see them?” Dani said, winking at her friend before smiling at the young ones. “They will only look at them.” She reiterated to the two kids who were clapping their hands excitedly. Oblivious to what was going on with her.

But she doubted Dani would know anything about Marcus and Haley. If she did, she would have already told her about it. Dani would never keep a secret from her.

“Sure, come on, follow me.” She instructed, waving her hands to the two cute kids with them. “I will just tell you when it is time.” Turning to Haley before moving away from her, slightly disappointed that she missed her explanation. She admitted that she was very curious about the two of them, but she bore no hard feelings against them.

However, she still had time to talk to her later. The day was far from being over. She just hoped that she would have an opportunity again. But if not, she would wait for Marcus’ explanation instead.

“What do you think of Haley and what she plans to do with the house?” Dani asked her when they were at a considerable distance.

She thought of her question, and she would admit, she truly wanted to be friends with her. If it had not been what she saw earlier, she would not be feeling uncomfortable around Haley.

“She seems great, and I like her.” She could not deny that.

She grabbed the boy’s hand and played with him. Later on, he was swinging in her and Dani’s arms as they walked toward the area where the cake was waiting for them.

“Oh! Look, Aira.” Aries extended his hand in front of them, letting go of their hands to point to her sister the big cake.

When her sister also let go of their hands, he grabbed her, and they both ran toward the area containing the different cakes. Their eyes lit up upon seeing the assorted colorful designs of cakes fill the long table.

“Wow! They look so beautiful.” Aira gasped in delight, checking each one of them.

“Yeah, look at this one. It has my favorite hero.” Pointing to the cake with an action figurine.

“I hope this is mine.” Aira gazed at the one with a doll on it.

“Do you like the cakes?” Dani asked as she moved toward the two.

“Yes, they are all wonderful,” Aira answered her with a smile that had a gap between her teeth. “What about that big one? Who owns that?” She pointed to the two tiers of cake in the middle.

“It is for our friend Dani here. It is her birthday too.” Jacky announced to the two, making them both shout to greet her.

“Now that you have seen our cakes. Would you join the others and convince them that they should behave and eat plenty so we can feast on this later.” Dani asked the two, who nodded their heads forcefully to indicate that they would do what she asked.

“Ok. Go now and play with your friends.” Jacky asked the two, and they sped, running back to the other kids who were now busy playing on the carousels and other rides set up for them.

“Did you know that Marcus and Haley knew each other? What a small world?” Dani finally asked Jacky about what she had discovered earlier.

“Yeah, it is a small world. I just knew about it just moments ago.” She admitted it to her friend but appeared that it was not a big deal. This event was a special occasion for her friend, and she had no plans to bring the drama to it.

“Anyway, are we ready to get this party started?” Dani asked her. She was glad that she managed to act cool about this.

Anyway, she had things to do, and thinking about her boyfriend was not her priority. Her eyes wandered around the place and saw her brother making new friends.

She hoped that they could help many more kids so they would not have to go through what she, her brother, and probably half of the kids had experienced in the past.

She wanted them to have a better future than to live on the street, with hardly any food to eat and afraid of what the night would bring. This time, many would have a safe haven that would care for them.