One Night With The Prince

Alexa was practically slaving herself for the whole week. She was initially supposed to be an assistant, but she became way more than that.

The original request was for an assistant to handle the daily schedule for the duration that the guest was in town-no more no less.

However, everything changed when the woman met Alexa. Especially after witnessing her encounter with Prince Alexander. Alexa's temporary boss immediately saw the potential within her and wanted to explore the possibility of grooming her as one of her talents.

Instead of letting Alexa assist with the daily schedule, the woman hired another person to do the job while she kept Alexa beside her at all of her meetings, to see what she needed to do when the time came.

The woman was not precisely a foreigner. She was born in the country but was living in another. She was invited there to be a member of the panel of judges for an upcoming beauty contest. At first, she was hesitant. But due to the recent success of a contestant winning the competition from this particular Country, she decided to come and discuss the possibility. She hoped that in the process, she could scout someone to become her future talent.

Her decision was not a mistake, she indeed found someone, and she planned on doing everything in her power to get that person signed before she had to return to her base.

===

While Alexa was shadowing the 'foreign guest,' she learned the ins and outs of the Beauty Pageant. She needed to learn as much as she could for her future in the industry.

Deep in her heart, she knew that she still had a long way to go. But she was determined to accomplish this dream of hers, even if it killed her.

The week came and ended, finally, it was the end of Alexa's shadowing the foreign lady. As much as she loved the job, it was very tiring and consumed a lot of her energy.

"Alexa, if you have time tonight, I would like to have dinner with you to discuss something important. Are you available?" Her boss asked her with sincerity in her voice.

"Yes, Madam! I'm available." 

'Even if I were not, I would make sure to make myself available!' Alexa thought, while giving her best smile that she had been practicing for a long time.

"Good! Don't worry about dressing up. I want you to come back here around 3 p.m., that should give us enough time."

Alexa was thinking to herself about the time her temporary boss indicated. "Madam, isn't 3 p.m. a little early for dinner? I'm just wondering..." She asked with eyes full of curiosity.

"Just come back around that time. You'll soon find out why, alright?" the lady said a little irritably.

Alexa saw it right away and answered to rectify the situation. "Yes, Ma'am! I'll be here at exactly 3 p.m. Not before, and especially, not later. If there is nothing else, I will be on my way then." She gave her a respectful bow, then proudly left.

The foreign lady had a half-smile on her face when Alexa left.

What she was planning for their dinner would show if she was correct with her assumptions or not. This would be a test for Alexa to see whether she would get signed as talent or not.

===

Alexa was standing at the bus stop when her cousin Andrea called. She fumbled with her cell phone and almost dropped it before she was even able to answer. Luckily, someone was speedy enough to catch it before it fell onto the ground and shattered.

"Thank you!" Alexa said quickly after taking her phone back from the stranger.

"No big deal, it's a good thing it didn't drop. It would have shattered into pieces for sure." The stranger was trying to make small talk.

"Yup! Man, I would have been in deep shit with my grandma if that happened." She replied calmly.

"Alexa, you don't recognize me, do you?" The stranger excitedly asked her.

Alexa looked at the stranger with a straight face, without blinking. She assessed him; first his face, then she backed up a little, ready to bolt. "Man, if I offended you or have done something wrong, I'm sorry, OK?!" Terror was written all over Alexa's face, but she was still ready to fight.

"Hahaha! You haven't changed a bit. You're still a tomboy. But you sure clean up pretty well." The stranger bantered.

"Wait a minute, do we know each other from the past or something? I don't seem to recognize you at all?" Alexa said a little loud.

"Hahaha! Of course, you wouldn't recognize me anymore. The last time you saw me was when I was twelve years old, and I was on the skinny side. Plus, I had braces and thick glasses then." He gave Alexa a wide grin showing straight pearly white teeth.

"My braces are gone, and I had a Lasik done, so no more glasses either. Moreover, I work out, so I'm pretty buff, see!"

Alexa looked at him once again. She looked and looked and looked. Then something hit her from what he had said. "Ramon!!! Oh, my God! Is that you? How can this be? Hahaha!"

"I told you back then, before I left for America, that someday, we'll meet again. And here I am."

Alexa got excited, she jumped at Ramon and hugged him, "Hahaha! I can't believe it's you and you kept your promise that we'll meet again."

Ramon was stunned and unable to say a word. He stood still, rooted to the ground, speechless, with a nervous look on his face.

Alexa couldn't believe that the person in front of her was the same childhood friend that left for America when she was only seven years old. She was devastated when Ramon said his goodbyes. The only comforting words back then were 'we will meet again. I promise!' Those were his parting words, and she kept that in her heart all these years.

Once all the excitement was over, she remembered their happy and sad times. She couldn't help herself, and tears started building in her eyes. Alexa pushed Ramon a little so that she could be face to face with him. She looked him straight in his eyes and then she started punching his c.h.e.s.t, with tears flowing down her beautiful face.

"Where have you been? *POW, POW, POW * you're so mean you know that? I've waited for your letters all these years, and none came. What happened?" Alexa bombarded him with questions while tears were still running down her face, and some snot was coming out of her nose.

"Hahaha! Slow down, gosh, what's with this..." Ramon pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, and instead of handing it to her, he wiped her tears first, then the snot that was slowly dripping from her nose.

"You haven't changed at all; you know that?! I still have to wipe your snot just like when we were kids. You may be taller now and look more like a girl, but you're still the same. Hahaha!" Ramon was so happy that she accepted him back just like he never left at all.

Alexa remembered that she's supposed to be on her way home and her cousin was calling her. She looked around to check if she had missed the bus. It seemed not, 'that's good,' she thought.

"How did you know that it's me? How did you find me?" she asked Ramon curiously.

"Oh! About that, well... that's a long story, and I don't think this is the right place for us to discuss it. Are you on your way home? I have a car, can I take you?" Ramon was looking at her with pleading eyes.

Alexa's eyes widened, shining brightly at his offer of a car ride. "Wow! You're a big shot now, eh? You even have a car... That's good, that's good. Hope you're sticking around for a while so that I can ask favors from you. Hahaha!" Alexa laughed out loud.

Ramon just gave her a half-smile then ushered her to the direction of the car across the street.

Ramon opened the door for Alexa, more like a boyfriend than an ordinary guy friend. Once she hopped in and was seated, he very gently helped her with her seatbelt. His palms were sweating from nervousness.

However, Alexa was indifferent. It didn't seem to bother her to be near a man at all. She happily smiled at him "Thank you! My best friend."

"You're welcome! Anytime, it's my p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e." Ramon replied shyly and hurriedly finished with the seatbelt, closed the door and went to the driver's side.

"Here we go!" He stepped on the gas pedal, shifted the gear, then drove off to the direction of Alexa's home.

The eerie silence was deafening to Alexa's ear. She needed to break the silence somehow. It was becoming awkward, and they still had about 30 minutes of driving before they arrived at her home.

"Ramon, can I ask you a question?" Alexa broke the silence.

"Sure, what is it?" Ramon responded.

"After so many years of silence, why did you suddenly looked for me?"

"As I said, it's a long story, and it wasn't the right place or time to speak about it. But if you must know, I start looking for you because I need your help." He said in a low tone, almost like a whisper.

Alexa looked at Ramon with a question clearly showing in her eyes. "Tell me! If I can be of help, I would do my best." She gave him the sweetest smile.

Ramon's heart was beating so fast that his foot pushed the gas pedal a little more and the car sped up, overdoing the speed limit.

"You see, I'm engaged... and that's where you came to my mind."

Alexa: "^-^."