CHAPTER FORTY ONE
For some minutes, they stared at each other, with tension filled in the air.
Alyssa already made up her mind. Tiffany had the right to be mad at her; she had every right to look at her in a different way, because she betrayed her and concealed such huge information from her.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
Tiffany was blank for some minutes. It wasn’t easy to assimilate all what Alyssa had just said to her. She stared at Alyssa again, and with a frown, she took few steps backwards.
This was supposed to be someone she considered her best friend in the palace.
Alyssa was opened for the worst. She expected Tiffany to walk out of the room after yelling at her and calling her names. She even expected something worst than that.
She was however shocked to her bones when Tiffany started talking slow steps towards her. She pulled her into a warm hug, while allowing the tears that flowed from her eyes to drop right there on her back.
“It’s okay, Alyssa! I understand”, Tiffany said to Alyssa who couldn’t believe her ears.
“I knew you were hiding something, but I would never have believed that you were hiding something this huge”, Tiffany said sincerely.
She had thought that she was the only one with secrets in the friendship. Though at some points, she observed that Alyssa was acting strange and suspicious.
“Am I still your friend? Even after this?” Alyssa asked with a look of uncertainty in her eyes.
“Sure! I don’t see you in a different light and I won’t. I feel more emphatic for you than I have always been. You are so strong and courageous. You were abused even if you were the daughter of a King, and then forced to do something vile to gain freedom. Yet, you are standing solidly”, Tiffany said, smiling at her widely and pulling her into another hug.
“So, what are we going to do now?” Tiffany finally asked, searching through her eyes for an answer.
“No idea!” Alyssa’s reply was swift and blunt. The only idea on her head was to leave the palace and she didn’t want to emphasize on that in the conversation.
“I think you should tell him”, Tiffany suggested, staring into her eyes to observe her reaction.
Alyssa’s reaction was exactly as Tiffany thought it would be. She was strongly against the idea…
“I can’t!”
“Why? He loves you and would never turn his back on you even after what you did?” Tiffany tried to explain but Alyssa was adamant to it.
“I didn’t see any reason to split up with you. What makes you think that Liam would?” Tiffany asked one question that caused Alyssa to ponder.
Indeed, if Tiffany could understand her, then Liam could…
However, she wasn’t ready to witness the look of betrayal or rage he would wear on his face when she finally tells him.
“I would be fine, I don’t need to tell him”, Alyssa said with every convinction visible in her voice.
Tiffany gave up after a moment. She didn’t want to persuade her friend on something she wasn’t ready to do.
“I would tell him. Just…not now”, Alyssa said in a voice that sounded more like a whisper.
She was only trying to take Tiffany’s mind off her. Even her voice betrayed her when she made that utterance. There was no way she was going to tell Liam anything, because she would be leaving in a moment.
“Do you need anything? How about we go fruit hunting at midnight?” Tiffany suggested and Alyssa quickly nodded their head in approval.
She wasn’t going to be around for whatever Tiffany was planning. However, she needed a means to take her attention away.
A knock on the door made the jerk up abruptly. It was a call from a maid, to Tiffany.
Tiffany took an excuse after which she walked out of the room, smiling at Alyssa who was quite glad that she could have some air alone.
***
Tiffany went about her different chores. She caught sight of Liam at several points and she couldn’t help but feel how restless he might be at the moment. He deserved to know the truth but Alyssa wasn’t seeing that.
Liam caught sight of Tiffany from a distance and after thinking within himself, he decided to have a conversation with her.
Tiffany bowed her head in respect the moment he approached her. She had thought of walking over to meet with him, but she had no slightest idea that he shared the same thoughts with her.
“How is Alyssa?” That was the first question that came off Liam’s lips.
He knew that he had a cold conversation with Alyssa moments ago, but he needed to know how she was from a third party.
“Alyssa? She is doing very great”, Tiffany responded as she forced a smile to her face.
Liam nodded his head in approval as he thought of what next to say.
“Can you help me tell her that I surely need to have a conversation with her?” Liam asked, almost biting his lower lips as he spoke.
Tiffany gulped down hard and tucked her hair behind her ears. Alyssa was not willing to talk to him and she needed no one to tell her that the response would be negative.
“I would send your message across to her”, Tiffany replied.
A thought passed through her mind as she stared at Liam who was clearly coming up with another question.
She thought of revealing everything to him, right there at the spot. However, she wouldn’t want to be a betrayal.
Somehow, she thought of divulging it to Ryan instead, but she shoved it off after deciding that it was the same thing. It would only result in betraying Alyssa and she wasn’t ready for that.
“Do you have anything to say to me? You appear to be quite off?” Liam said when he had been talking to Tiffany who didn’t give a response.
“Ohh!” She mouthed and looked at him.
“Keep an eye on Alyssa and let me know if she needs anything”, Liam said and Tiffany nodded.
Liam made to walk out, but stopped and swirled around.
“Are you sure you don’t want to say something?” He asked Tiffany who quickly shook her head negatively.
Liam walked away, hoping that Alyssa would try in convincing Alyssa on the need to talk to him.
Alyssa looked around the courtyard for some minutes, with her small bag clutched in her hands.
She walked over to the back and picked up the bags she had thrown earlier. Luckily, no one was around and something else had drawn Tiffany’s attention.
She ran out of the palace with all her might, sniffing at intervals and stopping to catch her breath.
A part of her heart made to shove it aside a nightmare, a terrible one. She pinched herself at intervals to be sure that it wasn’t just a mere dream.
But it wasn’t, she could feel the pain and exhaustion in her legs and it was clear that she was running away.
She had no idea of where to run to, but her kingdom was totally out of it. She would never dream of going back to such torture, especially when she didn’t return with the golden artifact.
Just then, a stone on the ground struck her feet and she stumbled to the floor. But almost immediately, she stood up again, not willing to give up at that point.