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CHAPTER TWO

“Now remember, if you’re ready to leave or you find anything suspicious just give me a quick call but I don’t think anything can go wrong in the palace ballroom” my mom said while I hopped out of the car making sure to not say a word to her.

The cold wind slapped against my body so fiercely that I immediately felt the rise of goosebumps littering my skin and my wavy hair that I had managed to hold together at the back of my head with a band shift a bit.

“I never knew I gave birth to the grinch” came her mockery when she observed my scrunched-up face from a bit of anger and also a reflex response to the cold.

“I’ll call you by ten or eleven” I said after I had checked the time and seen I was giving myself three to four hours in this environment.

“At your beck and call ma’am” she replied and revved up the engine before driving away.

Only when she had gone did I hear the booming of the music from within the house all the way across the road.

It was already dark and I didn’t want to be standing outside for too long so I crossed the road to the palace gates where the guards stood watching me closely.

Or were they?

I can hardly tell, the large shields they held covered most of their faces.

“Good evening” I said, trying to be polite while slipping my hand into my back pocket and pulling out my ID that would grant me access.

The men said no words in return and only scanned my card and returned a glance to my face probably to make sure I was the one.

During the process, a woman clad in a similar uniform stepped forward and lifted her arms up which I believed was for me to repeat the action to be searched.

We weren’t informed about the search so being patted down at the gate made me a bit nervous. I wasn’t with anything incriminating anyway.

Just my phone, my ID card and some spare change just in case of an emergency.

I didn’t even leave my house with a purse.

Well… that’s not just because of this event though, my mom had taught me that if I was ever to go for an event… I should go as bare handed as possible but never forgetting to go with some money.

So, it’s a habit that had become part of me.

That’s why I forget my backpack at home most times.

Either that or I just have a horrible memory.

The latter seems more feasible as an explanation but I refuse.

“Go in” the woman says after she was done and the little side gate was opened up for me.

After walking in, I recalled the ballroom where the event is being held is the first building to my left in the palace yard. This knowledge had remained with me ever since my first grade when we were brought here for a tour

Or an excursion as they had referred it

It was a nice experience; the only problem was when some of my classmates wandered off into the main palace itself and we thought they had gone missing from our midst.

There was literally no polite cuss word Mrs. Danny hadn’t muttered under her voice that hot afternoon, I was certain my vocabulary had a massive increase afterwards.

Her favorite? Picklims

Don’t ask me what it means, I have no idea either.

Anyway, when they were found, we rejoiced and then suspended them for a week.

The point is, I remember my way around.

I hope.

But there’s no way I could go missing, the music kept getting louder and louder as I approached so I am sure that I am on the right track.

In no time, I got to the door and met with another set of heftier guards who stood with their feet apart like a stance for war.

The bulk of muscle the man to my right had on his arms were equal to the size of my head.

A single slap from his palms and I was sure to…

“ID?” he speaks up, interrupting my train of thoughts.

That was when I figured I had been staring at him while imagining the most violent scenes possible.

“Oh sorry” I said and handed him the card that I still held in my hand from the gates.

He took the card from my hand and swiped it through a device which I never even noticed he had been holding until then.

A green light emanated from the tiny machine before he handed me back my card and gestured with his head for me to go in.

Immediately with instruction, I walked towards the door and pushed it open.

The wave of heat and sounds I was blasted with; nothing could’ve prepared me for it.

I took a few steps backwards to balance myself because the strike caused me to stagger a bit, then I stared back at the filled room.

So much chatter and conversations… I already felt dizzy.

With a quick move, I turned around and saw the two guards had been observing me and waiting for me to go in and shut the door.

The man to the left then spoke up “You can stay in the garden if that is okay with you”

I don’t know how he realized that was the solution to my problem but may the moon goddess reward him.

“Thank you” I couldn’t hide my gratitude in the tone of my voice.

“it’s okay… I feel you” he replied and it took me a little time to realize that maybe

He was just like me

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