The Royal Contract

"You know you did not have to go to all this trouble." She pointed to the dinner that he had arranged for them. "I could have prepared a simple dinner back at the apartment for us."

Although she did appreciate the valiant effort, she knew that he also had tons of things to do besides entertaining her. She did not want him to feel obligated to care for all her needs when she was more than capable of doing that for herself.

"I like doing these simple things for you. Besides, it was not much of a trouble. Don't you like my surprise?" Alex asked as he assisted her on the empty chairs by the table. 

A few seconds later, a server appeared from the corner of her eye, carrying a bottle of wine in a chiller bucket. He immediately served them a glass as he took their order.

"I do. You know I always enjoyed your surprises. I only am preventing you from overdoing things." She answered him as soon as they were alone again, not wanting to hurt his feelings. 

"I assure you that spending dinner with you tonight is the only thing that I looked forward to during the entire day." Alex pulled her hand from her lap and peppered it with kisses.

Trying not to think about Dani during his meetings had been hard enough. He could not focus for too long on his obligations without wanting to call her and assured himself that she was doing just fine.

Now that she was sitting right across from her, he would make sure that he would be devoting his undivided attention only to her welfare.

"I think handling your business, together with my father and the empire, can't be that easy. I don't want to add up to your burden." Dani stared at their entwined hands, understanding what he was trying to convey to her.

However, she still could not help but worry about him too. She believed that what he had placed himself into was a difficult position. But she already realized that he did all this because of her.

"I admit that handling all these businesses is not a walk in the park, but I know what I am getting into when I accepted the position, so stop worrying about this," Alex admitted to her. 

He already figured beforehand that taking on this position as head of one of the biggest multi-billion companies would be challenging. But he had no plan to back out from it at the first sign of difficulty. He was not conceding to defeat that easily.

"Fine. I trust that you know what you are doing." She finally conceded, knowing that Alex would always have some excused to get away with what he wanted.

"Here is the deal. Let me feed you and take care of you tonight. Then, in exchange, I will let you have one limited edition magic wish." He dangled in front of her an imaginary object.

"Before I agree to that, explain to me first about this magic wish?" She folded her arms across her chest as she waited for him to elaborate more.

Although she knew that it was just another of his silly games, she enjoyed this little playtime that they do on the side whenever they were together. It just added to the spice of their relationship, making it more fun.

"You see this." He pointed to his empty hand, pretending that he was holding on to something very significant. "It can give you the power to wish for anything from me. In return, I will do my best to grant the fulfillment of that wish."

"Be careful of what you are offering. You are not a genie who could easily grant wishes." She warned him, knowing that she could wish for everything and anything, but there was no guarantee of its coming true.

Alex might be a prince who almost had everything, but, in reality, finding the attainment of wishes was never easy whether one possessed all the power and wealth of the world.

"Whether you wish it or not, I already swear to you, to your father, and the world that I will fulfill all your dreams. I will do my best to make you happy." Alex would have liked to kiss her more, but they were interrupted by the server.

Dani ordered only a veggie salad dish despite his suggestion that she should also have a steak. She had insisted that she was not hungry.

"Are you sure that you don't want a steak? I assure you that this is quite delicious." Alex enticed her with the appealing looked of the steak on his plate, compared to her green leafy veggie on her plate.

"Well, it does look tempting." Dani suddenly felt hungry upon inhaling the savory aroma the steak emitted in the air. "But I think I will stick with my salad." She grabbed her fork and started picking on her food.

"Are you sure?" He questioned her as he furrowed his brow on her. "You look like you need some protein in your body and not just some salad."

He sliced a nice piece of the steak he ordered and offered her the first bite. "Come on. Just taste it." He moved the fork closer to her closed mouth, not moving until she opened up and took his bait.

If he could feed her to alleviate the hunger he could see in her eyes, then he would. He would not allow her stubbornness to starve her to death. 

He could already sense that she barely ate anything as she waited outside the operating room. Now, he would not allow her to get sick because she was neglecting to feed herself.

"Oh..." She could not stop the moan that came out of her mouth upon tasting the luscious flavors of the piece of meat that almost melted in her mouth. "That is delicious." She uttered after swallowing the last bit on her mouth.

"I told you." He fed her again another piece. Then, he continued to do so until she had almost eaten half of the big chunk of red meat on his plate.

He did not mind since he already had an early dinner with one of his meetings. But he also did take a few bites of the meat, enjoying sharing the delicious dish with this beautiful woman in front of him.

"You are already spoiling me too much." She complained, but she still kept eating what he was giving her. 

She had forgotten all about her salad, suddenly feeling the satisfaction of feeding her earlier hunger. If Alex did not insist on giving her the steak, she would have settled with the leafy vegetable for dinner.

Sometimes, she wondered how Alex knew what her body needed more than her. He always had a better opinion on what was best for her.

"I barely gave you anything yet." He told her as he stared into her eyes. "I wish I could give you the world."

If only their situation could be as simple as this date. But Alex knew that nothing about their life could be simple, plain, and uncomplicated. They could deny their fate, but it would always catch up with them.

They could always keep running away from their destiny but escaping the future already set for them would never, ever be that simple.