The Royal Contract

Her sleep was interrupted by some noises coming from outside the bedroom door. She wished to ignore whoever was talking at this time of the night, slightly irritated that she had to let go of her dream.

She could tell that it was a nice dream since she could not take the smile out of her face. But she could not remember most of it, just partial and fragments of the enchanting scene.

"It was just a dream." She mumbled to herself, a bit disappointed that it was not real. She would rather live in it than continue with her current situation where she had to keep hiding, afraid to be caught by the people hunting her.

But the continuous commotion outside spiked up her curiosity, wondering who would be visiting her host in the middle of the night. Although it was none of her business, she could not help but spy on him.

"What are you doing?" She admonished herself for giving in to her nosiness as she strode to the door. She tried to listen to the conversation but hardly heard anything coherent.

She moved closer to the wooden barrier that separated her room from the other side of the apartment. She even put her ears on the surface, straining to listen more clearly to what was going on outside.

"No!" She exclaimed in shock. Fear eventually gripped her heart when she recognized his voice. 

She was not expecting that he would come to his apartment. But that was so naive of her. Of course, he was his brother. He would eventually drop by to visit him.

She automatically stepped away from the door as if it was about to attack her. Her mind tried to think of a way to escape as panic started to overtake her reasoning.

"Stop it!" She hissed at herself, and then she hastily hushed herself too, realizing that she was being too loud. "Calm down, Cassie." She placed her palm on the top of her chest, willing her heart rate to slow down.

She took a deep breath as she sat on the bed, trying to relax her body and clear her mind. She could not think more rationally if she continued to hyperventilate.

When she felt a bit calmer, she stood up and started pacing the floor as she thought of ways to escape her current predicament. She returned to the door to eavesdrop further on their conversation.

"You can do this." She encouraged herself, gathering more courage to get through the night. She just hoped that Jacob did not decide to betray her and surrender her to his brother.

But how much could he trust the man, for all she knew, he was the one who told his brother that she was here at his place? Jacob could have tried to gain her trust to get information about her. Then, he reported it to his evil brother.

But if that was the case, she was sure that Nick would be all over her by now. He would be smirking at her, making her pay for what she had done. She began to doubt her earlier assessment.

She could only hear bits and pieces of their conversation. She realized that the other two must be in the kitchen or something far from the door. But she did make out something about Nick, asking him about her.

At least, that was what she thought she heard in the conversation. But she felt slightly relieved when Jacob said what appeared to be a denial coming from him.

"Thank you." She mouthed silently to the man that had saved her before and continued to help her until now. 

She did not know why he kept doing it, but she appreciated it. She 

was expecting that he would send her away when she finally confessed to him some of what she had done in her past.

Surprisingly, he said he did not like to judge what happened in her past but only helped her with her present situation. She realized now that he was genuinely a nice guy.

But her ordeal was not yet over since she was still in the same apartment as the man she was hiding from, and she still had no way out.

Then, what she feared finally materialized when she heard footsteps and voices coming her way. She was paralyzed in her position as she continued to listen to their more coherent dialogue.

Just outside the door stood Nick and Jacob. "Why are you sleeping on the sofa? What is wrong with your room?" Nick asked the question again. 

He could not leave until his curiosity was satisfied. Something about the situation piqued his interest, and his instinct was nagging at him. He knew he could not ignore it.

"I have a female guest from work. She needed a place to stay for a few days while working at the hospital." He finally came up with a story that he hoped his brother would buy.

He knew that telling him that he enjoyed sleeping on his couch would not be believable. His couch did not seem much to look at, and at the same time, it was small and uncomfortable.

"Oh! A female friend. Is she hot?" Nick found the situation more interesting. 

If it had been him in his brother's shoes, he would be all over her by now. He had been wondering why until now, he had not heard him get into any serious relationship with a girl.

He did keep insisting that he was busy with his studies and now his career, but he could not help but question if that was the real reason. Or he might be hiding something from him.

"She is, but she is probably sleeping," Jacob told him, not wanting to sound like he was avoiding the question. He did not want Nick to suspect anything else.

"Can I just take a peek?" Nick insisted, holding on to the doorknob, ready to open the door.

He could not help but question who he was protecting behind that door. He had always been curious about his brother's preferences.. He did speculate at some point if his brother was secretly gay.