The Royalties

After dinner, Charmaine and Athena excitedly prepare for their weekend trip the following day while Richard and Dei stayed in their mini office for some wedding preparations stuff.

"Your highness, the wedding coördinator is asking when you are meeting Rajo to discuss about the style of your wedding gown." Richard asked Dei who is busy checking on the sample wedding souvenirs.

"Tell her I already gave Rajo the list of dates when I will be available next week. I'm still waiting for his reply." Dei replied.

"Why don't we drop by to his shop tomorrow morning? We are leaving in the afternoon right?" Richard suggested.

"It is unproper to go there on a very short notice, your highness." Dei replied.

"I will take care of that. I can ask Rizza to set an appointment for us with Rajo." Richard said and immediately dialed his sister's number.

"Okay, whatever you say my queen." Richard replied and did not say anything anymore since then. Dei noticed her fiancée's silence, and she already has an idea why. She is expecting this behavior of Richard, and she prepares herself for this because she knows this will not end until the wedding pushes through.

"Please don't be upset, your highness." She starts explaining then sat on Richard's lap. "I just do not want to stress Rajo on simple things because I want him in his good mood once I discuss the design of my gown with him. Also, I want the girls to come with me. I want to hear their opinions too." She further explained.

"I am not saying anything. It is just as if you are not longer interested in pushing the wedding." Richard coldly said.

"Tell me the truth, your highness. Am I correct to assume you haven't moved on with what I said earlier? Can you please let me explain?" Dei asked.

"Okay" Richard replied, "Just make sure it is convincing."

"When I said 'you are the one that I love more', what I exactly meant was, the amount of love I have for you now is way more than the amount of love I have for him when we were still together. I am not talking about now, because there would be no comparison, your highness. I am not in love with him anymore." Dei explained and she slightly smiled when she felt Richard's arms slide around her waist.

"Okay, fair enough." Richard said. "Please don't ever think I love you less, but you have to promise me, you will get rid of your habit of jumping to conclusion immediately." Dei declared.

"I'm sorry." Richard apologized. "I'm trying my best to stop my insecurities. But I am having a hard time doing that. Can you blame me? I saw how much you love him then."

"But that was before, and I am certain it does not apply now. I was too young then." Dei assured him.

"You are not backing out on the wedding right." Richard asked.

Dei's eyes widen and she said "No way. I love you my king, I can't imagine my life without you."

"I love you too my queen. I'll die if I lose you and the princesses." Richard said before they passionately kissed.

///

Though the whole family is set for their Subic trip, it did not push through in the last-minute because Grandpa requested them to visit him on that weekend.

"I will be the happiest if my children will visit me every weekend." Grandpa asked Richard and Rizza while having coffee in the living room.

"I cannot promise Dad. Shawn's violin lesson is not consistent every Saturday." Rizza said, "But I promise, if our Saturday is free, we will spend it here with you."

"How about you, Richard and Dei?" Grandpa spoke to Richard, and Dei "How is your wedding preparations?"

"Slowly but surely Dad, I'm happy Rizza recommends an efficient wedding coordinator." Dei replied.

"How are you Dei? I mean, in your new environment and responsibilities at work plus the wedding preparations. Are you sure you can handle both at the same time? I suggest you move the wedding maybe in the middle of next year." Rizza suggested.

"Wedding coordinators are for sparing us with too much stress in the wedding preparation. That is why we hire them, Rizza." Richard said, frowning. "And for your information, I don't mind hiring more wedding coordinators if needed just to get rid of those stressful issues that you are talking about. We are pushing through with the wedding in December, end of conversation." He added, "Excuse me, but I have to check on my emails." Richard said then quickly leaves Grandpa, Rizza and Dei in the living room confused on Richard's sudden outburst.

"Did I say something wrong? Why did he rant? I can't believe such intense reaction on a very simple suggestion." Rizza confusedly asked.

"I'm sorry about Richard's behavior Rizza. It started last night, and now he is very sensitive every time we talked about the possibility of postponing the wedding." Dei apologizes to Rizza.

"It's alright Dei, I know Richard's mood swing." Rizza replied.

"I don't understand. Only last month he was toying on the idea of postponing it to early next year or at least, until you already adjusted to your new function at work. Why suddenly he reacted this way?" Grandpa asked.

Dei had taken a deep sigh before she replied "Apparently Dad, because of Dwayne."

"What does Dwayne has to do with your wedding? He never communicates for almost seventeen years." Rizza asked.

"Dwayne is our company's new Marketing Group Head. He is one of the bosses. I may not directly reports to him but as a Group Head he has the privilege to gain access to my team anytime he wants. So there is no way I could avoid him." Dei explained.

"Richard wants me to resign when we found out about it, but I refused. Dad, Rizza, I hope you understand, I decided not to resign because I work hard for this promotion. I would like savoring the feel of it for at least a year." She further explained.

"But Dei don't you think it is better to quit your job to avoid future issues. We all know that even Richard is mum about it he is still affected and we could not blame him if he starts worrying." Rizza said.

"On the contrary Rizza, I agree with Dei. She should not sacrifice her work for the sake of Richard's insecurities. Your brother is matured enough to deal with it himself." Grandpa explained.

"But Dad, the issue here in not mainly about Richard and Dei, we have to consider Charmaine too." Rizza said

"Charmaine's issue is a different story. Since Dwayne have not mentioned about his daughter, there is nothing to worry about. Let us not be paranoid. We all know Dwayne did not know about Charmaine." Grandpa calmly explained. "For now, let's be careful talking about this especially if the girls are just around."

"Thank you Dad for understanding." Dei sincerely said

"Ok, let's not waste our time thinking about it Dei. The best thing to do is too busy ourselves in you wedding preparations to calm down Richard a bit." Rizza declared. "Always remember our family will support on whatever decisions you have." She added.

"Thanks Rizza, thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me." Dei said, teary-eyed.

"You're welcome, despite what happened in the past you now how much I love you." Rizza replied smiling. "And since we already got the go signal to hire an extra wedding coördinator, let's start scouting then." She teased.

"No need for that Rizza, I'm fine with my wedding coordinator. Besides, I don't want to leave everything to her. It will be exciting if I am on top of the preparations." Dei said.

"Just don't pressure yourself too much." Grandpa reminded Dei.

"Yes Dad, thanks again." Dei replied.