Emerald's Pride

CHAPTER 18

Emerald St. Clair's POV

Two days. It's been two days since Al-Farsi left for Saqr for a matter that needed his urgent attention. I cannot blame him since he's about to be the king of the nation.

I am back in New York for my last photo shoot of the week. As we agreed back in Italy, before he left that night via his private plane, he would meet me up here for our date.

My heart constricted. I miss him terribly. I miss him annoying me at every opportunity he had while I avoided his company at all costs. Now it seems that I am craving his presence which was absurd because he was still the same Khalil Al-Farsi that I hated before.

I couldn't help but wonder when he would be free from his obligations in his country and be free to fly back here.

I looked back at my phone. There was no message or phone call from him. It's not as if I am tempted to call him. Don't get me wrong, he had called me in the past two days when he had the opportunity. We often speak for lengthy times during the night, like teenagers talking about random stuff, despite a huge time difference.

If I had to be honest with myself, I missed hearing his deep voice over the phone. I sighed deeply. I feel like a teenager once again because of him.

Not liking where my thoughts were heading, I tossed my phone back to the table while the makeup team was busy preparing me for the shoot.

"Problem, Miss Emerald?" I looked at the concerned face of the makeup artist through the reflection in the mirror.

I tried to give him a reassuring smile. "I am fine."

"You keep checking on your phone every ten seconds," he remarked conversationally.

It took every ounce of my self-control not to show the shock on my face. Was I that obvious? "Really? I didn't notice."

Now that he mentioned it, I was once again tempted to check my phone. But I held myself in check and stopped myself from reaching for it.

It took a whole two minutes before I couldn't wait any longer and reached for my phone and unlocked it. I noticed that the makeup artist had this knowing smile on his face, so I pretended to search the web for anything, just so they would know that I was not waiting for a text or phone call, as they initially thought.

So, I typed his name in the search bar. Seconds later, his images filled my screen. My heart skipped a beat seeing his familiar face looking cold and distant in most of the photos.

But there was a particular picture of him, and a familiar woman uploaded a few hours ago on a gossiping site that caught my attention.

"What the..." Anger filled my whole being. My pretend boyfriend and the princess the Saqr council wants him to marry were pictured together at a formal event at the palace of Saqr.

The woman was not even in his arms, just standing next to him when the photo was snapped, but it didn't lessen the fury that bubbled inside me right this moment.

I found myself gripping my mobile too tightly. And the realization hit me with force. I groaned silently.

I am fucking jealous!

I am jealous of that princess when Al-Farsi is not even my real boyfriend. We're just pretending to be in a relationship to stop granddad's sly manipulation of me.

Now I am caught up in my own game, mixing up charade and reality. I don't have the right to become jealous, I reminded myself silently. I don't want to be hurt in the end, just like I was eight years ago.

Have you not learned your lesson before, Emerald? He was the same man who broke your heart at sixteen.

I closed the article, not having the stomach to read it even though it was written in English instead of in their native language.