Sofia x Hugo

Part 28

Ehehehe so far.... None have you have guessed who Veronica's secret brother is! 😳 So therefore, I will be extending the deadline! Aside from that, nothing is set in stone but it looks like the odds are in Vivians Favor so far! Voting is still open of course so things could change. May the Odds be ever in your favor. ~Author

No one seemed to notice Veronica's exit, or the arrival of her brother who had already been in the room when the commotion started and had merely slipped without anyone noticing; not even the people he came in with or mingled with earlier. Shows how much looks really actually attribute to society. Yes, indeed he was a handsome man. Did that stop him from getting away with what would've been considered assaulting a royal?Nope!

He wandered around the outer edges of the ballroom fitting and blending in. His eyes landing on a couple of brunettes and a black haired princess who were mingling with a group of princes. He analyzed them calculating in his mind what their relationships and feelings were for each other.

"Hmm, This will indeed be interesting." He thought, smiling charmingly as one of them turned to look at him—noticing him from the corner of her eye. She cracked a soft smile back at him and then continued with her conversation with her friends.

~back to the others~

After the commotion, James started to notice how pretty and dressed up all three of his potential brides looked. He felt slightly flustered and tried not to stare at any of them for too long otherwise his thoughts would start to wander far, too far for his liking.

"James?" A voice asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"H-Huh?" He mumbled, flinching slightly while turning to look at the person talking to him.

"Are you alright?" They asked, It was Vivian. She had a worried expression on her face as she looked up at him—he had grown so much taller over the past years and so had she—but she was still just barely a little above his shoulders.

"Oh uh—Vivian, Hi! Yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking." He stammered.

"Bout what?" She chirped, curiously.

"U-Uh nothing too important—-so uh—its been a while hasn't it?" He asked running his hand through his blonde hair nervously. He had swiftly changed the subject not wanting to tell the pretty girl that he had been thinking of who he should choose as his bride—her being one of those options. Fact was, he had run out of time already—his father hadn't come up to him about it yet though which made him really nervous.

"It has, I'm sorry I haven't been able to visit you all. I've been busy with my fiancé" Vivian giggled.

James froze—he felt time stop. 'Fiancé?' So...she had already chosen. "O-Oh" was all he managed to say. Truth was he was a little disappointed in a way.

"I'm kidding!" Vivian giggled a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. There was no way she was gonna make a decision already, fact was—she wanted James. The whole reason she had worked so hard at becoming more Extroverted or at the least less shy around people was because she had thought a lot of things through. James was an extroverted and outgoing person, he loved interacting with people so if he did agree to marry her—she'd have to spend a lot of time at social gatherings with him. She wanted to become a princess that people would never think of as cursed or living in a cave like back in RFA. She wanted to be a Queen her parents and Friends could be proud of. One who wasn't reserved or hid away from her subjects—from her people.

James held back a sigh of relief and tried his best to chuckle. "hehe—-nice one Viv..." He stammered, still playing with his hair. "You...look stunning today...." He murmured just barely loud enough for her to catch.

"Thank You!" She chirped. "You look quite handsome yourself!" She said winking at him, though immediately she became flustered and wished she really hadn't done that. She had become more comfortable around people but she was still working on her social skills—that included flirting with the boy she liked.

James smiled softly as he saw her there in front of him—her soft cheeks turning pink of embarrassment. 'Cute.' He thought, bursting out into a soft bit of laughter—a chuckle of sorts.

Vivian looked at him laughing and smiled, she was fond of his smile. It was nice to see time hadn't drifted them apart from each other.

Meanwhile in the background, Isabel watched as James laughed and conversed with the princess from earlier—-Vivian? She felt a tinge of Jealousy and she hated it. She wanted to go up to them but she didn't want to ruin their moment either. They looked pretty good together.

She jumped as she felt a hand on her shoulder, spinning around—her eyes widened when she saw her body guard, Luke standing behind her. "Oh—Luke, hey! Is everything alright?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Ah—nothing princess, I just wanted to see how you were doing." Luke explained, letting go of her and scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh—! No, I'm fine! There's no need to worry." She reassured him.

He nodded, "Alright, I'll be towards the back of the room if you need anything." He said nodding to her as he walked away.

"ThankYou!" She called after him. Once he was gone she took a deep breath and turned around to see Sofia had joined in with Vivian and James, now she could definitely go up to them without worrying about it being weird.

~With Amber~

Amber sighed, she usually loved this type of thing but honestly—she was really bored. 'Honestly Hildy you couldn't have added some more entertainment?' She thought to herself, grabbing a fancy glass of juice from one of the tables.

Suddenly the loud trumpets began to sound once again—looks like there's a late arrival. She looked up towards the stairs, her eyes widening to see...