Page 97 of That Prince is Mine
Michel made a choking noise beside her, but Emma decided that Marion might not be all bad. “I’m glad to hear that.”
“You must be tired, Marion.” Michel got abruptly to his feet as Sophie and Gabriel returned to the living room.
“Yes. Why don’t you get situated in your room?” Gabriel said firmly, pointing toward the hallway. “I’m sure you could find it on your own. It’s the one with all your luggage inside.”
Knowing she’d been dismissed, Marion walked off in a huff.
“And if you don’t need anything else, Gabriel and I’ll be heading out as well.” Sophie nodded at Michel, mouthed good night to Emma, and followed Gabriel out the door.
When it was just the two of them in the living room, Emma belatedly remembered that Michel had something to tell her. She turned to him and asked, “What did you want to talk about?”
“That is a conversation I would rather save for when we have true privacy.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Is it… it’s nothing bad, right?” Nervousness fluttered in her stomach.
“Nothing bad.” He reached for her hand and placed a tender kiss on her wrist. “I promise.”
Emma nodded, sighing in relief. Michel never told her anything bad. It had shocked her to find out that he was a prince, but it wasn’t necessarily bad. He was doing amazing things for his country. He was changing the world. No, it wasn’t a bad thing at all. It was just irrelevant to their relationship.
Bruising pain gripped her chest, squeezing her heart like a stress ball. She couldn’t stop herself from wanting an impossible future with him—a future she couldn’t even imagine. But she knew nothing about the lives of royalty. How would she even fit into his life? The more she wanted to cling to him, the farther she wanted to run from him. She was being torn apart by her love for him. It hurt. And she wanted it to stop hurting.
“Thank you for tonight,” she said with a determined smile, scattering the train of her desperate thoughts. “It was magical.”
Michel chuckled at her cheesy joke. Honestly, it was impossible not to love a man who laughed at your cheesy jokes. She jumped to her feet. “I should… I should go.”
His hand tightened around hers for a moment, then he sighed. “Let me take you home.”
“Don’t be silly.” She headed for the front door in a quick hobble—her mermaid dress didn’t allow her to take long, graceful strides. “I don’t want to drag Sophie out again. Besides, I think she and Gabriel might be talking.”
“And you approve of this?” Michel cocked his head.
“It’s not for me to approve or disapprove.” But she did approve. She realized Michel was right. They were good people who deserved a real chance. A real chance she and Michel would never get. She felt tears sting her nose. “I’ll say good night here. If you follow me down, then Sophie will have to come, too. And I don’t want to interrupt them.”
He nodded a bit reluctantly, then leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. “Good night, darling Emma.”
Her toes curled in her high heels, and goose bumps spread across her arms. She loved it when he called her that. With a little growl of frustration, she pulled him down for a hard, searing kiss, then stepped out into the foyer before she could change her mind.
Sophie spotted Emma and snapped her mouth shut in the middle of a sentence, but Gabriel’s eyes didn’t leave her face, willing her to finish the sentence—as though his entire life depended on it.
Emma muttered a curse under her breath. She could tell she’d chosen the most inopportune time to interrupt. She rushed to the elevator, shielding her face with her hand as if that would make her invisible. “Don’t mind me. Pretend I’m not here.”
“I can drive you…” Sophie began, but her gaze drifted back to Gabriel. He looked at her like he missed her even though she was standing right in front of him.
“I’ll be gone in a second.” Emma poked repeatedly at the elevator button like she was trying to bring on the pain in a video combat game. Thankfully, the elevator arrived with a delicate ding before she could feel really awkward. She ran inside with a hasty wave and pressed the Close button. “Carry on.”
Suddenly exhausted, she leaned against the wood panels of the elevator wall, letting her head fall back. She wished she could stay with Michel—it was the only way to keep her worries at bay these days—but her dad would be waiting up for her. He would pretend he fell asleep on the couch, but she knew better than to buy that.
“Ms. Yoon.” The concierge hurried to her side when she walked out into the lobby. “Mr. Chevalier has requested that one of our drivers take you home.”
Too tired to argue, she let herself be handed off to a kind-faced gentleman in a black suit and slid into a Lincoln Town Car just outside the hotel. She appreciated that the driver didn’t try to engage in small talk and let her stare out the window. She couldn’t believe it was only a few weeks ago that she’d thought it fortunate that Michel only had two months in LA. Now the thought of him leaving made every cell in her body hurt.
She had to remember that they had nothing in common. But a small voice insisted that their differences complemented each other’s and made them better versions of themselves. No. They were practically a different species—a royal and a commoner. Maybe she was being unnecessarily harsh, but she couldn’t forget how ugly falling out of love was. It wasn’t just the fighting that she hated. Her parents’ silence had been far worse—how they seemed to stop existing for each other. She wouldn’t be able to bear that happening to her and Michel.
Emma could, however, admit to herself that there was no going back to normal when he left. And she sure as hell wasn’t going on any more matseons. She would have to think of another way to preserve Auntie Soo’s reputation. Even the thought of marrying a nice, compatible man—sharing her life with a man who wasn’t Michel—made her stomach roil with nausea.
But she wouldn’t be alone. She had her dad, her godmother, Jeremy, her friends, and her business. She would rebuild herself piece by piece if she had to. She would build a beautiful life for herself with jeongseong—with all of her shattered heart.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
