Chapter 2

The next morning, I found myself in a staring contest with her. She simply refused to eat the porridge I prepared for her. "I don't eat that," she insisted with a frown.
I held the bowl right in front of her face. "Lot's of children starve all over the world. You're lucky I'm even feeding you."
"Those children will still starve even if I eat that. Which I won't," she added quickly.
"Do you even hear yourself right now?" I asked in frustration. "You're a bloody princess and yet you're such a picky eater. Oh that's right! You're exactly like that because you're royalty. You think you're better than anyone else don't you?"
She rolled her eyes before standing up and moving away from me. "Of all the things that you're going to feed me, you had to pick the one thing that I hate most. Porridge," she said in disgust.
"What's your problem with porridge? I love porridge!"
"Then you eat it!" she screamed.
I placed the bowl on the floor and glared at her. "If you want to starve so badly then be my guest. I won't force you to eat it anymore. In fact I don't want to be in the same room at all." I walked to the door and opened it after punching the code. "I bet you'll eat the freaking porridge once you're hungry," I mumbled.
When afternoon came, I checked on her but saw that she left the food untouched. Well if she wanted to go down that road, I wouldn't be able to do anything at all. She was such a brat. I did my business around the house and returned to her room at nightfall. The bowl was still on the floor with the porridge intact. She hasn't eaten the whole day.
In fact, she hasn't eaten since yesterday. She must have been starving. At present, she was sleeping peacefully on the bed, her mouth opened a little bit. I walked in her direction and sat by her side. She was still wearing the blue dress that she had since the day before. Her hair was still tied in a half crown braid, making her look like a real princess. A beautiful one at that.
My heart squeezed painfully. I'm so sorry Talia, I thought. If things were a little different, this wouldn't have happened to us. But it was destiny. And you could never ever fight your destiny.
I knew I shouldn't be kind to her, but I still went to the kitchen and prepared a decent meal for her. When I went back to her room with the plate in my hand, she was already awake. "What is that? It smells good," she said.
"It's steak and mashed potatoes," I replied and set the plate in front of her on the bed. She looked at me curiously and didn't touch the food. "Don't worry," I said. "It's not poisoned or anything. I prepared that from the goodness of my heart."
"There's no fork and knife," she said while raising her eyebrows to me. "I don't want you to stab me," I said matter-of-factly. "You have to eat it with your bare hands. Cavemen did it before. You're going to do it now."
She stared at me in disdain but still pulled the plate to her and ate its contents. I just sat there and watched her eat silently. "Do you want some?" she asked after she swallowed. "No thank you," I replied. "Don't be nice to me. Don't talk to me either. I'm your kidnapper after all."
She ignored me and asked, "How old are you?"
I didn't see any reason to lie to her. "Twenty two," I said with a shrug. "You don't have to tell me your age princess. I know you're eighteen." She didn't answer me and continued eating her meal. After it was all gone, she licked her fingers in a very un-princess way and smiled widely to me. Her gray eyes twinkled, making her look cute.
"I figured it out," she said.
"Figured what out?"
"Why you kidnapped me," she explained. "You said you have money and power. You also said you want my body. So do you have a crush on me?"
Laughter escaped from my lips and I had to clutch on my stomach by the intensity of it. All the while she just looked at me like I was a complete lunatic. When I finished laughing, I wiped my eye and stared at her. "Really? You expect me to kidnap someone because of a crush? That's really cute."
She crossed her arms on her chest. "Then why did you bring me here? You don't look poor. You don't like a hoodlum either. In fact you look like a..."
"Like what?" I asked curiously.
"I won't tell," she said stubbornly.
I stood up from the bed. "Fine. I'll come back tomorrow to feed you. Go back to sleep princess."
"Wait," she said. I turned to her. "You're still hungry?" She shook her head and glanced down at her dress. "I want to bathe. I want to change my clothes."
I sighed and nodded. "Okay. Look to your left." She did as I told her. "You probably don't notice the door there because it blends with the wall. But that's the door to your bathroom. There's a tub, a shower, and everything you need to clean up and do your business. The windows are also barred so you can't escape from there." I opened the door. "I'll come back to bring you clothes to wear." With that, I left the room and shut the door close.
I made the mistake of coming back when she was stark naked in the middle of the room. It was too late when I realized that I already closed the door behind me. I was stuck in the room with the butt-naked princess.
We stared wide-eyed at each other. I held her gaze and tossed the clothes to her. She quickly turned around for the bathroom. My heart palpitated against my chest as I waited for her to get dressed. Talia was all grown up now. Her body told me that. And believe me because I saw everything.
When she got out of the bathroom, she was already wearing the skinny jeans I lent her plus a blue loose sweater. She still looked pretty, and her hair was still styled on a half crown braid. But she looked tamer. Not a commoner though because she'd always look like royalty, but the clothes was a welcome change from her usual attire.
I noticed the black choker on her neck. "Why didn't you remove that?" I asked.
She touched it for a second before her eyes darted to me. "I don't take this off ever."
"Why?"
She gave me a look and walked back to the bed. "It's none of your business," she said. "If you're not going to tell me why you kidnapped me, then I'm not going to tell you my reasons either."
I walked to her and sat down beside her on the bed. "What if I remove it from your neck?" I asked.
She stared at me seriously. "Then I will have to find a way to kill you."
My stomach felt hollow because of her statement. Something happened to Talia. Something bad. And I wasn't able to protect her from it. I turned my head away from her. Now I had to hurt her too. I had no other choice. It was our destiny.