Secluded

The Day You Left

 

Her eyes leaned over her Grandfather’s shoulder as she watched him play a few games on his tablet that he usually uses for work, but sometimes when he got home he’d sit back, relax. Jay was only seven, no mother involved in her life, the Grandfather made completely sure of it, Jay was said to be nothing but a curse, every time Jay got close to her Mother, her Mother would start to weaken some more..

By the time she turned seven, her life was completely upside down, and she came upon silence rather than talking. The rules were simple, Jay wasn’t allowed by her Mother, or ever inside her Mother’s room, nor was she allowed to be in the same room if the woman happened to be in it. The maids usually kept to themselves, only because they were scared that Jay was going to curse them in some way.

Her Mother never married, the woman fell in love young, then had a stranger’s baby in the palace, the chances of the lady being sick were quite grand.

Jay turned ten around November, the coldest month of the year. There was a grand party celebrating one of her Grandfather’s friends, she wasn’t really a priority, and considering that her Grandfather despised her, there was no way she was going to get a birthday. The young girl had become this annoyance, rather a burden than seen as an equal.

A few times she had met her Mother, of course the woman wanted to see her just as badly, but the Grandfather always disobeyed her from seeing her, it was like they were just being ripped apart all the time, and being scared that she’d accidently kill her Mother, it was best to stay away for her own sake. Jay wasn’t invited to the party, because she was seen as a sorcerer who touches things and kills it, yet her Mother was still alive, so she always wondered if her Grandfather didn’t let her go to the events because the woman was always attending.

Princess Jay acted like a child though, really she hadn’t had the chance to act more like her age considering she never had anyone in her life to tell her how to act, but this night, specifically had her drawn to a boy her age, who also was staring at her from the hallway entrance. Really she just thought he’d run away, but his parents came up from behind and noticed her standing there just staring, they were more of the people scared of her.

“You can’t just wander around Ben.”

“Father, who is that girl? Is she the mysterious girl who lives here?”

They kept giving the girl glances, “she’s a cursed girl, now let’s go before she casts something on us!”

The more he kept staring, the more her cheeks blushed, such a brave boy she thought, he abided his parents wishes though turning away from her, Jay needed more, wanted something more than the life she carried around, maybe once in a while she just needed to feel like she was not a burden to her family. Cursed girl or not, she wished that he would just turn around again and let her stare some more.

Her feet scuffled on the tiles as she waited, her Grandfather said he’d be out any second from where all the guests were having fun, he just wanted to lock her up in a room again. When the door finally squeaked open, this boy…no the boy from earlier appeared before her, his hand drawn out from his side and he was sudden’t sitting on the floor. “Princess Jasmine, please allow me to be your friend?”

Jay wanted to giggle with delight, but as he looked at her, he could tell she was more than delighted. “You want to be my friend? But aren’t you afraid-”

“No, I am not, I am Prince Ben, my Mother says that all Princes are brave, so I have no reason to fear you even if you are a witch.”

“I am not..”

He finally gazed at her, she was born with black hair, her Mother looked completely different. “Well it doesn’t matter, want to play a game?”

Now this strict boy didn’t have a lot of games on his mind, but she smiled, grabbed his hand and started pulling him right down the hallway, “let’s play tag!”

“But there’s only two of us!”

…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Games

As Jay got older, she was more drawn into those parties that her Grandfather kept her away from, she knew her Mother attended all. When she turned twelve her Grandfather got sick, so the parties stopped and Jasmine stopped seeing her Mother in secret. Having Mother withdraws started making her go quiet again, and Ben wasn’t around that much anymore to play games.

So she got dressed into her pajamas, making her look like a ducky, then waddled her way to the theater room. Secretly she grabbed out an erotic movie that her Grandfather kept around, of course she didn’t know what the hell it was until she put it in. So petrified, watching the bodies smack together, her mouth dropped, then a shadow slowly loomed over her, “what the hell are you watching!!??” Her Mother was panicking. Jasmine slowly looked up at her face, “Mummy what are they doing?”

She covered Jasmine’s ears so that she couldn’t hear it, and the movie flicked off, “darling, where are your movies? Don’t you have movies?”

“Grandfather doesn’t let me watch movies.”

She easily picked Jay up because of how small she was, “it’s okay-”

“What were they doing Mummy?”

She bit her tongue, still there was no answer. Morgan then began explaining to her that Grandfather was very unwell, but she was doing a lot better.

When Jay went to bed with a small smile because her Mother let her sleep in the same bed with her, she woke up with a frown, seeing her Mother not sleeping next to her, she was in her own room, she couldn’t help but think she just made it all up in her dreams, so she went downstairs to eat alone again.

Chelsie sat her pancakes in front of her, leaving the room, leaving her at the end of the table alone. Still the movie from the other night kept playing around in her head, until a smack onto the table shot her from those thoughts. Her small fork dropped and she leapt up with pancake stuffed in her mouth, right on up to her Mother, who had gone to the store and got little kid movies for Jasmine. “Mummy, where did you go!?”

“I got us some movies to watch. Want to watch a movie?”

“Really? Now?”

“Of course right now-”

“Your majesty, I apologize for this intrusion, but the King’s funeral-”

“I am spending the day with my child Fred, go attend the funeral for me, these next few weeks I will be taking care of my daughter.”

He was shocked by how heartless she was being, but Jasmine got her attention back by spitting the pancake out onto the table, “...I’m not hungry..let me down.”

Jasmine dragged her plate all the way to the kitchen and started screaming at them, they always hid from her though, Morgan quickly went to shut her up, but she noticed she was screaming at nothing. “Honey..what are we yelling at?”

“They are hiding from me..they always give me cold food. It’s not fair.”

Morgan peered around, looking for someone who was hiding, til finally she caught the glimpse of a chef hat. “Do you wish to keep your job? If so, I think you should come out when asked to by my daughter.”

Jasmine tied herself around Morgan’s legs, the girl could probably be around nine still, she didn’t grow much. Even though she didn’t grow much she was very beautiful. Jasmine waited, Morgan waited, but still the woman didn’t get out of the corner. “It’s okay Mummy. Everyone hates me.”

Whatever that meant, Morgan just shrugged it away fast, but it would be a discussion for later. “Fine, then come out now!” Her voice barked making the pans shake, finally the woman came out with two girl’s behind her. They kept glaring at the child, “the King is dead darlings, I am Queen, start smiling, or find another job.”

Jasmine kept staring at her mother, such a stern look on her face, and a pale complexion. Her Mother soon did fill into her rolls as Queen, right away, there was no time for Jasmine, but Jasmine tried to follow in her Mother’s footsteps.

The people who were convinced that Jasmine was cursed, soon changed their minds about her seeing that she was just a child made them feel terrible.

Jasmine couldn’t seem to forgive anyone though, she was scared of those people who had accused her of being a cursed baby.

It was rather late out, Jay decided she wanted to watch another movie, obviously it wasn’t going to be rated R, she put in a romance disk, then sat up watching it, watching the boy fall in love with her princess, it was just all so romantic. Jasmine then started thinking to herself, what if she found that perfect boy?

Now finding a boy she wasn’t scared of in town was not a guarantee that was possible, because her experience outside the palace was slim to zero, Jasmine waited until her Mother wasn’t busy to let her know where exactly she was going, now when she watched this cartoon, clearly she had to put some more imagery into it, Jay kicked her heels forward and kept tapping on the marble floor, “I’m going to go, dancing with a strange boy, fall in love, marry him, then live happily ever after Mummy.”

Now what really was there to say to this? She couldn’t rip her dreams apart, so she’d just have to let her down gently, “it’s dangerous out there honey, it’s best to stay where it is safe.”

“But I’ve been here, I’ve been all over this palace. There are no hidden good looking boys who don’t run away from me,” she gave a scolding look to her Mother, her tone of voice had turned sour.

“I am too busy to go with you, okay? How about we make plans for the night?”

“Tonight? You actually have time for me Mummy?”

“Of course I do, you sleep in my bed every night do you not?”

Morgan tipped her papers down to look at her daughter, she was rather looking very nice, her hair was all done up, lipstick was light, then she had these eyes of determination, she was ready, but Morgan was far from ready. “No, no, no, what are you wearing?”

“Mother, I am going out, you either come with me or don’t, your choice, but I need to get out of this place, it’s like I’m being suffocated in here. Plus on the bright side I will finally meet my Prince charming and he will take me away from..this place.”

“What’s so bad now? Your Grandfather is gone, my Father..now I am the problem?”

“N-no, I mean yes..and no..you don’t want to play anymore, or watch movies, you want to work all the time and I’m tired of being alone.”

“A man can’t fix your problems darling, look on the bright side of things.”

“I am, my brightside has a young good looking boy waiting for me to dance with him.”

She was caught up in a fantasy Morgan thought, but to just go along with her imagination of young cute boys waiting to love her, she officially cleared her night so that she could watch Jasmine.

Never in any time did Morgan think she’d have to help her with boys when talking to them, the girl just froze up every time one stepped right into her way, of course not all were handsome, but she was finding it amusing that she could get a boy just with a snap of her fingers.

“Now play nice Jasmine-”

“Who wants to dance first?” She glided her hand to the tallest boy, he looked a little older. Morgan didn’t know whether or not to just go along with it or take her baby girl away from the tallest boy, Jasmine picked well though, she had an eye for every boy she danced with, that eye only picked out the good..specific looking one’s. In the end of the carnivals dance though, that one boy returned back to Jasmine with a daisy.

She was torn, the entire night she kept ranting on about her daisy, the maids even tried hiding because of how obnoxious she was being, “it’s just like in the story Mummy! Cinderella got her slipper-”

“Cinderella? That’s who you base this fantasy off from?”

“Oh it was no fantasy, it was real.”

Morgan just couldn’t do it, crush her dreams, squash it like a grape, it would be that easy..but the poor girl was so innocent she’d probably ball her eyes out all night. “Are you sure that a boy is what you want?”

“Yes! That boy I danced with at the carnival.”

“The older boy?”

“Of course..”

“No. How about we just wait okay? It’s best to wait, Cinderella got her slipper when she was older, nice boys like girls who wait.”

“For what?”

“Hmm?”

“What am I waiting for?”

She didn’t reply to that, how could she? It was either going to be the sex talk, or telling her that she needed to wait for a boyfriend, but Jasmine was carrying that small weed around like a flower. “He’s the one I want to marry Mummy!”

“N-no, no, Mummy don’t want you marrying a boy like him.”

“Like him?”

“He is what you call, normal, okay?”

Two separate worlds is what the girl would never understand, Morgan watched the girl swoon over her flower. “What if I just meet him a few times?”

“No, the public must see that you are a responsible young woman who will be qualified to rule one day.”

“But what if I don’t want to?”

“Don’t want to do what?”

“Rule..I mean it seems like I’d never have time for anything but work, work, and more work. When is it enough Mummy?”

She was right, Morgan was already feeling more than exhausted, she settled her hand on the top of her daughter’s head, “I know that we haven’t spent much time together, and I’m sorry, but you are doing well at being a Princess.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Jasmine whined at her, not even daring to see the look on her Mother’s face because of her whining. “Honey some boys..they just aren’t all the same okay?”

“But I love him..”

“You just met him, on the street, the boy danced to be respectful towards your feelings, he was dancing just to get pictures and fame.”

“W-what? Why would you say that?” Her voice sounded quivery, it’s like she understood what the boy wanted, but she still got the flower, and still felt important. “Whatever, you are just lying because you don’t like him..”

“Yes, maybe some part of that is true, but I am here to protect you, and I’m never going to let you down again, so just trust me okay?”

“No..maybe putting myself out there isn’t such a bad idea Mummy, I have been cooped up long enough, it’s time I get out there with the people, time I get hurt, or I climb a tree, I want something more than four corners in my life.”

“You desire freedom, I understand that very much, trust me, but here is where your duties must stay, on the bright side of this though, your grandmother is coming by.”

Jasmine had no idea who her Grandmother was, her Grandfather kept her away a lot also, it was probably because he was still in love with her though, he cared more about her safety, the woman saw Jay as a child though, which was why they got a divorce not too far down that line. “Why is she coming?”

“Well, she just wants to see me, and you, most importantly you.”

Morgan booped Jasmine on the nose before leading herself out of the bedroom, she loved Jasmine, but not all parents understand the needs the kids want, the sense of freedom, it was just all so sudden for Jay to get out there, then to be cooped up by her Mother also, she started feeling like the woman was just being over protective of her, to an extreme point.

….

Another Family Member's Arrival

“She's a young Mummy, what did you do?”

Jasmine couldn’t help but see resemblance in the woman, she looked absolutely young, too young to be a Grandmother. The lady greeted her daughter with an embrace, and she couldn’t get enough of telling Morgan how much she missed her, then her eyes traveled down to see the short stubby daughter. “My heavens, she is almost like a small angel.”

“Yes, but she is quite feisty like me, so be careful, also there are things you cannot say around her.”

“Hmm? Mummy, are you hiding something from me?”

Maybe the woman was? It wasn’t like Jay paid attention much to what her Mother does when she’s working for her people, she paid attention to an extent before deciding that the royal life wasn’t for her, in fact she had other ideas. One plan was to find that boy again, get another flower, then live out her days with her Prince charming.

“Hello?” Morgan waved her hand in Jasmine’s face, trying to get her attention again, the girl spaced out a lot, and she got this shy look. “oh..I’m sorry, did I miss something Mummy?”

The two just stared at her, shocked that she wasn’t paying any respect to greeting guests properly, but her Grandmother just smiled, whipping away the sudden lack of respect moment from her mind, she just wanted to get to know her granddaughter afterall.

“You're very pretty,” Jasmine stated while looking at her shiny red shoes, then her eyes beamed at her funky hat that sat on her head. “Thank you, I think you're very pretty too.”

Jay giggled at that, she loved being called cute, pretty, adorable, she craved the attention, the more she received the more she didn’t want to go back to silence, or being alone. “Okay well, I think maybe we should go for a walk outside?”

“Oh dear I had forgotten about that, on my way over it started to sprinkle Morgan, I think it’s best we keep everything inside.”

“Everything?” Jay pondered to herself, but when the grand doors reopened to find a drenched coachman holding several kids toys her heart pounded towards him, the woman thought that the girl was just interested in the toys, but she rather was more into his looks, “I got something for you to hold in my room,” she accidentally blurted her little perverted fantasy out loud. The girl wasn’t all that innocent after all. “Hmm?” But the man paid no attention to her.

“What did you say?” Her Grandmother questioned after giving her Mother a surprised look, but that look was just shot back at her Grandmother. Jasmine was deprived of boys, or friends her entire life. “I mean, would you please help me with something upstairs?”

Now how could he say no to an adorable twelve year old girl? Maybe she did have a sweet girly crush on the man, but she didn’t see anything wrong with it. Her eyes battered at him some more until finally he agreed to it. Her hand snatched his right hand making him drop the presents, “Mother do not interrupt my tea party!”

The two stayed put, staring after Jasmine pulling the guy that was in his twenties right up the grand stairs. “So..which one of us is going to go after them?”

“What? He’s your coachman!”

The two followed straight after, Jasmine wasn’t joking though, she wanted to play tea party, but she looked up, gave a disrespectful sigh, to her Mother before groaning a few words out. “Huh?” Her Mother snapped back. “N-nothing Mother.”

“What is this formal stuff coming from?”

Jasmine’s eyes bugged as she kept looking from her to the man sitting on the floor introducing himself to her stuffed rabbits, then finally Morgan understood very well, the smile on the woman’s face started to come out as a short burst of laughter. Jasmine tossed a cookie at her to make her stop, but seeing Jasmine angry, looking cute at the same time, only made it worse. Her Grandmother also began laughing. Jay kept glancing at the man, he had a small smile, then finally he glanced at her, “Princess I am flattered.”

That made her cheeks burst with redness, “y-yeah?”

“If a tea party is what you want to play, then we can do this whenever I am visiting with your Grandmother if that is okay with her.”

“I have no objections to Francis,” she hinted at him and her Mother, they could tell that she liked the boy, it was written all over her face, she wasn’t easy to read until she let her walls down. “Really?? Are you going to play??”

But the girl was also a big fan of ducky’s and playing games, “Mummy, can you play now?”

“Darling I wish I could-” Morgan began, but then she noticed the look on the girl’s face, “fine, but only for an hour.”

Jasmine gleefully smacked her hands together and joined back to the table with her ducky friends and the man she had a crush on, “Nanna I want you to play too.”

The Grandmother looked more than shocked that she was still playing with childish things, but she could tell the girl was trying to at least be a girl, and a child at the same time, soon she would find out for herself though that the world will need a woman.

…

Kiss and Never Tell

“Why? Can’t Francis stay, Nanna?”

“No, sadly he cannot, ladybug.”

The girl frowned at her, then she rested her head slowly down into her hands, “fine, if that’s what has to be done..then he can.”

“Well thank you for your permission to take my guard..”

“You are welcome.”

Jasmine stood up, she walked to her Mother who was sitting at the other end of the grand table, “Mother, can I go with her?”

“Of course not, do not be silly, you have Princess duties to look up to.”

“What? So I have to be boring like you?”

The woman started laughing, her laugh filtered into the room, “darling I am not boring, you just need to be in my shoes for a day, you will see what life is like.”

“I already do see, and you are boring. Anyways, Grandmother is right, I can’t have her guard, so I guess maybe I should take up an offer.”

“An offer? Who’s offer is that?”

“That is none of your business.”

“Oh? How is that none of my business? You seem to know all about mine.”

“Yes Mummy, you need a man. Just tell him you have a kid first so you can at least mark out the ones who run.”

Her fork scraped her plate making Jay shut her mouth, she knows very well not to go on with those types of subjects, the scraping was just a warning.

Jasmine had been dating actually for the past few months, his name was Prince Jace, not the greatest influence of a man though, but things between them had been wonderful, when she’s not with her Mother all the time she’s usually out in the garden making out with her boyfriend, though she teases about Francis still. She had grown very fast away from silly tea parties, after meeting Jace, her interests were more in dressing up, makeup, not that she needed the makeup to look gorgeous, but she prefered herself to look presentable to him, afterall, he was older.

“Don’t wait on me today for lunch Mummy, I have plans.”

“Plans where? Who are you-”

Jasmine stopped leaning on her Mother and had already left the room, it was a very important day for her. She grabbed a very long dress, a baby blue, but it was embroidered with sparkling stars, and it was ruffled out at the hinge of the dress. Jasmine tied her dark blue ribbon around her waist, then cut the ribbon in half setting it aside until she was done braiding her hair, she was putting a lot of effort into this.

After she tied her braid up at the end with the sapphire ribbon, she found herself reaching for the perfume, now she had lots of brands of course, while her Mother is busy she tends to go shopping a lot with some gals from school. Her favorite though, was peach.

Jay had this feeling like today was going to be the night, the two had been talking about it for quite some time, she had gotten the just of sex, she had turned fourteen not to long ago, but her boyfriend just had a very good interest in her body.

Ben knew of her relationship with the boy, afterall, he was his best friend, until he asked her out, then things changed between Jasmine and Ben because Ben told her that he wasn’t good enough for her.

So as she was going out the grand door, not telling anyone she was now leaving.

Jasmine was out late, later than the afternoon, which had surprised her Mother very well, because Ben came by not too happy, he had spilled everything that the boy was putting into the young girl’s head, all because he was jealous. Morgan was obsolete, overall mind blown that the girl even was thinking about sex let alone having it in the afternoon. When she finally arrived she noticed Ben, who was sitting with her Mother. “What are you doing here Ben!?”

Obviously it didn’t go well. “Tell me you didn’t give yourself to that pig headed man!”

“Why does that matter to you!?” She snapped back, he got up without hesitation right up in her face, “because I have more feelings than he does and he doesn’t even love you!”

Jasmine stared more into his eyes, such bewildered eyes, “you can’t have feelings for me, and so what if I gave myself to him,” she says this as she’s rubbing the back of her head. Then her Mother stood up, “Jasmine, what were you thinking!? Why didn’t you talk to me about this!?”

“About what? Wait, what are we talking about?”

“Sex!”

“Hmm? You thought I was going to have sex?” Jasmine began giggling, “he’s been persistent, but no, we went on a date, I let him take me on the scariest ride.”

“S-so..”

“Thank you though Ben, you're such a nice friend.”

Her Mother was seeing the problem, she was friend zoning Ben, and Ben was jealous of her boyfriend. “Darling, can we talk in private for a second?”

“If your going to yell at me for dressing up just to go on a date instead of having sex..then no.”

“Wait, how do you even know about sex!?” Morgan glared. “Well…” she pondered for a moment, should she tell her Mother the truth or keep quiet? “I don’t know a single thing actually, I just know the word, and that it involves two people coming together to make a baby,” she almost smiled while saying the end of that, she wanted nothing more than marriage, a baby, she wanted it all. “Who taught you that!?”

“Grandmother. She told me that boys have different body parts than girls, because I asked her about that video that you caught me watching when I was twelve. Since you weren’t going to tell me, I went to Grandmother.”

Her face swelled, the anger was piercing out of her, “she meant well Mummy, just I wanted to know, now I do. It’s not so bad, I mean I just don’t go around sleeping with men. Ben, if you ever squeal like a pig again, I’m going to turn you into one!”

“So did you sleep with him??”

“It’s none of your business!”

Morgan chased her right on to the grand hallway, “we are not done talking! I asked to talk to you in private!”

Jasmine rolled her eyes, “Mother go away, we didn’t have sex if that’s the only rea-”

“Would you just shut up and listen to me!? Please stop walking away!”

Finally she abruptly came to a halt, and she did a 360 turn to face her finally. “I didn’t have sex with him, we messed around, we played with each other, is that what you wish to hear?”

“N-”

“You serious? You actually believe that!? I can’t believe you’d take that..”

“Take what..” she was beyond lost now. “You, actually think I messed around with this guy, and had sex, would you like to get our family doctor here so that you can get me checked!? I’m waiting until after marriage Mother!”

That actually made her sigh in relief that her daughter was clarifying when she was planning everything. “Now that is out of the way Jasmine, tell me you know about the poor boys feelings for you.”

“Hmm? Feelings for me?”

“Well of course..you didn’t know?”

“B-Ben and I are just friends, nothing more.”

“You keep friend zoning him.”

“No I do not. Why are we talking about my love life? What about yours huh??”

“Young lady-”

“No, do not start lecturing me, why are you like this? You lecture me now on every flaw I make, so what if I’m not perfect?”

“I never said you had to be perfect, I just..expected you..to do great things in life, that’s what I want for you, I don’t want you to make the same mistake as I did.”

“What, what mistake did you make? What inconvenience did you have? Was it me?” She didn’t admit it, but by the look on her face, it proved to be right. “Grandfather was right, I should have been sent to boarding school while you were in bed, that way I didn’t have to suffer through all of this crap.”

Arguing wasn’t something that Jasmine usually did often, when she did it meant she had a good reason to argue. “Fine, if boarding school is what you want, then I’ll put you in boarding school.”

Jasmine didn’t think she was being serious, but the next day Morgan was talking on the phone with some schools.

Clearly, things weren’t going to go well.

An all girl’s school, after all, how bad could things get?

…

Mistakes Are Carried

A well behaved girl they called her, beauty went far ways with the girl, along with straight A’s, she was getting ready to go down this amazing long isle because she was graduating, but instead, she had grabbed her diploma, said a sappy speech, then exited the building without tempting to run into a guard of her Mother’s who would at least escort her to her Mother.

Jasmine was her own woman now, seventeen, and she had graduated early, everything was going fine until Jasmine finally understood what it was like to be free from the clutches of royalty, and was she going to let that go? No, she picked up her dress and began running for freedom.

She didn’t expect Ben to be waiting outside though, he was wearing a suit, had some flowers in his hands, his face lit up when her eyes connected with his.

“It’s about time you got out of there.”

“Why are you..you..” Her voice shook by the sight of Ben, he looked a lot more clean, no more shaggy hair, nice trim. “Ben, why are you here?”

“Well it’s also a surprise.”

As he began getting down on one knee, Jasmine started feeling like she was about to faint, she was exhausted from studies, and people. “N-no, no, please no Ben.”

He kept a smile, “did you not hear from your Mother? We are going to be together.”

“No, we can’t be together! How many times must I tell you that we are only friends!?”

“We are more than friends now! How many times must I tell you I have feelings for you!”

“I love another man!” She blurted it out, she didn’t mean to hurt his feelings but it just slipped, he still stayed on one knee though. “No, you love me!”

Jasmine hasn’t seen her Mother in forever, or Ben, and now she’s supposedly getting married to him now? She didn’t know what her Mother had planned for her after graduation. “I’m sorry, but I cannot marry you, I love someone else Ben, and I will not be forced to marry.”

She began running once more, the gown though was dragging her, so she started snapping the buttons off stripping down to just her dress that she was wearing underneath it. Jasmine didn’t get far though, it was rather impossible to just run off, it would have been a perfect plan if Ben wasn’t waiting outside with a dumb ring.

Her Mother stared at her, seeing how far she’s at least grown, the girl had her hands folded in the front, her eyes grabbing at the door. “Darling, it has been a while..you refused to go home a lot.”

“I was busy.”

Morgan wasn’t seeing the mistake, but Jasmine could tell the difference, her Mother seemed wiser, and she seemed more scared of her duties as princess. “U-uh, I have to use the bathroom!”

She frowned, she was just about to get to telling the girl the good news about Ben, and everything nice, but the girl looked sick, she backed out of the room, escaping once again. She was supposed to be meeting someone, only because her plans were completely different than what her Mother’s were. But then she ran into some girl’s.

It was like she was being side tracked all the time, what she desired was a man, this man she met was from an all boys prep school, they just happened to cross paths one day, then something more than crossing paths came about. She desired this man. Then her Mother of course caught up, “you know dear, why don’t we talk about our conversation at home.”
Jasmine heard a lot of silence from her friends, “that’s your Mother!? You said that…” Abby began but she shut up very fast, they all could see the resemblance. Abby grabbed ahold of her hand, “we need to talk right now Jasmine!”

She knew she was in for it. “You let us take you to a party Jay! You hooked up with that guy that you had a crush on! You two were supposed to meet him! How are you going to get to him!?”

Now, Jasmine was a tad confused, she thought Abby was going to go nutz on her, but now she was seeing Jay’s problem of getting out of that school without having someone blocking her out. “I love him, I want to be with him..but I can’t get out of this place.”

“Then I will help you.”

Jasmine held her hand up, before going into the bathroom stall and barfing her food from earlier out, then she nodded to her friend, “onwards.”

She clasped her hand in Jasmine’s, then pulled her into the hallway, “look, we got to go out one more night, okay??”

“Uh sure..”

Before this plan could continue, Ben unraveled from the crowd behind her Mother, “so, have you told her yet?”

“Ben!?” She barked. He just continued to smile. Jasmine was starting to think he was crazy, that she was crazy to ever be friends with him, “sorry, I’m going out with the girls tonight..maybe we could have this chat tomorrow? Or never?”

Abby tugged on her hand, “well in that case we should be on our way!”

“I do not think so, I expected more after paying lots of money for this school..you are hiding something.”

Jasmine just smiled, “yes, I’m not coming home, I’m actually going to be staying at Abby’s for a week, we had plans before you Mother, maybe you should have sent another letter to give me notice. As I was taught here, preparation is key, so you should have been more prepared after all.”

Now the two of them quickly ran off, but the voice of her Mother startled them. Obviously, she wasn’t going to get out of this that easily. Jasmine ended up talking with her Mother behind that closed door again, just with Ben sitting on the other side.

“When you return home, you are to be married.”

“Married? Mother, what is this nonsense? I’m seventeen..why must I get married now?”

“Because, things have gotten complicated back at home darling. Don’t worry, the wedding is already working its way, you will be married off to Ben tomorrow.”

“B-Ben? No, I don’t..I don’t want to marry Ben.”

“I’m sorry, but we have no choice, okay? It’s your duty as Princess.”

…

 

A New Lover

Jasmine would have had a mental break down by herself as she was putting on her white gown, but she didn’t want her makeup to run or let her Mother see how unhappy she was, her mother placed a crown on her head, “today is your day-”

No, she thought, it was supposed to be her and Spencer’s day. Jasmine kept her head up, kept walking straight, till finally she made it right up to him. This was wrong, she knew it, she kept blanking out on what the preacher kept saying, he said I do, and she went completely out, he tapped her shoulder, getting her attention. Then suddenly she started breathing heavily, the dress was too tight on her. Her hand came out and she started loosening her dress in front of everyone. “Uh..Jasmine I prefer we wait for that after the wedding…”

Then it came out, this sudden cry for air, she tumbled right down the steps in which she just walked up from, Ben got on top of her, and he helped her out, it almost looked like he was going to undress her completely, but her Mother was sitting not far. Finally she could breathe, but then she felt sick, “Excuse me..” Jasmine babbled while getting some help up, but she was now running back down the aisle then to the bathroom.

When Morgan heard her barfing, she slipped into the bathroom, “don’t get any of it on your dress.”

“Why do you think this dress is more important than oxygen getting to my lungs!?”

“You think all I care about is that dress? Jasmine..”

“This was your plan all along wasn’t it!? I argued with you one time, you couldn’t handle it, so shipping me off was the only thing left to do, then that wasn’t good enough for you, here I am, getting married right after graduating, did you even ask me what I wanted!?”

She tipped her head back into the toilet, then she finally grabbed a piece of toilet paper, wiping away the stains on her face, “Mother I don’t love him, I never will, I will not be forced to bed with him.”

Jasmine wasn’t an idiot, she could see his intentions very clearly, “I love another man. He knows this.”

“Jace? I thought-”

“No, not Jace. I broke things off with Jace before I met..someone else. I wasn’t planning on coming home, my friend Abby was going to take me to him, so that I could avoid this marriage and get married to him. Ben will never understand me, and I won’t keep letting you get in between my affairs.”

“I-I didn’t know. You refused to talk to me.”

Jasmine stood up, and she wrapped her left hand around herself, around her stomach. “Who is this man you love? Are you so nervous that you just can’t marry him?”

“Again with marriage!? Seriously??”

“I’m sorry. What is this man’s name?”

“Spencer. I was supposed to meet him, marry him,” Jasmine looked at the toilet again deciding if she needed another round of barfing, “Mother you told me not to be like you. Except, now I just..I can’t..not be like you. Disown me if you may, but I..I..”

She couldn’t spit it out, the voice of someone familiar echoed through the church's hallways, in fact, it was Spencer. She practically shoved her Mother aside, and made her way out of the bathroom. He was dressed nice, his hair was spiked as always, if he’d let it grow out like it usually is it would be red and curly.

She beamed with happiness, she no longer felt sick, she picked up her dress, for the millionth time, then was greeted in his arms. The tall handsome man held her, he wasn’t going to let her get married, not carrying his baby. “Now, what have you gotten yourself into?”

“N-nothing.”

“My parents might not have a title but they want the marriage, I’m sorry it took this long to get their permission.”

Only because they just found out she was the Princess, they had kept it a secret together. She kept her head tucked down, “now, I think Ben needs a reality check. My Queen, I beg for forgiveness, but I must put an end to this wedding, for tonight I will be taking it over. She is marrying me tonight. The issues you are having now with the other neighboring Kingdom, will end tonight, I promise you this.”

Jasmine peered over at her Mother, she wasn’t smiling, nor was she sad, she had this stern look. “You know of the problems? How did you come to know this information?”

“My parents may not be royalty, like I said before, but they..know more than you. The kid is spoiled, it’s about time he meets a real man, plus, how could I let another man steal my woman?”

He stroked her head, “now, I’m about to make the biggest scene on a wedding day.”

Jasmine hid behind him, as she casually followed him with her Mother not to far from her

Spencer didn’t bother punching him, no, but he did use his words.

“Now, what makes you think that my Jasmine will ever love you? Tell me Prince Ben. She has told me much about you, much..you are too eager for a woman like her, she is now mine, understand? Her heart belongs to me, much more belongs to me.”

Jasmine rolled her eyes, “get to the point Spencer!”

He smirked, “anyways, you child, are to stay away from my dear Jasmine, she is now my bride, I may as well take it from here.”

Ben went to swing, but Spencer grabbed his fist making him look very dull at the moment, that was when his parents finally decided that the two were not getting married, they pulled him right away from the alter, Jasmine felt very bad that he was crying, after all, they were friends for a very extended amount of time, but her gaze suddenly went back to Spencer’s. “Princess, I am not going to make you marry me now, but soon we must.”

Jasmine could understand that, truly there wasn’t a lot of time, she stepped closer to him, closing that slim gap between the two, “you are right, there isn’t a lot of time. So, I think we should move things straight ahead.”

Morgan grumbled making Jasmine quickly back off, “or we can start another day Jay, sounds better than getting your Mother even more angry than she is.”

Jay could feel it, the stare in the back of her head, “right, another day, but I am still wearing this dress,” she smiled at the preacher. “I’d like to take this man as my husband right now.”

“Jasmine!” Her mother scolded. The girl stepped back from him, casting a look off to her Mother, “do you not see that I am having a moment mother? He is who I am going to marry today. After all, look around you, these people can’t just sit here and not have a wedding to attend.”

Her Grandmother stood up, “you are too young to be married. I objected to the first marriage!”

“Thank you Grandma, at least you have some..consideracy.”

“But I must agree with your Mother, this is not the time or place, why not decide to marry him..when you get older and don’t think like a child?”

“Me, think like a child?” Jasmine turned to the preacher, “I am proceeding with this marriage to this man.”

He began talking, then Morgan told him to shut it, then finally Jasmine smiled gently at the man, “begin the ceremony, and ignore the Queen, today is not hers after all, it’s mine.”

He began once again, and kept ignoring the queen, till finally, the guards got involved ruining the wedding.

…

Mother Who?

“How long are you going to be angry with me Jasmine?”

They were just walking out in the garden, “I mean you barely speak to me anymore.”

“Mother, I am not talking to you because you won’t let me see Spencer.”

Jasmine also had a secret of her own.

Her and Spencer had something, but when she lost the baby, she couldn’t dare look him in the eyes, and lately it had gotten obvious of her depressive mood swings. “Maybe we should watch a movie tonight? We haven’t done anything alone..in forever Jasmine.”

“I don’t want to do..anything with you.”

“Well that’s one way to put it.”

“Just leave me alone! I go outside, and you follow me like a lost dog! You messed up my almost wedding, then you won’t let me see Spencer! I need to see him, Mother! You have no idea what a drag it is not seeing him! I can’t stand it anymore!”

“Why won’t you talk to me??”

“Because I can’t talk to you!”

“Why?”
Jasmine ignored her, leaving the woman in the garden. Jay then fell asleep on the couch in the living room, when her Mother interrupted her sleep by shaking her up, “you have a call..it’s from the doctor.”

She pounced up onto her elbows, “it’s okay, I took the call, but I think we need to talk.”

“Talk? W-what about?”

“What exactly do you mean what about? Tell me, why are you in need of a doctor? Are you sick? The nurses have been saying you are moody, or quite in need of something in the kitchen.”

“So? If I want something I can get something.”

“Jasmine, how recently have you been seeing this doctor?”

“For..some time.”

“I see. Are you sick?”

“Why do you keep asking that?”

“Are you?”

“Fine, yes, I am, I'm very sick.”

“You look fine to me. Lately I’ve been seeing something, I’m going to be upfront with you, I think you are pregnant.”

Jasmine didn’t smile, actually, she recoiled into a non friendly looking face, “I am not pregnant!”

“The doctor told me otherwise. Now, who’s baby is it?”

“Is that a serious question Mother? Obviously it is Spencer’s baby.”

The woman sat back on her knees, while staring at her young daughter, trying to figure out how it had all happened, how her precious little girl was now pregnant. “So now that you did answer my call, what did the doctor say?”

“Well, it’s..it’s..a healthy boy.”

Jasmine thought for a moment, a boy? “Yes..”

“B-but I don’t understand, she said that I was having..a girl..” she looked down at her stomach, “I should probably..go call her back then.”

“No darling there is no need, I think you know.”

“I-I don’t think I am ready for twins..” she began stuttering while shaking her legs, “when I had sex, out of all things I wasn’t thinking about having two babies..”

Morgan raised an eyebrow at her, “or one..that wasn’t far from thought though. Me and Spencer just hooked up one night, we both got drunk, then I finally slept with him. If I would have known that it was going to be twins, then I think I would have done something mindful, like a first date..”

“My dear, you can’t change the past now.”

“How can I raise two babies let alone push both out! My body is like a small vessel!”

“Okay, it’s going to be okay Jasmine, I will be right there.”

“Right where? Pushing them both for me? We could switch places, you know.”

“Not happening, and highly unlikely. You were my last, the only child I could bear, you are having twins my dear, now that is a blessing. Cherish it. I wasn’t there for you while growing up, and I hope you don’t end up sick.”

Jay really wasn’t thinking this out now, she had remembered in school how the X is given from the Mother. “Who’s my Father?”

“Huh?”

“I want to know my Father. I mean if I know his hospital records-”

“He’s dead Jasmine.”

“O-oh.”

The heartless look on her face said otherwise, but Jasmine feared to go behind her back and find him, so she rather just ignored it, but nonetheless did it bother her. “So what is the plan then Jasmine?”

“For what?”

“Well, you are pregnant dear.”

“Yes I know I’m pregnant, the two remind me every day when I get up. My plan was to marry Spencer, but you haven’t let him see me, or talk to me. Mother, if you do, please let him visit.”

“Spencer..what kind of image would he have of this Kingdom? I don’t think it would be much.”

“You know something,” Jasmine blurted after seeing her looks change from uncertainty about her strange question of her Father, to knowing something about Spencer. “Darling, there is a reason the boy has not contacted you. His family enlisted him, they are a part of my royal guards..and so happen to be out of town.”

“Y-you, kept this from me for how long!?”

“Jasmine-”
“Mother! He could die and leave me to raise twins alone! Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“I don’t know! Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant for about eight months!?”

She bit her tongue, “I-I..”

“You didn’t tell me, why?”

“Because I didn’t want to disappoint you okay!? You told me not to be like you..and here I am, trying to be someone I’m not.”

She sat up some more, revealing the baby bump finally, “my…you..sure are big.”

“Stop looking at my tummy!” She let a small burp out alone after that, a such non princess thing to do especially in front of her Mother. Jay just stared at her Mother, their eyes both big, “it wasn’t me.”

“Well..it sure wasn’t me Jay.”

Jasmine stood up, finally letting her dress slide more to her back, it was a dress made for maternity after all, Jay was looking more like a mother with that new hairstyle. Morgan just couldn’t help but keep staring at her tummy. “Did the doctor say anymore?”

“No, she didn’t..”

“Right..”

Jasmine had been holding this extraordinary pain since this morning, and the night before, it was not really going away that much, in fact it got closer, “well did she say anything about early delivery time?”

“No. Just that you are having a boy also.”

“Okay, okay, maybe I should get to calling my doctor again, maybe she can..answer a few questions that I have.”

Morgan kept eyes on that baby bump, “are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just a bit..tired that’s all.”

She firmly pressed her hand on her stomach, while taking a deep breath, then letting it go. “Mother, I think a phone call will need to wait, I think I shall take myself to bed.”

“Would you prefer I ask whatever it is you wanted to ask?”

“Yes, ask if it is normal to have pain, since last night?”

The woman didn’t take long to get up off the floor, she took her daughter’s hand, “I know you might not be ready, but I think those two are.”

“Ready? These two?? But Spencer..he, he hasn’t..”

“I think a call to the doctor is wise, just in case this isn’t a false alarm, but the couch cushion seems to say something different.”

Jasmine looked back over seeing her mess, “oh..ohhh..I am starting to feel that now. I’m sure I’m just fine. Mother, you can let my hands go already.”

“Darling, how can you endure that pain? We need to get to the hospital.”

“I am not having any baby without Spencer Mother! He was there for the most part, now I am here, alone without him.”

“I will get him to the hospital Jasmine! You need to get to the hospital because I am not letting you have these babies on my new furniture!”

“Who gives a shit about your furniture!”

Her face flustered with pain, she hadn’t felt anything like this in her entire life, her eyes bulged, “Mother…I think we should go now.”

….

The Sickness Lies

Morgan stayed by her side, one after another with pain, “I have ordered him to come back Jasmine, but I cannot guarantee that he will be here in time to see them, but his parents are here.”

“Who cares!!”

“O-okay,” she winced at how hard Jasmine was squeezing her hand. “Okay, I think we are ready, how about you?”

Jasmine stared dead at that doctor, “I think I don’t need you.”

Morgan tensed up after she said that, had the girl been just pushing the entire time!? That doctor checked and even her eyes got big, “my Princess, you are quiet…”

Jasmine pushed one more time before that tiny cry filled the room, “I am going to kill him when he gets here!”

“You will only want to kill him now but I promise when he does get here, you will be too exhausted to kill him.”

Jasmine relaxed only for a second, before finally pushing one last time. The next doctor was already prepared for that baby, and a lot of nurses helped along the way. Spencer didn’t return till the next night, but Jasmine was asleep, with Morgan holding the baby boy, and his Mother holding the girl. “Spencer, it is about time you got here.”

“Twins? W-what..what..”

His Father stepped up, “she is the Mother of those two babies and you are the Father, she has stepped up, now get off your high horse and step up.”

Both of them were not happy about the secret, neither was Morgan considering that the girl was not doing so great. The doctor said she wasn’t going to be able to leave the hospital for at least a couple weeks, but for the first time he got to hold his daughter and son. Jasmine woke up after hearing his voice and how he was speaking to her daughter, “we are never having sex again, understand that Spencer? There is no way I am ever pushing out another set of twins for you, or another child, this is it.”

He silenced her by giving her a kiss, “we are going to be quite the scandal Jasmine.”

“Yes, but I am not happy with you right now.”

“W-”

“No, you should have told me you were leaving! Why didn’t you say something!? Instead you don’t contact me that you are leaving! All but my freaking Mother knows! Why the hell weren’t you contacting me!?”

“Jasmine things are complic-”

“We were having a baby together Spencer, how complicated could shit get!?”

Jasmine looked at her Mother, “leave us please, I’d like to be alone with Spencer.”

They did as asked, taking the two babies, Jasmine glared at him, she wasn’t going to let him get off with just a simple apology. “How could you let me do this alone? You said you would be there Spencer, then you lied to me about who you were, we even had sex, and you lied to me! We had a relationship!”

“Had?”

“Whatever it is you think we have, we don’t, you left me for four months alone with her, and honestly I was scared that I made a mistake, and I was right, I did make a mistake..how could I love a man who is sentenced to death?”

“I’m not going to die, my paren-”

“No. Stop depending on your parents Spencer, you are a Father now. A Father of my babies. Spencer, I am younger than you, I’m tired, I need you with me every step of the way, why must I raise the two by myself?”

“No, we will raise them together.”

“How long!? How long do you have here! Be honest with me Spencer!”

“My parents will understand if I back down from my duties Jasmine! I’m doing this for us!”
He stood up more straight, “I want to marry you, I want to take responsibility.”

“Then prove it Spencer. I’m here..fighting for you, I just fought one battle of giving birth, now here I am..waiting for you to come around. Why did I have to find out from my Mother that you weren’t around anymore?”

“I have no excuse Jasmine.”

“Were you…cheating on me?”

Spencer didn’t answer that question, he just kept silent though, Jasmine couldn’t find herself to look at him to know that her relationship didn’t have any reason to stay together anymore, “get out.”

“Jasmine-”

“I said get out!”

He wasn’t going to leave, his feet glued, his eyes locked, and at the moment he didn’t want to leave her, “I didn’t cheat on you Jasmine, I could never, when I said you were the woman I wanted to marry, to have children with, now, I am here, and you are not going to just push me away!”

Jasmine lightly rested her head, “tell the doctor I’m ready to leave.”

“Leave?? Jasmine-”

“I am leaving this hospital, I will not be plastard to a bed like my Mother was, I wish to go home, as far as my condition goes Spencer, you will keep quiet.”

So, Jasmine went home finally, even though the doctor specifically told her it wasn’t a good idea because of her condition, but Jasmine wanted to go home, and the doctor couldn’t disobey her wishes. She took care of both babies, while Spencer was off doing who knows what.

Morgan paid close attention to Jasmine, something was strange after all, leaving the hospital early, she knew that Jay was pretending it wasn’t like her conversation was private at the hospital with Spencer.

Even though Jasmine was young, she did fill into her parent role quite well. Morgan loved to see her with her babies sleeping, or her trying to get one of them to eat because the two were very picky when they wanted to eat. A few times Jasmine had some struggles, of course Morgan asked if she could help, but Jasmine was beyond uncomfortable with her helping with the breastfeeding. “Well Jasmine?”

“No Mother, we have talked about this, I am not going to let you help me..”

“Are you sure? I think that..is on you wrong.”

Jasmine tugged her nursing cover a little, “there is that..did..”

“My dear, you sure have grown a little in the boobs department, here why don’t you let me help you?”

“Because I am going to do this by myself, only I can do this.”

Even though she said only she could do this, Morgan helped anyway, “you know, I may have not been in your life while you were growing up, but I did breastfeed you.”

“Don’t..say that..you are just going to make things weird, and it’s already weird that you said my boobs have gotten bigger.”

“I’m just being motherly embarrassing, can I not embarrass you?”

“Since when do you pay this much attention to me?”

“I know Jasmine..I know.”

“You know what?”

“That you are sick..”

She just stared for some time at Morgan, “you weren’t exactly quiet at the hospital with Spencer.”

“Mother..”

“I get it, I understand you don’t want to end up like me, but I’m not going to do what my Father did..it’s not like I’d ever have the heart to pull you away from these two. With Spencer around, he will help, but my child, you need rest. I can always help out. After all, I am..their grandmother.”

Finally, the girl let herself lighten up a bit, “you promise, promise I won’t end up like you?”

“Oh my love I do, I would never let what happened to you happen again. Spencer will help out, I promise, and so will his parents, speaking of them, they should be here at some time.”

“Now? Why? Why didn’t I know about this?”

“Because they also heard that you are sick..they just want to help out while their son is away.”

“Then how am I supposed to be their Mother? I can push forward Mother, it will be just fine.”

“Rest, rest is what you need!”

Jasmine kept shaking her head, “I won’t, I can, I just..I can..please don’t make me.”

“I’m not going to make you darling, but I am just saying, you need to rest, it’s the only way you are going to get better.”

Before she could add onto that, Thomas and Linda showed up, “ah, just at the right time, breastfeeding.”

Jay grumbled something that only Morgan could hear, it wasn’t all that nice, “look, I think some nap time is required, that’s too bad that you just showed up without telling me, I would have planned this later and let you feed one of them by a bottle.”

“..Oh..am I sensing some tension here Princess?”

“Of course, I’m sure you know the reason, I cannot keep my kids from you, if I had the choice though, I wouldn’t hesitate.”

Linda sighed, “I am sorry, things didn-”

“First impressions matter Linda, you weren’t aware of that when meeting me, nor did you know of my title. If you were to treat another woman, or man the same way your husband, yourself, has treated me, then what stand do you have serving our line of guards?”

Jasmine finished her breastfeeding, burped the little baby, then started with the next baby, it left some room for the woman to think of her mistake that she made when first meeting Jasmine. “I am sorry that I was rude.”

“Rude..my, that’s quite something. Look, as far as I understand, me and Spencer are not married, if I were to just take the kids and leave, he wouldn’t have a say in it, neither would you, or my own Mother, maybe a life with my kids alone is what I need. As for you and your husband, do not judge a book by its cover.”

“You cannot do that!” Thomas shot up first. “Oh? I can’t? You must know your place Thomas, as you told me before, you must understand that your son, and I are..what you call, in a relationship, but he admitted that he cheated, then lied to my face that he didn’t. Why should I entrust my kids into his arms? He’s only going to be your baby boy, never going to grow up into the man he needs to be. I need a man, who is going to be here for the kids, as of now, what is he doing tonight? Spending it with another woman,” Jasmine sighed before burping the next babe, “I know what kind of guy he is, and if you didn’t know that he just fucks and goes, then you shall now. Go ahead, ask anyone at school, I’m just the luckiest one in the entire school for getting knocked up.”

Now she didn’t think she was lucky at all, she felt sorry for her kids, but she did it to herself on purpose. She handed little Fiona to Linda, “I had sex with your son, knowing that I’d get pregnant, because I didn’t want to marry Ben. So doing so, I made your boy fall in supposed love, just enough time for me to make out my plans. I do not love your son, but we share something every once in a while, and that, is sex, nothing more. Nobody will know that your son and I were together, or that these kids are his, do you see how simple it would be to take them away?”

Finally the vixen spilled her secrets, but Morgan knew her daughter, or so she thought, but speaking to Jay before she gave birth, she knew that the girl still loved him. Jasmine let another sigh out, “but, since you at least are willing to be a part of their life, I’m not going to take them from you.”

At first they thought she was going to tip right over after handing the baby to Linda, “I don’t hold grudges Linda..but, I will tell you what I think, what I have thought. I believe you when you say you are sorry.”

Thomas came closer to his wife. Linda kept shaking her head, “I didn’t know my son..was doing that. I am sorry.”

“The only apology I want is from him, but I will never get that.”

They watched her carefully make her way to the grand hallway, leaving the babies with her Mother and Spencer’s parents. The little girl's baby was named Fiona, the boy, Damion.

….

 

Truths Secrets

“Why didn’t you tell me about him?”

“About who Mother?”

“Spencer? Was any of it true to what you told Linda and Thomas?”

“Of course, all of it was true Mother, I didn’t want to marry Ben.”

Once more the girl was lying, she didn’t want to marry Ben, that was very true, all except everything she said before was a lie to her Mother to make her think that she was alone at raising these two twins. There was no understanding to why the girl was being like she was, she had a priority though, and that was to get as far away from love as possible.

“Is there something going on between you and him?”

There were some things that were left unsaid between her and Spencer, but only time would solve it all out. “Mother, just forget about Spencer okay? Do me that little favor.”

“What really happened between you and him?”

She didn’t want to tell her the truth, not yet, “it’s nothing, just please let it go..I just don’t think we will be seeing him much..”

“Why? He loves those two kids Jasmine.”

“No he doesn’t, okay! He left because he doesn’t want kids right now! There is too much going on in his life!”

Her hands rubbed at her temples, “he sent me a text after the night of giving birth to the twins, saying that he wanted nothing to do with the twins..nothing to do with me, and that he found someone he really loves. So, it’s good that I grew up without a Father, but I won’t let my kids grow up without a Father.”

She had been holding in her secret for far too long, “I loved him, and once again I am hurt…first it was Jace, now it’s the man that knocked me up. Which is why I accepted Ben’s proposal.”

“Ben!?”

“Yes. He doesn’t care who the twins belong to, he is willing to be their Father. He has taken well to impress me, and when I am done marrying him, I shall birth another child for him.”

“No.”

“Beg a pardon?”

“You are not having another child, you are in far worse condition than I was! You can barely even sit up!”

“Mother, it is none of your business, my affairs are mine. My kids will have a Father.”

“How did I mess you up without having a man in our life? We did just fine.”

“I had a man in my life and he caused me hell. Do not say you understand things when clearly you don’t.”

Jasmine couldn’t look her in the eyes, she hated the man so much, her Grandfather was a sick man, who took whatever he needed, whenever, and since Jasmine was a child, and a cursed child at that, he took what he wanted, but it would never change the past to tell her of these wicked things that Jasmine went through. “I am marrying Ben, that is all. If Spencer truly wanted me and the kids, he would get some balls and man up, but he has proven to be..useless. The twins..they are with his parents right?”

“Of course, they are the grandparents.”

“Well, in that case, I’m going to take a very long nap, hopefully I’ll wake up.”

Morgan could see it in her eyes, the strength that once filled her eyes was no longer there, the pale look over took her skin, and her eyes had sunken. It was as if the girl didn’t sleep. She had pushed her limits quite far, now she was resting finally, instead of tending to the twins all the time. Linda came in just to check on the Princess, she of course had Damion in her arms safely sleeping after her Mother got her to sleep. Morgan just kinda signaled her to sit if she so pleased, or take the baby to the nursery, because Jasmine was in no condition to be taking any baby at the moment.

The worried people around her kept staring down at her, she hadn’t woken up in a few days, which left no choice but to get a hospital involved. Jasmine was being fed by tubes, it was like a coma inducing her to permanent sleep. As vital as things were getting, Ben showed up along with Spencer.

At first the two kind of fought over the elevator buttons, then finally when one man's up they left it on one button. “So..why are you here Spencer? What right do you have to be here after not being there for Jasmine? She’s here because of you.”

“Yeah? Well I heard of your engagement to her, if that’s so, shouldn’t you be there for her if you so truly loved her?”

“I do love her!”

“If you loved her, you’d leave her alone.”

“Says the man who’s trying to get to her, you're never going to gain back her trust Spencer, your parents may have invited you here, but you are not welcome.”

“I’m welcome wherever I so damn please to go. You will never be truly in love with Jasmine, she is mine, forever, which is why she will never love you. She agreed to the marriage because the girl needs a man in her life for the kids. I take it you are prepared to be the kids' father..which is why she even agreed to marry you, but in reality, you're only a sheep dressed as a wolf.”

“Believe what you want to Spencer, if you really loved her, you would have been there for her this past week.”

His face ran cold, but the elevator dinged and he slipped out before Ben could surface out of that elevator. They weren’t possibly going to fight over Jasmine now? But they sadly did, they kept arguing in the process of trying to race to the room.

Jasmine is what made the two stop fighting, of course Morgan was not too happy with their intrusion of just interrupting her sleep, not that she was going to wake up. “Why are you here Spencer?” His Mother asked with not only worry, but anger. Spencer’s parents were very disappointed in him, he after all had cheated, had left Jasmine for another woman, now here he was about to pledge loyalty?

“I’m here, because I love her.”

“Bullshit.”

“Shut it Ben!” Morgan barked, he backed off only a little. “Look, I am here, because I love Jasmine, and I will not let her marry Ben.”

“Then choose son, her, and the twins, or some random sleepover with girls you don’t even know! This girl is sick because of you! You put her this way!” His Father scolded. He wasn’t going to disagree with his Father, or start an argument with them in front of Jasmine. “I never cheated on her, I told her I had to go back to the front. Maybe there happened to be a kiss between me and someone, but it was nothing more. Jasmine will always be mine. Would you like to see the text messages?”

Spencer flipped his phone open while researching his evidence, having that talk to her about what happened between him and that girl. “Nothing happened between us, she is just over reacting. Jasmine is just afraid that..that nobody will love her, because she admitted something to me. I care about my twins!”

Morgan eyed him, seeing that he was telling the truth. “I’m sorry, but, what exactly did she admit to you?”

“It’s hard to explain..but Jasmine..she didn’t grow up with a Grandfather, or a Father figure in her life. The man did more than ignore her. He showed absolute hate, hate that boiled to more than physical violence. The girl is..more complicated my Queen than any of us knows, the Princess has plans, plans that involve lots of blood shed.”

The young girl’s Mother looked mortified, she couldn’t imagine what really happened when Jasmine was little, but now that she thought about it, every time Jasmine even tempted meeting her, or seeing her, she was always shaking, or digging her nails into her arms, never did she think that her Father, would do more than just ignore her existence and keep her away from her.

“Jasmine has been sick for a while, the pregnancy just made things worse for her. She knew that someday she would die, so the doctor gave her eight months to live.”

“What?”

“She didn’t want you knowing, you sent her away, and she found out after she got pregnant, we both swore not to say anything. Jasmine..is..dying.”

It explained a lot really, Jasmine didn’t want to go to that school, and her Mother pushed her away. For a long time she spent the rest of her years, not knowing her real Mom because the woman couldn’t deal with her and protect the palace. “No..no,” Morgan kept glancing at her daughter, “she’s not here because she’s sleeping, she’s here because her body is done. Jasmine may wake up, but it doesn’t change anything, she doesn’t have long, especially with the twins, she doesn’t want me around, she doesn’t want to see me because she’s afraid that I will get hurt, and it will just be easier to do everything on her own.”

….

 

The Sickness Rests

“Jasmine, I think there is something we need to talk about.”

She kept her nursery cover correctly over her this time, after getting out of the hospital a week ago, it had given some time for them all to think about some things. Jasmine will never be Queen, and the children she birthed, will never meet their Mother. “So. I want to know what happened, really..happened with your Grandfather.”

“What?”

“Then I want to know why the doctor told me that you have a disease and that I should have known about it.”

“You? You should have known about what? Such a silly accusation, Mother.”

“Your test results say otherwise.”

“What test results!?”

She held a paper up, “Mother whatever you are thinking that happened between me and your Father, it didn’t, if anything-”

“I never suggested that Jasmine.”

“Fine, yes, there were some things that happened, but I don’t need to go into much description.”

“Did he..did..”

“Yes, why the hell does this matter!? What brought this up anyways!?”

“Jasmine..you know, I love you..why..why didn’t you tell me about your health, or what he was doing?”

“It would have never made a difference,” Jasmine’s head dipped low, “you were sick, and I was nothing, then when you turned me away, forced me to go to some school for preppy kids, and more than anything I wanted to stay with you, but I lost my faith in you after..after it all. But it’s okay darling…it’s okay, because before I die, I have plans, in the end, you will kneel before me and make me Queen.”

Jasmine stood up, “Grandfather was right you are not right for the throne. You can barely keep anything together, which is why you needed me to marry Ben. In the end, you will bow down, and I..I will murder millions,” she sighed, letting that sigh out let some tension out, “I’ve been holding that in for quite some time.”

“Y-you can’t just take the crown Jasmine!”

“I can, as soon as I snap my fingers Mother, I can get whatever I want, because I personally know every guard, every…subject in which you don’t, so when the time comes, you will bow down, or..I will just have to get rid of you.”

Jasmine proudly stood up with Fiona in her arms, “I have done what is planned, my revenge is nearly complete.”

“Ja-”

“In the end, I will kill those who wronged me, then you, you will be next. Because I will have my revenge.”

“Jasmine I couldn’t do anything for you!”

“I know, and for that reason I suffered greatly, which is why..you need to suffer just as much.”

The girl held in her breath, before finally unhiding her little young baby from behind the nursing cover. “Is there something wrong Mother?”

“What..happened to you?”

She frowned, licked her dry lips before smiling, “you will see how it all plays out. First, Ben’s parents, then..more..more, and more. In the end I will get everything I desire in life. This is only the beginning.”

After putting the twins down for sleep, Jasmine went to the library, where she had all her plans mapped out in a book. “You don’t have to plan revenge Jasmine…why not just live out what you have left with me and the twins?”

Her eyes gazed up from her notes, “Spencer? Why..how long have you been here!? Are you the one who gave my secrets away!?”

“Jasmine, you need to let it go! I love you! Isn’t that enough!?”

“No! It won’t ever be enough!”

She began crying, while trying to hold herself together. “I know they hurt you Jasmine, but murder is not the way! Think about our twins! How do you expect me to raise them alone up until then! Then when they get older you expect me to just tell them that their Mother was a murderer!? Let Morgan help! She wants to help!”

“That is why you are here!? Because of her!?”

“No! I’m here because I love you!”
He at least got her to calm down, “Jasmine, please let it go, let revenge go.”

“Can I at least kill her?”

“No! You are not killing the one closest person to you! She loves you so much and is hurting just as much!”

“You expect me to believe that!? She didn’t go through what I did!”
“But she knows you Jasmine! For who you are!”

Jasmine couldn’t stand it, people always thought they knew more than she did, but it was her own thoughts that always clouded her judgment. She didn’t care if someone got hurt to get what she wanted in life, she wanted those who hurt her to die. “Let me help you…please.”

He begged her, and kept begging until she was done crying in his arms, she didn’t want to look at herself, see the person she had become. Maybe since the twins she had been a little depressed, but only because she was alone her entire life, and she started to think that she’d be a bad Mother since she didn’t have one in her life.

“She’s going to help you Jay, we can’t look back into our past for help, or regret, if we live now, if we just keep ourselves from depending on our past selves, then we can move on just as fast.”

Spencer held her close to him, he wasn’t going to let her go through it, not alone, she had made up some story that he didn’t love her, it didn’t help that he is barely around still.

“I’m not going to leave again, it’s just going to be me and you. If you want to get away from this all, then let's do it.”

“Really?” Her eyes glinted with hope for her relationship yet. Before he was about to answer that, Morgan stepped into the room, she had a few candy bars preparing herself for an apology to Jay, now the couple didn’t see her, but they weren’t chatting either anymore. “Ahem.”

Now when Morgan finally was seeing the scene get farther than just kissing, she had to get them to stop, otherwise she’d never go back to the library again.

Jasmine buttoned the front of her dress back up, “..Mother..”

“You used to call me Mummy, or Mum..why must you be so formal now?” The woman smiled gently as she set the candy bar down on the table. “I..know that we have some things to talk about.”

“So you brought a candy bar?” A small hint of laughter followed from that. “Hey, that's all we had in the kitchen.”

But it was more than just a simple chocolate bar, Jasmine knew that she had a special way of providing sweets, she’s the provider after all. “Mum, why..are you in here?”

“Well, you told me you wanted to kill me, along with others.”

Now Jay started to regret saying it, saying all of it, but she didn’t want any of it to come out in the first place, but it did, there was nothing she could do about that even if she wanted to. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no, it’s okay honey. I can understand why.”

Spencer got himself up and out of her grasp, “I will leave you two, to talk.”

“No.”

“What? No?”

“I want you to stay here with me, it seems I am confused.”

Her head tipped forwards, slamming into his stomach, “Spencer, is it possible that I didn’t mean any of it? I can..barely remember why I came in here.”

Now, it was odd how she always looked, or acted sick when Morgan turned up, they both realized this, but maybe she wasn’t acting she seemed like another person when these episodes happened. Jay shook a little, then she seemed fine, “are you okay?”

“Who the hell are you talking to!?” She objected by standing up, but she quickly sat back down faster. “Jasmine?” Her Mother whispered, “what is wrong with you?”

The girl shook her head before resting her chin on the table, “I am tired Mother..could you help me to bed?”

Even though Spencer was sitting next to her she prefers her Mother. Spencer followed just in case, but surely enough, Jay was very ill, he had no idea that things were going to be this way. One minute the girl was fine, the next she couldn’t stand being near anyone, and revealed more truths that she knew. Morgan got her to bed though, safely tucked in with the two twins not far from her side, they knew she wouldn’t hurt them, they were after all, a blessing.

….

 

For a Hopeful Future

“Her condition isn’t getting any better, how long has she been having these fevers?”

“About a couple nights ago.”

“I said I am fine,” Jasmine had been repeating that for quite some time now. “If you were fine my Princess then you wouldn’t be threatening anyone’s life.”

She pulled herself up with her Mother’s help, “I have not, plus my fever is down, there is no such nonsense-”

“Princess Jasmine, I do not think you should see your children.”

“What? You mean to tell me you have a title in which to take my children from me???”

“Oh no..I just..it was a test. One that you didn’t fail at.”

“I didn’t fail at? What right do you have to test me?”

“Well, just to make sure you are at least mental enough to-”

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence doctor, right now I am being quite fair in reasoning. Those twins mean more than my life to me..I will not stay here in bed, all day..I just can’t. You must understand.”

“I do, your Mother went through the same thing Princess, but I beg of you, consider it. Or you won’t live long enough.”

“If I’m fine now, then I will struggle on in my life until I cannot any longer. Doctor, I thank you for your time, but from here I will take my own health with caution, but I will not leave my children unattended not for any reason whatsoever.”

“I will take your wishes into consideration my Princess, but..without a doubt, I’m sure our paths will cross again.”

“I’m sure they will.”

The doctor swished out of the room after grabbing his bag. Spencer got closer to the bed, seeing that Jasmine was looking a little more sick. “Marry me Spencer.”

“What?”

“I don’t have long, I at least want my children to know we were married when we had them..I don’t want them to think I was a scandal.”

Morgan rolled her eyes, “my child you are all over the news.”

“So? If he marries me, it’s my word against theirs.”

Spencer took her hands in his, he just stared at her hands, such beauty. “Just because I’m dying doesn’t mean I’m completely gone. After all, you have the twins Spencer.”

Of course that man wouldn’t cry in front of anyone, he was more manly than Ben, which is why he just held his breath to keep himself from crying, until finally he let it out, “I will marry you.”

She brushed her hand to his cheek, “then I will entrust myself in you.”

“Well of course your Mother has to agree with the marriage first.”

“I have no objections this time.”

“Well isn’t that a big surprise..” Jay commented back with a hint of attitude. Now she wasn’t going to argue back with the girl. Damion started to cry, that got her up, “uh, didn’t the doctor say rest?”

“I am, but my kids are my first priorities.”

Nobody was going to stop her, she was determined.

…

 

Imprint

Text: All Rights Reserved
Images: All Rights Reserved
Cover: All Rights Reserved
Editing: Whisper
Proofreading: Whisper
Translation: Whisper
Layout: ###
Publication Date: 11-02-2022

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
Just Enjoy