The Royal Contract

She was never a morning person, especially when it was a weekend. She would prefer to stay all morning in bed if she had the choice. But her bladder just would not cooperate this time.

“What the heck?” She gasped in shock, her ears picking up a slight sound coming from the other room.

Her eyes widened, suddenly fully awake, when she finally noticed a commotion inside her bathroom. She quickly stood up from her bed, scanning the rest of the room for any intruder.

Fortunately, she did not see anyone else. But the faint noise still persisted. She grabbed her robe at the foot of her bed and grabbed the nearest object she could get her hands on as her eyes focused on the source of the unusual noise.

“Where is my phone?” She silently mumbled to herself, not finding it on the table where she left it.

Finally giving up, she slowly moved to the other side of the room, debating whether she should check on the room or just run out of the apartment.

.....

But, her curiosity got the best of her as her feet led her to the door. Slowly, she moved closer to the door, finding it slightly ajar.

She gradually slid the door open just a tiny bit, peeking inside the small corner of the room. Raising her hand with the object in her grasp, ready to use it as a weapon, she tried to see if she could spot the intruder.

“I have a gun, and I am not afraid to use it.” She threatened whoever was inside the room once she confirmed that there was a movement through the shadows created by the light. She assumed he was a man, judging from the size of his shadow.

She raised her hand, aiming to throw the object at the intruder if he decided to attack her. Then, she noticed the sound disappeared, and the activity ceased.

But the shadow remained at the spot, motionless. After a few seconds of silence, whoever was inside continued as if she had said nothing.

“Dammit.” She hissed to herself. She realized that she might have whispered her threat to herself.

It was not as if she was thrilled to find someone else in her apartment, going through her personal stuff. She better come up with a better idea soon. But she did notice her hands trembled in fright.

Eventually, she decided to catch him unaware. Attack while he did not notice her. An element of surprise in her favor would be better, she decided. Feeling a bit braver.

“Agghhh!” She shouted loudly, hoping to scare the trespasser as she charged inside the room with the object in her hand.

She planned to hit the man with whatever she held in her hand. At this rate, clearly, she was not thinking straight and acting irrationally.

She blindly pounced at the man, hoping to inflict the most damage on his head, but he was quicker, tightly gripping her hands even before it hit his head.

“Hey, what are you doing?” A familiar voice resounded in the room. “Have you gone mad?” He pulled her off him and held her by the shoulders. “Jacky, it is me.”

Finally, she stopped struggling against him. Then, she eventually looked up at him, recognizing his voice. She released a sigh of relief, seeing his familiar face.

“Marcus, I thought you were an intruder, trying to rob me.” She quickly explained her uncharacteristic behavior.

She lowered her hand, feeling a bit calmer after realizing she was not in danger. However, she also lost her grip on the object in her hand as it swiftly fell to the floor with a loud thud, losing the adrenaline flowing in her system.

When she looked down, it was the only time she realized that the object in her hand was the phone she had been looking for earlier. She might have been more scared than she realized.

“I am sorry if I scared you, Jacky.” Marcus apologized, pulling her in a firm hug. “I was just trying to be quiet, so I would not wake you.”

He felt terrible that instead of surprising her. He managed to scare her to death. He could still feel her body mildly trembling as he enveloped her closer to his body.

Earlier, when he entered her apartment, he had already suspected that she might still be fast asleep. He decided not to wake her up and deal with her stuff by himself.

“That is ok. Just never do that to me again.” Jacky reprimanded him as her hands held him tightly by his shirt, looking directly into his eyes, using his strength for support.

She was glad that it was him and not some random dude about to rob her. But at the same time, she wanted to inflict harm on him for scaring her out of her wits.

She finally let go of him, kneeling down on the floor to pick up her phone, now split into different parts. She hoped that it was not busted.

“Sorry again.” He knelt down with her, helping her pick up the pieces of her broken phone. “I will just replace this with a new one.”

He took the pieces out of her hand, knowing that it was entirely his fault. He had a great plan scheduled for today. He just hoped that the rest of the day would be much better than this one.

“What are you doing here at this early anyway?” Jacky suddenly remembered that he was not supposed to be here. “And what are you planning to do with my stuff?”

She stood up, noticing her bag on the top of the sink with some of her things already inside. She wondered what Marcus was doing with her things, moving closer to check it out.

“It was supposed to be a surprise.” He told her as he stood beside her. He was not expecting that she would wake up at this time. Well, at least, until he was finished fixing her things. “Anyway, I am taking you on a trip for the weekend.”