For the rest of the breakfast, Rose felt uncomfortable under his occasional glances. She did not feel good about this at all.

"Do you want to go out on a lunch date with me? I want to give you your ring," he said with a lighter jovial tone.

That actually eased her worries but made her nod automatically as though she did not want the temperature of the room to get any colder since it has warmed up a little.

"The king is here in Star City for a meeting so we will meet with him as planned today," he reminded her warmly.

"Oh. I won't forget," she said with a nod.

"How is it? Do you like it?" Liam suddenly asked fixing his eyes on her.

"Uh?" Rose asked shocked as her mind went places about he meant by that question.

"The meal, is it to your liking?" he asked her gesturing at the dishes before her.

"Oh, it is good. You made it well," she replied sincerely. She cant remember eating an oatmeal that good.

"I am glad you like it," Liam said with a genuine smile the coldness that was in his eyes were all gone now leaving an almost too sincere warmth.

Rose exhaled in relieve despite how much she warned herself not to take what he said serious.

***

She was quiet throughout the lunch date until he brought out a brown small box and opened it to expose a pair of rings. She gasped at the site. The rings looked very simple but elegant and gorgeous at the same time.

"Wow," she said sincerely amazed by their beauty.

"I designed it and had my jeweler design it so it must not look like one of those expensive rings and I also think it won't be for you to wear a ring that clearly states its purpose but I still want my ring on your finger."

Ok . . . so . . . he made the ring so she could wear it in a low key manner. No wonder it looked simple. Her train o thoughts paused when she noticed the very tiny black white stones that were used to design the outward part in very professionally beautiful way.

"So, do you love it?" Liam asked hoping to receive the compliment for the ring her spent years trying to design. He has made so many in the past years but dropped them all when she said she wanted to return to the palace.

"Yes, I do. They are beautiful," she said subconsciously stretching her hand to him with her fingers spread out.

"This is now yours," Liam said picking the ring he made for her and wore it on her fingers.

"Thank you," she appreciated with a tight smile like she dared not be too excited about getting the ring from him. As she pulled back her hand and stared at it to discover it looked a different from the one left in the ring box. "Why do they look so different?"

"So we could keep our marriage a secret," he replied seriously.

"Oh," she simply said with an understanding nod as she continued staring at the ring on her finger. They looked so good on her. He was still unhappy that she was going to the palace.

Being petty, right? He must be wrong of how much he thinks he means to her for her to give up carry out the task ordered by her mother.

***

When it was time for the dinner meeting she had with her father, they left with their car in between two other cars which had some of Liam's body guards. Rose was not sure if she saw right but she must have actually seen Liam hid a gun on his body.

After more than an hour of driving out of the city, they got to little modern village. It was built and designed by her grandfather then for people to go whenever they wanted a break from the city air.

It had a lot of people who settled there mostly the retired looking for a comfortable place to live. It was one of many others around star city.

Her grandfather did it to revive those villages which were abandoned by the youth and adult. These villages always attract the wealthy, young couples, and many others who wish to be reminded of their kingdom's culture and also tourists.

One of things her father came to Star city was to see and elder who was over a hundred and forty years. She did not know why he was suddenly doing things the kings of the past did by which is paying respect to the oldest elder in the kingdom for longevity.

She did not ponder on that thought since she was already occupied with the thoughts of how she should react when she meets her father for the first time in decades. She did not know if he was the bad guy or not.

Throughout the drive to the village, she spent time thinking about how she should speak and act with her father. It was compulsory that she acts confidence, elegant and respectful to her father. She thought of what to say first or what to order. Should she mention her mother in their conversation?

When she could not come up with the right mental speech, she finally gave up with a sigh.

"Hey, it is okay. If anything goes wrong I will protect you and if you don't want to do this any longer, then we can leave. You will meet him in the palace later after all," Liam advised her with a small smile as he rubbed the back of her hands and rubbed gently.

She smiled tightly and glanced at where she got a glimpse of his gun earlier. "Thank you," she replied slightly hoarsely and swallowed.

When the car finally stopped in front of a small restaurant that looked like a farm house, they all got out with the guards surrounding them as they walked into the restaurant. Some of the guard stay outside while a few ordered carefully.

Rosaline noticed Liam was very serious about their security for the first time since she got together with him. The bank wasn't even this secured when she visited it.

She actually smelt danger herself when she walked into the restaurant and noticed how well secured the restaurant was although that was not surprising since the king had to be well protected.

They were led by a staff of the traditional five star restaurant who had a lot of professionalism to a private room.

She paused and took in a very deep breath as she felt her heart race fast.

Liam noticed her tense and gave her a friendly encouraging pat on her shoulder.

She lifted her eyes and met his grey eyes which were doing a very good job of telling her he was there for her. She nodded at the staff when she moved her gaze from his with enough courage as though telling him that she was fine all along.

The staff opened the door and she walked into to the private room. The restaurant was worthy of it's five star rating as it looked really elegant and traditional in a way that reminded anyone of the long lost culture of her mother's kingdom.

There was a glass table in the middle of the room which had a ceiling to floor glass wall facing a beautiful garden. She feared seeing the face of the man seated at the large glass table as she stared around at the interior design of the room that had enough touch of modernization, tradition and elegance.

When she was done looking around the room and had nothing else to look at and her gaze fell on her father who had been watching her all along.

When her gaze met his black eyes, she froze. She could not take her eyes off him as she felt a sudden surge of a blend of different strong emotions.

After so many years, she was standing before her father who abandoned her and her mother in an unknown country and did not defend her mother's name when the whole world turned against her.

She was not sure if he could be trusted or not. He also seemed to be shocked to have met her gaze as he slowly stood up and walked to her with his arms spread out.

"You look grown up," he told her with his voice slightly shaky. The amazement in his eyes as he stared at her felt so natural and sincere. She was not sure but she actually noticed a hint of happiness in his eyes.

"You also look a lot more older than I remember," she replied him with an equally sincere smile.

When he got to her, he pulled her into a warm embrace. "I can't believe it. You look so much like your mother," he said when they separated.

Their happy reunion was put into rest when the door opened again and Liam walked in. Her father seemed to tense when Liam walked in.

eparating from us.. It will only lead to war."

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