Chapter 181: What Happened To You, Princess?
A week has passed since I moved in with Princess, it has been pretty good. Princess has improved with her pancake making, and some other breakfast she copied online. I usually stand by the counter, watching her flip the batter with a focused look on her face, but I still end up ordering. Watching Princess preparing her masterpiece that might be some gacha shit, I just couldn’t wait. My stomach would growl loud enough to drown out the sound of the sizzling pan, so I just tap my phone and enter a food app and order whatever I want. Within 20 minutes the food arrives, the delivery guy knocking on the door before Princess can even finish plating her latest experiment. Princess won’t say anything, she just pays for the food. She sets her burnt or soggy pancakes aside without a word, pulling the takeout containers onto the table so we can eat together in silence.
Living with Princess was still the same, but something was off. I don’t know, but my feelings tells me something was off about Princess. It was in the way she moved, too stiff, too careful, like she was walking on glass that only she could see.
We were inside the bathroom, Princess got me a bathtub before I moved in, I was inside while she was busy straightening her hair. The warm water swirled around me, but it didn’t do much to wash away the nagging thought in the back of my head. We had somewhere to be for the weekend, then on Monday we will resume school. I knew I should be getting ready, but I didn’t want to move.
I was busy staring at my stomach, it looked round from the way I was sitting. The water was still, showing a distorted reflection of the bathroom tiles. My whole body was covered in soapy water but it didn’t covered my stomach. It sat there like a small hill breaking the surface of the bubbles. I just kept playing around with my stomach, using my fingers, running around the pale skin in small circles. It felt soft and strange under my touch.
"How long are you going to be there, you know we have to leave in ten." Princess said. Her voice was flat, focused. She was done with her hair and now braiding it into a ponytail, her hands moving with a quick, mechanical rhythm that didn’t miss a beat.
"Come play with me..." I said, mimicking a playful voice. I splashed a little water her way, trying to catch her attention, trying to get a real rise out of her.
"I see spending time with Henry has started to play a number on you.." Princess said. She didn’t even look back, her eyes stayed locked on her own reflection in the steam-fogged mirror.
"Come on, you are upsetting me now... your baby girl wants to play with you a little..." I continued in that tone, ignoring the fact that she was now comparing me with Henry. I pouted, making sure my voice sounded as small and needy as possible, waiting for the version of her that used to cave in immediately.
Princess, now done with her hair, finally turned away from the mirror. The moment I stared at my stunning looking girlfriend, I just couldn’t stop smiling. She looked sharp, polished, and perfectly put together, yet there was a coldness in the perfection. "Wow, you are beautiful.." I let it out.
"Thank you baby, I’m ready but you are not... you need to get out and get dressed so we can leave..." she said. She stepped closer, but she didn’t reach for me. She just checked her watch, her mind already halfway out the front door.
"Why don’t you play with me, then I will get dressed.." I said, insisting that she played with me. I grabbed a handful of bubbles and blew them toward her, watching them float and pop against her expensive clothes.
Princess stood there in silence, her expression unreadable. For a second, I thought she might snap, but then she walked up to me and bent down. She placed two tips of her fingers on my tummy. The contact was light, barely there.
"Hey, Faye’s fingers, can you tell your owner to get out of the bathtub and get dressed?" Princess said, forming a teasing tone, looking at my fingers. It sounded like the right thing to say, but her eyes didn’t have that spark they used to.
"No, let’s play a little more while we can..." I moved my hand under the water, nudging her fingers away.
"Alright, what do you want to do..?"
We went on playing around on my heavy stomach, Princess chasing my fingers around as we both circled around the soapy surface. I saw it on her face, she was having fun doing it. For a few seconds, the stiffness in her shoulders vanished and she laughed, a short, real sound that made the room feel warmer. I could even bet she forgot we were heading out. I waited for her to lean in, for the playfulness to turn into something deeper.
I dragged her by her top down to my lips, deeply kissing her, making sure I was able to ruin that lipstick she had just put on. I wanted to taste the gloss, to feel her breath hitch, to break through that wall she had built up. Princess pulled away, we were inches away from our lips touching as I tried to control my hunger for more. My heart was racing, the heat from the bathwater finally catching up to me.
"It’s been long since we last did it.." I muttered, staring at her, one of the things that was off about her. My voice was low, almost a whisper, searching for an answer she wasn’t giving.
"You need to get dressed, so we can leave..." she said, then stood up, going back to the mirror fixing her lipstick. Just like that, the moment was dead. She wiped a smudge from the corner of her mouth and started reapplying the color with a steady hand.
"What happened to you, Princess?" I asked, having a thought of annoyance. I was trying not to say a word, I didn’t want to start a fight, but I just couldn’t. The frustration was bubbling up like the soap in the tub. I saw Princess pause midway before saying her next words. She held the lipstick tube like a weapon, her back still turned to me.
"What do you mean by that?" she said as she continued.
"Why do I feel like something is off about you... you are not the same person that was here earlier this year..." I voiced out. I sat up straighter, the water spilling over the edge of the tub and onto the floor.
"If it’s about not having sex, the doctor said you haven’t fully recovered, and you know how wild we sometimes get when getting intimate.." she said. Her voice was clinical, like she was reading from a medical chart.
"No, no, no, it’s not about the sex, which I am still angry at the doctor for saying that kind of stuff... it’s you... there is something I just figured out... you are acting like a wolf on a fucking leash, you are acting all grown up, like some overripe fruit... for some fucking reason you stopped being a teenager..." I let it out. I wanted her to shout back, to get angry, to do anything other than be this polite, distant stranger.
"Babe, I’m an Alpha, we Alphas tend to grow up faster than our age... I have outgrown puberty..." she said. She turned around then, giving me a look that was supposed to be comforting but felt like a pat on the head.
Nah, that’s not it. I won’t believe that shit, because Princess Kings is good at pretending that everything is fine even when it’s not. I watched her standing there, so composed, so perfect, smiling. Princess Kings used to lock in her feelings until she was gradually opening up to me, but after getting kidnapped she locked up again. The doors were bolted shut, and I was on the outside looking in.
I raised my middle finger at her, I was really pissed that she was doing that thing again. The silence in the bathroom felt heavy, suffocating.
"Fuck you and your stupid Alpha puberty.." I said.
I stood up from the bathtub, struggling to get myself out, the water making everything slippery. My legs felt heavy and my skin was pruned. Princess tried to help me get out, reaching her hand toward my arm.
"I don’t want your fucking help... lock that help of yours too." I shot at her, finding a way to step out of the bathtub and walked away from her. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself, not looking back, leaving a trail of wet footprints on the floor as I headed for the door.
