39.

39.

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled a harsh breath through his mouth, before glowering at Jeremy. Jeremy slightly shrugged, as if he had not just poked a snake. Idiot.
“I believe what happened with my dad is already public knowledge, seeing as you guys can’t stop poking nose in our family matters.” Noah gritted out.
That’s when a thought occurred to me…I didn’t even know what happened with Noah’s dad. I never even had the idea of looking it up on the internet. And, yet I semi-believed Alice when she said that he committed suicide and almost believed the unknown number that said he was murdered. Why am I so dumb?
Jeremy waved his hands. “Oh, we know that he jumped off the balcony of…what was it…your library?”
I could now feel Noah tensing up beside me, fisting his hands and clenching his jaw. If this entire thing was not being filmed, I would have happily planted a slap on Jeremy’s face. And, I am pretty sure that Noah was having the same thoughts.
“But, my point here is,” Jeremy continued like the idiot he was, “…why? Why would he do that? We never got the answer to that over the years. And, you know when something is left unanswered, people start coming up with their own theories,” he let out a laugh at his own words. “I mean, one of these crazy theories say that his relationship with the queen grew strained during his last years.”
“And?” Noah finally snapped. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“Oh it is,” Jeremy laughed condescendingly, “the whole royal family is our business. Tell me now, what actually happened?”
“Tell me now; did your mom drop you when you were a kid?” I deadpanned, in a mimicking voice.
Shocked gasps resonated through the studio and I had to suppress an eye roll. So, like, it was okay when Jeremy was trying to get on Noah’s nerves and it was shocking when I talked back to this idiot?
“What did you-” Jeremy started, but, was cut off when Noah held up a hand.
“I am not going to sit here and tolerate your stupid questions and by the looks of it, that’s all you have got: stupidity. So, I will take my leave now.”
The look of panic on Jeremy’s face was hilarious, as he gestured something to the cameraman. Suddenly, the lights came on and I was able to see the large audience sitting in front of me.
“You can’t leave!” Jeremy hissed at Noah. “This is airing live on TV. And, you can’t talk to me like that on screen.”
“Neither can you,” I snapped, glaring at Jeremy while Noah gave him a bored look.
“First of all, I wasn’t informed that this would be airing live. Secondly, as far as I remember, we were supposed to stick to the script.” Noah finally said. “A script which consisted of simple, basic questions. You deviated, and you lost me. I am leaving.”
“You can’t! I am just exercising my right of transparency with the royal family! We have the right to know what happens with you royals, seeing as you are answerable to the public.”
“I don’t see how he is answerable to the public in matters related to his family. This is not something that is affecting anyone directly or indirectly. It’s a personal thing, Jeremy. He can choose whether he wants to answer them or not.” I tried to reason.
“It’s normal!” Jeremy cried. “Making things spicy is good for the…TRP.”
“Oh, then, why don’t you invite my dear mother? She will be very good for your TRP. And, I am sure that she will have fun answering your questions regarding my dad.” Noah told him drily.
“Look,” Jeremy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Fine. I will keep things…normal. Just don’t leave in the middle of the show. Let’s finish the second half, without any trouble.”
Noah thought over it for a minute, then, finally conceded. “Trouble or no trouble is up to you, Jeremy. Choose your words wisely.”
The recording started again, and the people before me receded into darkness.
Jeremy put on a wide smile on his face. “Ladies and gentlemen, sorry about the inconvenience caused, we were experiencing some technical difficulties.”
Ew, liar.
Is this how TV worked? Making things spicy? Lying? Drama? Stupid hosts with their stupid nosy questions? Ew, ew, ew.
“So, moving on-because, we all know about the incident with the king already. It was all over the media-” Jeremy chuckled at his own words again, “-let’s get to the interesting questions.”
“So, Chloe…” Jeremy smiled creepily, glancing at me.
Ugh, no! Why me?
“What are your feelings on Noah’s intended- I mean, ex, Alice?”
“Beach,” I instantly replied, with a tight smile. Beside me, Noah coughed, though I had a feeling it was a laugh disguised as cough.
“I am sorry, what?” Jeremy asked, leaning forward.
“I said beach,” I smiled. “Alice loves beaches. And, so do I. we have so much in common-” ew, never, “-and, we get along just fine.”
“But, how is that possible? Is she completely okay with the fact that you stole the prince from right under her nose?” Jeremy mused.
“Excuse me?” I said at the same time that Noah said, “Jeremy…” in a warning tone.
Jeremy raised his hands up, putting on a good natured face for the camera. “I mean, you did steal Noah away from her…”
“Okay, first, Noah is not an object that I ‘stole away’ from her,” I replied coolly and it took every ounce of will not to throttle Jeremy, “second, why don’t you ask Alice that if she okay or not? How am I supposed to know that?” oh, I knew that actually, but, why would I tell this idiot?
“The thing is…” Noah finally began, looking directly at the camera. “I was never with Alice to begin with. It was all done for publicity and hype. There are some- actually, a lot- of customs and rules of the royal family that I don’t find valid in this age…some of them are just useless and baseless and some are just extravagant, just for show off. I intend on changing these, if- I mean, when I come to power. And, trust me, the taxpayers are going to save a lot of money when these changes apply.” He finished with a charming smile.
Absolute silence resonated for a minute, before the hall burst into a huge round of applause. When it didn’t stop even after a minute, Jeremy had to yell “Quiet! That’s enough!” over his mic.
“So, Chloe…” Jeremy started again, after settling down. “How does it feel to date someone so…significant and powerful? Was it the money and popularity that drew you in?”
Oof, I wished I could have replied that yes, I am totally after the name and fame, just to see the expression on Jeremy’s face.
“Dude,” Noah spoke up, “here’s a fun fact: Chloe had no idea about my identity until after we fell for each other. In fact, for all she knew, I lived in a measly little house consisting of a single room and a kitchen, and which was never cleaned by its owner aka me. How’s that for the money and popularity?”
The ever present smirk on Jeremy’s face completely disappeared, but, he quickly composed himself and cleared his throat. “Next question is regarding Princess Annabelle-”
“Annabeth.” I corrected him.
“Yeah, that.” he said nonchalantly. “I mean, it’s not going to matter anymore after what I am about to reveal.”
My breath caught in my throat. Don’t tell me this dummy-
Jeremy turned to face Noah. “There have been rumors that Annabella was adopted by your dad, and is not a royal by blood. We did some digging in the matter, and it looks like these rumors are true since we can’t find her birth records.”
“I will tell you what’s true,” Noah leaned forward, “Annabeth,” he emphasized her name, “is my sister and is as much royal as the rest of us are deemed to be, and no scientific or non scientific fact can change this truth.”
I could hear everyone’s collective breathing, before a murmur of appreciation started running among the audience. I grabbed Noah’s tense fingers and squeezed them reassuringly, getting a heart-warming smile from him in return.
“Okay,” Jeremy finally announced, “looks like we are done here. Now, we will let some of you from the audience ask your own questions to Noah and Chloe.”
No, not again…
The first question was asked by a girl, who seemed as excited as I was when I my brother took me to my first zoo trip.
“My first question is for Noah,” the girl began, “what would you like to be if you are not given the choice to be a human.”
“Werewolf,” Noah replied amusedly, without missing a beat.
There were collective dreamy gasps from girls; I am sure they weren’t expecting him to even know about werewolves.
“If Noah would be a werewolf, then, what about you Chloe?”
“My mate, of course,” Noah replied for me.
“No!” I quickly interjected, “I would be, um, a cool crocodile!”
“Then, Noah will be with some other girl…his mate…” the girl trailed off.
“Why? He can have a crocodile mate too, right?” I responded.
“Ew, no,” Noah scrunched up his nose, “I am not going to kiss or do other stuff with a crocodile!”
I gave him an unimpressed look, trying hard to stifle my laughter. “And, yet you say that the fork is your true mate. Are you ready to do said ‘stuff’ with the fork.”
Half of the people dissolved in laughter, while the other half were left confused. I am sure they didn’t get our inside joke.
After that there were some more mind boggling questions like,
“Noah, will you please leave Chloe, and marry me instead, please, please, please?”
I was like, hold my mic- I need to kick someone’s ass.
“Chloe, who is Zain?”
Why, the biggest crybaby of course, but, I didn’t say it out loud, instead, Noah replied with “Zain is someone special to...Will.” I was sure, Will was going to have to do some image repair once again.
“Chloe, your friends are hot. Are they single or taken?”
“Firstly, how the heck do you know about my friends? And, secondly, eh…I can’t speak for them.”
“I have heard that Caleb is a total snack, and he loves food. Will he marry me?”
“For that, he would have to divorce his food first, which isn’t going to happen anytime soon,” I replied cheekily.
“Noah, is your best friend Liam really obsessed with Shawn Mendes, and is he available?”
“Yeah, he is and um, yeah, no…you will have to ask him about his availability status.” Noah replied unsurely.
“Noah, is it true that you went to Chloe’s school for a few months? Can you join my school too, please?”
To this Noah chuckled, “I am about to complete my graduation next month, from correspondence, and well, I sure can try to visit your school.”
“How long did it take you guys to kiss?”
I coughed awkwardly, while Noah scratched the back of his neck. Jeremy replied for us, with “aw, they are blushing, leave them alone.”
“Noah, is it true that Chloe was your first kiss?”
“Nope, I have kissed a lot of forks and spoons before her,” Noah replied, earning a shove from me.
“Chloe, would you mind if I borrow Noah for a night?”
“Of course not sweetie,” I forced a smile. “Just beware that it’s a buy one get one deal. I come free with him.”
“So, you are saying that you want a threesome?”
Let’s just say, Noah and I both started choking on air after that and couldn’t recover for a long time, and Jeremy had to wrap up the show.