27. The French Way [2]

[Megan]
"Smile, not so much, tilt your head backward slightly, spread your legs a bit, give us a sexy pose." The photographer kept clinking away with each adjustment I made.
I was currently at a photoshoot session for a perfume brand, this was my typical lifestyle, spending hours getting dolled up and hours getting photographed.
My mother was my manager, she was in charge of all the jobs I got and she made sure to take the ones that fit with my image. I didn't really care and I couldn't really defy her so I agreed with everything.
I still remembered how the Prince and the King had been bickering at the breakfast table, I could never talk back like that to my mother, I was much too afraid of her and I also didn't like to get her upset.
When my father who was a Baron died, he left us with huge debts and the family estate, my mother had gotten us through that tough time and she was still getting us through that by managing me.
I was grateful to her for all that she had done because she could have just chosen to let everything go to rot, but she didn't and because of her, our family was one of the wealthiest and influential families in the country.
I mean, we had breakfast with the King and it wasn't even our first time.
She also single handedly started up my career and made me the successful woman I am today.
"Thank you, Megan, wonderful job." The photographer praised me when he was done.
He was Henrik and he was my favorite photographer, he was always so nice and patient with me, he also made stuffy photo sessions fun and he let me breathe in between shoots.
"Thank you, Henrik, you're the one who does the wonderful job." I praised him and pecked him on his cheeks.
The other workers came and started taking off my makeup and clothes. I was done with this session and I hoped that my schedule was done for the day. It was already late and I was tired. I wanted to head home and rest.
"Lisa, please tell me that was the last of it?" I pleaded with her, she was my assistant and she took care of my schedule.
"Yes, but you have another shoot at the beach very early tomorrow morning." She said.
"How early?" I asked her.
"Seven ish." She said and I winced.
"That's early early, then I guess I better head home straight," I told her and I gestured to my guard that we were leaving.
"Good night Megan, please have something to eat before you go to bed," Lisa advised and I smiled at her.
She was very nice but I knew that Nana would have prepared something for me to eat before I got home.
"Home Miss?" My driver asked me when we got to the car.
"Yes, thank you." I thanked him as he opened the door and I got in.
***
"Mother, I'm back." I greeted my mother when I entered the house.
She was sitting on a chair and staring at me more weirdly than usual.
What did I do now?
She ignored me and I walked past her to my room.
"Nana, I'm back," I called out making sure not to yell, my mother hated thought yelling was very unladylike.
"Child, welcome dear." Nana pulled me into a warm embrace and kissed my cheeks. "How was your day?" She asked.
"Exhausting but I'm back, right?" I smiled at her and hugged her back.
This is how a mother should welcome her child home, my mother just sat downstairs and ignored me.
"Are you hungry?" She asked me pulling away from me.
"Very." I smiled at her and when to change my outfit.
"Megan, come down at once." My mother called out cheerfully.
Cheerfully, what is up with that?
I left my food and walked quietly downstairs with Nana beside me.
When I got downstairs, I saw a new side of my mother, she was beaming and her mood had improved.
"Mother," I called her cautiously.
"Silly girl, come here." She said and pulled me into an awkward hug.
She only ever acted like this if she got a piece of good news, I wondered what it was this time, more work for me I guess, maybe a more luxurious brand or what?
"What's going on, mom?" I asked concerned.
"This came in for you." She moved away from the table to reveal a dozen roses and a box, they were so beautiful.
Unconsciously, I moved towards them and gave them a little sniff, it smelt wonderful.
"Who are they from?" Nana asked excitedly.
"They're from the Prince." My mother announced excitedly and showed me the opened card.
Typical mother, she didn't even wait for me to open the card myself.
The back of the card had the royal logo on it meaning it came from the palace, I opened the card and read the contents and I found them very surprising.
—I'm sorry for yesterday, hope you like the flowers.
Signed L
I looked at the signature in confusion, it just said L, it didn't say it was from the prince.
"Luke, the Prince's name is Luke, that's why he signed it as his initial, he doesn't have to play Prince with you." My mother said happily.
One thing she said made sense though, I remembered when he asked me out to a Private dinner, he wasn't one to really embellish his title that much.
"Yes, it is from the Prince." I smiled at her.
"Oh, he also sent some chocolate." Nana squealed and picked up the box.
"Unfortunate, but she can't eat them." Mother told Nana and took the box away from her.
Nana looked sad and I saw that she really wanted them so I decided to ask my mother.
"Mother, it's the Prince's first gift to me, what if he asks me how they taste, I promise I will just take a bite and trash the remaining."
"Fine, you're right, he might ask you." She said thinking for a second and then she gave Nana the box. "Just a bite." She warned, looking from me to Nana.
Nana accepted the box happily.
I asked the maid to take the flowers up to my room and I went back to my food, after eating I took a hot shower and then I prepared for bed.
For fear that I'd cheated my diet too much today, I didn't dare take more than a bite of the chocolate and they really tasted nice.
Just before I slept, I received a message from an unknown number.
When I read it, I realized that it came from the Prince, he told me that he wasn't going to use his official number to contact me but he would use this one, he also sent me a romantic poem and I went to sleep thinking about what a confusing person he was.
***
The next morning I was up as early as possible because of the early photoshoot I had, Lisa called me just as I was about to leave the house and I told her that I was on my way.
My driver and guard were already ready by the car when I got there, they opened the door for me as usual and then they got in, just before the driver drove away, my guard gave me a snack bag and a cup of coffee in a coffee handler.
"What is this?" I asked him because he had never done this before.
"It's from the Prince, it was delivered from the Palace this morning." He said and I chuckled.
The Prince was really surprising to me.
The coffee was amazing, just the way I liked it and there were a lot of healthy snacks, I realized that I hadn't eaten breakfast and I couldn't help myself from eating them and drinking the coffee.
I was sure Lisa would appreciate my energy at the shoot today.
I received a good morning text from the Prince and I started giggling inside the car, maybe he wasn't a bad guy after all.
As we passed a magazine stall, I saw my face printed on the front cover of the news, there were pictures from the evening I went to have dinner with the Prince.
"Buy one of those," I told my driver and he stopped to buy one.
I accepted the magazine from him and then I started flipping the pages, this was good press, there wasn't one single bad comment about me in the news, people were already shipping me and the Prince and they were excited that we were dating.
I smiled when I finished reading the magazine, my mother would be over the moon right now.
Speaking of mothers, my phone rang and I picked it up from my bag.
I guess she had seen the news.
"Have you seen the news?" She asked excitedly. "You made the front page."