The Elopement Proposition

Hi, everyone ! Well, this is the first short story I've written in years, so I may be a little rusty. Basically, I'll be using Reedsy to get back into writing again. Either way, I hope you like it.

**

“Just how do I do this?” Alice asks herself as she looks out the window of a London cab.

The gently falling snow is covering everything in a light, pristine white powder, as if stardust descended upon Brixton Hill. Normally, Alice would have watched every single snowflake fall as a smile of wonder crept across her face. After all, back in Luiseithia, her small home country in the Iberian Peninsula, the gray December skies only give way to rain. Instead, the weight of this week marking the start of her last month in the UK falls upon her.

“Today has to be the day I ask him,” she whispers to herself.

How do you ask someone, even someone who has felt like home to you for four years, to run away and elope with you?

There is no time to reflect as the taxi pulls in front of Contaldi’s, the small café and restaurant with the vibrant, mural-covered walls and simple, pub style food that has become Alice’s go-to dining spot since she came to London six years ago to pursue a Masters in International Relations. She takes a deep breath before opening the turquoise-painted doors. This is it.

She scans the entire restaurant. As usual, the café's regulars greet her as she walks in. Simon, the restaurant’s owner then walks up to her, says hello, and leads her to a quiet table near one of food joint’s big windows. She beams as she catches the gaze of a familiar pair of cornflower blue eyes.

“My shining star, you’re here,” Tom exclaims as he cups Alice’s delicate face and gives her a passionate kiss. Even after four years as a couple, Tom’s kisses still feel electric, as if fireworks have been literally set off every time his lips touched hers.

“These are for you,” Tom says, breaking into the wide grin that never fails to melt Alice’s heart. He hands her a bouquet of bright pink camellias, Alice’s favourite flowers, as he leads her to the table that he has reserved.

“My angel! You always know how to make me feel special, huh? Thank you.”

Alice breaks into a bright smile. This is certainly something she never expected when she moved to England for her studies, and yet everything about her relationship with Tom feels like puzzle pieces falling into place. It was obviously meant to be that Tom would overhear her humming “Somewhere” from West Side Story on the way to their first class and then, pluck up the courage to talk to her. It was obviously meant to be that both of them would share the same story --- foreigners pushed into a career they honestly want nothing to do with by family and shipped to the UK to study --- and they would bond over it, apart from the myriad of common interests they have. It was obviously meant to be that the deep friendship that they have developed, at the time, for two years would slowly transform into love.

Their love is like a flower whose petals slowly and gently opened up to bloom, which is why it hurts Alice tremendously that she now has to ask her beloved Tom to rush to marriage.

They both sit down. The low winter sun is pouring through the window, bringing out the gold in Tom’s auburn curls and making him look like an angel amongst mortals.

“Oh goodness,” Alice sighs and thinks to herself. “If only…if only I didn’t have to….”

“Darling, are you okay?”

“Uhm, yes, I’m fine,” Alice replies. “It’s just that, well, I can’t believe I only have a month left in London. I can’t bear the thought of not being with you.”

She tries to find the words to explain everything --- her elopement proposal and why she wants to rush to marriage --- but none comes out. In her silence, Tom slowly reaches across the table and wipes the tears flowing from Alice’s forest green eyes with his handkerchief. With his other hand, he takes Alice’s left hand and rubs her palm with his thumb, a gesture Tom has done every single time his girlfriend has been upset.

“Listen to me, Alice darling. I can not live without you either,” states Tom. His blue eyes are also brimming with tears he is trying to fight back.

“I need you so much. I promise you that no matter what, I will always love you. No matter what happens I vow to be with you for the rest of our lives, okay?”

“Okay, sweetheart. You know I feel the same way. I am yours forever. I love you.”

They hold each other’s hands and stare into each other’s eyes for a few minutes in silence. Even with no words between them, Alice can see in those cornflower orbs so much love and devotion towards her.

“Alice, you can’t give this up now. Tell him,” the voice in her head says.

“I…”

“Yes, you have a little present from me. Merry Christmas, my star!”

Tom looks at her with a little impish grin on his face. He hands her a present impeccably wrapped in gold paper that almost feels like silk to the touch and a bright pink satin ribbon. He nods to nudge Alice to open the gift. Inside is a hardbound book with a soft, rose-coloured velvet cover with the words “Our Story” stitched in gold.

“What’s this, sweetheart?”

“Open it, darling.”

Alice turns to the front page and gasps. On the very first page of the book is a photo of her and Tom from the day they met in that classroom six years ago. Plastered on her face is a bright smile, something she rarely gave in photos until that moment. On the side of the photo is Tom’s flowing handwriting and the words “I didn’t know it then, but this was the day my life changed for the better.”

“Is this a scrapbook of our moments together?”

“Yes, it is, darling. I hope you like it,” replied Tom with a chuckle. “It’s just that you told me that you didn’t like being in photos unless I took it. I thought to commemorate that.”

“It’s wonderful, darling! Oh my angel, thank you.”

Tears begin to flow as Alice flips each page and sees more photos of them. On the fourth page is a shot taken by Simon four years ago of her in Tom’s arms, his soft lips on hers. She smiles as memories flood of their first kiss, right after they both confessed that they were in love with each other, when she's jolted by the caption on the photo.

“’Table Number 7 will always be special to me now?’ But we’re sitting on…the same table right now!”

Tom can't help giggling at Alice’s realisation. He then whispers to her to go on and flip to the next pages.

Alice can’t believe he would create something like this for her. Memories flood her mind as she sees shot after shot of them on vacation, them on the steps of their academic building, them in the kitchen of Tom’s Chelsea flat cooking up a storm whilst humming tunes, them in the same table in the same restaurant celebrating after passing exams. Each photo is accompanied by a sweet caption narrating her beloved’s thoughts on every moment, a little chronicle of their four years together.

However, at the back of her mind, she knows this is also everything she’s going to lose if she doesn’t ask Tom to run away with her and marry her right now. But how will she explain everything to him?

How will she explain to Tom that she needs to return to Luiseithia as his wife if she ever wants to have a chance of staying with him? How will she explain to Tom that her father had promised her hand to a man she has never even met, a man whose country she has never even been to? Indeed, how will she explain to Tom that the family business she had alluded to in many conversations they have had as both friends and lovers was actually the royal family of her country? How will she explain to Tom that her real name isn’t actually Alice Galiza, the name royal advisers asked her to use to hide her identity during her London stay, but Her Royal Highness Princess Helena Alice Carolina of Luiseithia, a member of the Galizarda Dynasty that has ruled the country for over 300 years?

There is no time to think of the “how”. It is now or never. Alice takes a deep breath before opening her mouth.

“Tom, my angel, listen….”

“Your Highness, there you are.”

Alice sighs. She knew it. She had written a letter to the Luiseithian Embassy to let her extend her stay in London a month after receiving her diploma yesterday to buy her time. It's time that she would have used to marry her beloved, had he said yes. But now, that chance is gone. She would have to fly back to her country, back to her gilded cage, back to being forced to be a stranger’s wife.

Alice looks up at the five men in blue suits….that are surrounding Tom.

“Your Highness, your father, the King…”

“I know. And I told him I wanted a month more in London, a month more of normalcy. Can’t he give that to me?”

Alice’s green eyes bulge as she stares at Tom. In the six years they’ve known each other, she’s never seen him looking as steely and firm. His eyes catch hers and the expression in them softens.

“I’m so sorry, my star,” Tom, tears flowing from his cornflower eyes, manages to sputter out. “I wanted to tell you today but I didn’t know my father would actually send bodyguards to come pick me up and fly me back to my country at the end of the month.”

“Tell me what?”

He takes a deep breath before beginning to explain.

“My real name is Frédéric Thomas Edmond Raphaël d’Oréalac. I’m the Crown Prince of Florianbourg.”

Alice’s hands fly to her mouth in shock. Could it be? Is this really….

Before Alice could even say anything, she sees Tom face the men in suits for a second time.

“I know that I’m betrothed. I know that Princess Helena of Luiseithia is my intended bride, but this is the woman who has captured my heart. This is the only woman I could ever imagine by my side. If she doesn’t become my queen, I would give up…”

“It’s you? You’re Prince Frédéric? I should have known.”

“Unfortunately, yes."

Alice’s eyes well up with tears as she extends out her hand. For the very first time, she doesn’t try to hide the gold ring on her right pinky, a ring with an embossed design that tells everything about her identity.

“The Royal Crest of Luiseithia,” Tom breathlessly states.

“Princess Helena. It’s nice to finally meet you, Prince Frédéric. I prefer to be called just Alice, though.”

He pulls Alice close and gives her a passionate kiss. It's surreal to him that the very woman that makes his heart beat and the woman his father arranged for him to marry are actually one and the same. The same winds of fate that had brought them to each other’s lives has decided to play one last trick on them.

Tom stares at the scrapbook he made for Alice, still on the restaurant table, and cheekily smiles.

“I would like a private moment with the princess, if you don’t mind.”

The guards nod at each other and file away from the restaurant. Tom giggles as he shrugs at his smiling beloved Alice.

“So, now what?”

“Well, now, you turn to the last page of the book.”

“Okay, okay, Your Royal Highness,” Alice teases. “No need to rush.”

She flips to the very last page, and there it is: written in Tom’s fluid handwriting is the question “Will you marry me, my star?”

“I know now I technically don’t have to do this, but I love you so much that I want you to have a choice,” Tom gently states, one knee bent in front of him. In his hands is a brilliant emerald-cut pink sapphire ring encased in a velvet box.

“Alice Galiza, Your Royal Highness Princess Helena Alice Carolina of Luiseithia, whatever name you choose to give yourself, I know that it’s you that makes my life worthwhile. Please do me the honour of being your husband.”

“Yes, absolutely yes!”

Alice practically leaps into her now-fiancé’s arms and touches her lips to his. She feels the familiar fireworks as she closes her green eyes that are still burgeoning with tears, this time happy ones. Her prince holds her tight and strokes her long, chestnut tresses.

“Who knew,” Alice blurts out, a giggle escaping.

“Who knew. But it a way, it makes sense, you know?’

“Not even royal decree could stop us from being together. But of course!”

The couple relish this moment. They know that in their future, there will be a change of titles. Crowns will be put on their heads. In this exact moment, though, with just the two of them --- the same way it shall be when you strip away the jewels and the prefixes from their names – they are just two university sweethearts deeply in love. They are just Tom and Alice, just the way they both always wanted it.