Selena in the Preston's living room and had a strange expression on her face as she stared at the handsome man sitting relaxedly across from her. It was obvious from his laid-back attitude that this wasn't his first time here.
He was wearing a fitting gray suit and seemed to be in his late thirties, with had a head full of honey-brown hair. Every move he seemed to make carried an inherent noble grace and permeated a mature man's charm.
He also had affectionate eyes that made you feel like you are the only one present in his world when he looks at you warmly.
Selena had to admit that if she didn't have someone in her heart, she might have been tempted after all before Ryan came into the picture, this was her type of dream man.
But that wasn't the cause of the strange expression on her face, rather it was because the man was someone whose face she couldn't be more familiar with!
He was Nathan Royale!
The NATHAN Royale!
A living, breathing true blue-blood royal prince!
He was affectionately called the gentle prince by the media and was a frequent visitor of the front pages of influential magazines as well as tabloids. Moreover, he could also be said to be the spokesperson for the Royale's royal family as the other royals rarely appear in front of the camera, but this also made Prince Nathan even more popular as people take him as the only way to have a peek into the lives of royal families.
So meeting the real person made her feel quite complicated as only now did she seem to understand how influential and powerful her birth family was. After all, how unimportant was a family who could make a royal prince pay a personal visit to them, and judging by the servant's familiarity with him, this was definitely not the first time he had come here.
...
Nathan's eyes sparkled with amusement as he observed the woman who seemed at loss on what to do in front of him.
He had seen the shock, admiration, surprise, and finally calmness that appeared in her eyes when he came in, and to be honest, it gave his male ego a satisfying boost on knowing that the woman had recognized him. Especially when the woman looked extraordinary.
She was a petite woman, he notice and probably due to her being at home, she was clad in a casual red dress that stopped at her ankles.
The color, he thought to himself, really suited her as it made her skin look extra fairer.
He soon noticed that the subject of his scrutiny was starting to feel uncomfortable under his heated gaze and could only withdraw his gaze unwillingly, not wanting to seem rude.
Selena inaudibly breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed he had stopped staring at her. She wondered to herself though, why he was staring at her.
'Could it be there was something stuck on her face? But that shouldn't be... Right?', She wasn't so sure even though she had thoroughly checked her face before coming downstairs.
It wouldn't be eye boogers, right?!
Apart from this, she couldn't think of any other reason why Prince Nathan would stare so fixedly at her.
Thinking of this, she secretly brought her hands to her face and wiped the corner of her eyes with a finger, while pretending to do it naturally.
She only put down her hands when she felt that they should have been cleaned.
At first, Nathan watched uncomprehendingly as she 'secretly' cleaned her eyes but comprehension soon dawned on him as he suppressed the urge to laugh while giving Selena a quick glance.
The two of them continued sitting in awkward silence, actually, Selena understood that it was wrong to just keep sitting here without saying anything but even after racking her brains, she still couldn't think of anything to say!
What could she say to someone whose circle she never thought she would be a part of someday?
And forcing herself to say something would be weird and maybe even seen as fawning over him, so with this conclusion, she thinks it's a better choice for her to keep silent.
Nathan glanced at the woman who looked so awkward that her whole body seemed to scream that she wanted to be out of here and a hint of admiration appeared in his eyes. He admired her because normally when other women recognises him, both those socialites and celebrities, they couldn't wait to throw themselves into his arms.
Being used to that kind of occurrence, it came as a pleasant surprise to him to see a woman remain calm in front of him and not even force herself to start a conversation with him.
So for one of the rare times, Nathan started a conversation to dispel the awkwardness in the air.
"You must be the Preston's newly found daughter?"
Of course, he didn't need to ask as he had already noticed the similarity between her and Aunt Preston.
Even though Selena felt somewhat ill at ease with his presence, she still nodded at him then seemed to feel that wasn't enough, and answered meekly.
"Yes."
Nathan frowned imperceptibly at her behavior as he reflected on himself.
Could it be that I am that scary? But that should be... I have been praised by others as handsome, charming, noble, but never scary. Or why else would I be known as the 'gentle prince'?
He must have voiced his thoughts out loud as Selena looked startled as she asked doubtfully while staring at him, "Uh? Scary?"
Nathan also realized his mistake and decided that since he had already asked, he should follow through with it and know the answer. So he asked while staring straight at Selena.
"Am I scary?"
Selena looked doubtfully at him, wondering why he would suddenly think of asking such a question but she still answered him honestly.
"No, you're not."
Nathan searched her face and on seeing that she seemed to be telling the truth and not just patronizing him, a smile appeared on his face as he asked her with puzzlement in his tone.
"Then why are you behaving like I am a man-eating flower? This shouldn't be how you normally behave, right?"
Selena was stunned at his words.
'He was really observant', she thought in amazement.
Bur his words also made her realize how stiff and uncomfortable she must have been behaving, so she relaxed and smiled at him.
"I am sorry. I was just a bit unused to it, after all, it's not every day you get to see a royal in real-life", She said jokingly.
Nathan also felt relieved when he saw that she had relaxed and could now even joke with him.
"Why are you unused to it? I am just a normal human being like you, everything else aside."
They both laughed before Nathan continued asking.
"So I heard that you are the CEO of an entertainment company over there?"
Selena looked flattered and also surprised that he knew of that.
"Yes, I am the CEO and also a shareholder of Globe Entertainment. It is owned by my best friend."
'Globe Entertainment?', he thought it sounded familiar but couldn't remember where he had heard it from at the moment. Someone must have mentioned it to him but he shouldn't have paid attention to it probably because the company was not yet at a level where it could attract his attention.
Furthermore, it was a company away in another country. But he would never let her know these thoughts...
"You are amazing", he complimented her instead, with sincerity as he knew that it wasn't really easy for a woman to have gotten this far on her own.
This was because even if her friend who she said owned the company had supported her but she, Selena didn't have any real ability, she would have been dragged down from that position long ago. So this was also an acknowledgment of her strength.
A smile stained Selena's eyes on hearing his compliment and she thanked him seriously, regardless of how sincere he was in saying it.
"Thank you."
Most people had only seen her up there but disregarded the efforts and hard work she spent to get that far, thinking she only achieved that position because Nina was the Chairman.
So whenever someone complimented her, she liked to answer and thank the person seriously as she believed it was an affirmation of her hard work.
The room fell into a comfortable silence after she thanked him. Feeling thirsty, she picked up the coffee on the table and took a sip but Nathan's next words almost made her spurt out the coffee in her mouth!
"Did your family tell you about the marriage alliance between our families which would be between you and me, now that you have been found?"
Managing to control herself from embarrassment if she did spurt out the coffee, Selena's eyes widened in incredulity as she stared at Nathan.
'He is the one? ! The one I would be having a marriage alliance with? !"
D*mn it! Nina jinxed it!