Kiss Me Not

Cedric was taken aback by Olivia's words. She had a frown on her face as she stared at him intently.

Olivia felt very disappointed at this moment. Was she the only one who had thought that there was something more than friendship between her and Cedric? She had clearly felt how Cedric had loved and treasured her even though he had never expressed it with words. She had assumed that the two of them had mutual feelings for each other despite the words being left unspoken.

He was not the Cedric she knew! Something was definitely going on! She strongly refused to believe that the man in front of her was Cedric!

"I beg your pardon? What nonsense are you talking about?" Cedric questioned, frowning. He scolded himself for making the mistake of not calling Olivia by her nickname, Livi. But it probably was not the only reason why Olivia questioned his identity. It might be because he was acting indifferent towards her.

If in the past he was really close to Olivia like she was suggesting, it might be hard to keep Olivia in the dark. It would be best to tell Olivia that he lost his memory to avoid any misunderstanding.

Cedric pursed his lips and squinted his eyes while looking at Olivia. He was analyzing the situation and trying to judge if he could trust Olivia and tell her the truth.

"Bring him back!" Olivia whispered in her trembling voice.

He frowned and said, "Bring me back? I'm confused, Livi. Yes, we have known each other since we were kids but that doesn't mean you know everything about me. Things change and so did I, Livi. Change is the only constant in this world. As I said, a lot of things have changed especially in me so please don't give it any other meaning."

Cedric inwardly sighed. Did he really change that much? It was not only Olivia, but almost everyone who knew him was questioning his change.

Olivia stared at him with a blank expression and Cedric could tell that something was going on inside her head. He pretended to be calm and acted as if there was nothing wrong and said, "You should get some rest Livi. You're probably just tired since you came straight from the airport. I will ask Will to take you back home."

Olivia feigned ignorance because she walked past him then stopped and said, "It's late and I haven't eaten dinner yet Cedric. Let's eat dinner together. I apologize if I said any nonsense a while ago."

Cedric, who did not move an inch, heard her say, "Would you please accompany me to dinner like you used to even if you happened to finish eating?"

Cedric turned around and a smile naturally curved in his lips as nodded. He could feel that Olivia was a nice person and he did not want to be rude to her. But he had an urge to clear the issue as early as possible to avoid any misunderstanding or any misinterpretations in the future. So he decided that if Olivia doubted his identity again, then he would tell her the truth.

"Is Will around?" Olivia asked as they walked back inside the palace.

"Yeah, he will be joining us for dinner," Cedric commented and suddenly flinched. He was startled when Olivia grabbed his arm and hugged it out of nowhere.

"I hope you will still spend time with me even if you're busy. I have a lot of free time now since I finished my Master's degree. So I can spend all my time with you," Olivia added, trying to brush off the awkwardness a while ago. She probably just needed to relax and rekindle the old fire in him which might have dwindled when she was away for more than a year.

She studied abroad and just recently completed her Master's Degree in Political Philosophy. She studied overseas to become better suited to be the wife of the future King. She wanted to be someone who could support Cedric as his equal partner in all aspects.

Cedric tried to remove Olivia's hands on his but Olivia held it tightly as she scoffed, "What is this? You're acting really weird! Before, you were even the one begging me to get clingy with you! Friends do simple gestures like this too, so why are you overreacting? It's not like I'm kissing you or something!"

Cedric felt confused. He honestly felt that he was really close to Olivia since he was comfortable with her but it was different. It was unlike what he was feeling around Brione. He was trying to remove Olivia's hand because he did not want her to give it another meaning and think that they were more than friends.

Olivia felt her heart getting shattered when he tried to distance himself from her. She wanted to cry out loud but controlled her emotions and maintained a happy face.

"Okay, since we are close friends, I will let you hold me like this but don't you dare do this in front of my fiance or I will never talk to you again Livi," Cedric said in a serious tone.

Olivia bit her inner cheeks and her grip on his arms tightened but she immediately loosened her hands after realizing what she was doing.

"Fiance?! How come I have never heard anything about it, Cedric? Did our King meet her already?" she asked in a single breath. If she was Cedric's fiance then that meant the King approved it.

"Not yet, but I will bring her to the palace soon so that everyone can see and meet her," Cedric excitedly said and Olivia could no longer take it. She could feel her knees were getting weak and the tears welling up in her eyes that threatened to fall down.

They saw Will who was approaching them with a wide smile on his face. Olivia released Cedric's arm and quickly ran to hug Will and said, "Oh Will! I missed you!". It was loud enough for Cedric to hear.

"Take me out of here, please. I don't want Cedric to see me cry," she weakly whispered in Will's ear.

Will looked at Cedric with an awkward smile and said, "Your Highness I'm here to fetch Miss Olivia. There's an emergency in her place."

And soon after that Will escorted Olivia towards the exit of the palace.

Cedric looked at them with knitted brows and whispered, "What was that?"