ADAN

The line rang several times before Yena picked it up. She was waiting till the very last moment, deciding if she wanted to talk to Adan.

Then: “Hello?”

“Hi Yena,” he said, grinning with genuine pleasure at the sound of her voice. “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay,” she answered. “Is this about the meeting with the teacher? Did you set it up?”

“Uh, no. Not exactly.”

Adan paused for dramatic effect.

“So then, what is it?”

Yena was already getting impatient. She didn’t like wasting her time.

“Look,” Adan said in a very serious tone. “I just found something out, and you should know about it. Can we meet up and talk in person, maybe on campus, in my office?”

“No.” Yena’s voice was calm but firm. “If you have something to tell me, you can say it now. You’ve got me here on the phone already, so just spit it out.”

“Okay, well I don’t really know how to tell you this, but I contacted my friend from the fashion school, and she said she was surprised to hear you were still interested in joining their program.”

“Wait… what?”

“Yeah,” Adan went on. “She said they reached out to tell you that your application was accepted, but since you never replied, they assumed you weren’t interested.”

“Wait,” Yena said loudly. “Start over. What are you saying to me right now?”

“I’m sorry, Yena, but the thing you were telling me, about your enrollment being up in the air, and Nolan was working on something to do with security plans? The school doesn’t know anything about any of that…”

“You’re saying Nolan is lying to me? Why would he do that?”

“I have no idea, Yena. I can’t claim to understand what he’s doing, or why. All I know is that it sounds like there’s a disconnect between what he’s told you is going on, and what the school is telling me now.”

“What was the thing they said about an offer? When did they reach out with an offer? Because I never got one.”

Yena’s voice was getting higher-pitched and starting to sound panicked.

Perfect.

“They sent you a formal admissions offer letter by mail, apparently. And then also reached out to the palace, but I guess Nolan told them you weren’t available, and couldn’t come to the phone every time they called.”

Yena said, “That’s insane.”

“You never got a letter?”

“No.”

“Or a phone call?”

“No! This is unbelievable, Adan…”

She trailed off, and Adan started to worry that she was beginning to doubt his story.

Time to pull back on the Nolan bashing. He was remembering, now, that Yena could be sensitive to that.

She really did love his dumb brother.

“Alright, well, listen to me, Yena,” Adan continued. “Don’t worry. This is still fixable.”

“Is it? Am I going to be able to enroll at the school, at this point? It’s so late now, with classes starting in just a few weeks.”

“Yes, it’s not too late. My friend is telling me that we can still get you in. You just need to get on top of the enrollment paperwork quickly, if you don’t want to wait another six months and have to apply all over again next semester.”

“Oh, that sounds awful,” she said. “No, I want to do it now.”

“Of course. I totally get it. And I’m gonna help you out in any way that I can.”

“I’m just so confused,” she said quietly. “Nolan told me that he was paying my tuition and finding me an apartment by the school. Why would he try to stop me from accepting an offer, after doing all that?”

“I really don’t know, Yena… And I’m so sorry that I had to be the one to tell you about all this. I’m sure it must have been hard to hear.”

Yena was quiet.

“Are you going to be alright, Princess?” Adan asked.

“I’ll be fine,” she snapped. “I just need some time to think about all of this. I’ll talk to you later.”

And then she hung up before he could say anything else.

Adan sat back and thought about the call.

He smiled.

It had gone exactly as planned.

YENA

The surprising phone call with Adan sent me on a wild ride of emotions.

First, when he told me that the human university thought I had blown them off…

Goddess, I think all the blood left my body. I went cold and frozen, numb, and paralyzed in total panic.

But he kept talking, and something did sound kind of fishy with Adan’s story. He really loved slamming Nolan. He was always finding some way to talk shit about his half-brother the prince.

So, that made me start to wonder if Adan was lying again.

And then I was mad at him. Because how dare he? How dare Adan accuse Nolan of doing something so devious and horrible?

“Nolan would never do such a thing…” Lily whispered to me. “He loves you!!”

But then I thought about that. And then I got mad at Nolan, too.

Nolan wouldn’t lie to me? Wouldn’t keep something from me? Wouldn’t betray me?

Maybe he would.

Because he had lied about still having feelings for Gina.

And he’d kept it a secret from me that he was texting her and talking to her on the phone, while he and I were together.

And he even had someone write up a huge, complicated divorce contract without ever even telling me it was something he was thinking about. And then he ambushed me with it, with no warning at all.

Maybe it was Nolan that I needed to start doubting.

When I was with him in the palace, I just believed everything he told me.

Because I loved him. And maybe that was just being swept up in passion, but it felt like something real, when we were together.

But even if Nolan was not as trustworthy as I thought, it was also possible, and even more likely, that Adan was still a big liar.

Maybe the both of them were.

I just didn’t know who to believe about this situation with the school. None of it made any sense.

I hated that it made me feel helpless, too.

How did I get lost in the middle of a situation that was supposed to be about me, in the first place? Why was I having to depend on either of these guys for information about my own life?

I sent Adan a text after we got off the phone, asking if I could have the contact info for his friend, the fashion school professor.

He responded right away, giving me the woman’s name and email address. He said he’d let her know to expect me to be in touch.

I wanted to tell him Thank You, but something held me back.

I just didn’t know if I could trust his information. I’d look into everything first. Try to figure out for myself what in the world was really going on.

I could thank him later… if it turned out that what he was telling me was really true.