Page 36 of Tall, Royal Hater
“You too. And let me know when you get to the coast safely.”
“Will do. Bye, Mar. We love you.”
“Love you,” Dad said at the same time.
“Love you too guys.”
When she cut the call, I let my phone slip out of my hand and bounce on the bed next to me. I dropped my head back against the wooden headboard and stared at the gold-corniced ceiling.
It was as if my insides were being twisted and untwisted like an aluminium can as I breathed through the small bout of anxiety. I said small because I’d experienced far worse moments in the last six months where the unease gave me the worst stomach cramps that left me unable to eat.
Six months ago, after my twenty-third birthday, I’d moved out into the apartment my parents owned just like my sister had done nine years ago. It was quiet sometimes, but I liked the independence and the time I got to myself.
Moving out was fine. It wasn’t the problem.
My job was the problem. The reshuffle. The workload. My rubbish manager. The same old tasks. The draining day in, day out lack of feeling like I was actually achieving anything.
I’d loved studying economics in university, but nearly two years of working as an assistant economist, with the past six months being the absolute worst, made me realise that I hated it as a career.
I hated it so much that it made me sick to my stomach. And it should’ve been easy to tell my parents that I had a draft email of my resignation waiting to be sent to HR. But it wasn’t.
Because then what? If I left my job, then what? Why had I spent three years studying economics to not have a career in it?
My parents weren’t like that. Neither was Lily nor her husband, Drew. They were all high achievers, and I didn’t want to be the only failure in the family who couldn’t decide what she wanted from life. Nor did I want to be the rich kid living off her parents’ money. That wasn’t me.
But neither was I cut out for the career they wanted me to have. Even if they had never expressed that expectation aloud, I saw it in their eyes and words. And while I wouldn’t have cared if it was anyone else, they were my parents. I wasn’t brave enough to fail at the one thing they genuinely wanted me to excel at, especially not at the chance of disappointing them.
But their unspoken expectation weighed so fucking heavy on me.
So, coming to Touma with Esmeralda wasn’t just a once in a lifetime vacation. It was an escape too from the crippling burden on my shoulders—to breathe and think and relax before I faced the storm called“Trying to figure out what life I’m meant to lead”again.
But the new job my parents had sounded so enthusiastic about threw off the recalibrating I’d spent the last couple of days trying to do. And now anxiety was rearing its evil head again.
I scratched my belly, wishing I could unpick the knots inside, and sighed.
It was going to be a long fucking night.
I swore it had barely been an hour since I finally fell asleep. At least that was what it felt like when I was startled awake by my blaring ringtone the next morning.
Eyes refusing to open fully, I groaned and patted the bedside cabinet until I found the rectangular device and blindly swiped on the call. “Hello?” I croaked.
“Are you awake?” Esmeralda whispered on the other end, sounding almost breathless.
“Yeah, I’m awake now, you little bitch,” I grumbled without malice. “Why are you calling me when you should be sucking on your boyfriend’s morning wood?”
“He’s in the palace gym,” she dismissed hurriedly. “Can I come to your room? Now. Please.”
There was something about her tone that had me rolling over and frowning up at the ceiling. “Is everything okay, Ez? Did you and Kai have a fight? Do I need to punch him?”
“No, no. No.” I could hear her shaking her head. “It’s not that. But…I can’t explain over the phone.”
“Okay. Okay, come. But I’m going to need details because you’ve got me all worried now.”
She cut the call, and I sat upright, dropping my phone on the duvet to tame my hair. I combed two hands through it and tucked it behind my ears, then scrubbed my eyes and wiped the slight residue of drool from the corner of my mouth. I sat my pillows against the headboard, and—
A rapid succession of quiet knocks echoed into the room.
Bloody Neves, did she run over?
