But largely my life was now filled with happiness. I worked at one of the bars that I could see from my window, the hours perfect for my start of classes at UCLA, providing me with my own money to pay my bills and provide the necessities.
And every once in a while, I would go check my bank account to find a cool grand deposited there. The first time I had freaked out and immediately gone to the bank, fully expecting that they had made a mistake.
When they had assured me that they hadn’t made a mistake, I realized that someone was putting money there. The trail was covered, but I had a good suspicion of who it was.
As much as I wanted to call him up and tell him to take his money back, I didn’t. In fact, I hadn’t really talked to any of the kings, knowing that their graduation was fast approaching. Soon they would no longer be seniors but a part of their worlds, forced to handle their duties and whatever else their families wanted them to do.
I missed them. The first few weeks here had been rough without them constantly around and I had cried more than I had smiled. I missed him the most, taking my phone and hovering over his number more than once before placing it back down. He had enough to worry about finishing up his senior year.
Sarah had helped me get over my funk and once I had started working at the bar, I had started to ease into a routine. I wasn’t old enough to sling drinks, so I waitressed instead, the local customers starting to recognize me and know my name.
I felt like I was slowly regaining a life, a happy one though there was a large part of my heart missing until we were reunited once more.
I just hoped it was soon.
“Are you ready?” I asked Sarah, who had finally composed herself and looked like the radiant bride she was.
She looked at herself once more in the mirror before nodding. “I’m ready.”
I reached in and gave her a small hug, careful not to mess up her hair or her dress. “I’m so happy for you. You are going to knock his socks off.”
She gave me a tender smile, hugging me back quickly. “I’m so glad you came back, Anna. You look so happy.”
I felt happy.
I handed her the bouquet from the dresser and opened the door, finding Sarah’s father standing on the other side. He took her hand, tears in his eyes, and my heart lurched at the tender moment. I wasn’t sad that I would never have a similar moment but happy that I could be witness to this one.
I was no longer comparing my life to anyone else’s but forging my own path as Anna Komita. It had been a hard pill to swallow, knowing that I would never have the perfect life or even have parents to share these sorts of memories with, but it was my life and I was stronger because of everything I had gone through.
I was a stronger person. I had gone to the brink of death more times than I cared to admit over the last year and every time I had come back just a bit different. My time with the kings had taught me that I was a different person, and not because of what they had done.
It was because of what they had given me.
I walked past Sarah and her dad, moving into the lobby where the doors would be thrown open and we would proceed down the aisle where her husband-to-be waited. The little church was perfect, a last- minute decision by the bride as the weather was calling for rain. The reception would be in a nearby art gallery and then the newlyweds would jet off to Hawaii for their honeymoon. I had offered to water plants and feed animals while they were gone, rounding out my duties as maid of honor.
“Pauper.”
I closed my eyes briefly, knowing that my mind had to be playing tricks on me. That sounded like Royce’s voice and there was no way it could be.
Yet there was only one person who called me pauper.
Turning, I saw him standing in the doorway, his suit fitting his body like a glove. “Royce?”
He gave me that cocky smile of his, the very one I saw in my dreams at night, and I ran both hot and cold at the same time. “You are a sight for sore eyes, pauper.”
I looked down at the light green gauzy gown I was wearing, the one-shoulder look the perfect silhouette. It gave me a moment to collect my thoughts, not believing the turn of the events. I wanted to throw myself into his arms and never let him go in case this wasn’t reality but a delicious dream.
Royce was here in California.
Slowly my eyes met his and I felt warm all over from his intense gaze. I felt like it had been years since I had seen him in person. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard that a certain maid of honor needed a date,” he stated, walking closer, his hands tucked into his pockets. “And I wasn’t about to let you go alone. God, I missed you, pauper.”
I had missed him, so very much.
Before I could tell him, Sarah came down the little hallway, her mouth in full smile. “Oh! You made it!”
I turned to face my friend. “You invited him?” I had told Sarah everything about my time in Sweden, right down to the simple fact that I loved this man before me. She had wiped my tears, allowed me to have more than one drunken night at her house, and now she had brought him here.
“I did,” she said, giving Royce a once-over, an appreciative look in her eyes. “And he’s as gorgeous as you described.”
I flushed as I met Royce’s laughing eyes. “I might have exaggerated.”
“Careful, pauper,” he answered with a wink and a grin, one that would definitely be something that I would hear about later. “You’re going to give me a large ego.”
I rolled my eyes. “Come on,” I told the bride, who was still eyeing my man. “We have got to get you married, remember?”
We took our positions at the door and I stole another glance at Royce, my heart full. “You will be here?”
He nodded, his eyes warm. “I’m not going anywhere.”
That was what I liked to hear. This ceremony couldn’t go fast enough now.
***
After the ceremony and thousands of pictures that made my mouth hurt from the smiling, I hurried outside of the church, finding Royce waiting for me at the steps. He barely got one word in before I was throwing myself at him, hugging him tightly. “God, you are really here.”
“I am,” he said, crushing me to him, taking my breath away as he did so. “You feel so good in my arms, pauper. Damn, I had forgotten what this was like.”
I buried my face in his suit, breathing in the scent that I had tried to replicate for months now. “What about school? You are about to graduate!”
“It’s the weekend, pauper,” he reminded me, pulling back to brush his lips over mine. I tilted my head upward and grabbed the lapels of his suit coat, deepening the kiss. He groaned as I did so. “You’re killing me, pauper.”