The Royal Contract

She woke up this morning very frustrated and disappointed by his absence.  Her hands seemed to be searching for him right next to her even before she opened her eyes, only to remember that he did not come to visit last night.

Alex finished very late in his meeting and decided that he should better stay at his place than let Dani wait for him. As an understanding girlfriend, she agreed with him even if all she wanted was to wait for him.

But she figured he must be tired, and his apartment was closer to his office than hers. She should be more considerate with his needed rest. She just had to wait a little longer to see him. She figured that a few more hours or half a day would not matter that much.

She decided to knock on her friend's door. After a few seconds, she opened it with a frown on her face. "What?" She asked sleepily. 

"Jacky, I am going for a jog." She told her, observing her friend's appearance. "What happened to your date last night?" She could not stop the curiosity in her voice.

She heard her came in late last night, but she appeared to be alone. 

"It was fun. Sebastian brought me to a nice restaurant. We run into Marcus. We had dinner. We left. He brought me home and kissed me goodnight at the door." She stated like she was in a marathon, then started closing the door.

"Wait! What?" She stopped the door from closing. "You ran into Marcus. What happened?" She did not expect that.

"Nothing. Marcus was out on a date. He just said hi and moved on. Nothing much to talk about." Jacky said as if she did not care.

"Are you sure you are, ok?" She suddenly felt concerned about the news.

"Go away. All I want to do is sleep." Jacky finally answered back before she closed her room, and all was silent once again.

"Bye. But if you need someone to talk to." She knocked once again to taunt her friend, who was never really a morning person. 

But all she heard was her groan followed by a soft bang. She assumed it was a fluffy object, like a pillow, that hit the wooden door. It was her cue to leave her alone.

She wanted to ask her more, but she knew it was not the time. But for now, she had to get out and clear her mind.

She made her way out of her apartment and into the elevator. She could feel the stiffness of her body from the way she had tossed and turned on her bed last night. 

"Good morning, Jack." She greeted the doorman, who always had a friendly smile on his face.

"Have a good run, Miss." Jack greeted her as usual. "But be cautious. It seems rain is in the air," Jack warned as he appeared to be feeling the slight chill in the wind.

"Thanks. I'll take note of that." She did look at the sky and notice some clouds forming not far from where she was, but she guessed it was still too small to cause rain. But she did feel a bit cold, but not enough to stop her from making her run.

She continued on her already routine path, running alongside some other joggers. She did notice the two men that followed her not too far, but they were still keeping their distance, the way she wanted it. 

Alex did not like the idea of pulling her bodyguards at this time. But at least, he agreed to a compromise. Two only with the condition that they would not interfere in her daily routine unless in extreme circumstances.

She was almost through with her run and was on her way back. But she accidentally tripped on a ball that crossed her path, thrown by a boy playing on the grass. It rolled on her way, and she was not able to avoid it.

"Oops!" She could feel herself falling, unable to control her movements. It happened so fast. All that was left for her to do was readied herself for the impact.

Fortunately, somebody caught her fall before she hit the pavement. That would have been a bad fall, and she could be seriously hurt if that happened.

"Oh! Thanks so much." She said as she steadied herself in the arms of the stranger. She was still a bit shook by the incident as she tried to calm her nerves.

"I am just glad that I was able to grab you before you landed on the ground, Dani." The man said as he continued to hold on to her.

She finally looked up to see a familiar face. "Troy, I did not see you jog earlier." She said as she felt relieved that it was him who saved her.

When she looked around, she could see that the two guards watching her were already on their way to rescue her, but she signaled them to go away. 

She did not like the other people to notice that men were guarding her as if she was someone important. As far as everyone should know, she was the same as everyone else.

"I woke up late and decided to get some coffee first." He stated, helping her regain her balance. But when she tried to put pressure on her left foot, she suddenly felt a slight pain.

"Oh my, look at what I have done to you." She gasped upon seeing the coffee that spilled on his shirt as she tried to ignore her foot. She thought that the pain would go away as she moved it more.

"Don't worry about it, but at least you manage to wake me up." He teased her, which also made her smile. "Anyway, are you through because I am just starting?" He asked as he let go of her.

"Yeah, I am on my way back. I started early today." She said, moving a bit towards the opposite direction. "I hope you have a nice run."

"Sure. Well, hope we can run together next time." He told her as he also started to move on the other path.

But before he could go far, he turned around and noticed that Dani was limping a bit. She was favoring her right foot. He surmised that something must have happened on her other foot.

"Are you alright?" He was at her side in a few seconds. "I think you sprained your left ankle. Do you want me to look at it?" He asked as he stopped her from moving any further. 

"It is probably just some cramp. It would go away in a little while." She tried to step on it some more, showing him that she was ok, but the more she forced it, it only turned worse.

"Let us sit over there. Let me have a look." He tried to convince her when he saw a bench a few meters from where they stood. 

Having no choice because of the growing pain, she finally conceded and allowed Troy to lead her to the bench.

"I have to see what is wrong with your foot. It might hurt a bit." He warned her, knowing how painful a sprain could be if it were the case.

She only nodded when he knelt in front of her and started to carefully took off her shoe and sock. But she still felt the pain in the slight movement.

"As I suspect, it has started to swell." He told her as he inspected her foot further. His suspicion was correct. Dani did have a sprained ankle. "You can't walk on that." He told her.

"I think I can still make it back home." She insisted as she tried to put her shoe back on but failed.

"Let me help you instead. We can grab a cab, then assist you up to your apartment." He suggested since he could not think of any other way that she could go home.

"Fine." She finally conceded after a few seconds of thinking about it, knowing that she had no other choice. At least it was Troy, her friend who was helping her, not some strangers she did not know.

"Are you ready?" He asked as he held on to her shoe in one hand and stood up to assist her.

"Just give me a minute." She told him, preparing herself for the pain that was to come. But as she sat down, her eyes wandered to her two bodyguards.

She could still see the men hovering near them but pretended to be doing something. She did see one of them holding a phone. Was he reporting to Alex about what was happening to her? Or, maybe he was only talking to someone else. 

Sitting now on the bench had given her time to study those men that she usually ignored. She wondered if Troy even noticed the two. But in fairness to them, they knew how to blend in with the crowd.