The whole beach at the villa was a non-event as far as Georgia was concerned. Everything went downhill after Hoshi had returned after changing to the beach wear. George sulked the entire time and refused to get a dip into the ocean. The two sisters went back into the villa after a few minutes under the umbrella, claiming the temperature was too hot for them. Lunch was horrible. She was glad when it was all over, and they were on the way back to the house. Perhaps they should have gone for shopping instead, as she had proposed initially. She had her doubt as to if the princess was the right choice for George, if she couldn’t even stand the weather at the time of the year when it was cooler.
The party was much better with several VIPs coming over to meet the princesses. Malee spent her time standing and shadowing Georgia around the hall and lobby as Georgia went back and forth so she didn’t have time for herself. The only 2 events she remembered were meeting the art professor and the police commissioner. She handed the wine and cheesecake to the professor who was talking to George about the university entrance and smiled at Malee when he saw her. Commissioner’s face went whiter than usual and his teeth grinned when he recognised Malee as the girl who was with George in the police station a while back.
Overall, it was a night that neither the guests nor the servants would forget, except for Georgia. She had seen no interaction between George and the princess at all. In fact, George was seen far closer to the art professor than any other guests, and he was supposed to be the leading the family in Pa’s absence! As for the princess, she seemed so much weaker than her sister, who was a star athlete in the university. She reminded Georgia of the princess from the fairy tales, then a real-life person in flesh and blood. The commissioner’s face turned white when he saw Malee. For reasons, she couldn’t fathom and had been avoiding her for the whole time.
The party couldn’t finish sooner for Georgia as she observed the guests and exchanges of pleasantries while holding an empty cup in her hand. Malee had tried to refill it several times, but she objected to it every time. She wanted to feel awake for once. With the party done and over with the guests having left the house, it was time for the princesses to prepare for return home the next day and they disappeared into their rooms for the night.
Unable to sleep, Georgia jumped out of the bed and went down to the kitchen for a snack which wasn’t in the dark as she expected. Malee was in it.
“You can’t sleep either?” asked Georgia, surprising Malee in return.
“Yes. I thought I come up to eat something.” replied Malee. She wondered why didn’t Georgia called her to bring up the snack instead. “Would you want me to prepare something to eat? What would you like?” asked Malee.
“Make me a sandwich and wine.” replied Georgia. Malee wanted to ask if it was all right to have wine so late at night, but she followed the orders. Georgia didn’t even look at the sandwich prepared by Malee, but she just popped it into her mouth with a free flow of wine. Malee stood and watched till Georgia was chewing rather loudly and then went back to prepare her own snack, a few baked sweet tapiocas with a glass of water.
“Water? Why not get wine?” asked Georgia when Malee put down her snack on the tabletop.
“No, I feel dizzy when I drink wine.” replied Malee.
“Isn’t why you are here? Because you can’t sleep?” asked Georgia, between the sandwich and the wine. Malee shook her head. She couldn’t sleep because she was too hungry from following Georgia everywhere, not that she couldn’t close her eyes.
Georgia sighed. She must be drunk. She nodded to Malee’s explanation and emptied her glass before leaving the kitchen. Malee finished her snack as well and cleaned both her plate and cup and Georgia’s before returning to bed. She had to prepare for the farewell party the next day.