The Lost Princess

POV Dr. Ishani Mitra/Princess Hailey

Looking out of the window of Royal Jet of Cadmont, I tried to process everything that has happened in the past two weeks. I went from being a common intern at a prestigious medical college in India to a long-lost princess of the Royal family of Palmier. I wasn’t even aware of the name of this country, but all of that changed after the party where I braved to face a dare given by my friends before the last week of our internship. It was supposed to be a fun night of making wrong decisions before finally taking up the responsibilities of life, but never in my dreams had I imagined that this party would change the entire course of my life. I wasn’t aware that the foreigner whom I was approaching was the Crown Prince of Cadmont and that he was going to be the reason for the upcoming changes in my life.

From my limited research, the information that I gathered about Palmier is that it along with two other independent nations - Cadmont and Regalia are part of a confederation that was formed in the early 1920s and today are three prospering nations with a parliamentary monarchy. Crown was the nominal head of the government with 25% voting rights in legislation via nominated members in the parliament.

Currently, I was sitting across from Prince Adrian and was accompanying him to the Royal Confederation Palace. After it was established that I might be the long-lost princess, it was expected of me to arrive in Palmier but I negotiated with Prince Adrian to arrive at Confederation Palace. As I have already completed my internship and there was still time for me to join my Residency, I felt it was the right time to sort out the issue that has caused havoc in my life.

My whole life I had wished for a family, even though Dado and Dadu - the couple who had taken me under their wing when they found me abandoned in a corner of a temple during one of their morning walks, had done everything that a real parent does for their child. They were empty nesters and as Dado would say, I was a breath of fresh air for them and another chance at life. Their children had always welcomed me, but still, I felt like an outsider whenever the whole family gathered. That feeling intensified when Dadu passed away two years ago and Dado had to move in with his son. I was only trying to manage his loss when Dado also left this mortal world. Their loss was too much to handle for me, that’s why I intensified my efforts at education and was working round the clock just to escape even a single moment of loneliness. I know it wasn’t the right way to deal with grief and I was only pushing my emotional boundaries.

All of that changed fourteen days ago when my path crossed with the man sitting in front of me. I was lost in my thoughts when the pilot announced that we were about to reach our destination.

While I was busy adjusting my seat-belt, Prince Adrian said, “We are about to reach the place where you were always meant to be, I sincerely hope that from this point onward, your life would give you more reasons to be happy as it has already taken a lot from you.”

In the limited time that I had spent with Prince Adrian, I came to know a few things about him - he was a man of few words, he strives for perfection and he’s not exactly a forgiving person. The last one was from a personal experience when after I thought I had spent the night with him, I escaped in the morning while he wasn’t in the room. Later I discovered that I had neither slept with him nor was he out on a run, which I thought it was and it seemed to be a perfect opportunity to escape before things became awkward. Rather he was out with his assistant gathering information about me since last night he saw my bracelet and the mark on my back. I thought the bracelet was a gift from Dado on my selection in the med-school but it turns out that it consisted of the Royal Emblem of Palmier and every royal born was presented with it on their first birthday. Later when he found me in the hospital, where he was the Chief Guest for the inauguration of the Psychological Wing as he had made contributions to it, he went ballistic.

Flashback - 13 days ago

I was already running late and today was the inauguration of Psych-Wing in our building in recent years we have been working to develop an understanding of the importance of mental health and its effect on physical health. Even today, people assume that if one has a physical symptom then they should consult a doctor but when it’s about mental health they start behaving like it’s an alien language.

I rushed to my shared apartment with my bestie aka Dr Ishita Sinha aka Molu, it wasn’t much but a personal space with your favourite person is nothing less than finding a unicorn in the real world. As I opened the door, I found her leaning on the kitchen counter with her favourite mug, i.e., The Minion Mug. She was amused to find me in this state and I knew nothing good was going to come out of her mouth, and ladies & gents - my best friend never disappoints me.

She said, “Looks like someone had a rough night!”

I just gave her a dirty look while removing my heels as they were not meant for the speed walk that I just took and replied while filling a glass of water for myself, “If you are my bestie, you will never allow me to get drunk outside our apartment.”

She took a pause and asked, “That bad? Damn! He didn’t look bad. Anyways, it was the night of making bad decisions so I believe you will survive.”

After regaining some of my strength I replied, “Oh no! I have no idea how it was, the last thing I remember was kissing the guy against the door to his suite.”

She considered it for a moment then came towards me and sniffed me, I made a face and asked, “What do you think you are doing?”

She again sniffed me and asked, “Why does your dress smell like they have been cleaned at some luxury laundry?”

Hearing her even I pulled my dress to sniff and realized that it did smell like that but then my eyes fell on the clock and came out on seeing that I had less than twenty minutes to get ready.

I rushed into my room and came out in exactly eighteen minutes. I took a pause and patted myself on my back to get ready in record time after being drunk the previous night. That was one of the things that Dado has taught me, you should be your biggest cheerleader and should find happiness in the simplest of things else you will keep on waiting for an eternity for “the perfect moment” to arrive.

While I was rummaging through the fridge, I saw Ishita coming toward me with an apple and I hugged her and said, “I knew befriending you was the best decision of my life!” She just laughed and together we walked out.

We were busy making some last-minute preparations when our boss came and told us that the Chief Guest had arrived and we should move towards the auditorium where the doner was supposed to give a speech followed by the inauguration of the Wing. No one knew who the donor was, just that he was some royalty from some European Nation.

I was checking my Instagram when Ishita gasped and held my left hand in a death grip. Not understanding what was going on, I raised my head to ask her when I saw her eyes bulging out. Surprised by her reaction I turned to see what this was all about when a gasp also left my mouth. In front of me, standing with our dean, the head of the newly created department, and other seniors was none other than the guy I met last night and whose suite I woke up in the morning.

Turning towards her I said, “I need to disappear! Like ASAP!” and found her nodding her head vigorously. While trying to avoid being questioned for leaving the place at the last moment, we finally managed to get out. I was trying to take deep breaths to slow down my heart rate when Ishita spoke for the first time since spotting the man from last night who turned out to be no one else but our Chief Guest, “Babe! You went all the way out for that bet.”

Not being impressed with her joke, I turned towards the General Ward to continue with the examinations, and not taking the hint that I wanted to be alone, she followed me. We were about to complete our Internship in a week and there were no obligations for us to be here but I just couldn’t be in the vicinity of a certain Chief Guest and thought to use the time for better things. It was nearly break time when we came out towards the reception area and were faced with our seniors, who by the looks of it was giving the “Chief Guest” a tour of our hospital. Before we can make another escape, my mentor Dr Iqbal Siddiqui called out for me. Cursing my luck, I turned towards him with a hesitant smile and avoided looking at a certain someone. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ishita imitating me.

Dr. Siddiqui came toward us and said, “Meet the people who are responsible for making this place and us seniors run flawlessly. Our Interns are our pride and these two ladies are the best one could ask for” and then introduced us, “Dr Ishita Sinha and Dr Ishani Mitra” Feeling the heat of his gaze I finally lifted my gaze to meet his vision only to find him looking at me in anger as if he couldn’t believe that I had the audacity to sneak out of his suite in his absence.

Seeing this reaction Dr Siddiqui got confused and asked Prince Adrian, “Is there a problem Sir?” To which he replied, “Absolutely Not!” and gave an unconvincing smile. We shook hands and fell backwards as Dr Siddiqui continued with the tour.

It was seven in the evening when the doorbell to our apartment rang, knowing that Ishita was still in the shower, I went to open the door only to close it in the face of the man standing beside the railing of the corridor on the other side of the door. Who happens to be none other than Crown Prince Adrian of Cadmont.