Chapter 1 - Anglaise Creme

"Hahahaha! I got you now princess!" My voice went an octave lower to make the voice of the evil man.

"My prince shall save me!" I went with a higher pitch voice for the princess in distress.

It must be a weird sight to see a grown woman still play with children's toys. You're probably thinking I should be hanging with friends or having a romantic time with a boyfriend. Well the truth is, I have no friends and I have no boyfriend. I had only one friend my entire life and she ended up leaving this town to live her own life somewhere else. I'm not a social butterfly which makes it difficult to meet new people. I just don't care anymore and so I lock myself away from others, making no new friends and not meeting anybody new.

It does get lonely to just be by myself, so to get rid of the loneliness, I play with my toys and lose myself into the worlds I create. Besides, I prefer my toys over real people because; they never judge, they never say hurtful things and they never leave you.

"Hah! Your prince can not save you now!" My hand grabbed the pink doll inside the house and place it over the man's shoulders.

"Oh no!"

I quickly set them down and crawled over to half circle of teddy bears. I picked up Snow Prince and looked at him with a frantic look, slowly losing myself into the world I have created.

"Oh no! That evil man has stolen the princess! What shall we do Snow Prince?"

I placed him next to my ear, almost imagining that he really was talking to me and telling me how to save the princess. Maybe that's other reason why people tend to avoid me. I get so lost when playing with my imagination, I start blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

"Of course! Why hadn't I thought of that? Thank you Snow Prince, I shall go rescue the princess soon!" I set Snow Prince back down and hurried over to my chest of toys.

"Ok now where are you?...." I searched through the chest, muttering in frustration that I couldn't find the toy I needed. After moving around and digging, I found the toy I was looking for.

"Haha evil man! My rocket shall now crash land into your secret base!" I made noises that somewhat resemble engine noises and then made a loud crash noise when it crashed into the ground.

I was so into my world of pretend that I didn't notice my door opening and my mother walking in.

"Haha! Now I shal-"

"Hm-hm!" I froze when I heard my mother's cough and looked over to see my mother standing right in front of me.

"Hello mother." I crash landed back into reality and felt like a kid that has been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Now my mother knows about what I do but she doesn't approve at all. However, she doesn't say anything about it, which makes these kinds of situations a little less awkward.

"Anglaise, how about you, uhm, clean up and meet me downstairs. I want to have a little chat with you."

"Yes mother," I said, dishearten that I was interrupted and now I have to go talk with my mother. I had always looked up to her when I was little but as I started growing older, I soon realized that she and I had different ideas and opinions. Neither of us agreed with the other which made it harder to talk to her. Now, it almost feels like we are strangers that share a house together.

I sadly placed the rocket back, not looking forward to talking to my mother. Lately, she's been talking about how so-and-so just got engaged and how someone else has set the date for their wedding. I'm not sure why she's talking to me about these topics, they don't interest me at all! I space out whenever she starts talking about it. Shouldn't she be talking about those kinds of things to her gossipy friends?

When I came downstairs, I saw my mother's look of disappointment and pity directed at me. It did not make feel comfortable and I felt even more frighten of what she wanted to talk about.

"Honey, have you thought about, going out with someone? Someone you like?"

"Going out with someone? You mean like going out with a group of friends?" My eyes looked at her in confusion, not following what she was trying to say.

"No! That's not what I meant. I mean, has anybody caught your attention and maybe you want to be close to them? You're an adult woman now and you really should-" And that's where I started to lose her. My mind drifted back to a land with princes and evil men kidnapping the princess.

"-e couldn't make it but his son will be here tonight at the party. He is a good man from a good family. You might end up liking him."

Wait, what? What did my mother just say? She said something about a son, party and me but that's all I caught. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to start daydreaming when she was talking.

"Do you understand Anglaise?" She got up and waited for me to answer. I looked up at her, not sure what she was asking from me, but I decided it would be best to not ask questions.

"Uh, of course mother."

"Good girl. The party is in three hours and I want you to dress nicely for it. That means changing into your nice white dress and changing your hair." And with that she left me to my confusion.

What am I suppose to do? I wasn't listening and didn't hear a word she said about this guy, I don't even know his name! I scratched my head, wondering if I could somehow get out of going.

Of course I wouldn't be able to get out this. So here I am taking a nice long bath an hour before the party. Now, I don't take long baths because I slowly take my time but because of my rubber ducky. What would normally be just a small 20 minute bath turns into an epic playtime with my rubber ducky, Petit.

"Petit swam across the bubbly sea, hoping to find the hidden island of ..."

And of course I would turn up almost two hours into the party. I was nervous when hearing the sounds of laughter and the voices of other people. But I gathered my wits and walked slowly towards the room.

When I saw all those people, I shrunk back, not wanting to go in. I've never been comfortable in these kinds of situations and I tend to make a fool of myself, much to father's anger and my mother's disappointment.

When I realized that no one has seen me yet, I made up my mind to leave. I quickly covered my face and started walking backwards away from the room. Well, that is until I heard a small cough behind me.

"Anglaise! Where have you been? Nevermind, hurry up inside. There is someone waiting for you." She uttered, shooing me into the other room.

"Yes mother." I said automatically, thinking how unfair she was being. She knew I didn't like going parties and talking to others but yet still forces me to do these things.

And true to her word, the moment I stepped in a guy rushed over and greeted himself. I noticed some of the conversations have stopped and it got a little too quiet in the room. He must have noticed and asked me to step outside with him.

"Sure, I would love too." I answered quickly, preferring to be anywhere else but here. I could feel the glaring stares of the people in the room.

And though my father was not looking over at us, I knew he was watching but I couldn't tell what he was thinking. The only thing I could tell was that he didn't seem to displeased when we walked out together. Which is probably the less negative emotion he has ever directed at me..

"It was becoming a little too noisy in there and I've been wanting to talk to you Miss Anglaise."

"Oh, uh, thank you?"

"You know since our father's are great business partners, maybe we should start seeing each other more often? With your father's permission, we can out and have lunch at the bistro or go eat out in fancy restaurant..."

My mind wandered away from conversation and I felt bad because he seemed nice, but he didn't really hold my interest for too long.

And that's where I caught an interesting sight. Even if it was still dark, I could tell that the person walking down the street had color. I had a sudden urge to go see what was happening and so many questions ran through my mind; Who is that? Why are they here?

When I turned back to... whatever his name is, his back was turned to me and saying things that made no sense. I tried to catch his attention but by then he was already into his own world and nothing could take him out of it. With a sigh, I decided to just go and see what was happening.

"Uh, Miss Anglaise?"

"-re you sure this is the place? There are other nice areas with, how do I say this, uh nicer people. I'm not sure it this is really the place you want to live in."

I quietly walked up behind the tree and looked over to the two men talking. The man with glasses had a nasally voice and looked around my father's age. I couldn't see what the other man looked like with his back towards me.

"Of course I do! I know it may be difficult but I willing to take a chance and live here. Hey, maybe things will start changing with me moving here"

"Whatever you say Mr. Rosebud. I'll draw up the paperwork by the weekend and after we make sure everything is cleared, you can move in immediately."

That man, Mr. Rosebud, had a deep, soothing voice which was pleasant to listen to. He sounded energetic and confident with his decision even though the other man is trying to get him out of it. It was different from how other men spoke around here. It brought a weird feeling in me, one I have never felt before.

I was confused with this odd feeling and want. Not since that party had I had the desire to actually go out of my way to meet someone. But now, I wanted to meet this Mr. Rosebud.