Chapter 108 - Nice To Meet You

After the initial takeoff, the ride wasn't as bad as the princess had expected it to be. The tube certainly did slip down the water slide at a much faster rate than she enjoyed, but the benefit of Samuel being the one to sit more on the outside was the fact that she didn't terribly soaked by the time they reached the bottom. If given a choice in the future, she wouldn't chose to do it again however. It just wasn't her cup of tea. If she was going to go on anything that would considered slightly intimidating, she would've preferred a roller coaster. Daunting still, but at least there was no water involved.

Samuel seemed to be having a rather good time however. It had been years since it had gone to such a place as it usually cost a lot and it was hard to accommodate everyone with this younger siblings. Lena was actually surprised that he laughed as they went down the slide, she didn't really see how one could with how fast it was going, but maybe her fiancé was a bit of a thrill seeker and found enjoyment in such things.

This didn't quite make sense to Lena however as she would've presumed if he was a thrill seeker that things such as her attitude and going to the gun range wouldn't have thrown him off or made him uncomfortable. Unless perhaps he was a certain type of thrill seeker. This was something that she was going to have to pay attention over time to figure out.

By the time the fourth ride came around. The little queen had had enough of the water and refusing to join her brother and Samuel who were interested in going on the volcano ride.

"Three is enough." She stated as Leo tried unsuccessfully to convince her to get in line with the other two.

"Three is hardly anything compared to the amount of rides they have here. Just one more and we'll take a break and enjoy the rest of the park." Leo tried to negotiate even going as far as trying to grab her hand to lead her along with him. When this failed and she shot him a death stare for trying to physically move her, he looked over to Samuel to attempt to implore him with his eyes to help out.

Looking between the two of them as the line moved forward, he stayed quiet to think for a moment before he replied. He knew that he wasn't capable of convincing Lena to come with just by asking her, but there might be another that she would consider joining them.

"No." Lena said firmly before Samuel even opened his mouth to speak. She couldn't deny though he gave her one of the most charming smiles she had ever seen on him in response to this before he spoke.

"You can't say no when you don't even what I'm going to say yet." He replied causing her to narrow her eyes at him as she waited to hear what he had to say.

"Well, I can't really convince her to do anything that she doesn't want to do." He replied looking over Leo before his gaze returned to Lena.

"But I think that I could offer something in return if she humors for one more ride that I think she would enjoy. Something sweet." Bribery, of course he would try bribery. The princess knew that the moment she saw that look in his eyes that he was plotting something. She didn't say anything in response to this however as she continued to stare at him while waiting to see what else had to say.

Sweets might've been one of her weaknesses, but she wasn't so quick to agree to anything until she was certain what exactly she was going to be getting out of it. Some things were more worth it than others.

"I know they do shaved ice here and funnel cakes, and not too far away there's supposed to be a place that does great sundaes." He continued causing the princess to raise an eyebrow at him. It was slightly tempting, but not anything special. It was something that she could easily go and do on her own time if she so desired.

"I also have a few recipes that I thought would be good to save for the engagement party, but that I'm sure we could make some time to try out beforehand after this." He added, hoping that it would be enough to get her to agree since she seemed to enjoy what he made.

"It's a very good try, but no. You need to work more on making your offer sound more tantalizing if you want to change my mind over something this serious. No go before I decide to leave on my own." The princess replied as she moved positions so that she was standing near a more shaded spot instead by where the line for the ride started. She couldn't deny that it was a good effort, but she wasn't willing to concede that easily. She would have Romeo get her shaved ice anyways as it would help her to cool off on this rather hot day.

Leo and Samuel gave up after this on trying to convince her to come with them and went ahead of their own. It wasn't so much that she didn't like such places, it was more that she felt like she couldn't ever let her guard down when so many people were around. With the background she grew up in, someone letting their guard down even when everything seemed perfectly safe and normal could cost them dearly.

It had been years since anything truly horrible had happened with Lena, but she never was able to relax after that because it was hard to tell who to trust or not. Even more so when there were other people around that she needed to keep an eye on such as her brother and fiancé who didn't seem as concerned as she was.

She felt like her brother should've known better than to be so relaxed and nonchalant all the time, but at least in his case even if he did happen to miscalculate a situation it wasn't like he couldn't handle himself to fix it. Samuel on the other hand wasn't at that point yet and probably wouldn't be for a few more weeks still.

Because it was summer, the park was particularly packed because of how many people were trying to escape the sweltering heat with their families. The princess couldn't deny that this summer felt far warmer than the last had, but she didn't regret her decision to not follow the other two on the next two rides they decided to go on. The shade provided plenty of comfort for her to stand around waiting or sitting as it were since Samuel had offered to compensate her with two shaved ices since she had humored them to wait until they spent a little more time messing around before they would all go get something to eat. The cool breeze was comfortable enough that the princess was able to close her eyes for a moment to enjoy it while waiting for the other two to return.

Everything was dark, but she could hear it so clearly, almost too loudly in fact the click a gun makes when the safety is unlocked. Her breathing caught in her throat when she heard this sound because it was too dark to tell where it came from and she couldn't see anything.

It was only until after the shot rang out that she came back to reality with a start and she was able to see what was going on around her. She must've had a rather shell-shocked look on her face because Samuel was looking at her oddly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. We just got back with the shaved ice." He apologized, but she only had listened as she glanced around them. The sound felt almost too real to have been a nightmare from her dozing off, but there was no one around that looked to be a threat. Everything seemed normal.

"It's fine. The breeze was so nice I must've dozed off." The princess turned her attention to the shaved ice in front of her as she spoke. It did look good.

It is a rather nice breeze sitting under here." He agreed as he moved to take the seat next to her while Leo sat across from them. Lena knew that Leo was looking at her but she didn't look up to match his gaze as she started to eat her shaved ice. The cool sweet flavor was a welcoming distraction, it was also good to help her deal with the shock.

"I'm sorry to be a bother since you all seem to be having such a nice time here, but I believe it was this young man here who dropped his wallet over by the shaved ice." A man who appeared to be in his late twenties-early thirties approached with an apologetic smile as he held the wallet out. Being on high alert, Lena fixed him with a suspicious stare as he held out the wallet to Samuel.

Feeling his pockets, Samuel was surprised to see his wallet had somehow fallen out. He could've sworn though that he had returned it after Leo said he would be paying for it.

"Thank you so much, I didn't even realize I was missing it." He told the other as he stood up to take it back.

"It's no trouble. My girlfriend would've never forgiven me if I just left it there rather than returning it. I'm just glad you were here still." The man gave a polite smile in response as he handed the wallet over.

"It's greatly appreciated." Samuel replied as he took the wallet back. Lena was watching the whole exchange up until the point that the man turned around to leave.

"It's no trouble at all. It was nice to get a chance to briefly meet you, Sam." the last part was said so low that Lena couldn't hear it as the man walked away and Samuel couldn't be certain that he clearly heard what the man said. He couldn't help but think that the voice did sound vaguely familiar to him.