I stared at Willem for a while. Another first with him was seeing a person living with Dissociative Identity Disorder.
No, I shouldn't say that without a diagnosis.
I cleared my throat and picked up my fork."That's not what you said few minutes ago. You said it was up to me. Why the change of heart?".
He leaned forward on his elbows.
"Did I ?".
I nodded.
He rolled his eyes. "Well I must have been stupid. I take it back."
I swallowed. What was going on?
Even with me majoring in psychology,I still found this hard to process.
"Um, Will. Tell me why you don't want to call off the engagement?". I said. " What do you want?"
He narrowed his eyes. "You know, don't you?".
"Know what?"
He kissed his teeth. "That I'm not Willem".
"Are you not?".
"Don't bullshit me, Soraya. I said I was Will and you called me Will. Now why would you call him Will? He always introduces himself as Willem" he cocked his head at me.
I stood up.
"Can I get some water, Will?" I smiled at him.
"Sure" he grabbed the cup out of my hand.
"I'm sure you need the water".
"Do you know where my phone is? Will?" I said, trying to find it.
He pointed to the couch. "Your bag's over there".
"Thanks, I'm going to order a ride. Is that okay with you?".
He shrugged. "You can do whatever you feel like, Soraya".
When I got my bag,he had put the cup down on the table.
"I'm sorry. I should have given you a heads up". He was staring at me with a solemn look.
"Willem?".
"Yeah, it's me". He said softly.
I sat down at the table.
"You don't have to apologize. I was just caught off guard ".
"Really"
"Yeah, it's fine" I nodded.
"Thanks".
"So, where do you go to school?" I asked, trying to change the subject, seeing how nervous he was.
"I actually attend your school but I'm in the other campus. I'm a Computer science major".
"Really?"I gaped, pretentiously. "I would have never guessed that to be your major."
We both laughed.
I got to the dorm by two o'clock in the afternoon. I already texted them about my whereabout but still got bombarded with questions immediately I stepped through the door.
"Where have you been, Raya?" Bree lunged at me and trapped me in a hug.
"I'm Sorry, guys. I was drunk out of my mind that I had no idea where I was." I felt really bad to have caused them such worry.
Heather pulled me into a hug. "No, we're sorry. We should have paid more attention to each other".
Bree nodded.
"How did you both get home?" I asked as I threw my purse on the couch.
"We hired a designated driver. But seriously, I am never going to party again. I was so scared when I woke up and didn't find you in your room." Bree said, shaken.
"The worst was that we couldn't even call anyone to ask about you. How come we don't know any of your friends or family?" Heather crossed her arms to her chest.
Things have come to this. Do I really have to tell them?
"I'm sorry, guys."
" So,no friends?" Heather raised a brow. You need to give us an emergency contact, Raya".
"Yeah".
"Okay, I have one friend. I'll send his details to you". I hope Willem wouldn't mind me giving them his number.
"That's fine. For now" Bree sighed.
Okay,glad that's over.
I turned to go to my room.
"Wait! You haven't told us where you were last night" Heather narrowed her eyes.
"Um, I was with that friend of mine."
"Oh" Bree said suggestively. "This friend seems to be a really good friend".
I rolled my eyes. "We're just friends, Bree".
"Sure". Heather said, exchanging looks with Bree.
Oh Lord! I shook my head and just walked to my room. I needed to take a long hot shower.
My thoughts went to Willem.
Was he going to be okay?
I can't possibly imagine how confused he would feel.
Are you back at the dorm?
A text from him came in.
Me:Yes, I am. Thank you for yesterday.
Willem: I meant it when I said that you could decide to call off the engagement. They can't force us to get married.
They can't but my mother would make sure of it.
Me: I hope you're right, Willem. I gave my roommates your contact as an emergency contact. Hope you don't mind.
Me: I didn't tell them your identity though, but now, they think we might have something going on.
Willem: Really? Well, I don't mind. They aren't entirely wrong though, with the betrothal and all.
Me: Right. How could I forget?
Willem: Bye,Soraya. Dream of me;)
Me: You wish!
After having my bath, I decided to find out everything that I could about Willem with information from seven years ago. He really had a dissociative disorder.
He was a shy and quiet child. And his mother, the queen was very much alive then. She died four years ago, though.
He loved painting. He was great at it. He was called the next Leonardo Da Vinci by many critics and I may be biased in saying they were right.
His art was like I had never seen. But immediately after that day his personality shifted in front of everyone, he was never seen in public again. He just disappeared.
It was sad. The way the news portrayed him like some sort of troubled child. It was horrible.
I walked out of my room to have a snack. I pulled open the refrigerator only to find that my leftover pizza was gone.
Heather!!
I'll just order more.
"Do you guys want pizza? I'm going to order some."
"Yeah, thanks" Bree said from the living room.
Just then, the bell rang, and Bree ran to open it.
Standing in front of my door, was the last person I expected to see. My heart dropped.
"Queen Laesa?" Bree gasped.
"Mother?" I breathed. This wasn't good.