Felipe drives him and Saul to the vineyard in the evening. Their table is on the balcony in a semi-outdoor setting. One where Saul can see the stars and Veo could enjoy the night breeze. 

“Didn’t think you had it in you to plan such a romantic date like this,” Saul remarks.

Veo shrugs. “Needed a drink. And dinner.”

Saul chuckles. “You haven’t changed.”

He smiles in reply. 

Prince Veo had been unnecessarily harsh when calling the omegas his mother had invited “silly” and “shallow”. Having had time to cool down, he recognises his words for what they were. Ill-informed. To her credit, mother had invited the most eligible omegas, and they were people he recognised or made acquaintance with before he left for New York. 

Saul Balba had been one of those he met relatively frequently back then. His father, a Spanish man, had married Saul’s mother and taken her name. But Saul often visited Spain and so did Veo. The first time they had met was in Angkova though, at the very vineyard they were at. 

They had gotten drunk together and the only reason they’d not been arrested for underage drinking was because Cameron had found them and sent them back to the palace before they could get reported. It was also the only time Prince Veo had gotten blackout drunk. 

Now, they picked at the nuts and dried fruits and thin cuts of meat on the platter and nibbled on cheese as they sipped the paired wine.

“Why’d you come?” asked Veo, after the wine had loosened his tongue a little.

“What do you mean?” asked Saul instead.

“You know what I mean. Why’d you agree to my mother’s invitation? You must have known what it was.”

Saul is quiet for a while. “Did you know I had a crush on you for the longest time?”

“If you are telling me now,” Veo says, “that means it’s gone.”

“Long gone,” agreed Saul. “I came to make sure.”

“Make sure?”

Saul sighs. “You were gone for a long time, Veo. And when I realised you had no intention of returning, I moved on.”

Veo had no idea. When he moved to New York, it was to find a place where the weight of Angkova wouldn’t press down on him. And to escape the grief. He hadn’t realised how much he’d left behind. “I didn’t know.”

Saul shrugs delicately. “I didn’t tell you.” 

Somehow, Veo gets blindingly drunk again. And he was already blind prior to being blind drunk. It means he remembers nothing except vague notions that Saul is a lot better at drinking than he is now. He has flashes of lucidity where he notices Felipe and Saul helping him back to the palace and another one where he wants to go to Hisahiko and ask about Princess Latipha, or just go to Hisahiko. 

He wakes up with a splitting headache. One that makes black spots dance in his vision. Opening his eyes hurt and seeing colours is making him nauseous. Veo keeps his eyes shut and pulls the blankets over his head. He has no intention of getting out of bed today.

~

Very unfortunately for Prince Veo, Felipe had not seen fit to cancel the lunch he had arranged with his fifth date. Veo was forced to drag himself out of bed, feeling only marginally better than before, and made to dress up for lunch with Chatta Bosmena, the African Princess and Activist his mother had invited.

He would be the first to admit that he set himself up when he overdrank the previous night and got the first reminder in ten years on why he couldn’t drink. Therefore, he also admits that it is entirely his fault when he accidentally offends the Princess in his state of hangover. He swears it’s an accident. 

When she tries to make conversation with him, Veo is a little too distracted by his splitting headache to properly pay attention. He responds belatedly so many times, he can feel her growing displeasure at her inattentiveness. And the presence of sunglasses on his face has historically never improved his situation if he’s being honest. But its removal would be too much pain for him to bear and Princess Chatta would scream and call him a demon, maybe. 

Veo doesn’t actually know what he looks like, but someone had once described his eyes as unnatural and horrifying and then avoided him after that. He’s learnt to keep his shades on or his eyes closed ever since.

So, he tries harder to participate in the conversation and gestures to help punctuate when he can feel himself slur slightly. That’s when the African Princess splashes her drink in his face and storms off. Prince Veo is left dripping and blinking in shocked silence, hand still raised in mid-gesture.

Veo went back to bed. 

~

Ella would have been bowled over by the chic, African lady if Dimitri weren’t there to catch her. 

“Apologies,” the lady says and Ella waves it off.

“I love your top,” she tells her. “You pull off the print so well!”

It is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

~

The Prince resigns himself to having a dinner that goes about as well as lunch did when he sees that his next date is Sara Sopraano, the Finnish Popstar. He is fully prepared for diva histrionics to occur at any moment now. Well, not prepared, just anticipating. Veo is not having the greatest day.

In the end, all his expectations are blown out of the water when she shyly tells Veo “I’m gay and I have a girlfriend. The best we can be is friends, sorry.” She doesn’t look sorry at all. And all Veo feels is relief. 

“Great,” he says in response. “Do you want to go clubbing or something?” 

Sara smiles. “Yes!”

Veo downs half a glass of water. “I’m too hungover to go, but Felipe can drive you there.”

“I’ll get ready. Send this ‘Felipe’ you speak of to my room.”

Prince Veo sends a quick voice message to Felipe when she disappears through the door and wonders what he should do now. Dinner hadn’t been served since they were only on appetisers, but Veo doesn’t particularly want to stay here in the dining room alone.

He decides to check the kitchens instead. It isn’t really a secret, he thinks, that he misses dinners with Hisahiko. To be fair, it’s only not a secret because there is nothing to hide.

Hisahiko is eating in their little corner of the kitchens when Veo makes his way there. But he is almost done with dinner, which might not be a bad thing actually. Veo still feels like he can’t stomach more than a few nibbles.

“What are you doing here?” Hisahiko asks in surprise when Veo joins him.

“Dinner?” Veo returns. 

“Thought you had a dinner date with someone else all week,” Hisahiko said. 

Curiously, he looked suspiciously green-ish. Veo didn’t give it much thought. It didn’t make sense for Hisahiko to be jealous. “I had Felipe take her clubbing instead.”

“Are you well?” Hisahiko wonders with a strange voice. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You look like shit.”

Veo blinked. “Unexpected and brutal. Wow.”

“Sorry,” Hisahiko says apologetically. Though not very sincerely.

“You’re right. I am very hungover from last night.” He nibbles on the leftover breadsticks and a piece of fruit. “I did want to ask you something though.”

“What?”

“What did you and Princess Latipha talk about?”

There was an uncomfortable silence. “I don’t think that’s something that should be shared.”

Veo winced. “Fair. But is there anything you can tell me, or anything I can help with? An allusion to the issue we are dealing with, that kind of thing.”

There was a fair amount of suspicion when Hisahiko asked, “why do you really want to know?”

“Look,” he says after a moment. “I work in law enforcement as a consultant sometimes. I know what the signs of domestic abuse look like and I can’t explain it, but that’s what I’m getting from her. I know it sounds stupid. Trust me, I just want to help.”

“Okay.” Hisahiko watches him steadily. “Fine. We shouldn’t talk about this here though.”

Right, ears everywhere. “Where?”

“It’s your house.”