Alissa Moore's Point of View:

After he asked me out I panicked and told him that I wanted to go home. He didn't seem to be upset about it and instead seemed very understanding. I quickly found Bri and Jacob and hightailed it out of there. I caught a glimpse of the king and queen in my hasty retreat and he looked at me as if he knew me or has seen me somewhere before. It was likely since I was photographed a lot by the paparazzi when I went to events.

"So what happened?" Bri pressed me for information.

I blushed just thinking about it, "he asked me on a date"

"Oh my gosh that's amazing!" she squealed.

"I guess," I mumbled trying not to encourage her excitement because if I did she wouldn't stop.

And that's how I found myself in my bed that night overthinking as always. I still couldn't believe that he was real-life royalty and that he had asked me on a date. I wanted to call my mom and talk to her about what happened but I didn't want to make things awkward for her since I didn't want to talk to my dad.

Speaking of phone calls I just realized I ran out before we exchanged numbers or details on where our date would be. Here I was being super excited because he asked me out and now I might not even be going out with him because of my stupidity.

I sighed when I saw that my phone was ringing, it was my best friend Kathy calling. Kathy and I met at one of the many charity events I've been to. She has blonde hair, green eyes and is the daughter of a business tycoon. Even though our physical appearance is night and day we relate to each other because of our similar family dynamic especially with our parents. Our moms are the sweet, loving type while our dads find it hard to share emotion.

"Hey Kathy"

"Alissa Ivana Moore," uh oh she's mad "why didn't you tell me you were in France?"

I sat up immediately, "how'd you know I was in France?"

"Are you kidding me your picture has been plastered all over the media," I was stunned by what she was saying "my favorite was of you and Prince Rafael"

"They took pictures of us together?"

I could practically hear her rolling her eyes, "like I said you're all over the media"

"I would press for more information but I can tell that you won't be very willing to share right now"

I forced out a laugh, "I'm glad you feel that way"

"I have to go my annoying brother who needs attention," I could faintly hear Richard whining in the background.

"Okay we'll talk soon"

"Definitely mama"

After hanging up the phone I was stomped. I could have easily roped in my sister and given her the news of my face being all over the media with a prince at that but I opted to let her rest.

I scrolled across my phone until I came across the Instagram icon. I had put my phone on silent while going to the ball and I didn't remember to change it which is why I missed the dozens of notifications that were popping up on my screen. My finger hovered over the Instagram icon, my hesitation to open it was obvious.

I wasn't sure if I was ready to face the trolls on the media that would leave mean comments and speak about me as if they knew me but I couldn't just sit here in fear. As someone in the public eye, I'm used to it but it never gets easier.

Opening the app I refreshed my page and saw that I had been tagged in multiple photos. I looked through them and recognized the magazines for some of the reporters that I had posed for and some that I didn't recognize at all.

My mouth dropped when I saw a picture of Rafael and myself. This was most definitely taken inside the ballroom when I first saw him and he had held me close to him. There was another picture where Rafael had his arm wrapped around my waist as we gazed into each other's eyes. The final picture was when he had dipped me and I had made eye contact with the king but Rafael was watching me the entire time.

I bit my lip as I looked at the comment button. I knew that I shouldn't read the comments but I just couldn't help myself. I clicked it and started to scroll through the messages stopping to read some of them. I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the comments were nice. They were either complimenting my dress, how I looked, they were also talking about how Rafael and I looked good together and that we would make a great couple if we weren't already are one.

The other comments I chose to ignore because it was mostly persons being jealous and saying how undeserving of him I was. I can bet a million dollars they've never even met him or me to even come to that conclusion.

I clicked the tag button to see who else was tagged in the photo, my breath hitch when I saw Rafael's name. I immediately clicked his name allowing my curiosity to get the better of me. When I got on his profile the first thing I noticed was that he was following me. I immediately backtracked and went to my notifications to see exactly when he did that, it was four minutes ago.

I refreshed my page yet again and saw that I had a new message request and it was from the man himself. I quickly opened the message and read it.

Hello Alissa, I promise I'm not stalking you. I hadn't realized until after you left that I had no way to contact you for our date and so when I saw you in my tagged photos I took that as a sign. Please let me know if you are still up for that date with me.

Without hesitation, I accepted the message and proceeded to respond.

Hi Rafael, I don't think you're stalking me and I would still love to go on a date with you.

His reply was instantaneous.

I'm glad to hear that, tell me where you are staying and I'll pick you up.

Is there anything specific I should wear?

I'm sure you'll look perfect in anything but dress casually.

I didn't bother to hide my blush, there was no one there to see it anyway. We talked for a little bit longer and exchanged numbers. I set my phone aside with a newly made alarm as I drifted off to sleep.

For the first time in years, I had a date.