Damien was equally surprised as he saw me.

"Yuri...?"

I smiled back at him awkwardly.

"Well this is awkward." He smiled back.

The prince's fiancée looked at us back and forth. "You know each other?" She said almost in fake cheeriness. "What a surprise."

"My lady. Can I speak to her alone?" Damien asked innocently. She, in return looked furious.

"Of course!" She stood up, picking up the hems of her pink silk wrappings.

"Is she always like that?" I asked as she walked away angrily.

"What? Her temper?" He said unfazed.

I nodded.

"I just feel she's being possessive about her sex doll." He rolled his eyes. "Ridiculous rules like I can't talk to other nobles. Or even other humans. Especially women."

"I feel you." I muttered.

"Right? The next day, after all that, she announces that she has a fiancé and she wanted me to meet him and his slave."

I sighed. "Well, we'll never understand alien psychology."

He looked around.

"Wanna ditch the party?" He asked smirking.

"Can we do that?!" I whispered.

"Oh come on! Don't be rule abiding here. This ain't the military." He held my hand and pulled me with him, both of us running outside into the garden.

We finally fell down on the grass, laughing our heads off.

"First time I ran around here." I announced.

"We should've done a toast." He laughed.

He slowly turned his eyes towards me.

"Hey Yuri..."

"Yeah?"

"You had a crush on me right?" He asked.

"Whaaaat? Noooo."

"Don't lie! I know you're lying." He held my hands.

"How'd you know?" I challenged him.

"You clutch your hands, fingers interlaced together tightly when you lie." He said, interlacing his fingers into mine.

I looked back at him surprised. "I...didn't know I do that. Was it that noticeable?"

"No." He answered looking deeply into my eyes.

"I....saw you. Observed you. I suppose. I was gonna break off things with Laura. But then, this happened." He tugged on his diamond studded collar.

I gently touched the collar. It almost had the same designs as mine. Maybe the whole of alien kind knew about the engagement except me.

"We have the worst luck in the world, don't we?" Our fingers interlaced again.

"And the best luck too." He replied. "Or else, I wouldn't have met you again."

"How's......she behaving with you? Is she nice or she has temper like that all the time?"

"She's nice. Too nice actually. I thought we had that connection. That spark between us. But.....we started quarrelling over her fiancé and the next thing she says to me was she doesn't even see me that way."

"I had a similar conversation too." I played around with his hands. "With him."

Damien sat up. "Did you hear the rules at the auction?"

"No...not really.. I was too panicked at the moment."

"They said about couples having opposite gendered slaves. What did that mean?"

"I....think they're gonna breed us like cattle." I laughed nervously. "The prince and the doctor mentioned about nobles undergoing experiments of having a half Xanilian and half human child."

Damien's eyes widened. "Is that for real? That's why she............." He shut his mouth silent and got up.

"Yuri.....I can't live like this. You can't live like this. We need to get out of here." He said.

"I thought about that. But how? There are guards everywhere."

"But look around us now. There are no guards. Everyone's busy."

"Yeah, but maybe there might be guards outside too."

"Let's check out then," He pulled me up from the ground.

We both somehow sneaked out to the palace gates. There was indeed no one guarding anything.

"I heard they have a very special holiday today like Christmas or something. So no one's allowed to work for today." Damien whispered as he looked around. "Not even robots."

We slowly walked up outside, but a burly tall figure stood in front us. Furious.

"I feel I neglected you too much today I suppose." The familiar voice said sarcastically. "Who's he?" He pointed at Damein

"How did you know we were escaping?"

"First answer me. Who. Is. He." His jaw clenched as his amber eyes glittered in the dark.

"Your fiancé's pet." I spat out. "I didn't know you had one."

Damien meanwhile tried to look brave but shrank away involuntarily as soon as Tzara eyed him.

"Doesn't concern you."

"IT CONCERNS ME JUST AS MUCH AS IT CONCERNS YOU ABOUT ME ESCAPING THIS WRECKED PLACE!" I shouted out angrily.

"Listen here human, you belong to me. And only me." He came closer.

"I'm sorry, but you can't own her or do things to her without her consent." Damien stepped between me and Tzara.

Tzara towered over him, more furious than ever.

"Damien, don't." I pulled him back. But the two men were already at war.

"Damien?" Another voice cried.

It was the dreaded prince's fiancée.

She froze up as she saw Tzara and Damien at fight stance.

"Your majesty." She curtsied.

"Is he yours?" Tzara asked.

"Yes." She answered shaky. She exactly knew what happened and what would have happened if she didn't arrive at the correct time.

"Take him away before I kill him." He ordered.

She pushed me away from Damien and pulled him while whispering quarrels.

"No, Arin, I don't want to do this anymore." He whispered angrily.

"Please, we'll talk. Come with me for now." She pleaded.

He looked Tzara in the eye. "This isn't over." He said as he walked away with Arin.