Every Kind of Way

The Eldest

Being the eldest sister comes with a lot of responsibility, but being part of a royal family adds more. I had dreams and wishes before, maybe when I was Sam's age, but now all I am able to think about is if my posture is correct, if I'm eating like a lady, and what to say before I say it because there's a family image that we have to maintain. Sounds like a lot of pressure for a 16-year-old, but it's the truth. I barely have time to relax. I'm always at an etiquette class or mastering some skill to be the perfect housewife for my husband.

I already have a line of possible fiancés. As if I'm thinking about marrying a man. I can handle the classes, I can ignore the constant demands from grandma, but I can't stand the idea of being tied to a man my whole life because of a royal tradition. I think I already found the person I want to be with, but there are two problems. First one, she's a woman and second, she's an Austin. The difference between an Austin and a Mhom Luang is money.

Charlotte Austin is a beautiful girl that found her way into my heart when I participated in beauty pageants. She was supposed to be my competition and ended up becoming everything I've ever wanted. Charlotte and her family are not poor, we don't really talk about this, but I believe they are upper middle class. I never cared about that, but grandma did.

The Austins are well known for owning the second largest media business in Thailand. Guess who owns the first. They are always around and our families get along as well as possible, but even if my sisters were boys any Austin kid would never be suitable in my grandma's eyes. Royals have to marry royals.

Charlotte has always been a jokester and her parents thought that maybe in beauty pageants she would become a bit more centered and lady like. I had heard of her from the other pageant participants but had never seen her. Pageants in Thailand start out with the competitors doing campaigns in their own cities. During that time, we can get to know each other via chat or video calls. I had met most of them via video calls, but Charlotte was always too busy to talk. We texted a lot during the first couple of weeks. Our energies matched and even if the conversation didn't go on for hours at a time we could always get back in sync after hours had passed since we last spoke.

I was doing a live call with one of the other participants when Charlotte texted if she could join in the call. I asked the girl I was speaking with, and she said she would let us talk by ourselves with the rest of the fans. Yes, we had fans. Beauty pageants are well known, and our live calls were on Instagram or Facebook so we could help promote the competitions. I had heard rumors of people shipping me and Charlotte whatever that means.

One of the fans asked what I thought about being in a beauty pageant and if it's easier because I'm a Mhom Luang.

Engfa: "It's not easier because of my title, but I do have practice in seeming to be perfect all of the time so there's that." I saw the notification of Charlotte asking to join in and clicked yes.

Charlotte: "Finally we meet." Charlotte smiled and the rest is history. 

After our first live call, we talked a lot more and became flirty with each other. The other participants would tease us a lot about it, but we always said we were best friends or sisters and nothing else. The fans created a ship called Englot which seemed cute at the time. Everything flowed normally throughout the competition.

That is until Charlotte kissed me.