The President's Daughter: Royal Whirlwind Romance

The venue changed while they were waiting for the reporters to leave. Since they couldn't go there yet, Lea had an idea. She suggested that they go shopping. Everyone agreed and decided to go shopping at the nearest International Mall, where all the high-end stores were located. Lea was thrilled to the maximum. She already planned on going shopping after meeting her brothers, and now she did not have to wait any longer.     

Lea loved shopping almost as much as Eva; therefore, both ladies were grinning from ear to ear as they got ready to go. Unfortunately, Ronald and Ethan were called to rescue Ann and Jeff, so they had no choice but to leave the girls in the care of the twins along with Alexa and Ria.     

Alexa was not fully acquainted with Eva and Lea yet, so they didn't have the chance to be adequately introduced when they were at the gallery. Lucas took the honors in doing a short introduction.     

"Miss Grant, I would like to introduce my baby sister, Lea, and the beautiful young lady here is my sister's friend who I never met before." He pointed to Eva while his face was turning all red in embarrassment.     

"Oh, I'm sorry! We forgot to introduce ourselves. Like my brother said, I'm Lea, their baby sister, and this is my talent and client, Eva. She is soon to become very famous in Asia. She laughed a nervous laugh and said, "Eva, meet Miss Grant." Lea continued the introduction for her brother.     

Alexa extended her hand to Eva, who she thought was around the same age as herself. "Nice, to meet you! I hope you can give me your autograph later, so when you become famous, I can brag about it to my friends!" Alexa laughed and said while smiling. She was happy to meet an aspiring actress from the Philippines.     

"Oh, I am not going to be famous, but I will be more than happy to give you an autograph later. Since you're the first person who has ever asked me." Eva laughed and accepted Alexa's handshake.     

Alexa found out later on that Eva and Lea were not much older than she was. They instantly became friends and chatted like they had known each other their whole lives. The twins and Ria were happy to see that Alexa had found new friends. Even though they would be leaving to return to the Philippines, she found friends nonetheless.     

The International Mall was the biggest mall in Washington D.C. Celebrities and personalities from all over the world always came to this place to shop. Therefore, it was not new to see rows and rows of limousines and expensive cars in the parking lot.     

Team 1 of Alexa's detail arrived ahead of them and cleared out the area where the group would be entering. Once they entered the shopping mall, Alexa's eyes lit up like 10,000 lumen light bulbs. Brand named products were everywhere. It was very overwhelming just to browse through the whole place.     

"Whoa! I love this place! Oh my gosh! I could stay here and window shop all day. She laughed and exclaimed with excitement.     

Lea thought she was so adorable and innocent. She couldn't help herself and asked Alexa a personal question. "Alexa, if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been living here in the USA? I am just curious. You do not have to answer if you don't want to." Lea's face showed sincerity and kindness towards Alexa.     

"Oh, I don't mind at all! It is not like it is a big secret" She laughed a nervous laugh. " I arrived here last week, and this is the first time I have been here. This is why I act like this. Am I embarrassing you guys?" She looked around towards Eva, Lucas, Logan, and Ria's reactions to see if they were embarrassed so that she could act like high society citizens like Lea and Eva. That was not a big deal to her anyway because she liked to be who she was and not someone else.     

Eva replied with a big smile on her face. "Oh, No! Not at all! Have fun, and enjoy yourself! This is my first time being here as well, and it is overwhelming. Do you agree?" She directly asked Lea and indirectly asked Alexa.     

"Yes! We don't mind at all. Do what you must, if you want to go 'goo-goo and gaa-gaa', it is your prerogative. Lea interjected, feeling bad for asking such a stupid question.     

However, Ria didn't like the way Lea had worded it, and her protective instincts kicked in. She gave Lea a stern look as if to say if looks could kill, she would be dead. Lea was pretty lucky that her two older brothers were there, or Ria would have given her a piece of her mind. Instead, Ria stood there and waited for whatever Alexa would do in the process.     

The twins saw the looks that Ria gave to Lea and pulled their sister aside to speak with her about how she spoke. She made it sound that Alexa was too ignorant when she said, "goo-goo and gaa-gaa." Ria took it the wrong way and was ready to protect her charge at all costs. It did not matter if Lea was related to the twins. Alexa always came first to her.     

Alexa was not ignorant nor unfeeling. Her feelings did get hurt when Lea said those words, but she had never been short-minded and let it go. It was the political way of understanding one's friend: Never pay attention to the words that are spoken, but instead, pay attention to the action. Ria figured out that was the way Alexa talked to her friends, and if she said those to her, it meant she was considered a friend. And that was good enough for her.     

"So, Where do we start? I want to be able to check out all the stores. Who knows? This might be my only chance to come here. I might as well enjoy it to the fullest." Alexa told everyone, while sadness was showing in her eyes as she spoke.     

Eva saw the gloom that enveloped Alexa's face when she spoke, and she wondered why? However, she didn't have the guts to ask, so she did the next thing she knew. She grabbed Alexa's arm and ushered her towards the Louis Vuitton showroom to start shopping. "Let's go spend some of my hard-earned money! " She turned around and winked at Ria who was watching the whole thing without saying a word.     

Ria liked Eva and gave her half a smile of approval and followed them as they went inside the LV showroom hand in hand...     

Alexa and Eva were happy and chatting away as they walked around the showroom. Ria was following close behind them. She made sure that her charge was protected the whole time. Lea was busy checking out a limited edition purse that just came out when someone grabs the bag from her hand.     

Excuse me! I don't think this purse suits you!" The person told Lea arrogantly.     

Lea turned around to look at who snatched the purse out of her hand while cursing, "What the heck? I'm still looking at that purse. Give it back... Bitch!" When she saw who was in front of her, she was stunned and made her speechless afterward. 'Why, oh, why? Of all the people she would meet. Why did it have to be this spoiled brat? Ethan shouldn't have let her drown that day in Hawaii.' Lea thought while looking in Eva's direction to see if she was looking at them so that she could warn her.     

Unfortunately, it was too late. Alexa and Eva were already right in front of them with concerned looks on their faces. The twins and Ria were right behind Alexa standing like statues ready to protect her if anything happened.     

Eva was the first one to speak, "Lea, what is going on? Is everything alright?"     

Jane Si heard Eva's concerned voice asking questions. She turned around ready to give her a piece of her mind, but instead her attention diverted to Alexa.     

"Well, well, well! Look who we have here. If it is not the..."