G8

The Prince of Mongo

By Marzena

Chapter 2: Aftermath

Duffy was still heavily shaking. She'd hoped that the minute the left herself fall on her comfy bed, everything would be better. But it wasn't. There was still that nauseating feeling and it just wasn't going to go away. With a moan, Duffy rolled over and placed one of her big, fluffy pillows over her head. The headache was getting worse, too. But that was nothing compared to how she felt otherwise.

There was a soft knock on her bedroom door, and when she didn't answer immediately, the knocking wouldn't stop. Also, she could hear the voices of Kit and LJ on the other side of the door, sounding worried. Duffy tried her best to ignore them and hoped they would go away. She just didn't want to see anyone right now, especially not Kit Walker.

"Duffy, please open the door!" Kit called out from the other side.

"Duff, we're your friends," LJ agreed. "We want to be there for you. It's not your fault, know you. None of this is. And nobody thinks so. He tricked you and all of us. Your dad's so pissed at him and so worried about you, and..."

With a groan, Duffy sat up and then slowly walked to the door, opening it just a little bit so she could face her two best friends.

"But that's just it, LJ," she sighed. "He didn't trick all of us. He never fooled Kit!"

"Well, that's not entirely true," Kit argued, pushing the door open so he and LJ could finally enter her bedroom together. "I mean, yes, I thought there was something off with this guy, but I never ever suspected him to be Ming's son! I never thought he had anything to do with Ming or I would rather have locked you in your room than letting you go out with him ever again!"

She wanted to tell him again that it was not his place to tell him who she could date or not, but the nauseating feeling made her sit down on her bed again, helplessly clutching her pillow, looking very pale and fragile. Kit immediately sat next to her and LJ closed the door and followed him.

"Duffy, there's nothing to blame yourself for," LJ reminded her gently. "Krotan took you for a ride."

"I fell for the guy, LJ!" Duffy moaned in a pained voice.

"No, you fell for the guy he pretended to be in order to carry out his master plan," LJ softly corrected her. "I highly doubt you would have fallen for him if you knew who he really was."

"I guess you're right," she muttered, and she knew LJ really was right. There was no way she would have fallen for Prince Krotan himself. But Dan... she'd been holding hands with him, kissing him, even making out a little... and well, at the end of the day, Dan was still Prince Krotan.

"He didn't... I mean, the two of you didn't..." Kit suddenly asked, looking at her with worry in his dark eyes. "I mean, you... you..."

He obviously didn't know how to ask her this but she knew what he was trying to say anyway. He wanted to know if they'd gone further than making out and kissing. Of course he wanted to know. Kit and LJ knew how often she had seen Dan and Kit also knew that she'd done more with Dan than just flirting. Her dad didn't, but Kit and LJ had caught her sneaking in or out a few times and although Kit had never approved of Dan, he had been a true friend and had never told Flash about his daughter sneaking out of the house to go on dates. Now, Duffy wished he had told Flash all about it. Maybe then she wouldn't be in this situation right now. Although, of course, Kit had tried to warn her about his 'strange feeling' about 'that Dan guy' before and of course Duffy being a young teenager in love, she hadn't cared and hadn't listened. Now she knew better.

"No. No," she replied, swallowing hard at the thought. "I mean... he tried, but... I didn't want to yet... and he was okay with waiting and everything, you know, and... it just made him more perfect in my eyes, waiting until I was ready, until we would have a real relationship with him being properly introduced to my dad and everyone else, you know, and... and..."

"Look, you don't have to go into details, I mean..."

"No – it's fine." She gave him a sad smile. "Nothing happened that went further than the usual stuff – flirting, kissing, a bit of making out. Gosh, I don't know what I'd do if anything else would have happened!"

"Don't think about it," LJ quickly said. "It's alright now. It's over, Duffy."

"It's not alright. When I said I want to wait he was all for it. He told me it's okay and he understands and everything and I thought so much of him because of that, it made me like him even more. How screwed up is that!?"

"He's a screwed up monster and it was all part of his evil plan to get you to fall in love with him and trust him!" LJ replied. "None of this is your fault, Duff. You're the victim here. Nobody is blaming you. We're all pissed at Krotan, especially your dad."

"I nearly killed everyone because I took Dan's – Krotan's – word over Kit's," Duffy sighed. "I mean, yes, it turned out okay in the end, but it's not something I can just forget or get over so soon. Those few minutes yesterday until we knew that our parents made it out alive – I don't think I never felt that scared in my entire life!"

"We were all scared," Kit assured her, putting his arm around her shoulders. "But again, he tricked you. If Krotan would be a girl, then maybe it would have been the Princess of Mongo tricking me or LJ. Like LJ said, don't blame yourself, Duffy. It's not your fault, and it's over now."

LJ put his arms around Duffy as well and for a moment the three of them sat there, comforting the girl in the middle. Then, finally, Duffy sighed and got up again.

"Thanks, you two. I don't know what I would do without you. But right now... I think I should go downstairs and tell my dad and the others how sorry I am for nearly having them killed."

"I think they know that, Duff," LJ softly said.

"I know. But I want to tell them in person, anyway."

And with that, Duffy left her room.

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Article

Author

Chapters

1: Worried

Kit disapproves of Duffy's bond with her new romantic interest.

2: Aftermath

Duffy is left reeling after the truth comes out.

3: Vanished