Chapter 3 03

« Oh yea, » I said sighing. The guy I met 20 minutes at the aisle before I said « I do » and then spent 5 minutes in the car with before he left to the airport to finish his course. I couldn't even remember the way he looked!

Rose sighed, putting down her stuff and crossing her legs. She smoothed the material of her dress over her knees, looking at me with that same look she always had when she thought she was about to make a point that would make everything better.

« Look, Iv, I know you don't like this, but we both know the reason you had to marry him. It can't be that bad. He's a nice man, rich, powerful, and not to mention goddamn good looking. Or have you not been reading the papers lately? » she asked, arching a brow.

I nodded quietly, my mind drifting elsewhere. No, I haven't read any papers lately, but I wasn't about to tell her that. I wasn't about to sign my own death note by admitting just how out of touch with everything I'd become. If there was one thing I was sure about, it was that I was alone in this. There were reasons for why I said yes, but why on earth did he accept to marry me as well?

Was the promise in his family's generations before as strong as mine? It had to be. I couldn't see why else a man like him, with so much to lose, would marry someone like me. It was the only way I could stay out of the darker life I was being forced into. But why did he need this too?

I had no choice but to marry him. That was my ultimatum: marry him or say goodbye to everything and everyone. It wasn't just a promise I made; it was survival. But after these past months, if this was a preview of what was to come, I honestly wasn't sure I wanted any part of it. I would have chosen the darker life over this boring routine life any day.

The past months had been the same - lonely, cold, and distant. I spent my days in places I had no interest in, from beach houses to movie premieres, but never any of the real things I loved. At one point, I'd gone to a carnival with friends, laughing until my sides hurt. But now, it was the backyard of some rich estate or some exclusive gathering with people whose names I couldn't even remember.

Not only had I lost all the joy I used to have, but I'd also lost my health. I had become weak, frail even. I never realized how much the absence of happiness could change a person. It wasn't just that I was thinner or more tired - it was like a piece of me had withered away, and somehow, I wasn't as convinced as Rose that all I needed was a husband to cheer me up.

A husband who had been absent for six months now and, in that time, probably found some other skinny, pretty model to hook up with. And then, when he came back, he would ask for a divorce, and I'd be left to pick up the pieces of a life I never asked for.

But I couldn't say any of that to Rose. She wouldn't understand, and frankly, I didn't want to hear her soothing words. I just wanted to get through this - to survive.

« Well, get ready. He's going to arrive any time soon, » Rose said, standing up. Her words snapped me out of my thoughts, and I sighed, standing up as well.

I quickly tied my hair into a tight bun, my fingers clumsy as I tried to pull it all together. I felt... old. Like a granny, or worse, like someone who had already given up on life. I wasn't even twenty-one yet, and I already felt like my youth had been stolen. Even my birthday - the last one I had celebrated - had been held in some big mansion with people I didn't know and couldn't care less about.

I was drowning in a sea of opulence and emptiness, and no amount of designer dresses or expensive champagne was going to change that. Nothing would.

Rose, ever the optimistic one, gave me a smile as she brushed past me toward the front door. I followed her reluctantly, my heart thudding loudly in my chest, the sound almost deafening in my ears. The maid and butler stood at the entrance, waiting. The large, pristine white gates swung open, and a limousine glided through them, the engine humming like a distant storm.

I took a deep breath. How was I supposed to greet a man I barely knew? How was I supposed to greet my husband? The one who had been gone for six months, the one I only knew for an hour, a man I would spend the rest of my life with - or at least, that was the plan.

The answer? I didn't have one.

I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I barely knew what to feel. The butterflies in my stomach felt like bricks, and the nerves in my chest were threatening to break free and take over everything. It was a strange feeling, the kind of fear you get when you realize that nothing is ever going to be the same again.

Rose's hand suddenly pinched my arm, squeezing hard enough that it brought me back to the moment. She squealed, her eyes wide as the door of the limousine opened. My breath stopped in my chest.

That was him?

I froze, my eyes widening. For a second, I wasn't sure I could breathe.

He stepped out of the car, one shiny boot following the other, tall and imposing. The way he moved, the elegance with which he stood, was all too much. He looked every bit the man from the papers Rose had been raving about - rich, powerful, and undeniably attractive. But it wasn't just his looks that hit me. It was the way he held himself, like a king who knew his power and expected nothing less than reverence.

His dark eyes flicked toward us, and I couldn't help but feel an almost tangible pull toward him, like there was something magnetic in the air between us. It was unsettling and unfamiliar. He looked at me, and for a moment, I wondered if he even remembered my face.

Rose practically bounced beside me, whispering under her breath, « Oh my god, he's even more perfect in person! »

I barely heard her. I couldn't look away from him.

My heart was racing now, and all I could think was: This man - this stranger who had promised to be my husband - was here, and my life was about to change in ways I couldn't even imagine.

But did I want it to?