Chapter 2 : Trapping the groom

Chrisanna 

Wait!

I blink twice, take a deep breath and look up at him again. He's looking straight into my eyes, unconcerned, unaffected as if I'm a literal stranger he's talking to. 

"What?"

"Break the damn alliance, Auburn!" he repeats with a fierce tone. 

I hadn't been called by my middle name ever since he left because he used to be the one to call me Auburn. I try not to dive into my thoughts right now since I have to know what the hell is going on.

"Okay. I'm definitely not getting anything. You want me to break the alliance?" I ask again.

His jaw clenches as his thick eyebrows narrow as if he's done with repeating. 

"Yeah. You have good hearing. I said it", says Samuel.

And what the hell!

"Okay. Then why did you agree in the first place?" I scoff. 

He doesn't reply for a second. "I'm not here to take on a rivalry with you"

"Why do you want me to do that?" I exclaim. 

"Simply because I don't wanna marry you", his voice is much harsher than before. 

His abrupt confession has me iced on the spot for a while. 

I part my lips to reply but he interrupts, "When are you doing it? I have a flight in a couple of hours"

Is he serious?

Until now, I was shocked, now I'm pissed. 

He freaked me out right the moment we met again, behaving as if I'm the last person on this earth he would want to talk to. And he has this fucking audacity to give me orders.

I cross my arms and stare at him, gritting my teeth. "Why should I do that? I don't have a problem with this marriage. That's why I agreed. Since you have a problem with this marriage, why don't you just go and tell everyone?"

He's silently firing bullets through his fierce dark gaze. Nonetheless, I remain stern in my position.

"Let's not make things complicated, Auburn", even though his words come cold, when he utters my middle name it seems to be the least amount of harshness mixed into it. 

"I'm definitely not making things complicated, Samuel. You are. You had the choice.  You could have rejected the proposal. No one was forcing you", I seethe on his face.

This is insane. What's going on? Whatever it is, I just know that Samuel is being so freaking unreasonable and making things complicated. And he has that audacity to blame me. 

He looks away, groaning out of frustration. 

"Come on. It's not that hard. I'll call paa right now. Tell him", as I grunt, taking my phone out, he holds my hand. 

"Stop", he husks and I look at his grip on my wrist. As I look at him again, he realizes it and immediately lets my hand go. "I can't. I can't call it off"

"Why?" I throw him a blank look.

"Because I can't say NO to Uncle Scott. You clearly know how much he means to me, how much I respect him and I can do anything for him. There's no way I'm turning him down like this", he seethes.

"That classic Samuel!" I grunt at him. "It's no different to me. I love my paa too. And I have never turned him down. I have always trusted his decision, unlike you who are trying to look obedient"

We have an eye-to-eye cold war. 

"Listen, mom is also very happy. I have always unwillingly disappointed her. I can't do it anymore"

"I haven't disappointed Emmy either", I utter. 

We're polar opposites with only one thread joining us. 

We spend an awkward minute of silence as he keeps roaming around and I occasionally glance at him. The change in his face is visible yet he still has the baby face. Even though this marriage thing was awkward for me too, I wasn't expecting something so jumbled as this. I thought our meeting after ages will be normal at least, not much wholesome. 

But he didn't even utter the basic words of meet and greet. What was he thinking when he landed here? 

Samuel turns to me again with the same determined look.

"I'm not doing it, Samuel. It's not my decision. I can't take the blame and shame for your decision. I can't be the reason for our parent's sadness. You can't just appear out of the blue and order me to take the burden of your decision. I'm not accountable for it", I gasp under my breath, telling him about my last verdict. 

His sharp glare meets mine. 

"And also I don't have a problem with this marriage", I add. 

"But I have. I don't wanna marry you", without any hesitation, he says.

I won't deny that it stings. 

I gulp down. "You have a— girlfriend?"

"No. I never made one", he shrugs. Okay, then the rejection may not suck that much. Being rejected due to a person sucks the most. 

"Then you have a problem with marriage?" I ask.

"No. With women!" he comes up with an utterly unexpected statement. 

Being a little uncomfortable, I groan, "Have you been a misogynist lately?"

"I have a problem with the recent government. That doesn't make me a terrorist", he fires back with his twisted reply. 

I roll my eyes as he looks at his wristwatch. 

"You have come from Melbourne after eight years just to reject me? That's something!" out of sarcasm, I scoff.

"That's not funny. Only if I had any clue that you'd agree!" he steps closer to me and I take a step back. My heart starts beating ten times faster than before as his dark gaze keeps piercing my gaze. 

Why would he think that I would reject the proposal?

"I can't understand why you can't just do it. Paa hasn't kept you at a gunpoint", the words hardly escape my mouth with the decreasing distance between us. "Why can't you just reject me?"

"Because you—" he leans a bit down towards my face thankfully. My neck would break if I kept looking up at him longer than this. I suck the air, my heart vibrating as he stares at me. "You can do that better than me"

Leaving me clueless and confused, he pushes himself back.

What!

I can do it better? Rejecting? When did I even reject someone?

I gawk at him in disbelief.

"You don't have much time, Chrisanna. You better do it. Because if this marriage takes place, I won't be responsible for the awful experience you may have in our sweet married life!" he grunts, walking past me. 

"Are you threatening me?" I snarl, turning around and our eyes crash again.

"Yes. Because you're still the same. Stubborn", seething, he continues to walk to the door. 

"And you're also the same. Still. Selfish", with my small yelp, he halts near the door but doesn't turn back. 

That silence of nanoseconds sends jolts down my spine before he eventually walks away.

What the hell just happened? 

* 

"Met after such a long time. You guys hit it off?" Paa asks, dragging me out of my thoughts at the dinner table. 

A forced smile curves on my face. "Um— not exactly. But it was good"

Paa smiles. "That's normal. You guys should meet a few more times before we fix the date"

My blood runs cold. They are all so serious and excited about the wedding. Why wouldn't they be? Samuel made it so damn complicated. He has been disappointing people ever since— not coming home on vacations, completely cutting off from the city, and not paying attention to anyone's requests. It wouldn't be a big deal for him but it's a big deal for me.

"I can't understand this boy sometimes. He came back after so long and went back to Melbourne the next hour?" Paa shrugs.

"He came on urgent notice. There must be a lot of work piled up", mama replies. 

Samuel has been handling the only branch in Australia under our father's joint company for three years now. I still don't understand why he left playing soccer. He was doing so well and I would know about his achievements from Emmy. I thought he was going to make it big. However, he changed his profession right before he could be a big thing. This will always remain a mystery to me. 

"I talked to him though", paa says, making me stop midway while chewing as I gawk at him. "He said he really liked talking to you after so long and he was really disappointed that he couldn't stay longer"

"Oh?" I raise my eyebrows. "What else did he say?"

Paa frowns, trying to recollect. "That you vibes match"

What a liar! What an image-freak! He's making it look like he's the happiest and he has no problem only making me the black sheep in the end. 

I smile at them and wipe my face before getting up.

"I'm done!" I grab my leftover food. "I'm putting it into the fridge, mama"

"You and your dinner in instalments", mama shakes her head as I cackle. 

"Chrissie, wait", paa halts me. "You have Samuel's number, right?"

I hesitantly shake my head.

"Really? You don't have his contact number? I don't know how you two became so distant from each other. You guys used to get along so well in high school", paa says, tapping on his phone as I find mama looking at me. 

Right now, their every single gaze makes me anxious.

"I sent you his contact number. Talk to him", he says.

"Okay, paa"

* 

I'm surging around my room. From here to there. I don't know what the hell I should do. This guy left me in complete chaos. 

"Chrissie, how many rounds are left?" Eric asks. 

"She's not having sex!" Kylee snarls.

"Shut up!" Eric groans. 

"I'm kidding"

"I don't crack sex jokes with minors"

"I'll be eighteen in four months. Come on!"

"Then crack it after four months"

"Shut up, you guys!" I seethe, shooting a glare at both of them when they are occupying my bedroom like theirs.

Eric is lying cross-legged on my bed. Kylee is stealing my snacks. 

My British shorthair cat Zoey is roaming cluelessly around me. 

"I'm getting crazy over here and you two—" I grunt. Zoey hovers onto my feet, trying to climb up through my leg as I grab her and put her on the cat tower. "Be a good girl. I'm already worried"

She lets out a harsh meow at me. 

"I don't understand what's wrong?" Kylee rolls her eyes.

"Everything with your brother. Like everything with him is wrong", I snarl.

They look at each other, confused. 

"What does he think of himself? How can he just come to me, trap me with a time bomb and disappear again? I mean, he doesn't have any common sense left. Why should I handle all this alone when he's the one to have a problem with this marriage?" My breathing goes faster and I immediately sit on the couch, grabbing the bottle of infused water.

"Why doesn't he wanna marry you?" Kylee crosses her arms. 

"Ask your brother"

"He's going to ask me not to poke my little nose in adult's things", she curls up her face. "Wait, did something wrong happen between you and Samuel

"What about you?" Eric asks me. 

I let out a deep sigh. "I know this marriage is going to change my life for the better"

"Even when Samuel has threatened to make your life a mess?" he asks.

"Paa has decided this for me. I know it's going to be the best thing in my life. And if I talk about Samuel's threats, he has tough competition"

Eric gets up and thoughtfully looks at me. "I have seen both of you all my life. We grew up together at some point, Chrissie. And I can say that more than us, our families share a stronger bond. They really want it to happen"

"Exactly. Dad looks happy too", Kylee smiles. "Your wedding is gonna be a festival for all of them"

"It doesn't matter who calls the marriage off, everyone is going to be disappointed. So, if you wanna take an action, do it fast before it's too late"

I let out a sigh of disappointment.

Nothing is helping. 

* 

After a busy day, I got home. It's six in the evening and I'm tired after doing an early morning pre-wedding photo shoot and the shift in the office. 

When I enter the villa, all my exhaustion washes away, seeing paa, mama, Emmy and Samuel's dad Uncle Kane laughing and gossiping together. Eric's parents who are my aunt Irene and my paa's former bodyguard Colton Gartner are also there today. 

Everything is perfect, except it's not. 

"Chrisanna!" Aunt Irene immediately takes me into a deep embrace. "Congratulations. I'm so happy for you and Samuel"

"Thanks, Iri", I force a smile. 

"We were waiting for you"

"For me?" I mutter.

"Yeah. We were discussing the wedding date", Emmy said.

God! Why does it seem so fast?

"Don't worry. We're just discussing. People fix wedding dates months earlier", Mama smiles. "We talked to Samuel about his part of the decision. He said 'As Chrisanna Wants' He wants you to decide everything"

What a jerk he has become over the years!

I wonder what he's trying to do. Is he taking an old revenge on me by damaging my image just because he holds that record of upsetting people?

For me, it's definitely not about the image. Why would I take responsibility anyway?

"Okay. We are thinking about fixing a date this June. There's plenty of time and you guys will be able to know each other as adults since you already spend the whole childhood and teenage together", Uncle Kane says. 

No way! I can't take this silly burden on me for months. But I'm also not gonna let him get away from this. 

"June?" I mutter.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" Mama asks.

"Actually, I don't have any days off day for the next 14 months", my words leave everyone shocked. 

"14 months?" paa finally breaks the silence. 

"Yes, paa. Actually, you know I'm thankfully one of the most demanding wedding photographers. There are people who wouldn't hire anyone but me. And there are plenty of bookings. One by one. Some are out of Texas. And some clients even pushed their wedding dates to get a slot. I can't reschedule them", I tell them. 

Everyone becomes silent. 

"But thankfully, I'm available for the next three days only", I tell them.

A wave of silence crashes again. 

"I don't have a problem if the marriage takes place in three days" 

Seems like I have exploded a bomb in front of them as I can feel with those stares. 

"In three days? Are you sure?" mama speaks among all. 

"Yes. Since Samuel has already put all the responsibilities on me, I have to do it according to my schedule", I smile. 

Now, let's see how Samuel Vance continues with his act.