CHAPTER 5

Selene's POV.

I took a deep breath immediately after leaving Jakob's presence. That man was distinct in his approach to grating on my nerves and not even feeling the darndest remorse about it. How did somebody be in a wheelchair and still be as pompous as anything? I would have even thought that he would be remorseful, but no, that wasn't the case here. He felt like he was on top of the world and I was just a peasant.

I picked up my phone to call my friend. This was getting overwhelming, but I later dropped it because I didn't want to expose everything I was going through to an outsider.

What were my parents even thinking? Hooking me up with a total stranger just to get their company on the top of the chart!

I had only watched this in movies, but now it was finally playing out before my very eyes, and I didn't even have anything to say to them besides just watching as they ruled my life with an iron fist. I would never have imagined that I would be in such a situation, and it was overwhelming, to say the least.

I looked up and tried to find a better way of speaking should I dinner just say anything like wanted could find a better way of expressing myself

I was shown to my room but it didn't quite cut the fact that I was a stranger in this building. I needed some fresh air.

My mind to travel to my temporarily incapacitated husband. What if he needed something later at night? I wondered

I rolled my eyes because that man would rather walk through shards of glass than allow me to help him out of his dilemma.

It wasn't like I even cared about him. Pride and weaknesses. It was a dangerous combo, and I couldn't for the life of me imagine what he was ever thinking.

One would think that from the way he was acting, he was going to put things in order, but that was quite the opposite.

The sound of my phone ringing brought me out of my thoughts and I tried to find an expression to how I was feeling, yet coming up point blank. Something was wrong with me. I have been thrown into a state of delusion and it was only going to take an intervention to get me back on track. I only viewed this as my life being interrupted by my parents who didn't think that it was right to consult me first before doing anything. I would have just decided not to reply to them but here they were, trying to make my life miserable without even doing much and pretending like I was overreacting!

"Yes, Mom?" I demanded from her when I saw her calls flashing on my screen.

"I'm sorry for calling this late. I understand that you might be bonding with your husband."

I chuckled at her forwardness. She expected that I would be bonding with that man who didn't have any form of manners whatsoever.

"I'm sorry if I have in any way wronged you and this is the best way you can imagine to punish me. I also apologize if you believe that I don't deserve to be happy. I don't know what I have ever done which has portrayed that." I demanded from her.

She sighed instead, making me almost go crazy in annoyance. This wasn't supposed to be happening especially to me. "You have a way of misinterpreting things, and I believe that we can find a better way of, you know..."

I shook my head in disbelief and repulse. "No, I don't; please explain what this is to me in layman's terms like I am a baby who cannot even comprehend what is going on. I'm sorry if I have ever given you the impression that I want to be married."

My mother heaved a greater sigh, which got me more annoyed with her actions. She was trying to act like I didn't know what I was doing and it was a big lie. "I'm sorry if you feel like we have jeopardized your life, but you have to look at the greater picture."

"Aha!" I said mockingly.

"Who would have thought that I would have to be looking at the greatest picture by getting married to a total stranger simply because my parents want to expand their network? You are the selfish ones here. You want to play my life according to the way yours went. It's not a crime for me to have my life put together without any intervention from whoever. I don't want to be involved in this nonsense, I don't want to get married to a total stranger!" I snapped, feeling my temperature rise.

"You are just making a mountain out of a molehill; I can promise you that this is going to be the start of something beautiful. I believe that everything is going to work out fine, and you just have to have faith in me."

I laughed at her non-existent persuasion skills. "My goodness, you make me wonder how I ever got to this point in my life. I'm sure that you know that this is not going to work yet you would rather shove me into a loveless marriage just to fulfill your wishes and want me to do yours? How wicked can you be, Mom?" I demanded.

This was getting out of hand and she was making me look like I had the problem without introspecting. "I didn't think that a day was going to come where I would resent you and I do not say this for you to feel remorseful. I mean everyone that comes out of my mouth." I said, standing my ground.

"Your dad and I were once strangers, every relationship goes through this phase. I don't know why you were trying to make it seem like I shoved you into the hands of a beast. Jakob is a fine young man, for crying out loud; you can't tell me that you don't see that?" My mom retorted making me sigh.

There was no winning with her especially when she had her sights on something.

"I guess you just have to wait and see how this plays out. I'm assured that you would want to know how I am coping in my house, won't you? He is going to tell you how things run, but considering me not a part of the family anymore."

She gasped dramatically. "Don't say that child," she said. "I can assure you this is going to be one of the best decisions that you have ever made in your entire life. I know that right now may seem stupid, but this is something that I went in with my eyes wide open. You are not going to like a thing. Your husband is a perfect gentleman."

I laughed at her description of a man who only wanted to see me out of his sight. "Really now? Who would have thought that you would conduct your due diligence before speaking about somebody you know nothing about?" I responded.

She let out a noise from the base of her throat. "Please do not speak to me in that manner. I am not the one in charge of your feelings. If you can just drop your ego and find a way to work with him everything would end up being seamless. Why do you have to be difficult Selene?"

I scoffed at her audacity. "I'm being difficult? I'm being difficult?" My voice rose at the second word because this was outrageous. "You give me off to a man like furniture at an auction, leave me to face him and his humiliation, and expect that I do what? Leap for joy because I've never met a man before? What do you really think that I am? A spoiled brat without anything upstairs?" I demanded from her.

If my parents could do this to me, then there was no other betrayal that I couldn't expect.

"All I'm saying is that you just go with the flow, darling; that man you see there is a responsible person. I would never have allowed my baby girl to get bored with somebody that I didn't vet. I have a lot of friends whose kids would be so elated to marry you, but I refused. I chose stability for you. No man is going to give you such."

I threw my head backward and laughed at her assumptions. She didn't know the Man behind the mask he presented to them. "I guess it doesn't go without saying thank you, boss; please do not call my phone again because I'm not in the right frame of mind to deal with you," I responded to her.

"Thank you for listening darling,"

"I didn't..."

A shout rang in my ears. "Fuck! Martha, where the hell are you?!" Jakob's voice echoed throughout the house.