“Get up you lazy girl!!!,” I heard my mom scream at the top of her lungs.
I thought it was a dream because I was sure I wasn't at home. I shrugged turning to the other side of the bed, I believed I was still at Nicky's home. It must be the Trauma of my childhood, coming to my nightmare again. My eyes snapped open as cold water splashed on my face and body. I jolted up from the bed, to meet those menacing brown eyes of Fiona Grey. “Mother!!” I said, in a low voice. I can't believe I'm at the Grey Villa. In my old room, where all my bad memories started from. “Mother? Who is your mother? Haven't I warned you not to call me that? Call me Madam Fiona. I am not your mother that abandoned you in the orphanage!!” Fiona spat, grabbing my ears. I rubbed my eyes to wipe away the sleep, my head banging and I can't recall what had happened yesterday. How did I get into the Villa? “Today is the day that you are finally of use to me and you are still asleep. Go dress up, today is your wedding day.” Fiona said, with a serious tone. I felt like maybe I misheard the word wedding. “Mo....Madam Fiona. I don't understand.” I said, trying to process this new information to my brain. She grabbed me by the hand, squeezing it tightly. “Don't pretend like you didn't hear properly. Today is your wedding day, your suitor is already waiting for you at the church. This is 9:am and the ceremony starts at 10am. You're not getting out of this. Your future has been predetermined.” Fiona's Grey sneered, her eyes glinting with cruelty. My legs were trembling with fear, and I could not control them. I slumped into the bed, grabbing my bed sheets. I knew from her eyes that she meant every word she uttered. Just like when she forced me to go to a sign language school in London. I grabbed onto her dress, regretting deeply why I came home last night. Or how did I get home? “Please Ma, I can't get married yet. Am just 23. This is the peak of my career.” I said, in a low voice. My eyes are building up tears, I know how Fiona thinks. Her decision is final, even her husband can't stop it. “You are 23 now, Aurora. It's time to repay us back from training you to the college level. You are not even my child, just an abandoned baby that I picked up.” Fiona ordered, without remorse in her voice. This was the 3000th time that I heard those heart wrenching words from her. Like I forced her to pick me up? My eyes filled with anger and I said to myself. “Repay you? By getting married to a man that I don't know?” Fiona grabbed my hand lovingly, flashing fake smiles at me. “You are a good and obedient girl Aurora, just be the best daughter that you are and Marry him okay? He is very wealthy, he will give you everything you want. He just has a little flaw, he is deaf and dumb. But it doesn't matter, because you learnt sign language. Communicating with him won't be a problem okay?” I yanked off her hands hearing that, I couldn't believe what I heard. Now I know why I was forced to attend sign language school. “Mother!!” I said, with teary eyes. “I can repay you for the care, in another way. I can't marry a stranger.” She landed me a resounding slap, I held my cheeks as my tears fell. “Aurora my dear, this has been decided you have no opinion.” She called me sweetly. “Your dad's company is in ruins, we need this marriage to continue living like a socialite. Do you want us to end up in the street? To beg? My decision is final. Just obediently dress up. Your husband's mother sent a wedding gown for you. And it's exactly your size.” Two of our maids rushed into my room, and they dragged me to the bathroom. They have been waiting for my mother's signal outside my room. ********* “Miss Aurora, just wait inside the church. The guards are outside, don't worry you can't escape this wedding. Don't even think about it.” one of our family maids said, as she walked away leaving me alone at the church entrance. I opened the church door, stepping into the big Catholic church. It was beautifully decorated, the walls glittering with golden ribbon. My wedding gown was very tight, the so-called mother-in-inlaw. Don't even care about my exact size. Everything seems like a nightmare that I can't wake up from. Just yesterday I was drinking with Nicky? Today I am getting married to a stranger. How I wish I knew, I would have ran away yesterday. How do I run away from here? The Hall was beautiful, but the strange thing was that. There was no single soul in the whole church. “This might be an opportunity for me to run away?” I muttered to myself. I rushed to the back of the church, no one was there. It was totally empty like a graveyard. I went to the restroom, and I heard some noise inside. I burst through the restroom, my heart racing with urgency. I had to find someone to help me escape the church. As I scanned the room, my eyes met with the figure of a tall man standing by the male sink. I didn't read the sign outside, so I had entered the male restroom unknowingly. My heels clicking on the tiled floor as I stepped forward. “Hello!! Hi!! Excuse me!!” I said, in a low tone, trying to get his attention. But as the figure turned to face me, I felt my breath catch in my throat. His piercing brown eyes locked into mine, and I felt my breath getting stuck in my throat. I fucking lost my voice, for a mere stranger. He was a gorgeous man, his chiseled features and jawline made him look like a model. His well arranged dark hair made him look like a foreign Kpop idol. His eyes really got me, it felt like he was staring into my soul. There was a moment of silence between us, we just stared at each other. The sudden tension between us grew. His stare was more of a surprised look, he stared at me from head to toe. But it was a look of disgust and uncertainty which I don't.know why. “I am not a pervert!! Don't look at me like that!!” I said, with a pleading voice. I felt an urge to explain myself so he wouldn't see me as a weird or insane lady. The wedding gown made me look even weirder, I think. “Please help me escape the church, my parents are forcing me to marry an old and crippled man. Please help me get out of the church, I will repay you.” .Rylan’s POVWe got to my office and I followed the exclusive elevator with Asher. “Should I call her in?” He asked as we got to my office floor. I nodded and went into my office.I sat behind my desk, my iPad in my hand, scrolling through new proposals from Grey’s fashion subsidiary. My mind wasn’t even on the numbers, but the designs were very familiar to me like I had seen them somewhere. The figures were just a blur of words. Fiona had allowed them to send it to my office, I wondered what she was planning now?The knock broke the stillness.Asher pushed the door, and Orla followed him. She was carrying crutches to support her walking. This was what her mom wanted to happen to Aurora.Orla stepped in closer like she owned the room. She wore a cream-colored suit, her red nails catching the light. Her heels clicked against the marble floor until she stopped right across me and her hands on the table.“Mr. Grey,” she said smoothly. “I hope you have a few minutes. This is… delicate.”
Rylan’s POVThe cool night air hit my face as I stepped out of the hospital. I didn’t look back. My chest felt tight, and my head was full of noise even though I made no sound. I stayed longer in AURORA ward but she refused to talk.to.me. She kept silent for 3 hours. I knew she was still mad about the Lizzy incident.Asher stood by the car, holding the back door open. I slid into the seat without a word. The smell of rain surrounded me, it was a bit relaxing. Asher closed the door gently, then got into the driver’s seat.Through the window, the hospital lights glowed faintly. My mind kept going back to the hallway, Onika’s nervous eyes and her half-truths, and then the tall figure slipping out of Aurora’s ward. Dylan!! I knew it was him. But why did Onika Onika stop me from.seeing them? She purposely skipped Aurora's ward, I had to act like I didn't know her ward. Do they have a secret that I don't know? I picked up my iPad, and checked Aurora's recent movement. I got the maid Rhoda
Footsteps echoed down the corridor, sharp and familiar. I heard a knock on the door and I turned, Rylan was already stepping inside the room.He stopped in front of us, his expression unreadable.Rylan’s tall frame filled the narrow corridor, blocking the dim hospital light behind him. His black suit hugged to his broad shoulders, damp from the drizzle outside. He held his iPad in one hand, the other clenched at his side. His eyes, those intense brown eyes. Now I know why Aurora's eyes once shone when she talked about him. His eyes moved between me and the doctor, his stares cutting through our skin.I never saw him like this, without an expression. Is it that he doesn't like Aurora at all? But his cold made me feel small in his presence. He has the AURA of my dad.He began typing, his long fingers moving swiftly across the glass screen. The faint tap-tap-tap of his typing was quite intense. When he was done, he turned the iPad toward me.“Where is she? Is she okay?”I forced a smil
Onika’s POVI sat on the hard plastic chair outside Aurora’s room, my arms wrapped around myself. The image of her collapsing in the classroom wouldn’t stop replaying in my mind. Her eyes wide and distant, her body crumpling like a doll’s.The Doctors were still checking her, so I waited outside. I had never felt so helpless.I stood up and moved closer to the door, staring through the small glass window. Aurora lay pale and still under the white sheets, her chest rising slowly. I pressed my palm to the cool surface of the door, swallowing the lump in my throat.Footsteps echoed down the corridor, I wasn't looking there. Then I heard that most annoying voice that always made my skin crawl. “Onika?” I turned and froze, Dylan. His expression was unreadable as he approached- tall, broad-shouldered, his jaw tight. The same dark eyes as Rylan’s, but darker and sharper. He stopped just a few feet from me, his hands shoved into his pockets.“I’m here to see her,” he said, voice low but st
Aurora’s POVThe classroom smelled faintly of paper and chalk, the kind of scent that clings to old books. I had a lot on my mind, but coming to this hall where people talked quietly always calmed my mind. Alex was seated at the front roll, he has been giving me quiet treatment since he found out I was married to our Lecturer Rylan. He wasn't quiet back then, why now?Only Aubrey was seated by my side with her hearing aid in her eyes. She was very happy because it was Rylan's product. “Aurora, you are so lucky to be married to Rylan Blackwood. Do you know his family is as rich as this country?” She asked, smiling sheepishly.She cut me off from my thoughts, “No, I don't. I have never heard that.” I said, with a slight smile.She held my shoulders, her eyes shining wide. “You really don't know? Aurora, how don't you know? You are a wealthy heirs wife. Do you know what that means?”I shook my head, if only she knew the Blackwood family was a shit hole.“How did you get to know. Such a
AT THE BLACKWOOD COMPANY HEADQUARTERS — Raine’s POVThe building was nearly silent at this hour, MY mind was far away. I was thinking of how to stop Dylan from always trying to get Aurora. I don't want my son in that bloody story. Aurora has a lot going on in her life, she doesn't deserve my son. I stayed by the window until I saw Fiona and Laden coming into the building. “Not again,” I whispered.“What is it?” my secretary Hanni asked, as he heard my low voice.“It's that bitch Fiona,” I said in a low tone. “I really hate that woman, I just don't want her coming here. Am sure she is here about that incident at her house. Why did I ever accept to work with her?”“Let me send her away?” Hanni asked as he stood up.“If you do that, she will scream my name so everybody will gather around. She has a lot of secrets about the Blackhood family. We can't let her reveal it now until I get the company in hand.” I said, and he excused himself and left to call them in.After 5 minutes Fiona an