CHAPTER 5

AMARA'S POV:

“What?!” I screamed, almost causing the driver to have an accident. I was shocked to see the face of the man I was married to.

“What’s the problem, my lady? Are you all right?” Mr. Timothy asked in concern as he slowed down and looked at me cautiously through the car’s rearview mirror.

“I’m sorry. You can continue driving; I was only shocked to see my husband’s face online,” I said nervously.

Mr. Timothy smiled understandingly, and I made a mental note not to scream so foolishly again.

The drive continued, and I kept looking at the face of the man who was about to become my husband: Darlington Briggs.

I had seen Darlington before when I got into the university. We crossed paths, and I mistakenly stepped on his feet while walking with my best friend, Esther Peters.

Esther was an accountant like me and a seductive person who never failed to notice all the handsome, wealthy guys in the university.

I wondered how a rich girl like Esther Peters could be so easily swayed by money when she wasn’t from a poverty-stricken home. Her parents were billionaires, but after we graduated from the university, Esther traveled to another country far away, and I lost contact with her.

She was not on Facebòok, which would have made it easy for me to search for her online and get her new contact. However, she had not contacted me either, despite knowing that I used my real name online.

I marveled at the handsome image on my phone screen. Then I apologized to Darlington, not knowing his name, and told him, “I’m sorry.” He only stared at me in shock, did not respond, and then strode away.

Until I finished my schooling there, I never saw Darlington again. I learned that he was a final-year student, and Esther was the one I told about my secret crush.

Now, looking at the handsome face that had become more mature, I thought Darlington was the only guy I had ever seen and admired.

I saw some other guys too, who usually admired me, but I didn’t give them the chance. I had gone out several times with Esther in the hope of crossing paths with Darlington again, at least to know his name and get to know him better. But I never got to see him.

I couldn’t stop thinking about Darlington or about how my heart had accelerated when he held me close to prevent me from falling after I mistakenly stepped on him.

Feeling his firm arms wrapped around my waist, he caught me before I could drop to the floor like a dummy after getting lost in admiring him. I think that may have been why he didn’t speak to me.

I learned from Esther that it wasn’t good to gawk over a man. You should instead maintain a calm, stone-cold demeanor and allow the man to drool over you.

Well, that was not intentional. Darlington was tall and looked so handsome in the casual clothes I saw him wearing. Even when he walked away without responding to me, I could see some other young ladies in our school glaring at me, as if I had intentionally stepped on him to get his attention.

I sighed and asked myself, “So this man is my husband now?”

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Darlington looked so handsome now. I exited his profile picture to stare at some of his timeline photos, but then my eyes grew sad as I saw a photo of him and another lady.

“Did my father not tell me that Darlington was single and would be expecting me?”

My heart broke as I saw a photo of Darlington and the slim, striking model to whom he proposed.

Seeing the smile on their faces and how he went down on one knee to propose to her broke my heart.

I could hear the shattering sound of my heart as I saw how lovely they looked together and how Darlington captioned the post, saying, “She said yes to me. I am so happy right now.”

Tears welled up in my eyes, and my heartbeat quickened. I felt an urge to scream and tell the driver to stop the car and drive me back home to my father’s house.

But I remembered my father telling me to return home with my kids and his future grandchildren. Not only that, I remembered asking my mother if Darlington was already in a relationship.

I knew I had not been in a relationship; I was a virgin. But that would be rare for a man who grew up in the city and whose father was a billionaire, according to how my mother described them and told me not to pack too many clothes the previous night. My mother wasn’t pleased with my fashion sense.

I didn’t know that I was crying. I felt cheated upon seeing the photos of Darlington and his fiancée, and I saw him tag her profile along with his own as “my baby.”

Her name was Jenna Colton online, and she had a lot of followers—at least a million. She was a celebrity in Country Z, and I wondered how they would treat me now.

“I am sure Darlington did not know that he was married to me. I am certain he would not accept me, not when ‘his baby’ was there.”

I did not want to continue the journey to the city, but I still wanted to obey my parents, even if it was the last thing they wanted me to do for them before I became an independent woman.

I want to get to the Briggs family mansion to see Darlington and his family, to know if I am indeed married to him or not. Or maybe my father was deceived by his friend, who was the one who settled everything.

I didn’t want to believe that I was married off to my father’s friend under the guise that I was his son’s wife. Well, when I get to the city, I will find out.

I felt sad after seeing many photos of Darlington and that pretty, fair-skinned lady. I didn’t look sophisticated like her, and I knew I would be cast away and labeled wicked for coming into another woman’s relationship. But I wanted to confirm the whole truth before making a final decision.

I leaned back in the car seat as the car drove on, continuing toward the city for hours. Soon, I fell asleep in the back.