4

Twenty eight hours left….

   Aiden was on his third cup of coffee, his eyes were droopy. He had no bride yet. He never imagined it would be so difficult to get a woman to marry him even though he had endless options. 

He understood that even if the marriage was temporary, whoever he was going to get married to was going to be part of his family for that period. He valued his family so much that he didn’t want to be involved with anyone who could cause them problems. 

They were not over his father’s death, the last thing he needed was unnecessary drama.

    “How about Stacy?” Henry suggested 

Over the past hour, he had gone through a list of women who he thought were eligible to marry his friend

   “Stacy?” Aiden scoffed. “That woman is obsessed with social media, I could never trust her around my house. Also, I can’t stand being around her”

 Henry shook his head as he drew a line across her name.

  Aiden slouched in his chair. He imagined his father looking down on him with a frown on his face. If getting married was what it took to save the company, then he was ready to do that but what concerned him was who he was going to get married to.

   “The manager at the strip club said he’ll like to have us again” Henry told him as he stared at the text message 

He pressed his lips into a thin line as he thought of the club. He thought of the girl he saw at the parking lot, struggling with her car. She was unnecessarily rude but that didn’t stop him from being kind to her.

A part of him felt sorry for her. He had seen her dance all night but he wasn’t interested in her. 

   “What do you think of Lindsay? She’s a two-time beauty queen. You remember her, don’t you?”

  Aiden ignored his friend as he stared blankly at the ceiling. He hated that even his money couldn’t buy him more time. He had asked his father once why he wanted him to get married. His answer was simple, he said he wanted him to know what he felt like to be loved by another woman asides his mother and sisters.

He admired his parents' marriage, the way they looked at each other even in their old age, stealing kisses when they thought the children weren’t watching. It was so cute to watch but that was not enough to convince Aiden that he needed to get married.

Love didn’t happen to everyone, not everyone was capable of feeling such strong emotions for another person.

   He had tried once, to love someone. It happened during his days as a student in college. He didn’t love her but he cared about her and he carried out his duties as a boyfriend faithfully. They had their first fight when she told him she loved him and he didn’t say it back. How could he say what he didn’t feel? He tried to say the words but it was stuck in his throat.

A few weeks later, he decided to write it on perfumed paper and take it to her with a bunch of roses. His sisters had advised that while he worked on how to feel such strong emotions, he should convince his girlfriend that he still cared deeply for her.

   When he got to her apartment, he knocked once and opened the door. What he had seen that day was still registered in his mind, she cheated on him with his best friend.

That was what sealed it off for him, he didn’t bother ever trying to love anyone else. The girl who he had tried to change for had ended up hurting him. His mother had always said that that was the beginning of his villain story but he saw it as his beginning to freedom.

   “We are left with two names” Henry yawned, exhausted 

  “We have Laura. In my opinion, she would make the perfect wife. I have seen the ways she looks at you, she’s in love”

  Aiden laughed. He had seen the way Laura looked at him, it was no different from the way other girls had looked at him. They had dreamy eyes and they flirted subtly. Some wanted him for his looks, others wanted him because he had money and influence in the society.

     “So you’re really going to lose your father’s company because you don’t want to get married?”

Henry’s question stung him. 

   “You realize that it’s not only going to affect you, don’t you? Think about your mother and sisters who helped build that company”

 Aiden sighed. He was only being selfish, this wasn’t just about him but his family.

   “I’ll make my final decision on who I’m going to marry tomorrow and we’ll have a little wedding at the local church. Contact the parishioner and let him know this”

Henry’s face washed with relief. The contract had stated that the marriage should be over a year or the lawyer had the right to withdraw the property from Aiden.

    “It can’t be that bad, living with someone for a year, don’t you agree?” Aiden asked. 

He hated the thought of it and he was also scared by it.

  “This house is big enough,” Henry said, gesturing. “You might not get to see her in weeks, she can’t take the east side and you take the west. All you have to do is show up together and act like you’re in love”

   Aiden nodded but he wasn’t convinced. A year felt like a thousand years.

   “I think you should talk to Laura. She’d be more than willing to be your wife and your mom likes her”

He clicked his tongue. He didn’t like Laura that much but he was willing to ignore his feelings for the safety of the company.