Chapter Three:
(At the Wade Mansion)
A young man in his mid-twenties, sat, leg crossed on a leather couch, staring at the ceiling, where a massive chandelier hung.
A glass of red wine was wrapped in his long fingers, his eyes were dark like he had a smoky makeup on.
As he rested on the headrest, his dark curly hair spread on the couch, his eyes were a shade of gray and green.
The door of the room opened and a middle aged man sauntered in, closing the door behind him. He walked nimbly and with high head to where the young man sat.
“Sir Damien Wade, I had made the arrangements, everything is going as planned. Arya’s father, Mr. Stark, has bitten on the fish hook, he’d be dragged to the surface now.”
The young man, Sir Damien, raised his eyes to the middle aged man. “Butler Jim, you speak like my plan is to marry her father and not Arya.” He placed his wine glass on the silver stool besides him.
“Since everything is going as planned, start with the wedding preparations.”
Butler Jim frowned, his hands, that had been behind his back, suddenly releasing. “Wedding? Is Arya ready for that?”
“She is. Her father wants her to wed a man who’d pay his debts. The contract will be signed by her on the wedding ceremony.” Sir Damien left the couch.
The Butler nodded understandably, moving backwards as his young master made to leave. “But sir, do you think you and Arya can be… married couples? She still doesn’t know who you are.”
Sir Damien stopped in front of the door, his hands already on the door knob. “But I know who she is. My first love. Stop the questions. She’s not home now. Go yourself, get your young master a wife.”
As he walked out, his driver, standing outside the Lamborghini pushed the honk button then bowed. “Sir Damien, where do you want to be?”
“At Northern Eclipse university.” He sighed, getting in.
He saw the Butler leave the room and wave, as his Lamborghini dashed out of the compound.
“Where are we going, Sir Damien? Should I call that you’re coming in?” His driver asked.
A ghost of smile spread across the pink lips of Sir Damien, he looked at mirror in front of the driver. “No need, Kane. This person I’m seeing, have no clue who I am.”
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It was the last class for the day, then she’d have to face her father. Arya cursed herself for not packing up the other night so she could easily run away.
Winx tapped her on many occasions to bring her back to the land of the conscious. When Arya was finally concentrating, two late comers entered the class and totally all the students concentration.
‘Whoas’ and ‘Awwws’ filled the air as the campus couple, Seth and Edna walked into the class hand in hand with stunning fitting outfits. Their hair colors matched as Edna’s hair was a light shade of pink while Seth had a streak of pink on both sides of his head.
The lecturer ignored the students and kept on scribbling the notes on the board. He was due to leave in five minutes and it was quite obvious the campus couple didn’t come to class for him.
Along with the lecturer, another one not pleased with the campus couple was Arya but she didn’t show it, she was great at masking her emotions, no thanks to her abusive father.
Arya knew Edna Romanoff was a high class call girl who claimed to have changed and was ‘faithful’ to Seth. She realized Seth liked her and was using his affection to gain way into his family’s wealth.
Seth Darwin had been Arya’s high school crush even if he schooled elsewhere.
She always came for his basketball practices and cheered him, but her love had been generally low-key, her father would strangle her if she knew she liked boys, like it wasn’t a natural thing to do.
Seeing Edna clinging on Seth like jam and bread, made her sick, since she knew Edna was cheating on Seth with her neighbor. But she didn’t let it bother her too much. It’s not like she had a chance with Seth anyway and he was too dumb to fight for.
She was friends with him and that’s enough for her but Winx pulled her towards the couple after their last class was over. She knew her Arya liked Seth but she didn’t know that she was also not interested in doing anything about her feelings.
“Hey!” Winx greeted the two as they were taking selfies. Edna released Seth and rushed to give Winx a hug, the two were distant relatives.
Arya rolled her eyes, she noticed Seth’s gaze on her and looked up at him. “Congratulations to your dad for being elected deputy governor. That was a lot of work, I hope he takes care.”
Seth smiled, “Thanks. Everyone I met congratulated me like I was the one who won.”
Arya smirked. Of course they would, it was a way to gain favor from him. She went back as Edna tried to give her a friendly hug as well.
Winx chuckled nervously. “Arya isn’t a hugger.”
Edna frowned but went on with it.
“Meet you guys tomorrow then?” Winx asked.
“Yeah, we’d come at our own time.” Edna winked, before pulling Seth with her away.
“You know I hate her.” Arya turned to a Winx with a scowl.
“But you like her boyfriend so just put up with her till you can snatch him.” Winx laughed. Arya smiled but said nothing.
There was no need trying to snatch Seth, she had a complicated life, she didn’t know how to be in a non-toxic, non-abusive relationship, she didn’t need him in her wretched life.
Her phone rang as she walked out of the university with Winx, she expected to see Sir Damien, she had been calling him but no avail.
Seeing her sister on the caller ID, Arya’s heart skipped a beat. Was her sister calling because she heard she asked her boyfriend to marry her? She had to explain.
“Arya! Damien told me everything! I had no idea dad wanted you to do that!”
Arya exhaled, did Sir Damien not tell her of the marriage?
“Oh, um… I am thinking of how to avoid the marriage…”
“Thinking? Damien told me he agreed to marry you for the time being, don’t you agree?”
Was she agreeing for her boyfriend to marry her sister?
“But he is your boyfriend, Anna? Isn’t it weird?”
“Boyfriend? Who?”
Arya frowned. Wasn’t he her boyfriend? For the last one year she had assumed they were dating.
She had never seen Sir Damien in real life, apart from the calls he gave from time to time, she engaged all as she deemed him as her sister’s boyfriend.
“Anna, you mean you and Damien aren’t dating?” she needed to be sure.
“What? He’s younger than me and I don’t do younger men, please. And I have a boyfriend already. I think you and Damien will be a cute fit.” Anna chuckled.
Arya’s eyes rolled. So that what Sir Damien answered her rather coldly whenever she spoke of her sister.
“Please Anna, it’s just for the time being. We are not getting married for real. I am just nineteen.”
“What? Mom married dad at nineteen and even if their marriage wasn’t the best, it created two princesses.” Anna chuckled again.
Arya’s heart fell? Her mother’s marriage wasn’t even close to the best. It was just a contract marriage that she was trying so hard to make a real marriage because she fell in love with the man.
And two princesses? Maybe to their mother but they were nothing to their father. She had to make sure not to fall in love in her contact marriage with Sir Damien. Who knows, he could turn to a wolf and she wants to be able to leave with no regrets.
“I hear you, Anna. I’d be heading home now.”
“Oh, okay, take care. Bye.” Her sister hung up.
Winx returned to her with an ice cream cone. “Does Anna know of the contract marriage between your parents?”
“I can’t tell her. At least, not yet.” She took the ice-cream. “Thank you. I’d head home first.”
Winx nodded, waving. Arya smiled at her before walking down the stairs.
With the corner of her eyes, she noticed the piercing gaze of a figure resting on a Lamborghini she had noticed drive in, the gaze made her feel fear.
She met the young man’s gaze, her brown eyes diving into his gray ones. She didn’t know the man but did she know her somewhere?
Chapter Four:Arya gulped down saliva and decided to walk to the young man. He looked expensive, like the rich CEOs she imagined after reading romance books, that was her method of escapism.She stopped halfway when the man diverted his gaze from hers and took his phone. Maybe she should just leave? And how dare she try to have a conversation with such a hot guy, he might have come to pick his girlfriend up from school. She turned and headed home, ignoring the young man, who looked at her again. The young man was Sir Damien, he took a picture of Arya and sent it to Anna to confirm if she was the one he came for. He had never meet Anna since their middle school, where he was basically someone who caused fear in her. During his early teen years, he had been diagnosed with the yandere syndrome and had to stay away from her. He received a text from Anna. “She’s the one. Go get her bro!”He smiled, getting back into his car. The driver, noticing his smile, suggested in a low tone. “Sho
Chapter Five: Romance counselor.Outside the house, it was raining cats and dogs, she walked under it despite having low tolerance to cold. At worst she’d catch a cold, then overwork herself till she sweats out and gets better. Tears rolled down and she sucked it in.Remembering that she’d be the wife of a CEO, she ran out of the rain and inside a café.She shouldn’t look sickly for her wedding but look expensive and materialistic. She didn’t even know where to buy quality things. She indulged herself in hot coffee till she received two texts on her phone at the same time. One was her sister asking if she was accepting Sir Damien. The other was Winx also asking if Sir Damien was really getting married to her. Arya ignored all and switched of her phone.Across her table, in the café, a man in a simple suit was staring at her. He tilted his head, like he was thinking of where he knew her before getting up to walk to her. “Hello, Miss.”Arya dropped her cup and raised her head, seein
Chapter Six: Starting Over.Arya raised a brow, how’d he know if he was an amazing person? Or was he just speaking as a relationship counselor? “Well, I bet he is. He is my sister’s friend and also Mr. Dean’s friend so he’d be a nice guy, I hope.” She said. “Anyway, let’s assume he is, you’d need to be comfortable around him. Let your body gradually adopt the lifestyle. Be honest about your feelings.” He enumerated. Arya’s eyes were on his veiny hands as he took out a finger for each point he made. She pursed her lips and nodded. “I will take that part slow.” Mr. Wade paused but then shrugged. “You know anything about wedding dresses and clothes for rich people? I'll need a hint or two on it.” “I am very open to help you shop for it.” Mr. Wade offered. Arya’s eyes widened. He would shop for her? What if he met his girlfriend in the mall? Wouldn’t that give her a bad label? “I certainly can’t do that to you. Or is it part of your job description?” she asked, politely. “Personal
Chapter Seven: Cat amongst Tigers. Arya had never seen so many pretty things in one place before. She felt her card will go dangerously red soon but didn’t speak of it to Mr. Wade. She ran to a short red dress but when she stood in front of it, the mirror reflected her image on it and she saw it will be quite too short for her. “Do you want it?” Mr. Wade asked. She moved away, shaking her head. “It’s short.”With her disappointed tone, Wade looked back on the dress and without her seeing him, picked it up, along with it’s leggings she might not have viewed. Minutes later, they walked out of the mall, her hands full with bags. He noticed her little hops when she got outside and could tell she was excited about everything. Just when he was about dropping a taxi for her, he sighted a young girl who had been watching him while he shopped. He paused, keeping a distance from Arya. The girl came closer and bowed, before passing by. She peeked into his bag and frowned. He sighed. Yet
Chapter Eight: Won’t love him.Anna heard a knock on the door, she rose from the couch and paused the movie she was watching. “Arya, is that you?” she opened the door and smiled. “Good evening.” Arya bowed, and went to her sister for a hug. Anna brightly enveloped her in a hug. She noticed her little sister wasn’t letting go and gave her a pat on the back gently. “Don’t worry, everything will work out dear. Come inside.” She ushered her in. Arya wiped her wet face, she smiled seeing the series her sister was watching on Tv. “I never knew these household dramas could happen in real life.” “Oh, it can. It surely can.” Anna exhaled, plopping down on the couch. She got up again. “Do you want me to make food for you. You’re staying here, right?” The younger sister nodded. “Yeah, do you have chicken?” Anna rolled her eyes, sighing. “Look how you are being picky? Do you know how expensive chicken is?” Arya smiled, she watched her elder sister, still grumbling, leave to make food for h
Chapter Nine: Goddess Selena.Arya grabbed her sister’s phone and glared at it. That man was really Sir Damien.The picture she was looking at, Damien was wearing a white shirt and was cheering with some other students. The background looked like her sister’s university, the current university Arya attended. How could it be? She had met Sir Damien already without knowing. She slapped the phone on the table and screamed. “I told Damien about my marriage and spoke about feeling weird about it!”How could the universe be so cruel to her? She wanted the ground to open and swallow her that instant. Anna squinted her eyes. “Wait, you guys have met?” she took her phone away from the table, her sister was slamming. Her sister rose from the chair, in panic. “He helped me get the taxi I used to get here. You see those clothes?” She pointed at the bags she brought. “Damien helped me shop for them.” “That’s weird. Was he stalking you?” Anna frowned.Arya shook her head vehemently. “No, actu
Chapter Ten: If it becomes real. Arya ran to the standing mirror with the wedding gown, that had just been delivered and checked on it. She made a spin and smiled. “This is pretty.” Her smile fell. “And also very familiar.” She had seen a sample at the boutique, was the dress in trend? Perhaps when Damien shopped for it, he saw it and liked it. Her smile returned. At least, they had similar tastes in clothes. “What are you doing? Thinking of you two being compatible? Forget it, it’s a contracted marriage.” she dropped the gown to the floor. Why was Damien being so kind to gift her a gown? Did he know that she didn’t have a single coin with her to buy anything? “Arya! That dress belongs on your body and not the floor!” Anna shouted, entering her room. Arya picked it up hurriedly and threw it on the bed, she rushed to her sister’s side. “You said he called? What for? About me or something?” Why was she curious? Anna wondered. “He called to ask how my marriage plans with Jim are
Chapter Eleven: Child of Woe.A gentleman. Damien must be nothing but a gentleman. He swiftly agreed to the marriage being done in his absence and sent a car over to pick her up. Arya couldn’t help but feel these acts could swerve her earlier decisions of acting formal with Damien and only lovey-dovey in front of his mother. “I should also help him get a lady he’d fall in love with, it can’t be me.” she whispered to herself as Damien’s driver drove her to the venue. The car stopped in front of a huge building that didn’t look like a court house. Did he rent a place for the wedding? It wasn’t supposed to be that big. The driver opened the car door for her and she got out, wearing a smile. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome.” He replied and pointed inside. She picked up her flowing gown and walked into the building. Her eyes were down so she wouldn’t step on her dress and trip but when they went up, her jaw dropped. Only three people were in the building and they were all staring at he