Chapter 2 - His Choice

Charles Alejandro was at his hotel when he received a report that his chosen bride had arrived home.

He was eager to see Nancy, as his parents had been pressuring him to settle down. He was their only son and, more likely, the future president. He had many enemies, including inherited ones.

Charles had been at his company earlier in the morning, before deciding to visit his hotel in the afternoon and spend the evening with an attractive woman there.

It was no secret that he loved women. He was a powerful man in A.J. City, and many young ladies knew it and also wanted to get intimate with him.

Charles was a 30-year-old Black man. He was very attractive, tall, masculine, and had short black hair.

His mother would not allow him to rest, as she kept pressuring him about marriage and even showed him several photos of women she had selected for him to choose from. But Charles was not interested in any of them, as he preferred his promiscuous lifestyle. His parents were totally against it.

“Charles! You need to stop taking different women to the hotel and shaming our family. You’re the president’s son, and you need to act respectfully for once. Or how would you feel if almost half of the city’s women had seen you naked?” his father asked inside the sitting room on the second floor, where he was seated on a black couch.

Charles smiled and replied, “Not half, Father. How can I possibly sleep with almost half of all the pretty ladies here? They are too many for me alone, and you know it.”

Seeing that his father was not smiling, Charles knew it was best to make his expression stern too.

His father replied, “Then you need to marry, Charles. Otherwise, I will seize every right you have and look for someone competent to take over my wealth.”

“Hm…” Charles frowned as his father warned him with blazing eyes and left the second-floor sitting room to meet his guests.

His mother stepped out of the elevator and walked into the sitting room to join him.

She asked, “Charles… I don’t understand why you are afraid of marriage.”

“Mom, I’m not afraid of marriage,” Charles replied as he took a cigarette from his trouser pocket, lit it, and began smoking.

The truth was that he had not yet seen any woman he loved.

Charles believed most young ladies were cheats and gold diggers, especially since he had seen many of them trying to get intimate with him while forgetting that they already had boyfriends or fiancés.

He did not want a cheap woman to become his wife, and finding the right woman who matched his idea of a bride had been difficult.

“Then what’s the problem, Charles, since you have not accepted any invitation your father or I have offered you? Or do you want us to choose a bride for you, marry her, and bring her here?” his mother asked.

“No, Mother. I’m not interested in an arranged bride. Most young ladies are cheats and pretentious human beings. Once they see that I am the one who wants to marry them, they will pretend to be nice and jump at the offer immediately. So no.”

Charles shook his head and took a drag from his cigar, then puffed it into the air.

His mother frowned and replied, “No, Charles. That is why you should leave a responsible young lady and not marry a prostitute like yourself.”

“Mom…” Charles stared at his mother in shock and shook his head as he met her smiling gaze.

She was a 65-year-old Black woman, and she stood in front of him in her long blue native gown. She was a traditional woman too.

First Lady Kira approached Charles, who was seated on the black couch, and said, “Here, Charles. I have these three women’s photos for you to see, and you can choose from among them. Their families are well respected and belong to your father’s political party too.”

“Mom…” Charles could not believe that his mother was already holding three women’s photos to her chest, waiting to show them to him at any opportunity.

His mother approached him and showed him the photos in her hands. She said, “Here, Charles, take a look.”

“Hm…” Charles accepted the photos from his mother’s hands.

He held the cigar to his lips as he wore a black top, black leather trousers, and black boots, because he liked dressing in all-black clothing.

Charles stared at the first woman’s photo at the top of the stack. She was cute, a Black-skinned lady with a round face and a flat nose. Her big brown eyes shone seductively in the outdoor photo she had taken, where she wore a simple pink crop top and blue jeans.

Charles frowned and kept the cigar at his lips as he moved on to the second photo. His eyes fell on a pair of blue eyes.

She was cute, with a round face, a pointed nose, blue eyes, and rosy dimples on her chubby cheeks.

Her plump lips tempted him to kiss her photo. Her long, sparkling golden hair glittered and made his jaw drop in admiration.

She was wearing a white singlet top in the cute outdoor selfie she had taken.

Staring at her bare, slender neck and the top of her slightly exposed bosom, Charles gulped and felt his muscles harden, wanting to kiss and lick every inch of her beautiful yellow skin.

He did not know how long he had been staring at her photo until he heard his mother ask, “Charles… do you like her?”

“Mom…” Charles snapped out of his trance.

He stared at his mother’s face and met her smiling gaze.

Charles held back his response as he moved the photo to the last woman and looked at her face too.

She was beautiful, a fair-skinned young woman, but fuller-figured than the second woman in the photo. She did not catch his eye or make his heart race like the second woman had.

Charles moved back to the second woman’s photo and handed the other two back to his mother, asking, “Who is she, Mom?”

First Lady Kira smiled and replied, “She is Nancy Marlon, Senator Logan Marlon’s only child.”

“Hm…” Charles hummed and finished smoking his cigarette.

His mother said, “I see that you like her, Charles. Don’t worry, I will ask my assistant to send the marriage proposal to her family at once and let them know that you have chosen to marry their daughter.”

“Okay, Mom, but is she around? I would like to see her face. Does she really look like this photo? You know most young ladies nowadays know how to edit their photos to look cute and very attractive,” Charles asked, still staring at Nancy’s photo in his hands.

His mother smiled and replied, “I don’t know, Charles, but I will call her family to find out whether she is around or not. And once she is around, we will proceed with your wedding ceremony.”

“Okay, Mom,” Charles said, smiling, as he did not reject the topic of marriage.

He wanted Nancy. Every fiber of his body wanted her.

Her lips—he wanted to kiss her photo—but he had to suppress his urge and allow his mother to leave first.

Charles then stood up from the black couch in the sitting room and went upstairs to his bedroom on the third floor, taking Nancy’s photo with him.

****

One month later,

Charles went to his luxury hotel over the weekend to see if he could find any attractive lady there to distract him from thinking too much about Nancy while he awaited her return to the city.

But none of the pretty, hot ladies he saw seemed to move his heart or make him want them the way he wanted Nancy Marlon.

“Boss, our security men planted in Nancy’s father’s security team have just called to inform us that your chosen bride has returned to the city and is at her family home as we speak,” his personal assistant, Dennis Richard, informed him over the phone while he was in the presidential suite of his luxurious hotel.

Charles replied, “Prepare the car. We are leaving now for her father’s mansion.”

“Okay, boss,” Dennis answered.

Charles immediately left the pretty lady who had been pleasing him, irritated and driven by nothing but a desire to meet his chosen bride, the one his heart wanted and needed.

Charles exited the top floor of his luxurious hotel, wearing a black suit and a red dress shirt, and approached his car.

His security men opened and shut the car door for him as soon as he got in, and the three cars drove out toward Senator Logan Marlon’s residence.