Chapter 4 - Petting Her

"No, Father!" Nancy screamed as her father pulled her room door open and exited her bedroom.

She turned to face her mother and begged, "Please, Mom, talk to Dad. I cannot marry that man. I cannot marry Charles Alejandro."

Mrs. Olivia Marlon sighed, and she walked up to the bed to meet her daughter, still holding the bouquet of rose flowers in her hands that Charles had earlier given to her.

She said, "I'm sorry, Nancy. I wish I could speak to your father about this, but you know that your father is working under the A.J Political party group. And even though your father didn't like Charles nor approve of him as your husband, he cannot say no. We were only hoping for your father's rank to be promoted, which is why your father sent your photos to them."

"Mom..." Nancy stared at her mother's face in shock, with tears filling her eyes. She clearly remembered the day that her mother had called her on the phone when she was at her home in City X, trying to cook.

Her mother had asked her to send her photos, saying that she wanted to use them. Since she hardly snapped any photos or posted online.

Nancy didn't know that her mother's true intention was to send her photo to the Alejandro family. If she had known, she wouldn't have snapped beautiful photos but an ugly photo and sent it to her mother.

Nancy then asked her mother, "Why, Mom? Why did you hide it from me? Why didn't you tell me then that you wanted to send my photo to the Alejandro family son to check me out? I could have snapped an ugly photo and sent it to you then, and that way, Charles wouldn't have chosen me."

Nancy cried harder as she stood beside her room window, hurt to think that her parents wanted to trade her off to be with Charles.

She thought of how she would escape away from Charles now, as she didn't want to marry him. And his family were the ones ruling over their country, which made the country named after the city, too.

Mrs. Olivia Marlon apologized, "I'm sorry, Nancy. I didn't mean to make you sad."

Nancy walked away from the window to her bed to sit down and cry, and her mother also approached her on the bed and sat down beside her.

Nancy begged, "Please, Mom, I have to escape away from this marriage. Dad cannot call it off, and I don't want to marry Charles. Please, Mom, didn't you see the way Charles was staring at me? With lust clearly written in his eyes, and I couldn't even meet his gaze. He looks like a pervert, and I cannot marry that kind of man who lusts after everything underneath a skirt to become my husband. No."

Mrs. Olivia Marlon laughed, "Hahaha, no, Nancy, don't say that. I believe that Charles chooses you because he truly loves you, and he wants to marry you."

"No, Mom," Nancy disagreed, but her mother picked up the bouquet of rose flowers that she had dropped on the bed and hugged Nancy closely to her chest. She pet her only child to stop crying and said, "It's okay, my angel. Stop crying, okay? It's because you're beautiful, and that was why Charles was staring at you like that. I think he chose to marry you because he likes you, and your father actually wanted his rank to be promoted at first, which is why he submitted your photo to them to have a look. Among all the rejected photos, Charles still chose your photo."

"No, Mom, I don't want Charles Alejandro. I want to marry a simple man that will love only me, and not a powerful man like Charles…" Nancy cried harder, and her mother petted her. "See, Charles even brought you these beautiful flowers to show you how much he truly loves you and wants to marry you. Please stop crying, my angel, as you know that I don't like to see you crying like this. I really wish I could help you talk to your father about it, but even after you left us downstairs and ran back here to your room, Charles didn't get angry with us or reject marrying you, showing that he truly loves you and wants you as his wife. That's why he chose you, as we haven't seen him here before until after your return now from City X."

"No, Mom! I don't want Charles! And who told him that I'm already back home to the country? Did you and Father rush to call him and tell him that I'm at home?" Nancy asked her mother, moving away from her mother's embrace. She stood up from the bed to see her mother's face and know if her mother was lying to her or not.

Mrs. Olivia frowned and replied, "No, Nancy. We haven't seen Charles here before since the previous month that he chose your photo. I'm still shocked to see him here today, as I didn't know who informed him of your return to the city. Maybe he was also so eager to see you and meet you, by seeing your pretty face."

"No, Mom....." Nancy said, and her mother stood up from the bed and walked up to meet her.

She said, "It's okay, Nancy, stop crying, okay? Your father is right about love growing with time. You should just give Charles a chance to get to know him first. Being the President's son isn't easy, and it's enough of a title to ruin his reputation and make people judge him wrongly. He might be a nice man now, and you wouldn't know just because he's the president's son. Stop listening to any online gossips about him, okay, and you should get to know him first before you conclude on him… Come, let us go downstairs and have our dinners, as it's getting late."

Mrs. Olivia gently pulled Nancy beside her to follow her downstairs to the dining room. 

Nancy sighed, as she didn't have any other option than to go downstairs with her mother.

She knew that she couldn't protest at that point, and she silently followed her mother downstairs to the dining room.

Nancy was nervous, as she knew that most of the young maids had seen her reaction towards Charles earlier. She sat down nervously on her usual dinner chair and shifted it to the dining table to have her dinner, as she was famished.

Her father stepped out of his private office downstairs and walked up to the dining table to join them for dinner. But his face looked stoic, as he wasn't ready to beg Nancy yet.

Nancy sighed and resumed eating her dinner with her parents on the dinner table. She was very hungry, and she thought of how she would escape away from Charles's clutch.

After her dinner with her parents ended, Nancy stood up from the chair, thanked her parents, and retired upstairs to her bedroom.

She paced about in her bedroom just after she had shut the door closed, as she knew that the wedding was in two days' time.

"Two days. How do I escape away from this marriage? How do I escape away from Charles?" Nancy asked herself, stopping pacing about in her room. She said, "I cannot marry that man. Mom and Dad cannot do this to me. I need to escape away from Charles, but how?"

Nancy walked up to her bed and sat on it. She picked up her mobile phone and checked for the next available flight back to City X.

She said, "The next flight is tomorrow morning by 10 a.m. I need to be ready for this and take an excuse to get there in time before I miss the flight."

Nancy smiled, immediately purchasing her return flight ticket going back to City X. She thought of how she would be able to escape from her family.

"No. I cannot marry Charles Alejandro, so I must leave." Nancy stood up from her bed, went to ease herself in her washroom, stepped out, and went to her bed to sleep.

She climbed on her bed and laid peacefully on it, shutting her eyes closed and sleeping.

****

Charles arrived home late at night, as his car had some few hold-ups on the city's major roads. He was still living in the heart of the city with his parents, inside the presidential white villa, too.

Charles stepped down from his car and walked up towards their mansion frontage. The mansion is a powerful two-story building. There were plenty of bodyguards stationed around and guarding the mansion premises, too.

The mansion was dead silent, and exuding excellence.

Charles walked into the living room and made his way towards the staircase to retire back upstairs to his bedroom on the top floor.

His mother stepped out of the kitchen door, smiling at him as she saw him wanting to climb the living room stairs.

She called him back, "Charles... Did you meet with your chosen bride today?"

"Mom," Charles swiftly turned back to face his mother, smiling and walking back to meet her. He hadn't seen her the first time he entered into the living room.

Charles wondered who had told his mother that he went to see his chosen bride. He knew that his parents had their eyes on him and were monitoring his activities, even without his knowledge.

Charles smiled and walked up to meet his mother. She asked him, "Charles.... Isn't she the woman in the photo? I can see that you're smiling, my son. Isn't she the one?"