Chapter 5 - His Refusal

"Mom..." Charles approached his mother and hugged her. She smiled and said, "Charles... You haven't answered my question yet. I was waiting for you to return home first so we could have our dinner together as a family."

"Good evening, Mom," Charles greeted his mother as he hugged her shoulder and walked with her toward the dining room.

He replied, "She's the one, Mom, and she's very pretty too."

"Hmm," First Lady Kira smiled. She kept silent and watched Charles pull a dinner chair out for her to sit down first. She sat down elegantly on the first chair and continued to watch her handsome son. Charles sat on the next chair beside her right at the dining table.

Charles added, "Mom, Nancy is the one, and she's very cute. Where did you see her photo? I do like her."

"Mmm," First Lady Kira smiled as she watched the maids step out of the kitchen. They walk up to the dining table to serve her dinner alongside Charles's dinner.

They served the delicious meals. President Nolan Alejandro wasn't around; he was in a presidential meeting.

First Lady Kira grinned and replied, "Charles, your father already made it known to some of his cabinet members that he was looking for a bride for you. He wanted to know which of his members had any pretty daughters for you to like and choose from."

"Thanks, Mom. I do like Nancy, but..." Charles's words trailed off as he remembered how Nancy had run away from him.

His mother asked him, "But what, Charles?"

First Lady Kira frowned as she watched her only son acting nervously. She waited for the maids to finish serving the dinners and leave them, before she asked again, "Charles... Do you want us to cancel the wedding? The wedding is in two days' time. You cannot embarrass your father and me in public, in front of all our prominent guests."

"I know, Mom, but the truth is that Nancy ran away from me when I went to welcome her home for her return to the city, at her family house too." Charles shook his head in embarrassment, covering his face with both palms as he remembered how Nancy had run away from him. But the way her hips had moved and swayed seductively in his view...

Charles smiled and didn't know his mother was still staring at him angrily. She wasn't finding his revelation funny at all.

She sparked, "What? Charles, how dare Nancy run away from you? We need to cancel the wedding right now. Didn't her parents inform her that she was going to marry you, and the wedding is the day after tomorrow?"

"No, Mother! You cannot call off the wedding," Charles refuted. His mother's jaw dropped as she stared at her only son sadly, who had fallen in love with a silly lady.

"Don't tell me you still want to go ahead and marry that lady who doesn't love you, Charles. I cannot allow that to happen," First Lady Kira added.

"I know, Mother, but you and Father have always wanted me to marry. Now, I cannot change my choice again. I can understand Nancy's fears. She's getting married to the president's son, so she has to be scared," Charles said, smiling sadly. But his mother shook her head and replied, "No, Charles. She's supposed to be happy with you and glad that you've chosen her. Any other lady out there would have been happy and very excited that you've chosen her to become your wife. She would have shower you with love and warmth. How dare Nancy run away from you, and you took it lightly with her family? Where's my phone? I need to get her arrested and deal with her this minute, before throwing her behind bars."

"No, Mother!" Charles sparked, startling his mother. He said, "You cannot do that. If I don't marry Nancy, then know that I won't marry any other lady."

"What?" First Lady Kira's jaw dropped again. She turned speechless and stared at her only son in shock.

She shook her head and said, "No, Charles. This is not happening. I will find another bride for you to marry, okay? That's not a problem. There are many other pretty ladies out there, and more fair-skinned than Nancy."

"No, Mother. I want Nancy Marlon. I do want only Nancy. I want to feel her love, her warmth. I believe that with time, she will love me too."

"Just give Nancy some time, and know that I'm truly in love now," Charles smiled, surprising his mother even more.

Her jaw was left agape. She gulped as Charles said, "Let's have our dinner, Mom, before it gets cold."

"Okay, son," First Lady Kira replied. She subtly blamed herself in her heart for choosing Nancy's photo first. She had seen many pretty young women's photos, since every family wanted their daughter to marry her only son. Even though they ridiculed and wrote nonsense about her family online, it still didn't deter them from sending millions of photos to her personal assistant.

First Lady Kira had personally selected Nancy's photo first the moment her eyes fell on the pretty lady's photo, along with the other two young women's photos. She knew Charles wouldn't have the time to go through all the photos to choose a bride. Now she was blaming herself, wishing in her heart she had never picked Nancy's photo. The silly young lady dared to reject her only son—the most handsome and well-to-do young man in their city. 'If it wasn't that Charles loves women and is rumored to be a playboy, then what would have given the young lady the right to reject my only son and even run away from him? Hmm…' First Lady Kira sighed heavily as she thought to herself. Charles looked at her face and asked, "Mom, is everything alright?"

"Yes, Charles," First Lady Kira replied. She thought to inform her personal assistant to place a monitoring team on Nancy. Nancy wouldn't just run away from Charles like that without being under her watch.

'I need to do a personal background check on Nancy, to know if she has a secret lover somewhere, as the reason she rejected Charles. Hmm…' First Lady Kira thought in her mind and sighed. But Charles didn't ask her what was wrong. They continued eating their dinner silently in the dining hall.

After the dinner session ended, Charles stood up first from the dining chair and set to retire back upstairs to his bedroom. He said to his mother, "Good night, Mom."

"Yeah, good night, Charles," First Lady Kira replied. Charles leaned closer to her and pecked her on her right cheek. He then walked away toward the living room stairs, climbed them, and went back upstairs to his bedroom.

Charles decided to use the stairs to exercise his mind. He kept thinking about Nancy and why she had run away from him.

Charles stepped into his sitting room first and then walked up to his bedroom. As he stepped into his bedroom, he picked up Nancy's photo that he had kept on the headboard.

He kissed her photo on her pink lips, which he admired the most, and said, "So pink and lovely. I cannot wait to have you as my wife and to be kissing you every time on these beautiful pink lips of yours."

Charles grinned and kissed Nancy's photo once more. His whole body truly wanted her.

Charles asked himself, "But why did Nancy run away from me? Am I ugly now?"

He frowned and walked up to his bedroom mirror to examine his face. He had full short black hair on his head, and his front hair and short beard were neatly shaped. He was a tall, attractive black man.

Charles murmured, "Maybe Nancy doesn't like guys with beards. Hmm... But she's so beautiful, and I cannot reject her now. Maybe she has a boyfriend? I'm so sure she must have one."

Charles frowned as he thought about Nancy having a boyfriend, and that her boyfriend was the main reason she had run away from him. He cussed out, "Nonsense! Is her boyfriend finer than me? I cannot reject her now, and my mother shouldn't dare to hurt her. What am I even ranting about?"

Charles walked up to his bed and picked up his telephone. He placed a call to Stevo Brights, his head security man, who was very trusted in managing his security affairs.

Charles needed Stevo to monitor whatever activities Nancy was into—her phone calls, her text messages—and to know if she had a boyfriend she was probably calling.

Charles said coldly, "Hello, Stevo."

Stevo froze and replied, "Hello, Boss. Good evening." Stevo was in the security house inside the villa. Charles said, "I want you to hire someone trained in the field of hacking to monitor and give me a 24-hour report on my chosen bride. I will forward her details to you shortly. You should find out what she does, who she calls, and who she speaks with daily. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Boss."

"Anything else you need me to do for you, Boss?" Stevo asked.

"No, that's all," Charles replied, and the phone call ended.

Charles sighed and stared back at Nancy's photo, which he was still holding in his right hand. He said, "I cannot wait to have you as my wife. In just two days' time, you will be on my bed, moaning sweetly to my deep thrust. Damn it! I just hope she doesn't run away from me before then."