Chapter 5

"Mom..." Charles approached his mother and hugged her shoulders, while she smiled at him and said, "Charles... You haven't answered my question yet? I was waiting for you to return home first so that we can have our dinner together as a family."

"Good evening, Mom," Charles greeted his mother with a smile, as he hugged her to her shoulder and walked with her towards the dining room. He replied, "She's the one, Mom, and she's very pretty too."

"Hmmm," First Lady Kira smiled, keeping silent and watching Charles pull a dinner chair outside for her to sit down first. She sat down elegantly on the first chair and continued to watch her handsome son, while Charles sat on the next chair beside her right on the dining table.

He replied, "Mom, she's the one, and she's very cute. Where did you see her photo from? As I really do like her."

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

They served the delicious meals of fried rice and  chicken as President Nolan Alejandro wasn't around, and in a presidential meeting.

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

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

His mother asked him with concern, "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 asking again, "Charles, do you want us to cancel the wedding? As the wedding is in two days, and you cannot embarrass your father and me in public and, 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 for her return to the city, and in her family house." Charles shook his head in embarrassment, covering his face with his palms as he remembered how Nancy had run away from him. Though he smiled, not knowing that his mother was still staring at him angrily, and she wasn't finding his revelation funny at all.

She snapped, "What? How dare she 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 tomorrow?"

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

"Charles, don't tell me that you still want to go ahead and marry that lady who doesn't love you? I cannot allow that to happen," First Lady Kira replied with a sad voice.

"I know, Mother, but you and Father have always wanted me to marry, and now, I cannot change my choice again. As I can understand her fears because she's getting married to the president's son, so she has to be scared," Charles said, smiling sadly. However his mother shook her head and replied, "No, Charles... She's supposed to be happy with you that you've chosen her to become your wife. Any other lady out there would've been happy and very excited that you've chosen her. 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 too."

"No, Mother!" Charles snapped, startling his mother, and he said with a stern voice, "You cannot do that, Mom. If I don't marry Nancy, then know that I won't marry any other lady too."

"What?" First Lady Kira's jaw dropped as she turned speechless, staring 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? And that's not a problem, as there are many other pretty ladies out there, and also more beautiful than Nancy."

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

"Just give Nancy some time, Mom, and know that I'm truly in love now," Charles said with a warm smile etched on his dark face, surprising his mother further, whose jaw dropped. She gulped as Charles said, "Let's have our dinner, Mom, before it finally gets cold."

"Okay, son," First Lady Kira subtly blamed herself in her heart for choosing Nancy's photo first. She had seen a lot of pretty young women's photos, because every family wanted their daughter to be married to 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 assistant.

And she had personally selected Nancy's photo first, the moment her eyes landed on the pretty young lady's photo, with the other two young women's photos. As she knew that Charles wouldn't have the time to go through all the photos to choose a bride. Now, she was subtly blaming herself, wishing she had never picked Nancy's photo. Because 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 he's rumored to be an escort, then what would have given the young lady the right to have rejected my only son and even run away from him." First Lady Kira thought and sighed heavily.

Charles asked her, "Mom, is everything alright?"

"Yes, Charles," First Lady Kira replied, thinking to inform her personal assistant to place a monitoring team on Nancy, as Nancy wouldn't just run away from Charles like that, not underneath her watch.

"I really need to do a personal background check on Nancy, to know if she has a secret lover somewhere, as the reason she rejected Charles," First Lady Kira thought, sighing again, but Charles didn't ask what was wrong, as 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 to his bedroom. He said to his mother, "Good night, Mom."

"Yeah, good night, Charles," First Lady Kira replied as Charles leaned closer to her and pecked her on her right cheek beside him. Before he walked away towards the living room stairs and climbing them to go back upstairs to his bedroom.

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

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

Charles kissed Nancy's photo on her pink lips directly, the ones he admired the most, and said, "So pink and lovely. I cannot wait to have you as my wife and to be kissing these beautiful pink lips of yours every day."

Charles grinned, kissing Nancy's photo once again, as his whole body really wanted her. He asked himself, "But why did she run away from me? Am I ugly now?"

Charles frowned and walked up to his bedroom mirror to examine his face, as he had short black hair on his head, and his front hair and short beard were neatly shaped, as he was a tall, dark-skinned man.

He murmured, "Maybe she 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 sure she must have one, hmm..."

Charles frowned, thinking about Nancy having a boyfriend and that being the main reason she had run away from him. He cussed out with a loud voice, "Nonsense! Is her boyfriend finer than me? I cannot reject her now, and My Mother shouldn't dare to hurt her too. What am I even ranting about?"

Charles walked up to his bed again and picked up his telephone, placing a call across to Stevo Brights, his head security man and the one he trusted most in managing his security affairs.

He needed Stevo to monitor whatever activities Nancy was involved in - her phone calls, text messages, and to know if she already 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, and Charles said, "I want you to hire some trained personnel in the field of hacking and to monitor and give me a 24-hour report of my chosen bride. I will forward her details to you now shortly. You should find out what she does, who she calls, and speaks with daily. Is that understood?"

"Yes, boss."

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

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

Charles sighed and stared back at Nancy's photo in his right hand, saying, "I cannot wait to have you as my bride, and in just two days, you will be on my bed, moaning sweetly to my deep thrusts. I just hope she doesn't run away again."