There was an usual silence in the car as Callan and his mother journeyed back home. He knew she was mad at him for not heading to her advice of choosing Mia.
After so much contemplations, he dared to ask her. "Mom, what's wrong?"
Elizabeth shuddered, glaring at her son. "I have always been proud of all the decisions you make in life, Callan." She heaved a long sigh and lowered her gaze on him, "But tonight, I am disappointed, so disappointed in you."
"Mom, you wanted me to choose a wife, it doesn't matter who I choose, does it?"
"It does, Callan. It does! You could have chosen Mia, she was all over you and getting married to her would be advantageous to you. She's the first child of Arnold Sullivan, the vice chairman of one of her Father's companies, she has a lot to offer to you. You two could merge your businesses into a large empire, but you went ahead to choose a lowly girl who looks malnourished, someone who has absolutely nothing to offer and you seem so cool about it? Don't you know that the rich get married to the rich for benefits?" She yelled, her eyes fiercely strumming every part of the car. She really was mad at him.
"Mom, I work hard to progress and I am very successful in my business. I don't need to merge business with anyone to be rich! I am made, mom!" He stated to her. "Why are you so worried and worked up about this? I have chosen the woman I want to marry and that's final."
"I hope you don't regret your decision, Callan. That lady isn't any good for you and I will never accept her as a daughter in law." She leaned back on the seat, her eyes focused on the highway as the chauffeur drove through the streets illuminated with bright white lights.
Callan didn't argue words with his mother, he stared at the screen of his phone and dialed Rosa's number. She picked up the call and he said, "Hey, are you sleep?"
"No, I am going to bed now though." She retorted in a fatigued voice.
"I need you in the penthouse now, I will send my chauffeur to get you. We have to prepare for the meeting with our clients by 2am."
"But sir,"
"There are no buts, Rosa. If you can't do this, let me know and I will hire someone else." He said angrily, ending the call without waiting for Rosa's response.
Working was the only way to get out of the reality of life. He just made a lifetime decision out of extempore and he really didn't want to think about it at all. He wanted to occupy himself with work, and work until he could no longer go on.
His phone beeped, and it was a text from Rosa, apologizing for complaints. Callan felt bad when he read the text, Rosa was hardworking, she always did her best, but he transfered his aggression on her by yelling. He sighed, kneading his long lean fingers against his creased forehead. Perks of being a boss, he didn't have to apologize to her because he paid her well and she signed to effectively perform her job.
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As Orla descended the stairs for the second time tonight, she knew that her father would call her, at least to talk about what happened. He couldn't just give her to a man without talking about it. Bruises were scattered across her face, she had locked her cat in her room to avoid scurrying after her again.
She became the cynosure of all eyes as she arrived in the living room. She stood there in the centre of the living room, her eyes on the floor. "You called for me, Father."
"Yes, I did. Why did you have to leave your room at that time? I warned you, didn't I?" Arnold spat angrily, causing tension to build up in Orla's mind. "Now, you've seen what you've caused, right? Callan was meant to choose your sister, but you chose to interrupt our dinner and he ended up choosing you, you lowly wench!" He said pointedly.
Orla looked at Sophia and she pretended not to know about what was happening. She was about to talk when Mia attacked her.
"He will never love you and I promise that he will treat you as the trash that you are."
Arnold didn't say anything to Mia bullying her younger sister. Instead, he nodded his head, agreeing to Mia's words to Orla.
"No one would ever love her, she's a witch, a child with a bad luck!" He yelled.
Orla trembled where she stood, her eyes blurry due to tears that formed on them.
"He wants to get married to you," Emma laughed, clapping her hands. "I am sure he'd return her home a week after getting married to her."
"A few days is enough for him to realize how ugly she is." Amelia chirped in. "Dad, I would love to attend to other things that require my attention." She got off the couch and walked out of the living room. All the other five sisters followed after her, muttering hateful words at Orla as they headed towards the staircase. As usual, only Sophia didn't say anything to her, she just glared at her before walking away.
Orla was left alone with her Father, the air was tense and she could feel a lump in her throat. She looked away from him and tears dropped to the tiled floor.
"Now that you have gotten what you want, I hope you are fine and happy with it, huh?" He straightened up and moved closer to her. She shifted away before he could get too close to get.
"You are getting married to Callan Barlowe and I don't care what he does with you." With that said, he walked out of the living room, leaving Orla to her fate.
She stifled tears from falling from her eyes. She had cried so much crying had become something she did all the time. All she ever wanted was to be accepted by her family, but that was never going to happen. Sometimes she wished she was never born, maybe that would have been better than living with people who hated her to the bones.
Exemplified by fragility, sporting the same dress from the night before, Orla followed after David, Callan's chauffeur. Bumping hips as they slowly strode down the garage of her father's mansion.Orla's large hazel eyes were firmly fixated on David, not wavering as she took in his features. He was sexily tall, almost the same height as Callan, a well-tailored suit flawlessly accentuated his hunky frame that was easily noticeable from how his shirt tightly fitted him. He was hot, unlike Arnold's Chauffeur who was abnormally gangly and frail, according to her perceptions though.Lapping her lips against each other, she stalled and placed her arms on her chest. "Who exactly is your boss?" She queried David who was a few steps ahead of her.He curtailed his tracks, eyes flickering and landing on Orla. He shrugged and responded, "Callan Barlowe, the man you are about to get married to." A small smile materialized on his face.The words frightened Orla, she took a backwards word and wiggled
"I should ask you that because I am not a stranger here." Liam lowered the briefcase in his hand on the couch and extended a hand to Orla. "Who is this Angel?"Orla quickly stared at Callan who was oblivious to Liam's presence. She wasn't certain of the response to give him, she didn't know if she should tell Liam she was Callan's prospective bride or one of the seven daughters of the great Arnold Sullivan's family.Rosa stepped in and gave the measuring tape to Liam. "She's the Boss's wife-to-be, you should take her measurements now, there is a dinner she has to attend with the Boss." She said sternly, but her stony expression was replaced with a smile when Liam flirtatiously smiled at her."The bride?" He took Orla's hand again and assessed her. "I didn't know that Callan had eyes for very tiny women like her, I thought he only go out with… My bad, my bad," he chuckled when he saw Callan standing next to Orla, he wondered when he got there."Liam!" Callan cautioned."Callan," Liam s
The date slated for the wedding eventually came. Orla stood in front of the full-length mirror in her room with Betty, her stray cat in her both hands. Stroking Betty's fur, she stared into the mirror, checking out her wedding dress that was designed by Liam. It was gracious, making her extremely beautiful. The dress was extraordinarily long, but it was too bad there was no one to hold up the dress for her. Her sisters were uninterested in her marriage to Callan, none of them showed up to wish her well. Orla already expected that, so it didn't mean much to her.Adjusting the plunging neckline of her sleeveless dress, she donned the necklace gift that Liam gave to her. Smiling as she thought of how thoughtful and kind Liam was to her, he was the only one who respected her out of all the people she'd met in years."After today, we will no longer be in this room." Orla ruffled her cat's fur, her eyes dilating around the room she had lived in and hid herself in for many years. Sighing, s
The rustic wedding theme was planned out by Rosa and a friend of hers who was an event planner. The part of the garden that was festooned with different varieties of flowers was carefully selected. The arrangements of flowers in between the ribbons and linens used to decorate the tables, were simple but very classy. There were about seven chairs at a table with a large flower atop each table. After deliberations, Elizabeth's garden was chosen as the venue for the wedding ceremony. Orla arrived at the garden with her father loosely gripping her hand. It felt so precarious as Arnold grabbed her hand, compelling her to walk faster as if it was forbidden for him to hold her for too long. She winced when his fingers roughly scuffed her fragile hand, but he didn't seem to be concerned. He increased his strides and she did the same, they hurriedly walked until they went in front of the altar, Callan and the officiating priest and the few people present to grace the event. Orla did a qu
The meeting with BERCRIS rolled into late night, deterring Rosa and Callan from leaving earlier as planned. After the meeting, Rosa took an excuse out of fatigue and Callan only permitted her because she'd been immersed in the wedding preparations and office work. He inferred that she needed to rest before she broke down, that was strange of him, he never cared about anyone.After Rosa had gone, he leisurely paced the reception of the five-star hotel they had chosen for the meeting, his mouth swiftly moving as he roamed around. After a while, he shoved his phone back into his pocket, but it didn't take long before it started to ring again. Callan boredly glanced at the screen, it was a call from the brunette he'd sex with before this whole wedding stuff. He tried to remember her name, Cassandra or Catherine, he wasn't sure about that, but he stuck to Cassandra.Smiling, he swiped up to pick up the call. Only he knew how much he wanted her again. "Hey Callan, you free tonight?" Her v
Orla had changed into one of Callan's T-shirts when she got to the penthouse. The heat that trickled from the overstuffed wedding dress was annihilating and she just had to get rid of it. She didn't bring any of her things to the penthouse and she couldn't walk around naked too, she had to come up with something. Donning Callan's yellow and less expensive T-shirt was the perfect solution to dying in her wedding dress.The shirt was so long it reached her knees and swallowed her hands. She took her cat in her arms and crouched on the divan, anticipating the presence of her newly wedded husband."I didn't come with your food, Betty." She groaned, rubbing her cat's fur. "I will make sure to get it for you tomorrow." Betty meowed and rested her head on Orla's legs, responding to her that it was okay and she understood her. Orla smiled, relieved Betty was fine. Her fingers were still on Betty's fur and her lips stretched in a smile when the door to the room yanked open and a strong manl
Orla tossed around on the bed, delineating her hand on the bed to find Betty. When she couldn't feel her presence, her eyes snapped open and hastily scrutinized the room for her stray cat. She was about to get up to look for her when she saw her curl up against her feet, blinking her cute eyes as if she was sad about something.Orla heaved a relieved sigh, stretching her hands to pull Betty closer to herself. She snuggled her up in her arms and cuddled her up for some seconds."Now, let's begin the day." She smiled and let go. "You have to be careful around the house, this isn't my room, understand?" Drawing Betty's ears like she could understand her words.She got out of bed and sashayed her way out of the tiny room she had slept with her cat. She got into the main bedroom and found the bed empty. Smiling, she let go of Betty and hurried into the bathroom.She had no clue Callan was in there as she waltzed in and shut the door. She looked back to see Callan wholly naked and glaring
"Good morning, ma'am. Did you enjoy your first night here?" A round woman smirked at Orla, sifting her dark curly hair with her tiny fingers. "I heard the boss brought in his new bride last night." She twinkled her eyes and twitched her lips in a small smile that didn't seem genuine.Orla snagged the contempt that marred her expression as she talked to her. She hummed an answer followed with a short nod, eyes flickering around the room to distract herself from the woman in front of her. She didn't know who she was, but she seemed to know a lot about her. Maybe her whole history, if possible. Orla didn't care but what was with the nasty glares like she stole her bonbons?"I am Allison, I'm in charge of cleaning the presidential suite in the penthouse. It's nice meeting you." She extended her chubby palm for a handshake, but Orla didn't jump at it. She contemplated for a few seconds before sliding her palm into Allison's, hurriedly bumping it up and down, jerking her palm off as if tho