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, she lowered Betty to the drawer and sauntered around the room, to feel the atmosphere before finally leaving. Betty scampered off, following behind her.
Orla smiled and took her back in her arms, she got hold of a photo album and was about to flip through the pages when the door to her room yanked open with full force. She lurched backwards when she heard the loud creaking sound the door elicited. Swerving back to check who it was, it turned out to be her father.
She shifted back, wondering what her father was doing in her room. He had never visited her.
"Dad?" She dubbed, a subtle smile playing on her lips.
Arnold threw his hands backwards, taking a step closer to her. "Don't call me that, you are not eligible to call me dad and you know that!" He chastised Orla. She wavered, bobbing her head in understanding. "Today is your wedding day and I am glad–" Stretching his hand forward, he roamed the room. "Not glad because you are getting married, but glad to know that you are finally leaving my house. I have always wanted you to leave, and now that you are going, I am really glad."
Orla looked at him, she was tempted to ask him why he hated her so much. She wanted to know why he loathed her and couldn't stand her.
"F–a–t–h–e–r–" Orla struggled with the words. "Why do you hate me so much, why do I irritate you so much?" She eventually asked but Arnold ignored her.
After a long minute of silence, he spoke. "You evil daughter. You know what you did and I will never forgive you for the things you did!" He said, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"I swear that I didn't do it, I was too young, but even at that, I knew the good from the bad and…" a hard palm met with her cheeks, it was stinging. She understood that her father hated her and treated her like she wasn't his daughter, but she never expected that he would slap her.
"You slapped me?" She stared unbelievably at him, kneading her palm against her stinging cheeks."Yes, that's for the lie you told. I hate liars like you and won't hesitate to hit you again if you lie that you didn't do it." Arnold yelled at her, his forehead forming a crease as he spoke out of hostility.
She moved back, grabbing her cat in her arms.
"I hate the fact that I am your father and will be the one to hand you over to your husband. I wish I could make someone else do it. I hate you, Orla, I hate you so much and I curse the day you were born!"
His words pierced her heart. She tried to stifle tears from dropping, but it was impossible. Fat rolls of tears dropped down her cheeks as she stared at her father.
"You will always be an evil daughter and no man would ever love you. You have never done something good in your life, all you do is evil and that's why you took Callan away from your sister who truly deserves him."
She opened her mouth to talk, but no word came out.
"Whatever I will do for you today is for your late mother and not you!" Arnold rolled his eyes at his daughter. "You don't deserve happiness and I hope it never comes to you, you witch!"
Hot tears slipped down her face, burning her cheeks and smearing the little makeup she had on her face. The one she had learned through DIY. She didn't want to give Callan the impression that she was cool with the whole wedding plans, but she had heard that people always looked good on their wedding day and she just decided to put in a little effort since she had a very beautiful wedding dress already.
Betty wiggled her head in Orla's arms as if she knew that Orla was in pain.
"When you are done with your possessed cat, you can come to join me downstairs. None of your sisters is coming with us, you don't deserve that importance." Arnold flounced out of the room, slamming the door shut in anger.
Betty looked up at Orla, winking her eyes. "I don't know what to do, Betty. I am confused, I don't want to get married, I want to die, I want to leave that world and maybe then, they will all be glad that I am no longer a part of them.
"Meow, meow, meow." Betty meowed when Orla said those words. She shook her head like she was telling Orla not to harbour those dreadful thoughts inside of her.
"I know you don't want me to die, no one would take care of you if I die. But the pain is unbearable and I don't even know what awaits me in the house of Callan Barlowe." Orla sniffled, gawking at herself in the mirror.
She did a short breathing exercise to calm her nerves and brace herself. She couldn't change anything now.
Her heartbeat intensified as the time for the wedding got nearer. When she took a glance at the wall clock, it was just thirty minutes to the start of the wedding program. She slid her cat into a basket and hurried out of the room. She wasn't sure how the day would go, but she cared less. She was ready for whatever would happen to her, after all, there was nothing that could hurt more than a father slapping his daughter.
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
Exhaustion seared through Callan as he wobbled into the presidential suite. He flung his blazer on the couch and without prior notice, it flew breezily and landed on Orla's head where she had drifted to sleep after being unproductive the whole day. She jumped in agitation, her eyes cautiously searching the room for the intruder. Her gaze met with Callan's scornful stares, and she immediately lowered her eyes to the floor before those weary-looking eyes swallowed her up. "Welcome back," she muttered, still circumventing his heavy gaze. He heard her audibly, but he chose to ignore it. Striding towards the closet, he took his button-down shirt off his body, followed by every other fabric that clad his body. Orla slumbered up, she made an attempt to pick her cat but she flew off her arms and ran towards Callan, hugging herself all over his leg. He immediately shook his leg off, turning to Orla with that deadly glare again. "What the fuck is this?" Irritation bleed in his loud baritone
"One, two, three…" Orla clasped her fingers together as she called out each number.After carefully exploring the lingeries, she settled for the one that was the most decent—ironically though, because she was still as good as naked.She had never been unclothed in front of a man and it upset her that she was about to stand in front of Callan, looking like a little slut. With the white see-through lingerie she slipped into, and her ginger hair bouncing around her shoulders, she looked like a young woman who was out to titillate a man.For the hundredth time that night, Orla muttered a cuss word at Rosa for getting those slinky frillies. She yanked the doorknob, gently pressing it down to unlock the door.Though it hurt that the small room she was staying in had no mirror, even without the mirror, she knew she looked slutty. Slowly, she waddled into the bigger room, halting her steps when she sighted Callan sitting on the armchair in front of the large desk, head buried in work.For a
She would never try it again, never!Orla thought, scenes from last night flashing through her vision as she dipped the fork into the piece of steak that was on the plate in front of her.Violently clanging the fork against the ceramic plate, she was venting her aggression on the innocent object and she felt bad that she was just pitiful.Last night was a night of discomfiture, hell embarrassment, the biggest one of her life. She couldn't even look Callan in the eyes after acting stupidly last night. But he noticed her struggles with the steaks.He shot her a side glance but turned away very quickly to eat his food. The fork was in one hand while the other hand supported his phone. He was working again, as he always did."I can change the steaks if they are too hard to cut." Dora, Callan's chef at the penthouse, said when she noticed Orla's behaviour towards her food. "I made them soft, I don't know why you…""They are soft." Callan chimed in, picking up the glass to sip some water. H