James’ father stood up from the couch, and hurried to me. His eyes were broadened. He moved his lips, but he was unable to say anything. I tightened my fist, gulped, resisting the itch to cry.
“My dear, you want to… get married to my son?” he questioned.
I nodded, wearing a stern look. “Yes. I’m not just accepting the proposal. I want it to be done as soon as possible. If you want it to happen in two days, so be it,” I announced.
He gaped. “Two days? Wow, that’s great! I don’t mind at all. I can—”
“Woah, woah.” James walked to us. He held his hand up, wrinkling his face as if he was irritated. “I’m the one getting married. Two days is too short for me. It doesn’t even… make any sense.”
I turned to him. “If you prolong it, I might have no choice but to change my mind.”
“No, no. That won’t happen.” His dad stood in front of me, smiling like a confused pig. “Don’t mind James. We both know that he always makes stupid decisions.”
“But dad, this isn’t—”
“Hey!” His dad snapped. He turned around, pointed a finger at James, glaring so much. “Keep your mouth shut! We’ve been seeking a wife for you, and now that you have one, you’re trying to mess this up?”
James scoffed, wrapping his arms around his chest. “This is extremely ridiculous. I know I want to get married, but it’s wrong of you to determine when I’ll get married. It’s stupid.”
“You’re stupid yourself!” The oldie retorted, his shoulders shaking due to how loud he cried. “If you’re a wise son, you would have a woman by now. At your age, all you do is to hang around with women. You’ve actually achieved nothing. All this wealth belongs to me.”
James’ eyebrows lowered, his jaw clenching, his hands curling up in a fist. “That’s enough. Let’s end this conversation here. Yeah, whatever, I’ll get married in two days.”
“You see? You hate to hear the truth?” His dad continued to rant.
“I said—”
“This is the only thing you can do for me.” He turned to me, a stern look on his face. He put his hands in his pocket, flared his nostrils, and cleared his throat. “You went to the university, but you failed at that. You had no degree. All you enjoy is my wealth. So, if you wanna keep enjoying it, do this. I’ve explained this already.”
“Whatever,” James said. A groan escaped his nose. With that, he shot me a glare, and left the room.
His dad sighed. “I’m so sorry that you had to see this.”
I swallowed my tears. “Do you agree to do this in two days? That’s the deadline. If you don’t do it, I’ll have no choice but to end this agreement.”
“Agreement?” He twitched a brow at me.
I nodded. “Just do what I need you to do. Let’s leave the “agreement” topic for another day.”
“Okay. Will get back to you later.” He walked past me as well. About stepping out, he called my name, so I turned around to look at him. “Good bless you, my dear. Don’t worry about anything. Once the wedding is finalized, you’ll get the money I promised you.”
“Deal,” I spat out.
He gave me a warm smile, and just walked out.
I heaved. Devastated, I blinked away my tears. I couldn’t decipher the emotions that swam through my head. I wanted to be intentional about this, but what about my love for Ryan, and the promise I had made to him?
Uninformed, Vicki jerked my arm from behind, and pulled me to face her. “Serene!” She cried. To my surprise, tears were trickling down her cheek, her eyes swollen. “Are you nuts?! What do you think you’re doing? Huh?!”
I looked away, blinking even harder, so the tears wouldn’t escape its source. “See, I know you might be upset. But, at this point, this is all I can do.”
“No! This is about your life!” She cried even harder, sobbing hard as well.
“He offered me seventy million!” I retorted. I was extremely pained, but something made me chuckle. Chuckling was a way of reducing the sorrow in my heart. “Do you know how great that is? Girl, our lives will change forever. Our parents won’t die. I’ll live a good life.”
She squeezed my arm, shaking her head to rebuke my words. “Where are your senses? J-James is not a human. Everyone knows his reputation. If he hasn’t changed his behavior at the age of thirty, what in the world would change him? W-Why would you do this to yourself?”
I chuckled again. Literally, I was acting like a lunatic. “What makes you think he won’t change? He’s a human, okay? People change, people grow, people—”
“What about Ryan?” Her voice became low, almost as if she had whispered. She seemed very weak, nothing but despair mirroring her facial feature.
As soon as she asked that, weakness overshadowed me. Her question had been ringing in my head. But, the moment she mentioned it, it felt like I hadn’t thought of it. It made me feel like I was a criminal.
I looked down. Finally, that one tear eluded my eye. “Ryan would have to move on. Besides, until I get married, I won’t tell him anything. And, Ryan understands me very much. Eventually, he’ll understand that I had no choice but to do this.”
“This is a great betrayal.” She whimpered. “You’re his first love. People like you are the ones that make people not believe in love. What about the great moments you shared together? What about the promise you made to each other? What about the things he’s done for us? What about your intimacy with him? What about—”
“That is enough!” I cut her off. I pulled my arm off her grip, darting terrible scowls at her. “You’re the dumb one here. Stop being an idiot. First, it’s my life. At this stage, I know what is good for me. Second, what is my love compared to our parents’ life? Huh?”
“But—”
“Forget it, sis.” Again, I swallowed. “This is my final decision.”
I turned to the door. About walking out, I turned to her. It was so unreal, but seriously, she was sitting on the floor already. She was sobbing so hard, her lips and hands shuddering. This hurt me so much, but I had to ignore her reaction.
“This is so unfair!” She wailed, tugging her hand to her belly. I hadn’t ever seen her cry this much.
“One more thing…” Though I had spoken, she hadn’t even taken a chance to look at me. Well, I just continued, “You mustn’t state this to Ryan. It’s my life, not yours.”
She was silent for a while. All of a sudden, she yanked at her hair, and began wailing, “Ah! Ah! This is so unfair!”
Seeing her this hurt, though I had tried refraining from the urge to cry, I actually did. I pressed my palm against my mouth to prevent sobs from leaving it. Turning around, I hurried out of the room. As I walked in the hallway, Vicki continued to wail. About taking a turn to the next hallway, I bumped into someone.
Immediately, I wiped off my tears. Looking down, trying to avoid eye contact with the person, I apologized, “I-I’m sorry.”
“Guess I’ll have to learn how to always accept these filthy apologies,” the person said.
Taking a gulp, I looked up at the person. Goodness, it was James.
“What?” I looked away.
Unexpectedly, he pulled my jaw so I’d face him. “Don’t look away.” He smirked. “You shouldn’t be avoiding eye contact with your future husband. Pretty sure you don’t do that with Ryan.”
I scorned. “You’re such a bad person. Succeeded in stealing your friend’s babe. What a devil you are.”
“Really?” He chortled. “No one forced you to agree to this.”
A tear left my eye, my teeth gritted. “I hate you. Very much. Hopefully, you’ll be rewarded for this dangerous game.”
“I like you,” he said. I was about to walk away, but he held my arm back. “In the end”— He leaned close to my ear. —”I won. Peace.”
He released my arm, making his way out of the proximity. As soon as he did so, my phone beeped from the pocket of my pants. Taking it, my heart leaped against my chest when I saw a text from Sherri. I clicked on the notification, and gently read it.
“Good step, friend. Can’t believe it! Anyway, come get your dumb sis off this place. She’s crying like a maniac. Well, well, Ryan will know nothing. Promise. Thanks for backing off.
Your new bitchy friend,
Sherri Dustin.”
I kept the phone in my pocket. Knowing I could cry anytime soon, I hurried to the restroom.
This couldn’t be. But yes, I was going to do it. My love or my parents’ life? Definitely their lives.
***