Three days later
Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she sighs for the umpteenth time as she shuts her eyes tight. It's finally the day to be present at her parent's house, but she's nervous.
'Where's your boyfriend, Alicia?'
'Don't tell me you're still single, cousin? That's pathetic'
'Honestly, you need to get yourself a man. You're twenty-nine and turning thirty soon. You'll eventually get married to an old married man if you're still being like this,' thinking of the humiliation she's going to face when she gets to her parent's house later, she can't help but feel more nervous. This was the same reason she moved out of the house months ago and decided to live with her friend for the sake of her mental health, but it seems like that can't be avoided now.
Taking a deep breath, she finally picks up her handbag from the bed and strides to the door, and pulls it open, striding out afterward.
Driving down the road a few minutes later, her hands keep trembling nervously on the steering wheel as her mind is filled with so many thoughts.
"Don't think about it, Alicia. Everything will be fine," She assures herself, although she knows that it's almost not possible. At least, not when her cousins are coming over. They'll definitely bully her, and she's not even in the mood for any argument right now.
After driving the down the road for what seems like forever, her heart picks race as soon as she arrives at the front of the big iron gate. Taking a deep breath, she further drives into the compound and parks her car neatly at the garage, hopping out afterward. Her heart sinks into her stomach as she steps out of the car to see her parents standing in front of the entrance door with wide smiles on their faces. Maybe they thought that she was coming with her boyfriend.
The couples stares at their daughter's car, hoping to see a man step out of it, but their faces fall disappointedly as it turns out that she came alone.
"Mom, dad..." She smiles nervously as she walks over to them, but the deep frown on their faces makes her heart sinks into her stomach, knowing what awaits her in the mansion.
"How're you doing, baby," Her mom forces a smile as she pulls her into her arms. Not that she doesn't know that the woman is just pretending so she won't be hurt, anyway.
"Where's your boyfriend, Alicia?" Her dad suddenly asks out of the blue with a deep frown on his face, and her heart misses a beat. She gulps down nothing nervously as she turns her gaze to her dad, thinking of what to tell him.
"Dad... He... He..." She bites her bottom lip when she can't come up with anything to say.
"You fooled me, Alicia. There was never a boyfriend in Asia, was there?" The man snaps at her, burning in rage.
"Honey... You have to be gentle on the little girl..."
"Little girl, you say? She's twenty-nine for crying out loud. Her age mates are out there in their husbands' houses with kids, but here our only daughter is, still single at thirty..."
"I'm not thirty yet, dad," How she still gets nerves to talk while her parents are still talking is a gut that she shouldn't have had. Her mom casts her a glare, and she turns her face away.
"Dad, can we go inside and talk about this?" She tries to calm him down.
"Your cousins are here with their boyfriends and husbands, and the guys with their girlfriends and fiancee, but..."
"Look who we have here. Long time, Alicia," Lisa, one of her cousins comes out of the house, having a warm smile on her face.
"Hi," She greets her casually. Right from time, Alicia and Lisa have not been friends. She's her dad's niece.
"Come on, you don't greet me like that. I mean, we should hug each other, you know? It has been a while since we... Never mind. By the way, uncle and aunt told me that you'll be here with your Asian boyfriend. Where's he?" She asks with a trail of sarcasm in her voice.
"Wait, don't tell me you lied to aunt and uncle? There was never an Asian boyfriend? That's not nice, you know?" Lisa rolls her eyes as she crosses her arms on her chest.
Mr. Williams snorts angrily and storms back into the house, followed by his wife.
"There was no Asian..."
"Are you going to get the hell out of my way, or do you prefer that I push you off?" She says to Lisa angrily, and she quickly leaves the way for her. Glaring hard at Lisa one more time, she finally strides into the house and slams the door in her face.
Stepping into the living room, she stops on her track at the sight that welcomes her, and her face suddenly went pale. She didn't expect to meet so many people here. She was thinking that it was just her cousins that would come here but turn out that even her uncle from dad's side and his wife came along too.
"Wow! You're finally here. I have been missing you so much," Her uncle's wife whom she hates so much smiles excitedly as soon as she spots Alicia walking in. 'Oh, please, quit with the pretense. I know you don't like me' Alice says inwardly, putting on a fake smile.
"Thank you," She smile, pulling away from her.
"Hi, Alicia," Adelie, her mom's twenty-two years old niece smiles at her, and she returns the smile. Adelie is the only one that she likes here, others can go to hell for all she cares.
"How're you, Adelie?" She smiles at her.
"I'm fine," Adelie replies with a warm smile on her face.
"Hi Alicia, it's nice to meet you again after so many years. How have you been? Hope you've been able to get over that jerk you called a boyfriend. I mean the one that ditched you on your wedding," Emily, Lisa's younger sister of twenty-one years old smirks at Alicia, and she slowly clenches her fists as anger spurs through her. The only reason she hasn't pounced on these bitches is because of her dad, but she has no idea for how long she will be able to hold this in.
"Emily, if you don't want to get thrown out of here this minute, then you better mind the way you speak to me," She says to Emily calmly but with anger written all over her.
"Come on, Alicia. Your sister was just..." Her uncle tries to defend his daughter.
"You were here when she was talking to me in that manner, so if you need to speak to anyone, then I think that should be your daughter. Excuse me," She snaps at her uncle rudely, before walking out on them while they all stare in shock.
A few minutes later in the dining room
Silence assumes the atmosphere as the only sound that could be heard are the ones from the cutleries. Alicia glances at her parents momentarily, and she can't help the guilt that rushes through her each time she sees the sad look on their faces. Her cousins are all here with their husbands and boyfriends, and here she is all alone.
"I haven't introduced my boyfriend to you yet, Alicia. Meet Rico, my sweetheart. Rico, my cousin. The one I have been telling you about," Emily suddenly breaks the awkward silence, locking arms with the handsome young man sitting beside her.
"Hi, Alicia. It's nice to finally meet you," Rico smiles at her.
"It's nice to meet you too, Rico," Alicia smirks at him.
"Alicia, a friend of my husband is still single and in need of a woman in his life. Mind linking you up with him?" Lisa suddenly asks, locking her arms with Jeffrey, a young handsome man sitting beside her.
"Lisa..."
"There'll be no need for that, Miss Lisa," A familiar voice pierces through Alicia's ears, and she snaps her head up to see Ren standing there with a smile dancing on his lips. She freezes on the spot.
"Who are you?" Mr. Williams asks angrily.
"I'm sorry for coming late, honey. Are you mad at me?" He smiles as he walks over to Alicia, and places his palm on her cheek. Slowly, he wipes the trail of tears from her cheek before pecking her lips and she freezes on the seat.
He finally pulls away from the shocked Alicia, whose face has suddenly gone pale. Turning to face Mr. Williams, he smiles at him.
"I'm sorry for coming late, Mr. Williams. My flight was delayed. My name is Ren Houston, Alicia's fiance," He finally introduces himself, and their mouths drop open in shock...
Mr. and Mrs. Williams' faces lits up in excitement as they glance over to Ren almost every second. Seeing their only child have a man in her life has been one of the best things that they ever wanted, and it seems like their dreams are finally coming true. While her parents are busy admiring the handsome man that their daughter finally chose, Alicia is sitting frozen in her seat and still trying to understand what's happening. The last time she checked, he didn't agree when she asked him for this, so how the heck did he suddenly show up at her dad's house? How the heck did he even get her house address? "Be careful with that, babe," Ren says when water spills on her body, and she raises her gaze to look at him, still having that confusing expression on her face. "Wow! Your fiance is cute, Alicia," Adelie commends, and Alicia just gives her a fake smile. Lisa can't just stop glaring hard at her, and her parents too. "So tell me, how long have you and my daughter been together?" Mr.
The next morning...The sound of the knock on the door pulls Alicia out of her deep sleep, and she groans tiredly as she forces her eyes open. Trying to sit up on the bed, she feels her legs heavy like something is pushing her back to the bed. "What's that?" She mutters to herself as she runs her fingers through her hair lazily. Realizing that she didn't sleep alone in the room, her eyes widen as she finally manages to sit on the bed, but she cringes when she finds Ren sleeping like a mad person with his head resting on her lap while having his hands wrapped around her legs. "What the..." She cringes angrily as she screams, snapping him out of his deep slumber. "Can you let me sleep, please?" He whines sleepily. "Get away from me you pervert!" She curses under her breath as she pushes him off the bed and he lands on the ground. "Ah!" He winces in pain, holding his butt. "That was mean, Alicia," He yawns, rubbing his sleepy eyes. The knock on the door pulls their attention, and
She paces restlessly in her room, while Ren sits on the edge of the bed having a blank expression on his face as he stares into space. "Look at me, Ren... I swear I didn't tell them to say that, OK? You have to believe me. I... I didn't know that they were going to take it this far and...and..." She sighs briefly and runs her fingers through her hair as she plunges herself into the sofa that's just opposite her bed. "What do we do? I'm not ready to get married. I'm still very young and...""It was all your fault. You could've just let me handle this and not ever show up here. Now, look what you've got me into. Shit! I don't want to get married," She laments angrily, and he scoffs. "This is not the time to blame me, Ren. My parents are going to frustrate me to death if I don't do this..." She pauses and bites her bottom lip. How the heck is she going to say this to him? "Look... I'll pay you any amount of money you want, I promise. Just uhm... Let's get married, OK? I know this is
Three days laterAlicia and Ren have been in the house with her parents for days, as they never allowed the two out of their sights. While trying to sort the marriage issues out, the two didn't stop being all romantic especially when her parents are around. Of course, they wouldn't want to stir up confusion. After dinner, the two return to their room, and Alicia heads into the bathroom to shower as soon as they walk inside the room. Sitting on the edge of the bed and staring at the bathroom's closed door, the thought of her crying some days ago flashes through his mind, and he can only get curious. Why was she crying? He was sure that he didn't do anything wrong to her, so that alone convinced him that there was more to that tears than he knows. Still lost in thoughts, the sound of the door opening pulls him back to reality, and he raises his gaze to see that Alicia already walked into the room, wearing her pink beautiful robe. For some seconds, his heartbeat stops as he stares at
Two weeks laterThe past few days have been so busy for the family, since they have been busy planning out Alicia's wedding. Her wedding is finally remaining two days, but she doesn't feel much happy about it. Seeing how desperate her parents have been over the recent days, she knew that she was in trouble. Standing on the balcony of her friend's room, Alicia stares up at the sky as many thoughts flood her mind. She has been asking herself if she's doing the right thing, or maybe she'll regret this later, but she knows she has no option anyway. "Are you still thinking about it?" Lilian's voice disrupts her thought, and she sighs briefly as she glances at her, turning her gaze away afterward. Lilian walks over to her and leans against the rail. "I told you not to let it bother you. Just let it go, and you'll be fine," Lilian assures her. "I wish I can, but it's not working. I'm still trying to, you know? This is complicated. I'm scared of everything. What if things go wrong later
After spending almost all night at the studio, Alicia crashes into the car seat as soon as she hops in. She looks extremely exhausted like she'll collapse soon. Her phone suddenly rings, and she reaches out for it. She slides the answer button as soon as she sees the caller. "Lilian, I'm going to faint," She sighs deeply as soon as she answers the call, and Lilian's chuckles echo on the other end. "I guess your mom knew what would happen when she asked you to spend the night with Ren. She already had everything planned out," Lilian says from the other end. "Yes, she already did. Because why the heck did we have to take over sixty photos for just a wedding? Who does that?" She shrieks angrily. "I'm envious of you, girl. Your mom feels so happy about you getting married that she...""Please don't finish that shit if you don't want me to curse you. That is not love but setup. I know she did this intentionally so I can be stuck with Ren for the night, because why would she do this?"
Chapter 11Alicia chuckles softly as they both head to the car and hop in. Seeing the scared look on Ren's face, she can't help but laughs more. "Stop making that face, please. It was just a doll," She chuckles softly, earning a glance from him. He's yet to get over the trauma he got from watching that horrible show. "You shouldn't do something if you're not comfortable with it. You should've admitted that you're scared of horror movies," She rolls her eyes as he drives down the road. "Who said that I'm scared of horror movies? I just have a phobia for dolls, that's it," He rolls his eyes, even if he knows deep down inside him that he's scared of horror movies. "Oh, I see..." She sighs before she checks her wristwatch. It's past 4am, and they are still out at this time of the night. "Are you sleepy?" He asks after he glances at her, and she just nods her head. Because how's she supposed not to be sleepy after staying awake for the whole night? Although she had fun out there, her
Chapter 12The sound of Alicia's ringing phone jolts her out of her deep sleep, and she forcefully opens her eyes as the white ceiling welcomes her. She has barely been asleep for three hours, and now she has to wake up again. Trying to move her body, she feels an arm around her chest and her eyes slowly widen in shock as the realization dawns on her that she slept with Ren in the same room. "Get away from me, jerk!" She shrieks angrily as she pushes him off, and scoffs angrily. Her phone rings again, and she lazily reaches out to it and slides the answer button without checking the call or the caller. Her mom's and her cousins' face pops on the screen, and her eyes slowly widen in shock as she didn't know that it was face time. "Mom!" She shrieks and glances at Ren that is now awake and sitting beside her, popping his head to the screen of the phone while having a smirk on his face. "Good morning, mom. Did I disturb your call?" Ren asks sleepily as he rubs his eyes sleepily. "N