4: It's been a while

Emily' POV:

We made eye contact and I saw his eyes widen in surprise. Wait? He didn't know who he was marrying either? Why did he even agree then?

"Patrick! Morgan! What a pleasure to meet you again!" my mother exclaimed, greeting my 'future in-laws'.

"The pleasure is all ours, Stella."

Are my eyes playing tricks on me or did Jason just flinch?

"How are you holding up, Steve?" Mr. Stag asked.

"I'm surviving. For how long I don't know. That's why I'm rushing things a bit."

"I understand. I understand."

“Emilia, Grayson come here,” my father called.

We moved forward.

“You already know our son Gray who is currently running the company,” my mother introduced while the men shook hands. Gray then kissed Morgan’s hand.

“This is our daughter Emilia, your future daughter-in-law.”

“Pleasure to meet you and please call me Emily.”

“The pleasure is all ours. You are even more beautiful than the last time we saw you.”

I was surprised, they knew me from before?

“You probably don’t remember us. You were very young, the last time. We regularly visited your parents. You absolutely loved to play with my hair.”

“As for me you loved my beard,” Patrick added, laughing.

Now that they mention it, I do remember them. It’s been so long though.

“I apologise I didn’t recognise you at first. It’s been quite long.”

“That’s fine. We’re surprised you even remember us.”

“You can never forget silk hair,” I replied with a smile.

They both smiled back.

“We almost forgot. This is our son Jason.”

Jason barely nodded at us. Is he alright? Is he silent because our parents are here?

"Why don't we move to the dining room? We can talk over dinner."

"Of course."

They all filed in. I was about to follow but Gray held me back.

"Em! What's going on? I thought you were supposed to scream bloody murder."

"I didn't make the connection when you said Stag earlier. I am marrying Jason Stag?" I whispered back.  

"I thought it was obvious. They only have two sons but the older one recently lost his girlfriend, obviously it wouldn't be him. So it only leaves Jason." 

"You do realise while I was away, I was NOT following the New York news, right?"

"Oh right. I might have forgotten that tiny detail."

I sighed.

"Whatever. This is actually good news. We might not have to go with the plan."

"What? Now that you know you are marrying New York's most eligible bachelor, you're considering marriage."

"What? No! We know each other. I'll persuade him not to marry me. But is he really New York's most eligible bachelor?"

"Em! Focus on the matter at hand!"

"Right, sorry."

"How are you even going to persuade him? You can't just say, hey Jason! It's been a while. Please don't marry me," he said in a high-pitch voice.

"One: I don't speak like that. Two: That was my plan, yes."

"What?! Are you nuts?"

"No. I'm Emily! And I'm also kidding. Just trust me, little bro."

"Not the moment!"

"Oh, you know you love it. Now follow me."

I walked towards the opposite of the dining room.

“Um, where are we going?”

“Anywhere but the dining room.”

“What? Are you running away? I do think ‘The Runaway Fiancée’ is a much better heading than whatever the press might write if you two do get married.”

“No, I’m not running away and I won’t marry him either.”

“What are we doing here? The library, really? I don’t think books can help you with this one."

"Books always help but that’s not why I came here. We can go now."

"What? We barely spent a second in there. What’s your aim here?"

"Nothing much. Now when we enter, I want you to try not to look surprised."

"Okay?"

We entered the dining room.

“Finally! What took the two of you so long? If Jason was late I would assume he got lost. You two live here.”

“Lived. I haven’t been here in three years, mother. I mistook this room with another one and Gray redirected me here.”

I don’t lie. Half-truths are ok though.

“It’s fine, Stella. We have plenty of time to chat. The kids have to get to know each other after all.”

That will be my best chance to dissuade him. I took a seat beside Gray which was right in front of Jason. I smiled at him but he flat out ignored me and looked away.

“Let’s eat first!” my mother exclaimed. She clapped her hands twice and maids brought food to the table. There were several dishes but none of what I had texted her. I sighed. I should have known. She was just trying to play nice because of the engagement.

“So, Gray! How’s business?”

“It’s doing great. Thank you for your investment by the way.”

“Oh that was all Jason. I only found out about it after the procedures were done.”

We both looked at our father. He kept eating, not looking up even once. He was telling the truth after all. Why didn’t he argue further? He hated being blamed unnecessarily.

“What about you Emily? How was your trip?”

“I really enjoyed it. I learned a lot.”

“That’s great! What is your plan career-wise? Your mother mentioned you modelled. Do you plan on continuing now that you’re back.”

“No. Modelling was only a part time job until I finished my studies. I’ll continue running my company.”

“Oh! I didn’t know you worked in the family business.”

“I don’t. I run my own company. You might have heard of it. Comfort & Style.”

“I thought it was owned by Rose Jones.”

“She’s my vice and was replacing me while I was on my trip. We had just started when I left and had not attracted the interest of the press yet. I was long gone by the time they started enquiring who was behind our rising company. When they revealed Rose's identity we both decided to let her be the face of the business. But I’m the one who takes the final decisions.”

“Well maybe you two can merge your companies after marriage,” Morgan suggested.

“We’ll see.”

“On the topic of marriage, we were thinking of performing the ceremony next week. Steve has been growing weaker by the day. We want to do it as soon as possible.”

“Next week will be fine.”

No, it’s not. Gray nudged me, telling me to bring it up but I just couldn’t yet. I had to talk to Jason first.

“Is it okay if Jason and I had a talk privately before we decide the date of the wedding!”

Jason finally spared me a glance. My mother sent me a pointed look but Morgan replied before she could say anything.

“Of course, dear.”

“Excuse us.”

I stood up and waited for Jason. His mother glared at him and he glared back before eventually standing up. I led him to the porch outside.

“Finally, some fresh air,” I said, taking a deep breath. I was met with silence. He was looking at the stars, completely ignoring me.

“We’re alone now. No need to be formal.”

He looked at me before sighing. He then continued staring at the stars. Okay…

“I’ll be honest. I only found out I was getting engaged today and I didn’t know to whom either. It was only when you came that I found out.”

He nodded. I sighed. This was not the reaction I was expecting.

“Look, I didn’t agree to this and I’m sure you didn’t have much of a choice either. How about we tell them we want to cancel.”

“We’re getting engaged whether we like it or not. End of story.”