Hayley Grimroe is turning eighteen in two months and that's what she is waking up for with a smile each morning. The fact that when she turns eighteen she'll get quarter of a million dollars as promised by her parents, she won't allow anyone to kill her yet. And she would kill anyone that would stop her from getting the money.
"Good morning, Ms. Grimroe! I would like to remind you that you have a scheduled meeting with your mother today at 10 o'clock."
Although she said she wakes up every morning with a smile, it doesn't literally mean she wakes up and do exercise or something. She wakes up, smile and then go back to sleep. That's why Cristy, her personal secretary but more of a much older sister to her, wakes her up every day!
"Cristy," she groans, "Turn off the lights! They are blinding me!"
"Oh that is not the light, milady. That's the sun telling you to get up and take a bath. It's nine. You don't want your mother upset to the point where she takes back her promise, yes?"
Hayley abruptly sits up, her eyes snapped open revealing her crystal clear green eyes. Then she get off her bed and started her stretches.
"I'm wide awake!" she repeats, bending to the other side and to the other. "Did mother say at the garden?"
"Yes, milady."
"Just call me Hayley! I like it better."
Cristy just gave a smile. Hayley has been bugging Cristy to call her by name but Mr. and Mrs. Grimroe would prefer if she address the young lady as milady. All of them employees at the mansion calls Hayley milady and she would give a grumpy face.
"I'll be waiting outside so please, don't take too long, okay?"
"Okay!"
Hayley is still so sleepy but she needs to be a good girl and follow the rules set by her parents. If you are curious what she'd do with the money, where do teenagers spends it? Buying merchandise from 'influencers' and trendy stuffs online? No, not Hayley.
After getting a bath and putting on an expensive casual dress, she walks out of her room. Hayley greeted Cristy once again and they small talk on their way to the garden. In the middle of their garden is a green house surrounded with the most expensive and rare plants. And then there's her mother, having tea in the center of everything.
"Good morning, Mother!" She greeted, kissing the cheeks of her mother and then she bows a little at her mother secretary, Mrs. Brennan. After that, she took her seat facing her mother.
"My dear, Hayley! You've grown so beautiful like all these plants around us."
Hayley just forced a smile on her face. Yes, sometimes her mother is rather unusual, acting like they have not seen each other for long when last night, they had dinner together.
"May I ask why you scheduled to meet today, mother? You and father are mostly away during the day."
"Oh yes! You see, your father and I talked and we agreed that you will be needing to transfer to another school, a more well known school."
That made Hayley stop chewing on her biscuit, staring at her mother confused. "But Mother I thought we agreed on--"
"Things changed, Hayley. You are a Grimroe. We only want the best for our daughter."
"But mother you and I talked--"
"No more buts, my dear," Mrs. Grimroe interrupts, "If you want the money for your birthday you better be a good girl."
Hayley's killer eyes appeared as her lips draw a line. This is not a good morning anymore! Her mother, Cassandra is ruining her day before it even started. She is pissed because she likes her school and everyone there is very friendly and they do not care about classes and if anyone was rich or poor!
"Why do I need to transfer? We don't have a problem with my school's poor reputation for five years until today. Why?"
"Well you see..." Cassandra put down her cup of tea gracefully, then she glances at Hayley whose killer eyes were activated. Then Hayley saw a corner of her mother's lips rose up. "The Grimroe needs to be on top, my love. We can not lose this opportunity."
"What does that have to do with me transferring? Am I going to business school?"
"If you want to, dear. But we have something more that's planned," Cassandra pause to plaster her evil grin that irritates Hayley so much. "You are getting married."
Hayley just got back to her room from the meeting she had with her mom. She sits on her bed like a robot, staring blankly at her wall. Did she really just had that conversation with her mother about her transferring to another school because she is getting married?
"Cristy, I'm dreaming, am I not?" she asked without looking.
"I'm afraid you are wide awake, milady. But you might be in a haze, your brain must not want to process that you are getting married in two months."
Her lips were trembling, unable to stop her fingers from pinching her other hand. This is nuts! This is what she was so worried about. Getting married to someone she does not know, forcefully! She thought this tradition in rich people had stop! Sniffing, she could feel she's about to cry.
Cristy then sat next to her, rubbing her back and telling her it's alright. That there is two more months to change her parents' decision.
"No," she sniffs, looking at Cristy with her eyes flooded with tears. "You heard her. If I don't get married, I'd lose the money they promised. If I lose that money, I will be breaking my promise to Lucas, Sister Roseta and the children! That's like choosing for my life or their life!"
"Now, now... you can always explain to Sister Roseta why you have to break your promise to her. She will understand, Hayley. You've been helping so much."
Hayley look down, sobbing as her tears started streaming down again. But those children at the orphanage, she can't let them starve or even get their home taken away. That money that she was about to receive was for the property. She wanted to pay off the orphanage bank loan for the property to stay theirs.
With the back of her hand, she wiped her own tears rashly. She knew right when she was younger, at a party with different people in suit and dresses, she was going to live hell throughout her life. But just because she is born in a top family isn't supposed to mean they can take her freedom away.
"I'm going to fight for my freedom," she muttered, inhaling deeply and then blew it out. "I'm going to use that marriage for my freedom."
Kenji is still dreaming about buying himself the latest sport car released yesterday, when he feels his whole body getting shaken. He groans, his hand moving to take a pillow and covered his face from the sun."Oh come on, Kenji! Open those damn eyes and leave!" He hears her, he even feel her kicking him at the butt. "You said you have a meeting with your parents at 2 PM it's 1: 30 in the afternoon!"That made him open his eyes, groaning as he sits up. Damn it! He almost forgot. When he shifted his gaze, he smirked seeing Andrea with only a shirt on."I can do you in eight minutes," he said with his husky voice, throwing those perverted gazes at Andrea. He saw her bite her lower lip, taking off the shirt while she approach him.The meeting place was at the Maledict's grand mansion, the guests lounge. Kenji hurried there, almost running as he glances at his wrist watch. Damn it! His parents are going to kill him for being
At the other room, Hayley is seated beside the the man she will be marrying. She doesn't like him. He came late, he has messy hair and just from the looks of it, he enjoys the rich young and wild life. Not to mention that he is full of himself too. Oh the worst possible groom she could ever have. "So, have you two talked? Introduced yourselves to each other?" Mr. Maledict asked, smiling at both of them. "We talked. But she did not tell me her name." "Hayley," Mrs. Grimroe uttered in a low voice, raising a brow. "You should be polite to your future husband." "Oh no, please, our Kenji must have been rude to the young lady," Mrs. Maledict says. "Ah, so your name is Hayley," he mumbled, glimpsing with a smirk. "You could have been Amanda or Kate but you look more dangerous." "Ken D should've been your name," she sneered. "Ken doll." "Okay, that's enough both of you." Cassandra shifted glances between them. "We see that you ar
The days passed by really quickly and it was Kenji's last evening before he moves in with his future wife at Marie Swan's. Because it's a damn good evening, he wanted to celebrate it with his group of friends, drinking at some pavement just near a corner store. Kenji was having so much fun after three bottles of whatever the alcohol that is. Laughing with his friends never gets old. And they talk mostly about the drama the girls they have been with throws at them. "That damn nerd is hot, bro but she was looking for someone serious," Eren drank on his bottle and laughed. "But I ain't someone serious so she ran crying." The rest of their group shake their heads, chuckling slightly. All these dudes were into sex and one night stand, tasting all the girls they could have. That's the kind of life they want to have but Kenji is different. He just doesn't want to spend all his money on drinking nor does he want to have one night stand all his life. There was somethi
As Hayley is packing the rest of her things, she could not help but think about her future husband-- her damned future husband. The way he said he wanted to marry her now disgusts her. Why was he even there in the first place?"Are you alright, milady?"Hayley glances at Cristy who was helping her with her other things and she smiled, zipping her luggage. Then she went closer to Cristy."I am fine. I was just thinking of things I could do for that Ken doll to back out with this absurd engagement.""The young master, Kenji Maledict seems nice. He took you home safe and sound.""Oh no!" Hayley rolled her eyes. "He is far from nice! He is arrogant, a womanizer-- that is for sure and..." She pauses, looking around the room to describe the damn man."And you do not know much about him, milady."What Cristy said made her frown, pouting as well. Yes, she does not know the man well but he is a womanizer and she can confirm that! T
A mess. It is what Kenji saw in the kitchen when he got back. He was just going to get a bottle of water when his eyes caught the burnt food on the frying pan that's on the sink. Ingredient pieces were everywhere near the sink and plates and tools were left unwashed. Damn! This could only be Hayley!Kenji marched towards Hayley's door and when he was in front, he made a fist and bang loudly on his lovely bride's door. He doesn't care if she's already sleeping or what, he just needs the kitchen cleaned.The door opened revealing an annoyed Hayley with her arms crossed, her brows drawn together."What do you damn want?""I want you to clean the mess you made in the kitchen.""Tch! I'll do it tomorrow mor--""I want it now!" he interrupted, his voice cold and deep. "Do it or I'll drag you to the kitchen."Before Hayley started moving, she threw Kenji a dirty stare, rolling her eyes when she walk past him, mumbling. He s
Hayley woke up to the sun's rays hitting her eyes that made her close them once more, groaning a little and turning to the other side. Ah, now she's much comfortable. She feels tired so she's going to stay in bed a little more.Just some moments later, she could feel the brushing of fingers along her thigh and it tickles her, chuckling slightly. Her eyes remained close."Cristy, stop it. I'm still sleepy," she mumbled in her morning voice. "Go close the curtain for me.""I think I need to put down your skirt rather than curtain first. Your lovely thighs are showing."Hayley's eyes snapped open. She froze upon hearing that damn voice and seeing how she's facing his well-defined chest, she wants to scream! As she was about to push Kenji away, he suddenly wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer. She glances at him and her eyes went wide."Stay. I won't do anything to you but just stay a little longer," he whispers with his husky voice and
Practicing with walking down the aisle was not pleasing to Hayley. Especially when Kenji is waiting for her at the end. His playful grin has had her scoffing all the time. She can't even believe she survived living with him for the past weeks. "Hayley! Smile! It's your wedding! You can't be frowning like that in three days' time! Learn to smile!" Aish, demanding damn coordinators! She had to force a big smile to please them. Her days have been like this, practicing the same old things and even the speeches-- scripted ones of course because just writing 'love' disgusts them both. When she got to the altar, Kenji took her hand whispering something in her ear. It isn't surprising anymore, he does it every time to annoy her. "Okay! So you both stand here while the priest does his things!" They decided that it will be a church wedding. Hayley specifically told their parents she wants a church wedding. It isn't because
After their long day, Hayley was still sulking at the other corner of their car. She was still mad from what Kenji did earlier and she didn't want to be touched. They were stuck in traffic, and it's even a long way home from the church they practiced at."I told you, it's just a practice. Don't tell me you didn't think we'd share a kiss after the priest announces, 'you may now kiss the bride'? You really think it's believable if I kiss you on the cheek?""I said don't talk to me, Ken doll. I'm really going to kill you!" she warns.Kenji glances at her for a moment and back in front. Hayley looked like she was going to eat him alive so he'll let her be for a while. Earlier at lunch, his father had given him a ring to give Hayley. That was why he had not let go of her and they ended up in that cake shop. In the end, he couldn't give the damn diamond ring.An engagement ring that costs a lot is necessary for their family's name, for the guests to see.