"Um, I'm sorry everyone, but may I have your attention please?" Once everyone was quiet, Belinda continued, hardly able to hide the tremor or uncertainty in her voice. "I'm sorry, but we would have to have dinner without my daughter, Victoria. I'm afraid that she's indisposed at the moment, but is recuperating. She's asleep now and we do not want to wake her up so that she will be well-rested for the wedding tomorrow."
"Oh. I'm so sorry to hear that. I wish her a speedy recovery." A middle-aged woman said, placing her hand above her chest dramatically. The other people around the table muttered their condolences and wished Victoria well, asking her to give Victoria their best wishes. Carol noticed one man in particular who looked to be in his sixties and was sitting next to Sebastian who was seated across from her. At Belinda's announcement, the man's eyes narrowed, but he did not say anything. He didn't offer any condolences as the others did, but took up his cutlery and began to eat after the well-wishers had had their say. Carol would have pegged the man as Sebastian's father, but they did not look anything alike. While Sebastian looked tall and broad from what she could see, even though she had yet to see him standing, this man looked short and round.There was no reaction from Sebastian, the groom. In fact, he looked terribly bored, like he could not wait for all of this to be over. For some reason, this really pissed Carol off. The least he could do was to act concerned, after all, his bride-to-be was not feeling too well. "But are you sure that she'll be well enough for the wedding tomorrow morning?" The fat man said, his tone suggesting that he did not believe that Victoria was ill for even a moment."Oh, sure she will, Mr. James. It's just a little headache and some fever. Nerves, I suppose, but that's pretty normal. Hell, I was ill too the day before my wedding, and it wasn't as though I didn't love my Donald. No, I can assure you that that wasn't the case at all. It was just nerves. Maybe it's a family thing." Belinda said, snapping her mouth shut as she realized that she was babbling and chuckling nervously. "Alright then. You may all eat." Mr. James said, and only then did everyone, including her parents start to eat, even though Mr. James had already gone through half of his food.Carol watched him quietly. She had not said a word since she sat down at the table, something that was easy to do since everyone ignored her anyway. That was the way she liked it though. It gave her the opportunity to just sit and observe everyone without feeling the need or pressure to interact with them. There was something powerful about the man that made one instantly want to obey and fear him. Carol did not know him, neither had she met him before, but she also felt this way about him merely by being in his presence.The others made chitchat while they ate, except for Carol and Sebastian. In fact, throughout dinner that night, Carol did not hear him utter a word to anyone in the room. She began to wonder if he was deaf-mute or something of that nature but later noticed him whispering something that she could not hear over the loud conversations of the other people into his uncle's ear. As for Carol, she could not wait until this whole thing was over and she could go back to living her life. They still did not know where Victoria was or where they would find her, and to Carol, it was better that way. There was something scary about this family, especially Sebastian's uncle, and now that she had met the man, she could tell why her mother seemed nervous. "Alright, everyone. I think we should all get an early rest so that we can prepare for the wedding proper tomorrow." Mr. James said, dropping the glass with which he had been sipping his wine. By this time, everyone had finished eating except for Carol who could not even bring herself to take more than a few bites of her food, even though it tasted delicious. She just didn't have the appetite. Something was going on, and she did not for the life of her know what it was. People nodded their agreement and finished off their drinks and then started to leave one by one, except for Sebastian and his uncle."Donald. We need to talk. Let's go into your study." Mr. James told Carol's father, standing up and leading the way as though he was the owner of the house and Donald was the guest. Carol did not miss the way her father gulped at this command. However, he stood up like an obedient puppy and began to follow the man into his study."I'll come with you," Belinda said, after some moments and hurried after them, leaving Carol and Sebastian sitting alone at the dining table. They sat in tense silence for what felt like an eternity, although the silence was probably tense only to Carol. As far as she was concerned, it wasn't her job to make small talk with this stranger whom she didn't even know, but she did not want to come off as rude, so she cleared her throat to get his attention. "Hello." She said when he finally looked at her.He did not reply immediately but continued to stare at her as though he did not know what to make of her."I hope the food was to your liking." Carol tried again and then mentally kicked herself. What was she doing trying to make conversation with this man who couldn't even be bothered to talk to her? He was a billionaire, after all, and clearly did not appreciate fraternizing with low-class people, if the behavior that he had been exhibiting all evening was anything to go by."Yeah." He said shortly and stood up to go outside, leaving her sitting there all by herself.Carol sat there for some minutes after he left, berating herself for even trying to strike up a conversation with such a stuck-up asshole after which she began to dial her sister's number for the umpteenth time that evening. To her immense surprise and relief, Victoria picked up the phone on the third ring."Where the hell are you?" Carol asked without preamble."Hey. Hold your horses. I'm almost home." Victoria replied, slurring her words. She sounded as drunk as a skunk."You're almost home? That's all you're going to say after being noticeably absent from a dinner that was held for you and making mom and dad look like fools?""Well, that's no fault of mine. They brought this on themselves, so don't blame me. I'm actually doing them a huge favor, so pardon me if I decide to drink a little." "What on earth do you mean by that? Also, I hope you're not driving in the state you're in.""I'm not in any state. I'm just a little tipsy. See you later." She said and ended the call.Carol sighed, wondering what her sister meant, but deciding to wait for her to get back before she questioned her. It was not wise to ask her about something that was clearly upsetting to her while she was driving and drunk at the same time. Sure enough, Victoria drove into their large compound less than fifteen minutes later. Carol flew down the stairs and met her sister halfway."Hey," Victoria said coldly, pushing past Carol."Really? You had us all worried. Where did you go to?" Carol called after her, noting that Victoria was not as drunk as she had first thought. At these questions, Victoria whirled and turned on her sister angrily."Who do you think exactly? You're not my mother and you have no right to ask me all these questions or monitor my life. Even my mother does not have the right to do that. I'm a fucking adult in case you failed to notice and your constant monitoring and whining about how I live my life is really irritating. I've had it up to here."Carol watched her rant, mouth agape. She hardly saw her sister in this sort of rage and it was clear that something was eating her up."Well, I was just worried about the way you disappeared. I didn't mean any harm. I'm sorry.""Yeah. Whatever. I'll just go to bed so that I can wake up refreshed to begin a life of misery tomorrow. Oh, and I don't want to hear anything from you about how I don't have to do it. I kind of have to, so I'll rather not listen to any judgmental lectures or advice from you. My life sucks enough as it is." Victoria said, and turned to walk up to her bedroom, before stopping short. Standing only a few feet away were their parents, Sebastian, his uncle, and the middle-aged woman from earlier, who happened to be his wife. From their expressions, it was obvious that they heard some of the conversations between the two women.Victoria tossed her head, not showing any concern that they had apparently heard a good part of what she said. As far as she was concerned, that was their goddamn problem. “Victoria, my dear. You sure have grown into a fine young woman.” Mr. James said, coming over to give her a hug and peck where she was standing. Victoria received them rigidly, her posture giving off ‘I don’t know you vibes.’ “Now, I know you may not remember me, but I used to be your father’s best friend.” Mr. James continued. “Yes, yes. We are best friends, honey.” Their father put in, a tad too eagerly. Mr. James put up one finger to silence him and he snapped his mouth shut as though someone had used a remote button to control him. Carol watched in surprise, wondering what kind of hold this man had over her family th
Even before she got downstairs, Carol could hear the strong voice of Mr. James raised in utter displeasure. She could not hear what her parents were saying, but even without hearing them, she knew that they were trying to pacify him. It seemed they succeeded in doing that because he stopped shouting. Carol hurried toward the study and put her ear to the door, trying to hear what they were saying inside the room.“We can postpone the wedding though. We’ll find and convince her. I’m sure of it. All this is just cold feet, which is not a surprise considering the circumstances. Once she calms down, she’ll see reason.” Carol heard her mother say.“I don’t have the time or the patience for that. It was difficult enough convincing Sebastian to agree to this in the first place. He’ll gladly back out of the whole thing if he finds out that his bride has absconded. Are you absolutely sure that your daughter has run away?”“Yes. She left a note for us.”“Well, in that case, I’m afraid that there
The drive to the church was a tense one that seemed longer than usual. Carol sat stiffly in the backseat with her mother, while her father sat in the front seat beside their remaining driver. They had had to send the other two drivers away more than four months back. It was now everything made sense to Carol. Her parents were in serious debt. Looking at them, however, especially her mother, one would never guess. She was always clad in the latest, most expensive, and most fashionable clothes there were. It did not bode down well at all with Carol that they had to resort to using her as a sort of payment for their debt, but she could not let those bastards kill her uncle for something that he did not know about. Besides, she had no doubt that they would follow through on their threat to kill off the rest of their family. She only hoped that Mr. James would keep to his word and would help pay off her dad’s debt.
“You do have a way with words, don’t you?” He asked, in what sounded suspiciously like a mocking tone. “I’m sorry.” “You don’t have to be. My uncle is an asshole, even though I do love him. So why on earth are you married to me instead of your sister?” “Um, well. She…she ran… I mean, we can’t find her. We don’t know where she is.” Carol said, hating herself for the way her voice sounded so high and squeaky and the way she stammered. Sebastian wasn’t even looking at her. Instead, he was busy on his phone as he talked to her. What if he looked at her? She would no doubt curl up into a ball and die. “I can’t say that I blame her. I had the urge to do the same thing too.” Sebastian said in a sardonic voice. He did not seem to be particularly concerned, pained, or offended. Now that they were alone, a sudden thought that made her suddenly sit up ramrod straight sprung up in Carol's mind. Sex! What about sex? They were married for crying out loud. D
The car took Sebastian and Carol straight to the airport. The drive there was a quiet one, with both of them lost in their thoughts. Carol did not speak because she was tired and just wanted the day to be over, while Sebastian really did not know what to say to her. In a way, he felt sorry for her and could not imagine how she must be feeling right now. It was clear that she was the pushover of the family if she let them prevail upon her to marry a stranger in the space of some hours. He could not say he had been exactly shocked to see her walk down the aisle instead of her sister as he had sort of expected the stunt that the sister pulled this morning.Sebastian wondered what sort of hold his uncle had on her parents to make her consent to this, but he did not really care as it was actually none of his business. He would never understand what his dear uncle stood to benefit from his marriage to any of his friend’s daughters, but that was his uncle’s business, not his. All that m
“Gloria will show you to your room. I have to work. See you in the evening.” Sebastian said, and walked away to another part of the house, leaving her standing alone like a lost sheep. Carol sank into one of the comfortable armchairs in the large living room, feeling sorry for herself. It was clear that Sebastian did not want her here. The television in the room was off, and since she did not have anything to do, Carol was about to stand up to pick up the remote from the table and turn it on when a maid, from the looks of her, walked into the room.“Welcome, mistress.” The woman said, curtseying. “I’ll take you to your room so that you can rest, have a bath, and have a change of clothes.”“That would be nice, thank you. I’m tired and really need to get out of these clothes. By the way, it’s Carol and not Mistress.”Gloria, who looked to be about fifteen years older than Carol looked at her as though she was crazy and led the way up a grand staircase to a big and airy bedroo
Carol woke up by six the next morning feeling very refreshed. It seemed that the events of the day before had not even happened at all, but there was the diamond-crusted ring on her hand and the fact that she woke up in this insanely huge bedroom to remind her that it all happened and that she was now Mrs. Sebastian Jones. Stretching fully, she got up and went to take her bath, before changing into presentable house clothes and going downstairs to get breakfast. It felt weird, but not necessarily unpleasant having someone else prepare food for her. Usually, she just grabbed something to eat to and from her way back from work, as she could not cook to save her life, but now, there was someone to make meals for her immediately she indicated her desire to eat.This time around, she ate with gusto compared to the previous night when she lacked appetite. She was on her third piece of toast when Sebastian walked into the dining room all dressed in a suit. At first, he looked surprised
He took one look at her puffy eyes and an expression that she had never thought that she would see on his face crossed it. He looked guilty.“Hey, look. I’m sorry I said all that. I know this is difficult for you, but it is for me as well. I’ll try to keep out of your way and I suggest that you do the same with me so that we do not keep getting on each other’s nerves.”Carol nodded slowly in surprise thinking to herself that wonders shall never cease. She had not known that he was capable of offering an apology, but it was a good thing.“Alright. Later. I’m off to work.”“Okay. See you later. What sort of work do you do anyway?” She asked, knowing that he would not answer, and was not surprised when he walked away as though he did not hear her question. Carol sighed softly. She just hoped that he was not into the same line of business that his uncle was formerly into. The last thing she needed was for someone to come and threaten her or her family because of something he