"Dangerous?" Aunt Maya hissed slightly "Ha! He's blind, Zachary."
"Mum, Kevin's blindness is his only disability. Without his eyes, this man is arrogant, cold and vicious! Despite the fact that he cannot see, he wields much power, he has this..manipulative aura around him and all of this is a great contrast to Karen's innocent and naive nature. That is why he is dangerous.""Zachary, you don't know him.""But I have heard of him," Zachary replied quickly "Just few days ago he got rejected by the woman he truly loves. Why is his mother here to seek Karen's hand in marriage?""They might be poles apart on the social ladder but my friendship with Mrs Kord has earned Karen her life-long dream." she lets out a sigh and adds "It has always been her dream to get married to a responsible man.""Maybe you've forgotten that she added love. Karen has always wanted to marry a man she loves. She has, most certainly never crossed path with Kevin. She does not know this man and without her permission, you have just agreed to a wedding.""Karen will not object. You speak of love like Karen has the time to love." Aunt Maya's voice broke "Why won't you let her feel human, at least before her time is up?""Mom, Karen cannot feel human with Kevin. He is not the right one for her.""Zachary, please." Aunt Maya had a hand up in the air "You will not change my mind. Just because I have not pressured you into getting married does not mean you can interfere in your cousin's."..."You what?!" Kevin was up on his feet in the next second. "What did you say, mother?""Kevin dear-""You found a wife??" Kevin chuckled quietly "For whom?""For you, my son." Mrs Kord answered nervously "She is beautiful and graceful too.""Mom, are you kidding??""Of course not," Mrs Kord said "You have little time before your father steps up to give your brother the position. I can't let you sit here and dream of Selene.""I will not get married to anyone apart from her. You might as well apologize to whom ever you have gone to meet." Kevin declared"Selene rejected your proposal!" Mrs Kord reminded him "You can't afford to miss your rights because of a woman who does not love you.""And this woman you have gone to meet, does she love me?" Kevin countered"I believe she is better as she will come to love you in due time.""Did she say that? Perhaps you did not tell her of my blindness.""She knows," Mrs Kord answered "And yet she still agreed to marry you.""Then she must have an ulterior motive, possibly because of my money.""Of course not, Kevin.""Tell me, what's her name? I must warn the other men to be wary of her.""Kevin!""What's her name??""She's Karen. Karen Luis and she is nothing like the other women of Willow-ridge.""Haven't heard of that name," Kevin informed "She must be insignificant in the society then. Another reason why she wants to be my wife.""Of course not." she paused and added "She is insignificant because she has led a quiet life, not a reckless one.""And has Selene led a reckless one?" Kevin asked "Why can't she be my wife? It is her I want, mom and I'm dead serious. I will not marry that woman of your choice.""Selene did not marry you because you're blind. She clearly does not love you. If Karen was a woman of high calibre I'm sure you would have been on your knees already.""I don't care," Kevin turned his back "I don't care if Mr Kord takes away my inheritance. He has always loved Elliot more than I, his son. Why should I prove myself to him??""You will not be proving yourself, dear" Mrs Kord stood in front of him "You'll be doing this for us. Your mother and yourself. If you lose your inheritance to Elliot, he will throw us out of the house and you know your father will not do a thing about it.""You're blind, Kevin" Mrs Kord voice cracked as she spoke with little sniffs "If we are thrown out of this house, you will not get a job. We will have no where to stay. Your decision now will either destroy us or lead us to our victory.""You're asking me to marry someone I do not know just to secure a position??""To secure our lives not a position." Mrs Kord corrected."I'll be ruining my life if I marry a disaster, mom.""She is not a disaster neither will she be. She is a daughter of my old friend and I have watched her grow over the years. I am your mother and I definitely will not lead you to regret.""It doesn't seem like that now but it will later." Kevin replied "I'm busy mom. Let's end this conversation.""You promised not to do anything that would hurt my feelings, Kevin. I have only you, you know that. After your father betrayed me and had an affair with Elliot's mother, I was barely the same. I wanted to end my life because I realized I meant nothing to your father. But I thought of you. I have raised you with the hopes that you will secure our lives." Mrs Kord sobbed as she spoke "To think that I have come this far to watch you crumble it all. You are giving up without a fight. I should have killed myself so I wouldn't witness this day.""Mother-""Look at Elliot," she continued, sobbing profusely now "His mother is not alive but I'm damn sure he's making her proud. He is doing everything possible to usurp you and take what's yours. Rather than fighting back, you want to..to chase after a woman who thinks of what society will say rather than her love for you, if she even has any.""Please stop crying," Kevin said softly as he found her cheek and wiped away her tears "I'm sorry for making you.. feel this way.""Please do what's right, Kevin" Mrs Kord circled her arm around his waist and cried against his chest. "Even if your father does not love you, you must continue to prove that you're better than his illegitimate son. You always have. Why should you stop now??"She lifted her gaze, "You are handsome. Your blindness is not a barrier to you in anyway. You can always get women to love you. You can create a bond between you and your wife. If you can't have Selene, you can always have someone better. All you have to do is charm her!"Karen is home."Aunt Maya?" she called as she walked into the kitchen but found no one. Turning back, she found Zachary who had a forlorn look on his face."Hey," Karen greeted casually "Is something wrong? Where's Aunt?""Oh, Karen you're back!" Aunt Maya said as she emerged from the passage. Karen walked over to her and gave her a peck.Aunt Maya asked "How was work? You didn't stress yourself, did you?""I'm used to it, Aunt Maya." Karen replied as she poured the woman a glass of water."I have something to tell you," Aunt Maya began as she took the glass from Karen."I guessed," Karen chuckled as she glanced at Zachary "The atmosphere is..daunting.""Well," Aunt Maya started "A proposal came in earlier today.""A proposal?" Karen took her seat "For who?""You, my dear," Aunt Maya answered "Kevin Kord wants you to marry him.""..." Karen opened her lips and shut them again. Her heart beat accelerated almost the same time. "T-to..to..marry..him??" Karen repeated nervously."See mot
"Zachary, how..how could you?" Karen's voice cracked."I know right," he replied casually and closed the distance between them. His tall frame hovered over her as he stared down at her with grey glistering eyes."I couldn't stop myself despite knowing that it's not possible.""I...I don't know what to say right now.""Nothing," he ran his hand through his hair "Don't say anything. Forget I ever said this.""But Zach-""Don't marry him, Karen."Shaking her head, Karen walked out and slammed the door behind her...."Mr Kord, Mr Lyons asked to meet with-""I'm not available," Kevin answered his secretary with a cold voice."Okay, sir. How about the scheduled meeting with the manager of the company's resources?? The meeting has been delayed for-""Delay it again."The secretary nodded as she scrambled to read up all the CEO's pent up schedules."Mr Kord, there's a complain about the increasing-""Take it to, Elliot.""Mr Kord, you had twenty-five extended interviews last weekend. Would y
"Here?" Karen repeated absentmindedly "To..to do what, Aunt Maya?"Aunt Maya pulled Karen to her room and threw her wardrobe open. Pulling out a short gown she held it to Karen's chin and grinned sheepishly."Yes.. perfect for the occasion!" she placed it on the bed and began to scurry for more."Aunt," Karen called more loudly to get her attention.Aunt Maya turned, "I'm so sorry if I'm acting weird, dear. It's just that I'm so excited to have to plan your wedding and witness it as well."She held Karen's hands in hers. "Don't be nervous.""I'm.. I'm not," Karen assured herself "It's just that..why..why is he coming here?""Probably to get to know you?" Aunt Maya chuckled and sat Karen down "I know this will be your first time with..with the opposite sex, Karen and you need not be nervous."Karen let out a sigh."I know you'll be fine," Aunt Maya smiled "Now go on, freshen up quickly."After that, Aunt Maya went back to Karen's closet and began to rummage through, muttering to hersel
Karen jerked her hand from his grip while Kevin cleaned his palm against his coat, as if he just held dirt. Karen scoffed softly, "Too much pride for someone who got reject-"Raising his fingers to the air, he warned "Don't you dare say that!""Mr Kord, not all women want you" Karen proceeded to say "If it were up to me I wouldn't be here speaking with you, I just..I just have to do this because of my aunt.""Baseless excuses," Kevin dismissed her words "You've no reason to marry a rich, blind man save for his money.""I know your dream girl rejected you because you're blind, Mr Kord and this has led you to believe no one can accept you just the way you are but you're wrong." Karen saw a muscle twitch in his jaw but did not stop talking."I don't know about other women, but I'm not looking for perfection nor am I looking for something to increase my status on the social ladder or even money to embezzle,"Kevin went suddenly quiet as he listened to her.Karen continued, "Hell, no mat
"Dad, it's four days since you gave the ultimatum" Elliot said to his father as he barged into his study "Kevin hasn't found a wife."Mr Kord placed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and stared at Elliot, "Are you eager to become the CEO?" Mr Kord asked"Of course, dad." Elliot answered impatiently."And you're proud for not having to work for it??" "What?"Mr Kord leaned back on his chair and completely removed his glasses."When will you become something, Elliot?" Mr Kord's voice was stern "Look at your blind younger brother! You are nothing beside him despite having your sight which he doesn't!""Dad-""Silence!" Mr Kord fumed "When I brought you here and raised you, did I teach you to become useless?"Elliot's hands curved into a fist. Mr Kord banged at his desk,"Answer me!" "No." he curtly replied "Then?" he got up on his feet abruptly "Why do I have to do every single thing for you? Even the position of the CEO which supposed to be yours, you cannot even clinch it! I ha
Stepping out of the car, Karen followed Mrs Kord into the hall with Kevin behind. While Mrs Kord took Karen to her make-over section, Kevin went the other way."Look at this dress," Mrs Kord held out a red off the shoulder gown "Do you love it?"When Karen didn't answer, Mrs Kord drew close, "Karen??""Y-yes," Karen answered absentmindedlyMrs Kord kept the dress back and took Karen's hands in hers, "What were you thinking about, you zoned out completely?"Karen shook her head and forced a smile, "Nothing, Mrs Kord.""It's the impromptu wedding, right?" Mrs Kord blurted out "I know this is all too soon for you and you probably don't want to marry my son but I want you to know that it's not as bad as it seems, Karen. With time, you and Kevin will get to know each other and grow close."Karen nodded and feigned a smile. As she moved with Mrs Kord through the clothing section, she cheered herself up and soon forgot about her predicament.After the artist performed a glorious work on her f
Elliot was going through his phone, searching for a possible match on a dating site when he saw a couple of female workers giggling sheepishly at something they found on their cellphones.Sitting back, he realized that everyone at the office seemed to be giggling into their phone especially the female workers.Due to this, he left the dating site and moved on to social media for the latest news and the first thing that popped up on his feed was the arrogant face of Kevin against that of an innocent, and beautiful woman Elliot had never seen before.His muscles tensed as he scrolled through and realized that Kevin was the trending topic. Everyone was talking about the much anticipated wedding and only few were able to question the suddenness of the marriage.The spinsters who had their eyes on Kevin complained bitterly of Kevin picking a low class lady as his wife. Many people attributed it to the fact that Kevin was only trying to make Selene, his true love, jealous while others saw t
Karen was glad when the closing hour arrived. She immediately placed every message that was dropped for the CEO on his desk and waited few minutes before picking up her bag and walking out of the building.However, her way was blocked by three ladies."Seems like being a whore really pays off, huh?" the one in front said and was backed by two other ladies."I don't understand?""You don't?" she scoffed "F*cking with Mr Daniels and managed to climb your way up to the target- Kevin Kord.""I did none of that, now if you would excuse me," Karen made a move to leave however they stopped her again.One of them yanked her handbag to the floor, with her things scattering all over the ground. Karen kept her cool although, her breathing was becoming ragged and uneven. Her face turned pale."How dare you sneak right up under our noses while pretending to be a simple, unproblematic low-class girl when you're infact a desperate woman!" Claire said"She must have gone miles proving her self just s