Arthur grabbed my hands again as we walked out of the building. All eyes were on us and I could hear whispering voices. The parking Valet handed his car keys to him, and he opened the door for me, “I’m not entering your car except you tell me where we’re going.
“Stop being difficult and get in the car, I’m not trying to kidnap you. Even if I wanted to, you wouldn't be able to pay the ransom fees”, He said to me coldly as he slightly nudged me forward.
I got in and he closed the door harshly. God, please give me the strength to be able to hold my tongue. If he disrespected me one more time, I would give it to him.
I relaxed into the chair a little bit, my tense body starting to hurt, my shoulder especially, but I couldn't afford a massage. Opening my bag I checked my phone and truly, there was a message from an unknown number, I clicked it and read,
Unknown: “Meet me in my office at lunch break.
Unknown: Where are you? I’m coming to your office now!
How rude! Such a commanding tone.
No nice introductions or anything.
What was I even expecting? Niceness wasn't in his vocabulary.
How did he get my number by the way? Pfft, Of course, he could get my number, I worked for him anyways.
I saved his number as dickhead. Serves him right! I smiled to myself.
“Wipe that look off your face, we are here”, He parked the car and stepped out.
I followed suit only to realize he stopped at Montana Cafe. Looked like the universe wanted me to get along with him a little bit, that's why he was directed to my favorite coffee shop.
We entered and were welcomed with the most tantalizing aroma, I was practically drooling at the cute cupcakes and snacks in the display cabinet.
“Pick your mouth off of the floor”, he snickered, brushing past me to the counter.
I hissed but followed him, I could see it was Greta attending today. She was an old friendly woman who owned the shop with her husband, she was like a granny to me, a nosey one though. “What a beautiful surprise, my two best customers?”, she smiled.
I gaped at her, “Two? I thought I was the only one”, I pouted, sliding onto the stool close to her.
“Wipe that look off your face, jealousy doesn’t suit you.”
How could he be her favorite too? In fact, he was not capable of being anybody’s favorite. Didn't she know of his horrible behavior? Greta could spot a good-hearted person from a mile away, I thought she was a good judge of character.
“Don’t tell me this is the girl you were talking about”, she grinned. “You have good eyes Arthur”, her eyes twinkled in happiness.
“I don’t thin—-” he cut me off.
“Greta, can we please just get our usuals?"He pulled me to an empty seat, close to the window.
“Why do you always try to correct people? Are you trying to cancel the contract that hasn’t even really started!”, he frowned at me.
“Well pardon me, I wasn't told the faking starts now”, I mumbled. “Greta even knew I was your girlfriend before I did”, I glared at him.
“No, every time I came here she was always trying to set me up with her customers or children, I had to say I was in a relationship for her to stop”.
“Oh I see, she does that to almost everyone”, I mumbled.
“Anyways, back to business, we need to have a story to tell in case people ask us how we met and then we need to plan a proposal dinner, then the wedding, everything needs to be done in a month or less if possible.”
“Huhn? You need to slow down alright? What story?”
This was moving too fast. So he wanted us married in a month?
“Yeah, ermm… we could say I met you in the first week of your internship.”
“That could work only if you were there but you weren't, how about this coffee shop?”, I suggested.
“Perfect! Say three months ago, I was in the country around that time so that would work, and we decided to keep it a secret due to the tabloids and media and I proposed today. A private engagement”, he concluded.
He really did plan this well. I admired his determination to take what was his, no matter what. Wait, he said today?
“What do you mean today?”
Our order arrived, Kate was our waitress today. She placed a tray of cupcakes, cookies, and two coffee cups. “Anything else?”, she asked.
“No Kate, thanks”, she beamed at him and walked away.
So he knew the word ‘thanks’, and was super nice and polite with everybody except me. Why was that? Or did I just bring out the worst in him? I furrowed my brows at the thought of that, staring at him through my coffee cup which I took a sip from.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” He scowled.
“Nothing, just waiting for your response, what do you mean by today? I don’t even have a ring on my finger.”
“That can be sorted now”
He brought out a small blue box. OMG! I hope it wasn't what I thought it was. Of course, it was. I was shocked, it was a beautiful emerald diamond cut. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. This must cost a fortune. “I can’t take this”, I pushed it back towards him.
“What do you mean you can’t? It’s part of the contract”, he whispered closely.
Why was he whispering? I looked at him in confusion, his eyes looked left and I followed the movement only to see people with their phones out and Greta smiling with tears shining in her eyes. This would have been the perfect romantic proposal but it wasn't, it was a contract one.
He knelt on one knee, “I thought of the perfect ways to do this, words to say but none can fathom how much I love you and how much you mean to me, so babe will you do me the honors and marry me? I promise to always buy your favorite cupcakes and cookies till I’m old with gray hairs on my head.”
“Yes, I accept”, he slid the ring down my finger, a Perfect fit. He lifted me off the ground, spinning me around before putting me down.
~Veronica Beckham A few tears escaped from my eyes, not because of the sweet words that came out of his mouth but because of the fairytale dreams I had about love that just went down for money. A lot of people approached us to say their congratulations. I felt so used. "Can we go?", I mumbled, putting my things into my bag. "Yeah", he signaled the waitress to bring the bill. Mrs. Greta came instead, "It's on the house dear, it's not every time we get a proposal here", she chuckled. "Why aren't you happy?" She looked at me. "I am, I'm just overwhelmed", I giggled. Arthur offered me his hand and I took it, plastering a fake smile at him. "We'll see you next time, we have to continue our celebration at home." We said our goodbyes and left the shop. I couldn't stand him, so I walked ahead. Immediately we got inside the car Arthur spoke, " Why do you always ask questions? You almost ruined my proposal?" He yelled. "You caught me off guard, a little heads up would have been nice inste
I could see Lilian peeping through the window of our house. I went inside and she didn’t even let me breathe before drowning me in questions.“I can’t believe you’ve been dating Arthur Fucking Callaghan all this time!“Language Lilly”, I scolded, throwing my bag on the sofa, I crouched down to take off my shoes, placing them on the shoe rack.She totally ignored me and carried on ranting.“And we’ve been suffering. You’re engaged to the country's most handsome rich bachelor Vee! How the hell did you not tell me? I’m your favorite sister!”, she whined.“You’re my only sister and sibling, chill”“That’s all you heard with all I just said?”, she frowned.My mom walked into the living room, at least she’ll come save me from Lilly, “Don’t you have homework to do?”, she eyed my sis.“I have done it and also all my chores so nope I won’t be left out of this conversation”, she held her head up high, standing her ground.“Fine! We wanted it to be private alright, he’s like a celebrity, he want
~Arthur CallaghanI woke up to good news today, Veronica signed the contract, she could not say no. After I asked her to marry me on impulse, I did a background check on her to know if she was in great need of money enough to accept my offer.It would have been stupid of her not to, her family would be in jeopardy if she didn’t sign the contract. All that was left for me was to plan. We both arrived at the office at the same time, I watched her step out of her deadbeat car and handed her keys to the valet. I wondered how she drove that thing in the condition it was in.She greeted me without looking at me and instead of entering the same elevator with me, she went to the next one. I think she was intentionally avoiding me. She couldn't do that all day.We were supposed to have lunch together today at a cafe where I planned to propose to her. Time wasn’t on my side, I had to get my father’s company from that man.I went to a Tiffany and Co. jewelry store to get the ring yesterday. I d
Veronica gawked at me and I could see the wheels turning in her head. I wondered what was on her mind, probably trying to process what I just said.“Why are you staring?”“Nothing, just waiting for your response. What do you mean by today? I don’t even have a ring on my finger”, she said bluntly, wriggling her fingers in my face.“That can be sorted now”I brought out the small blue box from my pocket and opened it. Her eyes widened, and she clamped her hands over her mouth in shock. She starts to shake her head in denial, “I can’t take this”, she uttered, pushing it back to me.The few customers gasped in surprise, waiting for the speech and her response.“What do you mean you can’t? It’s part of the contract”, I whispered closely to her ear, so the onlookers wouldn’t overhear. She looked at me in confusion, I looked left and she followed my signal to see people with their phones out and Greta smiling with tears shining in her eyes. I never thought I could kneel to profess my love to
~Arthur Callaghan My phone started to ring and it was my mum. I was sure she had heard of the news and was pissed. I picked up the call. "Hey Mom""What's this I am hearing about you proposing" she yelled.I moved the phone slightly away from my ear. Geez woman! Calm down, don't blow my eardrums."I'm heading to the house, I'll explain when I get there."I hung up, changing direction to go home instead of heading back to the office, I too deserved a break from all this.~~ I pulled up to the mansion gate where my family lived, did a face scan and the gate opened. I was greeted by two bodyguards, Rodriguez and Leo. They had been in this family for a long time. This house reminded me of good memories which now caused me pain because my dad wasn't with us anymore. We didn’t really get along, but he was a good man, a good wife to my mum, and father to my sister. The last conversation we had wasn’t good, I wish I could see him one more time to make things right. I would avenge his
She took a deep breath and let it go. "I don't want Ana to know about any of this alright?""Of course, I won't say a word", I sighed.Ana was the last person I wanted to be entangled in this shit. I didn't want her worrying over things like this."Now, are you staying for dinner or not?", She asked gently.I guess this conversation was over."No, I don't think–"She walked up to me, holding my cheeks with both hands, "Please stay?"I really couldn't say no to this woman, especially with that face."Alright."I did miss her cooking.Her face broke into a grin, then she pecked my cheeks happily."Good, you do need good food in your system, just look at you", she squeezed my cheeks. "My poor baby is losing weight""No, I'm not", I slapped her hands away from my cheeks playfully.I know you must be thinking I couldn't cook but fortunately I could, but I didn't do it often, work
~Veronica BeckhamIt had been proven time and time again that I had zero sense when it came to fashion, which was why my sis was here with me in my room, plundering through my closet for the perfect outfit for the burial.Yes, you heard that right.I couldn't even find the right outfit for a burial that was also appropriate for the dinner where I would be meeting Arthur's family for the first time.I came out with just plain black pants and a black shirt, causing Lilly to almost have a meltdown.She then took it upon herself to dress me up but with the way things were going, I was gonna be late."Don't worry you won't be late but fashionably late", she said, adding more clothes to my already disorganized room."There's no such thing as fashionably late! It's a fucking burial forgodsake", I cursed out loud."Language", my mum screamed from the sitting room.I frowned at the door like it betra
~~It was a beautiful ceremony, the choir sang a lovely song as he was put in the ground. It made me so emotional, a few tears leaked or maybe it was just the alcohol doings. I could still feel the buzz, it was a good buzz, I prayed it lasted me till the end of the day.After the ceremony, people started to disperse slowly after giving their condolences to the family.I awkwardly stood at one side, watching people. Arthur must have noticed me because he was walking towards me."Hey, you ready to meet my mum?" he asked, smiling weakly.I have never seen him this sullen, he looked like he needed a hug or maybe I was the one who needed it.I stood on tip-toe, crossing my hands around his neck, snuggling him.I breathed him in and he froze.I hold him tighter for a few seconds before he relaxed, burying his head in the nook of my neck.We stayed like this in silence for a few m