Arranged: Betrothed

chapter 1

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Zahara sat down for her lunch with her friends, finally after revising for weeks. It's not like her exams are over yet, but she thought it would be nice to eat with her friends today.

"Long time no see, Zahara." Grinned Ethan. She blushed in response. "Sorry guys. I've been studying and taking a break today."

"At least you're taking one on your birthday." He smiled. She gave him a small smile before looking down at her lunch. He blushed a little and avoided the knowing looks on his friend's face.

"Are you doing anything for your birthday then?" Asked Mary.

She shrugged, knowing that her parents don't usually do anything extravagant. It was just a nice simple dinner with a cake at the end. But that was okay, she liked it small and doesn't like to be the center of attention.

"Usually we don't. We just have small dinner and cake."

"Yeah, but this is your eighteenth birthday! You're going to be an adult. Do what you like." She said excitedly.

Zahara just laughed and shook her head. They didn't celebrate her older sisters birthday like that. It would be unfair if they did so with hers.

Plus she was so busy studying all the time, it would just cut out the hours of her revision time. Most of her friends thought that she was over doing it, but she wanted everything in her life to be perfect. Everything had to go accordingly. She didn't want a moment of regret in her life where she would think back and say 'I wish I worked harder.'

Lunch passed with some giggles and laughter and the rest of the day was spent attending lessons and finally going home.

Usually her parents picked her up from school, but today they had asked her to come home by bus. She didn't come home alone often, all her friends lived somewhere else. It made her a little nervous, she didn't live far, but the bus route took over an hour at peak times.

She blamed her parents for the lack of travelling confidence, they didn't ever push her to go out herself and she never asked. She relied too much on them and they allowed it. All her friends had been taking the bus home since they started secondary school, but she turned 18 today and was still reluctant.

She used the app to navigate her way home from the school and got home without any issues. It was too crowded in there. If she ever had to take the bus again, she would take the later ones. She felt a little gross with the smell of sweat lingering in the air.

She couldn't blame them, it was a warm day. There were only a few more weeks left and then she was going to go to her University and study Child Psychology.

During her holidays she was going to look for placement at a nursery or school where she could work closer with them. The most she had done was babysitting for family members and friends. But there she knew there were some technical terms she didn't know yet, which she could only learn at a professional place.

She knocked on the front door and waited impatiently. Zahara was already feeling tired and hungry. Her mother opened the door and ushered her towards the living room.

As usual she went inside, but it was completely dark. Her hand automatically flicked the switch on.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Zahara jumped at the loud greeting and looked at the people in the room.

Her school friends and some close family and others she didn't recognise stood on the other side of the room. The room was decorated with baby pink and gold balloons with a massive 'Happy Birthday' banner stuck on the wall.