Permission to Love

Chapter Six

It has been three weeks since that day in the forest, three weeks since they last spoke and three weeks since those same two hearts fell to pieces. Kathryn has spent those weeks in preparation hell as her mother and father told her where to go and who to meet in order to put this travesty they call a wedding into motion. The plans were coming together, much to Kathryn's dismay, and today is the day she has been dreading the most. Today is the day she will have to sit down and finally talk face to face with her betrothed. They have talked in passing and grumbled a few words to each other while their parents asked them to approve wedding details but today will be the first day they talk in private and without the scripted dialogue their parents lay out. Kathryn steps into the diner and glances back at her father's body guards to give them the look to back off. They immediately nod and stand on either side of the door as if their appearance alone doesn't attract more attention than anything. Kathryn rolls her eyes and steps farther into the diner wearing the sun dress her mother laid out but hardly any make up covers her face and her hair consists of nothing but a twist tie as it rests casually at the back of her head. She finds Alexander sitting at a table in the far corner of the diner and sits down in front of him without a word as she glances over the small menu.

"Hello, Kat." Alexander says softly as he sits across the table, fidgeting uncomfortably due to Kathryn's glum mood.

"It's Kathryn." She says softly and without any emotion as she continues looking over the menu, not bothering to look back at him. "My life is destined to live up to society's expectations, so should my name."

"It doesn't have to be that way, Kat."

She finally sets down her menu and gives him a soft glare of seriousness. "I said my name is Kathryn and of course it has to be that way. How else would it be?"

Alexander sighs and leans back in his chair to stare at the girl with dark circles beneath her beautiful blue eyes and a misplaced frown plastered across her porcelain face. "Just because you're forced to marry me, doesn't mean I'm forcing you to divorce him."

She shakes her head with a sad kind of laugh. "That's exactly what it means. I can't marry you and expect him to go along with it, it wouldn't be fair to him. Besides..." She leans back in her chair and picks up her menu once again to loose eye contact. "...I've already set him free."

Alexander nods and glances down at the table, finally understanding why she has been so willing to go along with everything the past few weeks. "You know, I'm not too fond of this whole arrangement either."

She continues starring down at the menu with a heavy heart and tired eyes. "Then why did you agree to it?"

"I need my fathers help in order to get my company off the ground and he's not willing to help unless I go through with this."

"There's still one thing I don't understand." Kathryn says with honest curiosity before setting her menu down on the table and crossing her arms in front of her. "Why is it so crucial to our parents that we're married? What do they get out of it?"

"The knowledge that their money will be secure when they die and neither of us marry gold digging slicks from the other side of the tracks. Societarians like to keep it in the family, as they would say."

These two labels were what separated them; societarians and slicks. Alexander and Kathryn, along with their families, are societarians. they grew up with money and they are known around the world as the biggest stock holders in North America. James and his family are on the opposite side of that spectrum; slicks. They live life without the finer things and everyday is a struggle just to put food on the table. "Why would you want their money backing your company anyway? If you don't support what they're doing or how they live, why would you want them having any stake in your company?" Her voice is rising in volume as her passion for the situation heightens but she can't stop. She has been so upset and frustrated with everything that has happened but she has yet to make her opinions known, until now. Except, she isn't so sure she is taking it out on the right person.

Alexander holds his hands up in defense and leans back at the sound of Kathryn's anger fuming through every word. "Look, don't take your anger out on me! I am a good guy, I'm not any thing like our parents and if I could, I'd cut ties with them altogether but you are in the exact same boat as me and guess what?" He leans closer to her with a small, barely noticeable smirk. "You made the exact same choice I did."

She stares back at him with that same disgusted expression and talks through gritted teeth. "It wasn't a choice."

He leans back and speaks quickly. "Exactly."