Arranged to be Yours

Chapter 13

Making the trek back to Lucksburgh after having met up with Damien and Maxwell, my thoughts ran about like a bucking young mustang unwilling to be tamed. Yes, it appears that someone was out to get me, wanting to exact revenge on me for a crime I had no recollection of committing. Who had the most to gain? Who had an adequate motive for wanting me to vanish out of the picture? 

I found pride in conducting myself with dignity, acting righteous and favouring equality as much as I could. In my mind's eye I could see a fragment of a memory flashing about like lightning. A memory of my much younger self, perhaps at age of sixteen, standing with my parents in China during a lantern festival as I sent the handmade light source to the heavens with a gentle push, hands tightly clasped together as I made a vow to conduct myself with righteousness and protect those weaker and less privileged than me.

Now, a little older, had I somewhere not abided by my vow? Had my lack of the world's knowledge led me to walk a crooked path that might have instilled harm upon someone in any way?

Try as I might, no instance would emerge from the fog in my mind to clarify if such had indeed been the case or not. 

A sigh unknowingly escaped my lips, a dreadful and heavy sound that made me cringe in distaste. 

Having left the city of Emmervale behind me, a few farms on the outskirts of town paved the way back to Lucksburgh like oceans stretching far and wide for the eye to see. Mostly corn fields, although once in while the occasional sunflower field would pop up like weeds in a garden, their bright yellow petals dancing in the sunlight as they turned in search of the heating star of our planet. During those instances, I found more beauty in the ashen gravel road slithering under the tires of my car as I glued my eyes to the road ahead, refusing to spare them even a glance. 

I had no objections to the countryside. On the contrary, some of my fondest childhood memories were of me and Aurelia loping down the trails of her family farm, our laughter and the thundering of hooves drowning out any other noise, blocking out reality as we got lost in our innocence and imaginations. The countryside just held that certain old fashioned charm that never failed to let me feel nostalgic, yet sunflowers were out of the question. Overall, I find displeasure in looking at the flower, the bright yellow colour so unappealing and the unpractical enormous size just an eyesore. So, the easiest outcome was to avoid it altogether.

By some gamble or another, I was blessed to not have a lot of sunflower fields zip past me and lazily swept my eyes over the rows and rows of neatly planted cornfields, a tree line somewhat visible beyond them. My Audi R8 V10 Plus Mythos glided over the straight expanse of road with a soft purring sound that made me relax in my seat and washed away a bit of the anxiety that had nestled in the pit of my stomach the moment I'd gotten the first threatening text message. Once upon a time, I relished in the feeling of a long drive with lovely sights surrounding me and often went at least once week, if not to another city then just to visit my favourite places around town. I came to a heartbreaking realization when it dawned on me that I hadn't done this in months, not since I'd found out that I was to be wedded and shackled into an exemplary family, having to carry the reputation of an empire on my shoulders.

The passing scenery glinted off of the sleek black exterior of my pristine car that had been cleaned just the day before by none other than Adrien and his gang. I still remember my shock when I'd stumbled upon that sight and it brought a small smile to my lips...

The  furniture bore witness to a dance as I spun around in circles, moving about this way and that with no certain destination in mind, the only objective being that my partner and I ridded the wooden footing underneath us of dust and grime and restored it back to its shining glory. Music blasted in my ears, the melody popping with youth and flamboyant vibrancy like a festival in Rio, making the task at hand more of a joy than cleaning would usually be. Humming along, I let the mop glide with every movement, like a wielding a sword, the object becoming an extension of my being, my body moving in ways I am certain only became possible ever since Adrien had danced with me on our wedding day. A newfound fluidity rippled through my veins and led me through movements gracefully exaggerated as if I were holding my doe eyed husband in my arms instead of the unpliant wooden body of the mop with tentacle rope feet that left streaks of water in its wake after cleaning.