Promise Me This [h.s]

04.

Amaya Sharma

Remember how I said I'm not marrying Harry Styles? Yeah, that was a lie. I'm actually marrying him in less than a week.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to marry him at all, but after hearing everything he told me 3 weeks ago, let's just say my views changed.

Harry Styles is the most manipulative person I've ever met. His charisma can get him whatever he desires. I'm embarrassed to admit that he convinced me to marry him, but maybe it won't be too bad? Oh, who am I kidding, it's going to suck ass having to live with him. I already cannot stand being around him for five minutes so I can't imagine living with the guy.

The night in the casino when Harry and I were sat on the bench, he told me everything. He explained that he wants to marry me because he wants to keep his money. Since the money now belongs to my family, Harry knew the only way he can call it his again was if he married me. Basically, by marrying me, the money will be shared between us both. Since Harry is a very good manipulator, he was able to trick my dad into believing that Harry was the better man for me to marry.

What hurts me the most is that my father didn't even bother to mention that I was going to be married off to some rando the following week, so honestly Harry was kinda saving me from a life full of misery. My father knew that I've already been down this path once before with Raj, so I was quite shocked that he was planning on it again without my knowledge. The marriage would probably be with some piece of shit guy like Raj too, which made my blood boil even more. Living with Harry is definitely going to be miserable, don't get me wrong, but Harry clarified that we don't have to act like a married couple. Meaning, I would spend time alone in my room, and he would spend time alone in his. We would barely have to spend time with each other, so that's totally fine by me.

Once I finished making myself some food and ate it, I walked back to my room and opened my closet. I went inside and picked out a box that was in the top shelf of my large closet. Since I'm 5'10, I was able to grab the box quite easily. After I grabbed it I sat myself down on the floor and began to open it. Inside, I pulled out a beautiful pink sari, the same sari that was worn by my own mother at her wedding. It has been almost 4 years since my mother left me, my heart broke at the thought. My mother wanted me to wear this for when I was supposed to marry Raj, but since I was not able to fulfill her wishes then, I'm definitely going to now. There was also another item in the box that I had completely forgot about. I had put it back in the box after the incident in hopes of never having to see it again and relive a certain memory. But before the pain started to become too much to handle, my phone started to ring. I was getting a facetime call from my cousin.

"Hey Shanti." I begin to say in a monotone voice.

"Amaya!" She quickly cuts me off. "We need to talk right now, this second! I'm coming over!" Shanti scolds me and notifies me that she's arriving soon.

"Shanti, not right now, please. I was in the middle of-"

I'm interrupted with my bedroom door opening, and in comes my cousin with a smug look on her face.

She ends the call and looks up at me, "bet you didn't see that one coming." She says with a proud smile across her face.

"Oh my gosh! I definitely didn't, that actually scared me a little." I start to tell her. "Shanti, what are you doing here?!" I asked her with a smile on my face, happy to finally see my cousin again. I feel awful, since the last time I saw her was at the casino. Usually, she would know everything by now, but honestly I haven't been able to think straight these past few weeks. Plus, I think it's better to break everything to her in person, so I'm actually very glad she decided to show up unannounced.

She lets out a laugh, "loser, of course I scared you." I rolled my eyes at that with a small laugh and let her continue. "So, when were you going to tell me that you're getting married?!" She begins to say in an over exaggerated hurt manner. "And when the hell were you going to mention it was with Harry fucking Styles?!" She adds, geeking over the fact that I'm marrying him.

I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh, "I don't want to marry him one bit, but we made a deal."

"A deal?" She asks, confused at what I mean by this.

"Yeah." I start to tell her everything that happened that night at the casino and why Harry wants to marry me. I explained how the deal would benefit us both and help keep both of our issues at bay.

Shanti nods as I explain all the details to her. Finally, when I finished explaining, all she can say was, "I can't believe you're marrying Harry Styles."

I slap my hand to my forehead and let out a big sigh, "Shanti, he's a prick, what do you not understand by that?" I ask her in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, a beautiful prick."

"Oh, for fucks sake Shanti." I let out a laugh and roll my eyes at her playfully.

"What? You know it's true too."

I felt my face burn, "What- n- no- I don't." I stupidly stammer back.

"Yeah, I- I'm sure you don't." She replies back mockingly.

"Shut up, Shanti." I say rolling my eyes again. "I'll be honest with you, I thought he was  pretty at first, sure. But he is so rude to me Shanti, he has no respect toward me or my father. Remember, he accused my father of cheating in blackjack." I remind her.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. I believe you Amaya, don't worry, it's just hard to take in because he's so pretty." She says with a pout playing on her face.

"If you think he's so pretty, why don't you just marry him then." I start to bargain with her.

"Now Amaya, I am happily married, in case you forgot."

"Yeah, I wish I was in your shoes, marrying Harry is going to be a total nightmare." I say with worry in my voice.

"Amaya, don't wish for something you may regret in the future." She says to me in a knowing voice.

I'm certainly not proud of it, but before my mother left me I always wished I could be free from her and my father's harsh rule on me. I felt like I was trapped in their hold, never being able to have a taste of freedom growing up. I never actually thought that my wishes would become my sad reality, now all I feel is overbearing guilt. Guilt that was brought on to me by my own doing, by my own wishing. My mother is gone, and it's all my fault.

I should have never wished for that, because now I regret it. If my mother were to see me now, she would probably tell me I'm being too harsh on myself and that it's not even close to my fault, but it is. I know it is.

With that being the last thing Shanti said to me before she had to head home, I went to bed that night thinking of what my mother would want me to do. After thinking long and hard, I decided that I should give Harry one more chance, because who knows, maybe this marriage can be the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Well, at least I hope so.