The Halves Of Maria

Chapter One: Double Dinner

Dinner with the Abbas's is always an uncomfortable experience. It's strange, looking at someone and knowing you're going to marry them. Knowing that your futures are as closely woven as the threads of the tablecloth before you. To know that at some point in the future you will write your name alongside his and become another asset of his families fortune.

To know all this and yet to have no idea of the person he truly is. His favorite color, his favorite novel, his deepest regret.

Raoul Abbas is a mystery to me. What lies behind his brown eyes and dusky skin, the mind beneath his curling chestnut hair, the meaning of every word he utters in the round syllabled accent of Arabia.

Across the crystal strewn tabletop Yavir and Nadia Abbas, the so-called King and Queen of Oil, discuss economics with my own parents, speaking in the lofty, disconnected dialect of wealth.

My own parents are the founders of Murmur, the most successful social media platform on the planet, with nearly three billion daily users.

Really, the air of money in this room is stifling.

Introduction time: my name is Maria Pierce, daughter of Adeline and Nathaniel Pierce. I was born rich, and have earned absolutely none of the luxuries I enjoy.
I am seventeen, five foot six inches. I have uninteresting brown hair, streaked with fading shades of magenta from an illicit midnight dying session at a sleepover.
I have hazel eyes, although most people assume they're brown. I can be sarcastic, I have no notable achievements of my own, I have a crap load of self diagnosed mental problems, and a secret.

I shift uncomfortably in my seat, my eyes flicking to a delicate antique clock behind Raoul's head. It's almost nine, and the hours left before my freedom seem an endless expanse.

Arranged marriage isn't really an official thing these days, I'm aware. The agreement between my parents and Raoul's hasn't been captured in any true contract, but it's as real and binding as any other.

...however much I wish it wasn't.

"Maria?" a soft voice startles me from my dazed thoughts, and I find myself looking into Raoul's boundless chestnut eyes.

"Ah, yes?"

"I was wondering, would you like to take a small trip with us over the spring break? We plan to visit Corsica and a few of the smaller islands surrounding it. It's not the flashiest place, I know, but it should be beautiful at that time..."

Ugh. Rich people. Always trying to pretend that anything they do isn't good enough if it isn't the absolute most extravagant thing possible.

I'm going to say no, that I'll be too busy or have non-existant previous plans, but the small smile playing about corners of his lips changes my mind. If we're supposed to spend at least a sizable portion of our lives together we might as well try to get to know each other.

"I'll have to double check with my parents, but I believe I'll be free that week."

Raoul smiles brilliantly at my answer, the kind of smile I would think was genuine, if he wasn't a celebrity.

At some point, we all learn how to impersonate emotion, and I know better than to take things at face value.

I return his smile carefully, aware of every tiny movement of an expression I've practiced in the mirror more times than I want to admit.

We don't talk much after that, besides the occasional comment on the weather or politics or global injustice. Nothing real, nothing true. As always.

Finally, they say their goodbyes and disappear into their dark limousine, the color of old blood.

Finally, up in my room, I change into a black turtle neck and tight black jeans. Cliche, I know, trust me. I plait my hair into an artfully loose braid, smear moody black liner around my eyes, and wait.

A/N if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading! I hope you'll continue for the upcoming chapters, in which the tension builds *wink wink*. Please know that this is my first Wattpad story, and please be patient with me!💖