Forbidden

Chapter 3

Ashley's POV

What am I going to do? My dad wants to force me into a marriage that is not of my choosing! How can any parent do this to their child? Marry her off and know that she's not going to be happy with it! I could say I hate my family, but I can't. I have a good bond with them, even if they're not very understanding of my dreams.

While I'm lying on my bed and thinking desperately about how my parents are treating me, I've got an idea. It's a little too risky but I don't have any other ways out of this mess. So, I'm going to call Meredith my best friend and tell her about this. I don't have an idea, I just thought Meredith is going to help me. She has been my best friend since middle school but she moved back to her hometown London one year ago. Now we just contact each other through calls or chatting.

"Hello, Mer! I need your help..." I immediately say when she answers my call.

"Yeah Ash, I'm fine too thanks for asking!" She snaps sarcastically.

"I'm sorry but it's very urgent! My dad wants to engage me to some guy I don't even know!!"

"He did WHAT?!" She shouts so loudly I had to quickly put my phone away from my ear.

"Yes, I know that sounds very weird. That's why I called you. I need your help to find a way out of this disaster." I explain to her.

"Oh, ok I'll help you but let me think a second..." I can imagine her, stressed, walking through her room and biting on her lips while thinking. Suddenly, I hear the steps of my mom coming to my bedroom door.

"Mer, my mom is coming! I'll call you later so tell me then what you've got." I quickly end the phone call, lie on my bed and pretend to be asleep. She opens the door the second I hide my phone under my pillow.

"Asli, are you sleeping?" She comes near my bed and puts a blanket on me.

"I'm so sorry, honey." She whispers and gently strokes my right temple. When she gets up sobbing and leaves my bedroom, I also have tears.

After I felt one hour of sadness, Meredith finally calls me. I need to choke down a sob, before she realizes that I've been crying.

"Hi, Mer. Did you get anything?"

"Actually yes, I've got something, but I don't know if you're going to like this... I thought you could perhaps run away and come to Hampstead...?" She carefully asks.

"Are you crazy? I should run away from my own family?" I harshly ask. She is dumb if she thinks that my parents wouldn't kill me if I do this.

"Yeah, I know you'll say you might as well commit suicide but please listen to me first. I just asked my mom if it's ok for you to live in our house, here in Hampstead, while you're doing your language classes and she said yes." She explains her plan.

"And you think this is going to end well?" I scowl at her. Meredith always had good ideas but this one is bullshit. My parents are going to kill me.

"No, I'm not saying this will have a princess fairytale happy ending, but while you're here they will have time to chill out and maybe they'll reconsider their decision to marry you off. And honey, you can finally make your dream come true!" Now that she explained her idea like in this way, it doesn't sound so bad.

"Tell me first what your plan is."