Beauty and the Beast: A Dark Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance

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10

ZARA

I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, bored to death. It was the summer holidays now that the university term had ended, and I had nothing to do.

My name is Zara Amelle. I'm twenty-two years old, and Arabian, living in the United Kingdom, in London. I have long, dark brown hair, hazel eyes, tanned skin, plump lips, a pointed nose, and a slim figure.

I'm studying Chemical Engineering at university. It's a really tough degree, that demands a lot of time and effort, but so far, it's been worth it. Countless hours studying in the library, or at home, and I only have one year of the course left. I'm stressed about it, to say the least.

I remember on A-Level results day, when I got an A-star and two A-grades, and I got accepted into University College London. It took me a lot of time to convince my Pops to let me study engineering. My pops was quite a backward-minded man, and believed women should just get married and take care of the home and family. But I was breaking the social norms by doing engineering. I was determined to excel in Science – I didn't care if girls didn't usually do engineering. I wanted to do it. I wanted to prove everybody I knew wrong. I wanted to prove to them that I was capable.

I was quite an introverted woman. Throughout university so far, I never really bothered to make any friends. I preferred my own company, riding solo, doing my own thing, not wanting any distractions from reaching my ultimate goal. Sure, there were some nice girls that I'd met here. But I never really bothered to get to know them better. I didn't want to waste time going out and partying, because I was so focused on my vision for the future, achieving the career of my dreams. If I did get any free time, I preferred watching TV shows like Power and Prison Break, or playing PlayStation games, or listening to music on full blast with my bass-boosting headphones. I wasn't really into the clubbing scene. It just wasn't my thing, or my cup of tea.