My deranged marriage

Seven

"No." 

Taehyung stiffened in his seat as his ears registered the rejection, his lips trying to retain their fake smile as it threatened to melt right off his face. He was expecting that answer, but not as quick as it came. He was hoping that the poorly dressed woman in front of him would at least hear him out a little more and eagerly accept the conditions. After all, it was money and she was - his eyes raked over her again - very poor. 

And he was going to be very poor too, if she didn't take the offer. 

He clasped his hands together, "I see why you're opposed-"

Eliza cut him off, "No, there is no negotiation. I said no." 

"-To the proposition, but-"

"I said no." 

Their eyes met in a flurry of mixed emotions. His lips twitched in annoyance, her eyebrows furrowed towards her nose bridge. The air grew thick and tense with the weight of her resistance and his persistence. His mind searched for anything more to tell her that would make her change her mind, but the only words that could be heard were from distant conversations in the restaurant. 

"Excuse me...Sir, Ma'am, are you looking to order?" 

Taehyung released a heavy sigh. He sent a quick glance to the waiter beside him - the one who had greeted him earlier - and then looked across the table again at his date. She had discarded her takeaway cup now, leaving it rolling back and forth on its side against the table. Her lips were brightly coloured an artificial red from whatever she had drunk, and her eyes hadn't lost their vexation as she returned his gaze. 

The more she was there, the less he wanted her to be. She was ridiculously out of his league. If he had have had other choices, he would have taken this opportunity to criticize her complete lack of propriety without any provocation. But for now, he was trying his best to keep things running smoothly. 

Trying.

He'd much rather get with some fixer upper than shit on his own pride by begging upper class women on blind dates to marry him as soon as they could. His father wasn't going to be above the grave forever. Time was running out, and it was taking his sanity with it.

"Would you like something to eat, Elizabeth?" He asked her, his hands coming apart and resting against the table as his fingernails prepared to beat against the wood with ferocious impatience. 

She shook her head, "No thanks. I got something on the way." She flicked the takeaway cup with her finger and watched with a jaded gaze as gravity pulled it back towards her. 

Taehyung was tempted to pick up the cup and send it hurling towards her emotionless face. 

Of course she had eaten. 

She ate before a dinner date. Now she wouldn't eat anything. 

Was everyone trying to get on his nerves?

"Did you ever consider that you might be eating on this dinner date?" Taehyung asked, his eyes blinking constantly as his skin fought to keep his anger from exploding out of him like heated lava. Even his voice sounded thick with irritation. 

"Did you ever consider that I might have been hungry?" She shot back, her dark eyes trailing from the takeaway cup to his face. 

God, they were the most bland pair of eyes he'd ever seen.

"But you were coming on a dinner date."

"I told you, I got lost." She responded, shrugging a careless shoulder, "I didn't think you'd hang around and wait for me."