𝐀𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐠𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐲/𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞
ꕤ
One mistake costs Astoria her future completely.
At twenty-three, she is getting married to a man she has never seen before. But she has made peace with it.
When she enters a marri...
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ASTORIA
I stared at my dress.
The sparkly material of the skirt was beautifully shining on the lights. I chose this one in the last moment. I wasn't a picky person but for my wedding, I wanted to look good.
Even though I was marrying a person I have never met before.
It was fine though. Either way I was probably going to marry someone I didn't love, so this was not even something I didn't expect.
The problem was that I was twenty-three. The girls in our family usually were married by twenty-one while the boys got married by age twenty-four. It was when their training ended.
The potential couple met few months before the wedding, to get to know each other. Almost all of the weddings were arranged just like mine.
In the mean time, the girls were supposed to stay away from boys and the boys were supposed to stay away from girls.
Many of us followed that rule while the rest not so much. Well, I did belong in the second category now. Because of the accident with Tanner.
Thankfully Tanner was okay. He did end up in the hospital but I was thankful that dad did not harm him more than he did.
Now because of that single mistake, I stayed as unwanted bride. No one wanted my hand in marriage. I was considered as a shame to my family.
The lady with the bright buzzcut, placed the veil on my head and secured it with bobby pins. My brown hair was down and done in luscious waves. My makeup was light and highlighted my futures perfectly.
My mind went to the groom.
The only information I knew about my future husband was that he was thirty-one. It was very rare for the men in our families to be unmarried at that age, which made me wonder what happened with him.
"Done." The hairdresser said and smiled at me before she started packing her belongings.
"Thank you. It looks beautiful." I gave her a small grin and let out a long sigh. The sun was setting and the birds were chirping outside.
The hot summer night didn't feel like the other ones. I felt restless. I won't be spending the nights outside on the balcony with my sister and talk about our relatives anymore. We won't be hiding from our parents and sneak into the kitchen to eat sweets.
Mom always said that we should be in the best shape.
A knot of worry twisted in my stomach at the thought of Bianca being alone without me. I just hope mom doesn't torment her like she did to me.
