Of Strawberries and Gum

Arranged Marriage

Prompt: Arranged marriage from 

"I feel so bad for you man, it's like you signed your freedom away." Said Ash, he was lying on my bed scrolling through his phone.

"More like I sold my life away." I commented trying to fasten my tie but having troubles. Damn why do I have to wear such a thing!

"yeah." He chuckled then sat up tossing his phone aside. "But really, is she hot?" My boyfriend asked

"It's not a 'she' Ash, it's a 'he'" I said still struggling to do my tie, if only there wasn't a dress code

Ash laughed for a minute before saying, "I feel so bad for you man. I hope your 'wife' let's us hang out some time."

"Haha very funny Ash" I said sarcastically, "now if you're done talking nonsense come help me do this neck tie."

"whatever." Ash shrugged then got up and walked towards me, "so this chick dude, do you know anything about him?"

"No." I replied as he tugged at my tie before doing it

"You mean you didn't bother to meet him and get to know each other?" he paused with the tie to look at me completely

"No." I sighed as he fastened my tie; I turned around to inspect myself in the full length mirror

"And you're going today to get married officially to a complete stranger?" he questioned sitting back on my bed.

"Yes, Ash. I'm going to marry a complete stranger, now lay off will you?" I grumbled putting on a suit jacket

"Sorry, sorry. Why are you doing this again?"

"Augh! Do I have to repeat everything?" I grumbled, I hated how Ash doesn't listen to me complain sometimes, "His father's company is going bankrupt, so they signed a deal with my father to merge our two companies. Benefits both parties."

"So what happens to us when you get married? Do we become history?" he asked in a more serious tone

I looked at him and said, "No we won't, this marriage won't last long anyway. Once my father has control of both the companies I can divorce him and I'll have my normal life back."

Ash is my best friend and my boyfriend, there's no way I'm giving him up for a stupid arranged marriage.

"That's great" Ash said with relief then looked at me and smiled smugly, "Sucks to be you man."

"Just get the hell out of here if you're not going to help!"

"Alright!" ash huffs as he leaves my room.

Finally I'm free to myself. I stared at myself in the mirror contemplating, agreeing to this arranged marriage – and to guy no less – wasn't something I usually did. The only reason I agreed to do it is because of a deal I made with my dad. If I did this for him, then in a year after the divorce I'm free to leave this house, this town and pursue my musical career.

You can do this Marshall! I told myself as I stared at my reflection, just for a year then you can do whatever you want!

.....

After I got dressed I met with my father where he lectured me about my behavior and what he expects from me. Then we drove to the government where we met up with my future fiancé and his father, because of the media we spent a whole hour answering question and standing for pictures before we were able to go inside and signed the marriage papers. Through all that Gumball – my fiancé – didn't say a word to me nor look me in the eye. Really rude if you ask me.

Augh! This is going to be a huge pain in the ass!

After all that was done, my father held a party (for publicity he told me) to celebrate the marriage. A lot of CEO's and other important people attended the celebration, and lots of news channels were there to cover the whole story. I was forced to accept several interviews from some reporters and fake my happiness and enthusiasm about the marriage. A whole hour and a half later I managed to rid myself of them. I stood by the food table after that and chewed on some snacks when some cleared their throat and tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw Gumball.

"I'm sorry you got dragged into this." He said earnestly, "I know you don't like getting married to guy, no one does."

"It's not your fault, you shouldn't apologize." I said immediately before he starts being melodramatic on me. "We were both tossed in this together by our fathers, it's their fault."

Gumball smiled but it looked fake and forced, like the one I have on when talking to the press. For some reason it made me irritated. I saw a cameraman in the crowd pretending to snap pictures of the party but I knew he was secretly videotaping us. He was trying to dig up some dirt on us and what we were doing right now is exactly the kind of story he wants to cover. When my dad see's tomorrow's headlines he'll flip and take it out on me. I have to change this scenario.

"Tell you what, let's do this over." I huffed, then extended my hand towards Gumball and added "Hi, my name is Marshall Lee it's nice to meetcha."

Gumball stared at me blinking twice then chuckled lightly, his eyes twinkled and my heart stopped beating for a second. What the hell? Did my heart just skip a beat for him?

"Hello I'm Gumball, a pleasure." He smiled and took my breath away leaving me speechless.

Maybe this won't be a pain in the ass after all.

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