Scarlett 'Arranged Marriage'

Chapter23

Sira’s P.O.V.

At 9:00 I took Linda to my room to help me pick out something to wear. I pulled out four hot dresses from my closet: a black halter top dress, a form fitting kimono, a strapless black dress, or a black spaghetti strap dress. Immediately, the kimono and the spaghetti strap dress were put back on the rack. The kimono was TOO form fitting, and the other one was something I wouldn’t even think about wearing in my wildest dreams. I made a mental note to have that dress sent home for Olivia, because she had a better figure for it than I did. I tried the remaining dresses on for Linda. After a long debate, we finally decided on the halter, and she and Lily helped me get ready. I took a quick shower, and washed my hair with a sweet smelling strawberry shampoo. When I got out, I went and sat in front of the mirror, and let Linda style my hair. She blow dried it first, straightening it in the process. Then, she punished my baby hair with massive amounts of holding gel. She brushed the spot over and over until it shined. Then, she curled my hair into millions of Shirley Temple curls. Finally, she finger-combed all the curls until they were soft gentle waves. She left two curls on either side of my face, framing it and making my pale skin stand out. Before I had a chance to do anything, Lily was already spinning the chair around and starting on my makeup. For someone so young, she was very particular. She redid a few aspects of my look, to make it perfect. Her hands were steady and careful, making slow decisive movements, and I found myself watching them, becoming so completely engrossed in her motions that I didn’t realize she had finished until she was turning me around to face the mirror again. I noticed that the smile she had worn earlier was entirely gone, and had been replaced by a slight frown. I wonder what happened. She had used a trendy night look for my makeup. My toner made my face look more honey than porcelain, and my black eyeliner and mascara brought out my hazel eyes. My eyes reminded me of my oldest brothers, who also share the unique color. Edward’s eyes were more unique, a gold color he’d inherited from some distant relative that had lived long ago. Owen’s and my eyes, though, had always been more beautiful. Our eyes, which were almost completely identical, were slightly lighter than brown and decorated with flakes of grey and ice blue, complements of our maternal grandmother, Anastasie. Staring in the mirror at versions of the eyes of two people I loved more than anything, I started to miss them. Suddenly, I realized that I hadn’t spoken to them since I got here. I had tried calling after the proposal earlier, but there was no one home. “Can you hand me that, please?” I asked, pointing to my cell phone, which was connected to my charger. Linda reached behind Lily and gave it to me. With trembling fingers, I dialed the number that I had committed to memory long ago. It was Friday, and every Friday the family gets together at the house for a family dinner. This was the first I’d missed in a very long time. “Hello?” asked a familiar voice. ‘Edward,’ I thought. “Hey, big bro. You really need to start looking at the caller I.D. I could’ve been a bill collector, you know,” I joked. “Hey! How are you, sweetheart? You and Christian torn each other limb from limb yet?” he asked in a good natured attempt at payback for my comment. “I’m good. We’re doing fine. How’s everyone?” I said, doing my best to avoid the subject. I wasn’t ready to tell them that they were right and that I was wrong. I’d never get a chance to live it down. Apparently, I was too cagey on my response, because Edward saw an opportunity to embarrass me and pounced on it. “Oh, no you don’t! I want a real answer. How are you guys doing?” I could practically hear my whole family draw a collective breath. A family full of eavesdroppers. It was a good thing they wouldn’t be able to hear my part of the conversation from the dining room table. What I was about to say was for my big brother’s ears only. I sighed. “Alright fine. We’re doing pretty well. He’s actually really sweet. He’s…. really romantic. He told me he loved me, and…… I said it back. I meant it. For their decision to be completely by mistake, mom and dad picked well. I like him,” I finished lamely. “And if you tell anyone else, Edward, I swear on everything, you’ll die a horrible death, you hear me?!” I screeched into the phone. “Oh, yeah, I hear you little sister. And so did everyone else here,” Edward said, laughing loudly. “You’re on speakerphone.” At that moment, all the blood ran out of my face, leaving me flushed. With my already pale skin, I imagine that Linda and Lily should be able to see the muscles in my face. “Oh, God,” I said quietly. He must’ve brought the cordless to the dining room table and put me on speakerphone. His end erupted with a series of laughter. “Hey everybody,” I said weakly. For the next few minutes, I endured endless taunting from my family. Isabella and Jazmyne tried to help me and make everyone stop picking on me, but there was no way on Earth they had THAT much power. I took my absolute mortification in silence, praying that I would be given an excuse to get off of the phone. I looked up and saw Lily tapping her wrist lightly, signaling that I was running out of time. ‘Thank goodness!’ I thought and wrapped up the conversation with a rushed, “Gotta go, love you all, bye!” I hung up quickly, and breathed deeply. Linda had her head down, but there was no way to disguise the huge grin plastered on her face. “Say nothing,” I said to her menacingly. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Red,” she replied, her voice threatening to break out in laughter at any moment. With a single glance at the clock, I got dressed and pulled on my heels, tying the ribbons around my ankles with an artistic flair. I slid on my earrings, grabbed my phone and my purse, and took one last look at myself in the mirror. Something was missing. I scanned the room and my eyes landed on the case my engagement ring was in. Without a moment’s hesitation, I reached over grabbed it out of the box, and put it onto my left hand ring finger. Finally complete, I thanked Lily and Linda and left my room, going downstairs to meet the man of my dreams.

. . .

Christian’s P.O.V.

I was beyond angry that Mikayla had gotten permission from my father to spend a few weeks here in the palace to figure out why her power “wasn’t working.” What a load of bull. Every since she’d kissed me earlier, she had been blowing up my phone with calls and texts nonstop. It was really annoying. I tried to console myself. Soon, I would be out with my beautiful fiancée and away from the evil home wrecker. I had decided that all black would look best for clubbing at Shadow, so now I wore an all black outfit: a black button up shirt, slacks, and shoes. I used a handful of gel to spike my hair up in the center and then blow dried it to make sure it stayed that way. A few swipes of Usher’s new cologne and I was ready for Shadow. I went downstairs to meet Sira. I was plucking a few stray strings off of my shirt when I heard a pair of high heeled feet make an entrance at the top of the stairs. I looked up, and it was as if someone punched me in the stomach, hard. She was breathtaking, and left me speechless. As she walked down the stairs, I extended my hand to her to help her. She seemed to be waiting for me to say something, so I said the only words that came to mind. “Have mercy,” I said, in my best Uncle Jesse impersonation. She laughed. “So I take it I look ok?” she asked. “No, not by a long shot. You could never look just, ‘Ok’. You’re gorgeous, always. It doesn’t matter what you wear,” I said, meaning every word. “Thank you,” she said. “You don’t have to thank me. I don’t mind telling the truth,” I responded. “With every word that comes outta your mouth, you’re making me love you even more,” she said, as she slid the keys to the Lamborghini out of my hand. “Come on, we’re gonna be late,” she called over her shoulder. “How about this,” I started as I chased after her. “I’ll give you the Lamborghini, I keep the Rolls and the Porsche for myself, and we share the Mercedes. That way we both have three vehicles at our disposal. Fair enough?” I asked. “Fair enough,” she agreed. “But what do we need the Mercedes for anyway? It’s not like either of us drives it. Why don’t you sell it?” she asked as she unlocked the doors to the car. I stepped in front of her and opened the driver’s side door. “I’m in the process of looking for someone who wants it,” I told her. The Mercedes was something I bought on a spur of the moment decision, and I deeply regret it now. It was a waste of time and money, and it was hard to find someone who wanted it now. It aggravated me. I walked around and hopped into the passenger seat. “Alright then,” Sira said. “I’ll be happy to take the Lamb off your hands.” Then, she turned the key in the ignition, carefully backed out of the garage, revved the engine once, and soared down the driveway. I was still scared out of my mind, but this time, I remembered to wear my seatbelt.