Chosen

Chapter Thirteen

It's been two weeks since I got my memory back, and they have been the most amazing weeks of my life. I spent most of my time with Adrian, but he still had to go on dates with the other girls, as part of the Selection. But he made time to spend with me everyday. Three girls have been sent home, leaving only five of us. We are officially the top five.
I'm sitting in my room, reading a book, while Ariel, Jackie, and Ariana feverishly clean an already spotless room.
"Why do you clean everyday if there isn't even a mess?" I ask, curiously. Ariel looks over at me, smiling.
"Because it's our job, we're maids, we are supposed to clean." I scoff, putting my book down and standing up.
"Well, you're my maids, so I order you to stop cleaning and take a break. Come sit down, let's play a game of cards." Ariel laughs, shaking her head, but obeys and sits down at the table in my room. I motion for Ariana and Jackie to sit down as well, and they do, laughing. We play cards for about an hour and a half when I hear a knock on the door. I put my cards down and stand up, walking to the door. I open it to find Adrian standing there, smiling. Immediately, a smile works it's way onto my face.
"Hey." He says, smiling widely.
"Hey, what's up?" I ask, my smile growing bigger by the second. He always seems to do this to me, making me happy for absolutely no reason at all, but there is always a reason, and it's that I love him.
"I just wanted to talk to you. I want to tell you something. Want to go for a walk?" I smile and nod. We start to walk out the door, I turn to the girls before we leave.
"No peeking at my cards." I say, teasingly. They all laugh and nod. I laugh and turn, walking out the door, hand in hand with Adrian.
"I love how you are with them. You treat them as friends. All the other girls are so rude to their maids, they treat them as slaves instead of people." I raise my eyebrows, surprised.
"My maids are my friends. I can't believe they would treat them like that, it's awful." Adrian nods in agreement and we step outside into the gardens. The cold wind hits me and I shiver, not expecting it to be this cold. Adrian's sees and puts his arms around me, warming me up. We walk around aimlessly and end up at the pond, the pond we had first been alone at together. I smile and sit down, pulling Adrain down with me.
"So what did you want to talk about?" I ask, burrowing further into Adrain's arms, relishing in the warmth. His arms tighten around me.
     "Well, since it's down to the final five, I thought it would be appropriate to meet your parents. I would want to meet your parents before I marry you, so I'm having everyone's families come for a couple days, so I can meet them.  You'll get to see your family again." My heart sinks. My father is coming. But so is Monica and Joshua. Maybe they'll keep him away. "Ara, aren't you happy?" Adrian breaks through my thoughts.
     "Yeah, it's gonna be great. I can't wait for you to meet my brother and sister. Monica and Joshua, I'm sure you'll love them." I'm excited for him to meet them, can't say the same about my father though.
     "I'm sure I will. I hope they like me. I wouldn't want my future family to hate me." My heart skips a beat at his words.
     "You plan to marry me?"  I ask, the happiness I feel evident in my voice.
     "Yes, I do. I want to spend my life with you. I can't imagine it without you. I love you, Arabella, and I want to marry you." I beam, hugging him tightly.
     "I love you, Adrian, and I can't wait to spend my life with you." His arms tighten again as he hugs me close to him.  As we sit there in comfortable silence, a thought comes to my mind.
     "If you want to marry me, why are the other four still here?" He sighs.
     "My father wants the Selection to last a little longer than a couple weeks. It's not my fault I fell for you so fast. You're just too irresistible." He kisses the top of my head as I laugh.
     "I still can't believe you're the boy from the diner. I'm so lucky I found you again."
     "I'm the lucky one here, I couldn't stop thinking about you. I wanted to call off the Selection and find you. And then you showed up here, I am so lucky to have you." I smile.
     "I couldn't stop thinking about you either, I actually told Monica, my sister, about you on the way home from work.  She told me that I'd probably never see you again because of the Selection. And then I come here to find you, I'm the lucky one here."
     He kisses my head again and I lean back to look him in the eyes, smiling.
     "I love you, Adrian." I say, pecking him lightly on the lips. I can feel him smiling against my lips.
     "I love you, Arabella, more than you'll ever know." We sit there for hours, kissing and talking, laughing. This is how I'll get to spend the rest of my life, I think, smiling, with the love of my life.
"So when is everyone getting here?" We are walking back to my room before dinner. I tense at the thought of my father being in the same room as me.
"They should be here for lunch tomorrow. Are you excited to see your family?" He asks, smiling. I force a smile, hoping it looks real.
"Yeah, I'm really excited." He smiles widely, buying my act. We get to my room and he opens the door for me. I stand in front of it, facing him, smiling. "Today was really fun." He smiles, nodding.
"Me too, we need to go out like that more often." I nod in agreement. He steps closer and wraps his arms around my waist. I wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips to his in a sweet, loving kiss. I smile against his mouth and pull back, smiling up at him.
"I'll see you at dinner. I love you." I say, kissing him once more before pulling away.
"I love you. See you soon." He walks away while I go into my room, closing the door behind me, smiling. Ariel, Jackie, and Ariana all smile knowingly at me and get to work getting me ready for dinner.
     I walk up to my room after dinner with my stomach in knots. My father was going to arrive at the palace tomorrow and I'm dreading it. I open my door and walk in, meeting the smiling eyes of my maids. Their smiles fall when they see the look on my face.
     "What's wrong, Arabella?"  Ariel asks, walking over and putting her hand on my shoulder. 
     "I'm just nervous for my family to get here tomorrow." She smiles, relief evident on her face. She thinks I want them to come sooner.
     "Oh, you just want to see them, don't you?" She asks, smiling. I take a deep breath.  I'm going to tell them, they need to know.
     "No, actually, I don't want them to come at all. I mean, I want my brother and sister to come. But not my father, I never want to see him again." Their eyebrows furrow at my words.
     "Why would you say that about your father?" Jackie asks in confusion. I sigh.
     "I think we need to sit down, this is going to take a while." They nod and we all walk over and sit on my bed. I take another deep breath and start talking, and I don't stop until I've told them everything. I told them about my mother, when my father started drinking, and when he became abusive, not just physically, but verbally as well.
     "So you remember that bruise I had on the first day here?" They all nod. "That was from my father, he had found me at the farewell ceremony. He told me that I was too ugly to have the love of the Prince and that I would come home sooner or later. He told me it was my fault that my mother had died, then he hit me.  He hit me so hard that I almost blacked out. Then he left, he just left." I was crying by the time I finished talking, sobs crashing through me. Ariel, Jackie, and Ariana crowded around me, comforting me.
     I stopped crying after a couple minutes and looked up, meeting the sad eyes of my maids.
     "That's why I don't want him to come."
     "Does Prince Adrian know?"  Ariel asks. I look up, eyes wide.
     "No, and he can't know.  He'd treat me differently than now, he think I'm tainted, because I am."  Tears fill my eyes again, but I push them back. Ariel shakes her head.
     "He wouldn't think that at all, he'd think that you are the strongest women he has ever met. Because you are, you are the strongest women any one of us has ever met." She smiles sympathetically. "You should sleep, it's late and you need to prepare for tomorrow." I nod and get ready for bed. I take my hair out of its bun, wash my face, and put my sleep dress on.
I lay in bed and stare at the ceiling, thinking of what tomorrow is going to bring. I turn on my side and push my face into my pillow, and quickly fall asleep.
Ariel's POV
I sigh, watching as Arabella falls asleep. She's been through so much.
"Should we tell Prince Adrian about it?" Jackie asks, watching Arabella sadly. I shake my head.
"No, that's for her to tell. It's not our secret to tell. She'll tell him when she's ready." I have a feeling it's going to be soon. And it's not a good feeling.
Arabella's POV
I wake up and lay in bed for a couple minutes, preparing myself for the horror I know is coming. I mostly feel excitement and happiness because I know I'm going to see Monica and Jake again, but under all that is a lot of dread and fear.
     Ariel, Jackie, and Ariana come in a few minutes later and start getting me ready. They dress me in a dark blue, short dress with silver designs on it and a matching pair of dark blue heels.