|1895 Z.M.|

WEEK THIRTY-TWO

"I don't want to go.." She mumbles,getting up from her bed. Today was the day. The wedding day. Visitors worldwide came to visit the daughter of Sir. Jeremiah Scott. No one could believe Mariana was getting married; in fact,they presumed there was an error in the invitation and it was Marina who was getting married.

"Lady Mariana,Mr. Malik is waiting for you in your father's study."

"Thank you,Mariska and Natalika." She says,forcing a smile upon her face. She walks out of her room and upstairs,accidentally bumping into Liam. He smiled as he stared at his soon-to-be wife.

"No looking! It's bad luck!" Mariana exclaims,putting her hand over her face. She ran away from Liam,down the seemingly endless hallway. She made various turns before entering her father's study-which was in the west manor. Her bedroom-which was the master- was in the east.

"You called?"

"What fuck are we going to do?" Zayn asks the inevitable,rhetorically ironic question.

"I..I think I should marry him."

"What? Are you insane?"

"He's a good man! He-he wouldn't deny you of being a father and he wouldn't kill me. He loves me."

"And I love you too but I can't stand him! He's not going to be the foster father of my child! Mariana." Zayn yells,annoyance and agitation boiling over him.

"I'm thinking!"

"That's the problem. You're always thinking. Why can't you be normal?"

"Excuse my independence." She scoffs. "If you want someone who's 'normal' and boring as fuck,then go ahead. I don't need anyone who doesn't appreciate me."

Mariana storms out of the room-anger clouding her judgement.

+

Thousands of people filled in the garden,sitting down in their assigned seats. Mariana watched them anxiously from the window. Mariska and Natalika were lacing her corset-squeezing her stomach until it was almost flat. Mariana panicked and snapped,taking the corset off.

"But Ma'am-"

"No! And don't mention any of this to Marina." She yelled,rubbing the bump on her stomach. The maids watched with wide eyes-Mariana was pregnant.

"You are dismissed for today. And if you utter a single syllable about this,I promise,I will end you and make it look accidental."

"We won't,Ma'am. We promise." A shaken Natalika spoke on behalf of both of them. The two girls bowed to their headmistress,leaving swiftly after.

"Mariska looked like she saw a ghost. Are you alright,Mariana?"

"Splendid." She replies,putting on the golden locket that had a picture of Beth in it. Although she wasn't her mother by blood,she did love the little girl. Beth sat on Mariana's big bed,playing with her stuffed teddybear.

"Don't fret,okay? Liam loves you."

"I'm not worried about that,Harry..I-I'm pregnant." She cries,glassy eyed. "And it's not Liam's."

"Oh my god."

"Oh my god indeed."

+

"She's almost here,just wait a few more minutes. Please?" Liam asked the priest for what seemed like the fiftieth time. He stood before the alter,all 10,000 pairs of eyes on him.

He felt embarrassed-but overall,he felt worried. Mariana might feel sick or worse,she could've been involved in an accident or maybe it's raining in Chelmsfield or..he wondered nervously. Deep down inside,though,he knew none of those thoughts were correct. He knew exactly what was happening. Mariana was leaving- running away with Zayn and the unborn child.

"Mr. Payne-"

"I told you to wait."

"But Sir... We've been waiting for five hours."