do you actually like me, esme? or am I just here to make your family angry?
In which Esme Archibald is sick of being used by her family and looks to Carter Baizen to help her take them down. Who knew they would fall in love in the process.
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My mother looks sad, and I can tell her heart isn't really in this plan. It was all my dad's idea, like it always is. She reaches a hand out and strokes my naturally curly locks.
'Come on.'
The Matthews family have three children: Theodore, Gisela and of course Darwin. They are all redheads, apart from Theodore, who is blonde like his mother. All of them are considerably attractive, but are rumoured to be a little boring personality wise. Gisela is in the year below me at school, Darwin is in my year and Theodore is in the year above. that's THREE consecutive children. It must've been a tough three years of pregnancy for Romilda Matthews, thats for sure.
'Esmeralda! You're looking beautiful as ever I see,' Romilda remarks, the first to see me and my mother as we come downstairs.
I smile weakly, returning the compliment. Darwin is looking over at me from across the room with a smirk on his face. Gisela has her eyes fixed hungrily on my brother, who is leading Horace into the living room.
Darwin proves to be as boring and gentleman-y as he seems over the duration of the night. His questions directed towards me are few, and mainly enjoys chatter on the subject of himself and his dream of going to Harvard Law. Yawn.
At the end of the dinner, Horace clears his throats loudly and stands up.
'I want to propose a toast,' he says pompously. 'To our young ones. Especially Darwin and Esme.'
I cringe a little too obviously, which earns me a frown from my father. Everyone clinks their glasses together, but Horace isn't done.
'Since it's Esmeralda's birthday soon,' he went on drearily. 'Darwin has a gift for her.'
Darwin went a little pink, but his father nudged him in the back. Romilda, reaches into her purse and brings out a small ring-sized box.
What. The. Fuck.
Nate and I exchange a worried glance. My mother refuses to meet my eye. She knew this was going to happen, didn't she?
'Happy Birthday,' Darwin says, holding out the box.
I know instantly that his parents have put him up to this and feel a pang of empathy.
'Go on then,' my father prompts. 'Open it.'
I gingerly lift the lid of the box, and my eyes fall upon a beautiful diamond ring. Despite the situation, the diamond makes my stomach fuzzy, and I can't help but be taken aback by it's beauty. It's got one large diamond, with lots of small ones in a circle around it.
