Loving Lylah

Chapter 1

Lylah

For me, it started out as a normal Sunday night. I was in my dorm room with my best friend/roommate, dancing along to "Honestly" - by Eric Nam and cooking our favorite dish, pasta. We had been sharing the dorm since we both entered the private Arlington High Boarding School 2 years ago. It was right after summer break and we were gonna start our senior year the next day. I was completely dreading it while my best friend, Blair Wilson was anticipating it.

No surprise there. Blair has always been the more sociable one out of the two of us. While I'd rather spend my days cooped up in my room, reading a good book and avoiding social interactions, Blair would go out everyday and every night, attending every social gathering she possibly could.

It was just after we'd finished eating that my IPhone rang, lighting up the screen with my fathers caller ID.

Quickly allowing Blair to take away my dish, I picked up the call.

"Hello father" I said. "Lylah, you need to come back home for about a week or so. Your flight is in two hours so be prepared." My father's gravelly voice came from the other line. "What? Why do I need to go back? School starts tomorrow." I voiced out my confusion. "You will be informed about everything as soon as you get here. I expect to see you right on time." My father warned before he cut the call.

I sighed. This was typical of him. He was never a man for small talk or greetings and goodbyes. My father cut straight to the point like a true businessman. I suppose that's one of the factors that had affected our relationship so much. Being busy with work and having a businessman's personality, we'd never been the normal father and daughter. He had always been closed off to me despite all my efforts. He had only ever opened up to my mother, Elena.

"What did he want?" Came Blair's voice from behind me. "I'm supposed to go back home tonight. He didn't tell my why". Blair snorted. "Why am I not surprised?" Rolling my eyes at her, I headed into my room.

The school we attended was a high class, prestigious boarding school so our dorms were more like an apartment. I started pulling out clothes from my closet and into a duffel bag, since I'd only be gone for a week.

"Honestly your dad's like a robot. Have even seen him smile?" Blair sat down on my bed. "I don't know if he even knows how to" I murmured as Blair chuckled. "I'll be gone a week so don't miss me too much." said with a wink as I closed the dorm's door behind me.

The flight to my hometown took a few hours and as soon as arrived I went with the driver my father had sent to pick me up. It had been pretty late when I arrived at our house. Well, more like mansion. My parents knew nothing about subtlety.

I went straight to my father's study and knocked on the door. "Come in!" His voice rang out from behind the closed door. I entered to see my mom on the couch while my father sat behind his desk.

"Why am I here father?" I went straight to the point. Adam Moseratti peered at me through his glasses and decided to let me suffer in silence for a few seconds. "Honey, we're gonna need you to keep an open mind here okay. Just please don't panic or freak out." I turned to look at my mom as she spoke.

Confusion laced my mind and I slightly stared to worry. "You're getting married Lylah. As soon as you turn 18. I don't expect any objections from you, do you understand?" My father declared.

For a moment all I could do was stare at him. Surely I'd heard wrong. My ears must've been playing tricks on me. Never in my 17 years of life had I heard anything more ridiculous come out of my father's mouth before. I honestly couldn't believe what he was saying. I looked to my mother for confirmation and all she could do was turn her head.

I looked back at my father with an expression of utter mortification. This was not happening. It couldn't be. This had to be a dream. I would wake up at any moment now and put this stupid dream behind me. Yeah it was a dream. But as I looked at my father and noticed the somber expression on his face, I knew. This was definitely not a dream. This was reality. My father had really arranged my marriage to some guy I barely knew. And as the words kept coming out of my father's mouth, all I could think about was the fact that I was engaged, at the ripe age of eighteen.

I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't believe he would do something like this without even consulting me first. Yes, I knew we didn't have the best relationship but I'd thought he would at least allow me to make my own choices. Apparently not. "Wha.. what do you mean? I'm getting.. what? To who? Do I even have a say in this?!" My voice rose with each word. My father simply sighed, as if already tired by my antics. "Do not start being overdramatic Lylah. This is going to be beneficial for the company. The boy is the son of the Parks. We are planning to merge our company with the Parks and it would reassure them to have a closer connection to us." My father replied. I narrowed my eyes at him as I felt my entire body tremble with rage. "So I'm an asset? A tool to bring your already large company even more profit? Have you even thought about this, not as a businessman but as my father?!" I barked out. "And you, mom. How could you even agree to this? Have neither of you even considered what I'd think??" I choked out through poorly concealed tears. "Sweetie please, just think about it with a calm mind. This could really help your father-" I cut her off with a scoff. "Ofcourse you'd take his side. What else did I expect when you've never had enough guts to stand up to him before." I wiped away the few tears that escaped as I turned away from my mother's pained expression. Storming out of the room I ran straight into mine. That night, I couldn't get a wink of sleep. I watched the sun rise through my window as I dreaded my near future.