String of Fate

Chapter Ten

My life was a little bit miserable for me. For the last two years, I'd stared at my string without having the ability to follow it. After all, I had been engaged since I was born. It didn't help that I had never even met the man. My parents had thought that this would be the best thing for me even if I hadn't even met the guy before. I didn't even know if they had met him before.

My family didn't believe in marrying for love – they married for power and diplomacy. My father, the owner of a bank, was marrying me, his only daughter, to the son of some supermarket chain owner who was three years older than me so that the families would join and it would be good growth for the businesses.

My family had decided to wait until I was older to meet him, so, I was finally meeting him on my eighteenth birthday. In a fancy restaurant that my parents had picked and was hoping to impress the people that I was meeting, even if it seemed like there wasn't going to be any option in this for me. Sadly for me, the meeting was this afternoon.

Obviously, I was dreading it because I didn't really want to meet him. I wanted to follow my string and just be with my destined person. There was no way in heck that my parents were ever going to listen to that, let alone agree to it.

"Chin up, darling, it's not all bad." My mother told me as she helped me to select a dress for this meeting. Well, it was technically a date. She lifted my chin up with her hand and I looked at her. She was already dressed for the occasion. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun at the crown of her head, her fringe being the only thing that was loose. Her make-up was done to perfection as usual – her making sure that the make-up artist always did it looking as natural as possible. Her dark navy cocktail dress was already hugging her figure, and making her look as classy as ever. All that was left was for her to put on the pair of silver strappy heels that she had bought just for the occasion. "He is a fine young man. Your father has met him and approved. The two of you will make a lovely match."

"I know that, mother. You have said that a hundred times this last week alone. I would just like to wish that it was the man at the end of the string, like I told you yesterday. I don't even know what this guy looks like." I answered, glancing down at the red string on my finger which would soon hold an engagement ring from another man. I even had dreams of the man at the end of my string. It had started when I had turned seventeen, and they always seemed to be of the same man. I was starting to think that it actually was him, and that meant that I actually knew what my soulmate looked like.

"No more talk of the red string, honey. We both know that your father would never agree to let you get out of this marriage. He has been looking forward to this for years. Here, wear this. It suits your figure." My mother insisted, changing the subject in one smooth motion. She always did that whenever I asked about my string over the past week. She hated that topic of conversation. She handed me a purple sleeveless skater dress. I took it by the hanger and changed into it without a reply.

After changing into the dress, I immediately hated that my legs were bare, so I took a pair of thick tights from the wardrobe to pull on, followed by my purple heels that my mother picked out. They were the same shade as the dress. This would do. My mother then did my hair for me, pulling some from the front to reveal my ears and clipping it at the back using two studded slides, and then she gave me a little peck on the cheek from behind as we both looked in the mirror. "There. You look beautiful. Do your make-up while I check on your father. We shall meet you downstairs in ten minutes. We need to leave then."

I was starting to become nervous about this whole thing, even though this wasn't what I wanted. I sat to do my make-up – the butterflies in my stomach creating a tornado. I didn't want to go to this stupid date. I wanted to follow my string. I wanted to marry for love. I didn't want to be with someone who kept dreaming of someone else, especially when I kept dreaming of someone else. It just wouldn't be fair to them.