Admire

Chapter 25

I woke up from the loud knock outside. I groaned and come up. Times like these I wish Mary was here. She wasn't here today since it was Saturday.

Charles went to work as usual. We haven't seen each other as much these days. His excuses were that he had big meetings and he had to work until the grand opening of his new store in Kansas. I didn't really think much of it and I would usually find myself doing anything but stay home or go to school.

I only had a month left of school and I would be done and have graduated. Of course this would mean I'd have to already start finding a law school to practice before starting my real job but I wasn't too worried about that.

I skipped down the stairs after finding longer pants to put on since I knew it would be inappropriate to open the door with my short flannel pants.

I didn't think much of asking who it was and clearly I wasn't thinking straight but once I saw who it was I was on panic mode.

The person who stood on me was twice my height and had really light blond hair. He had a stubble beard on that smoothly fit his look. And his eyes were as grey as Charles.

"You must be another flavor of my brothers monthly hookups?" He questioned before I even asked his named.

I was shocked at his statement and took a double take. "Not necessarily," I wanted to shout at the buffoon and tell him that I was his wife, unfortunately. But I also didn't want to reveal the truth to some stranger. "My name is Maria." I tentatively told him, although I was still confused as to who he was.

"Then my brother has actually got himself a girlfriend? If I knew I would've come home quicker." He smiled.

"I'm sorry who are you?"

"Im guessing my brother didn't tell you about me?" He observed my face. I nodded my head. "I'm Caden, his older brother." He smirked showing a few pearl white teeth.

My mouth dropped. I had not know this fact. Though, I wasn't surprised as much since Charles had lied to me before but I thought he might've stopped the lies by now. I quickly got off my trance and looked at Caden, I forgot he was still there and he probably thought I had gone mute. "He has an older brother?"

It took me a moment to figure it out but I was quick to remember how I was suppose to marry the oldest son in their family. But I was confused to why I was married off with Charles? Was Caden not important enough to the family for mention? Or was he older then my age so they chose not to talk about him. But even so, it seemed like they didn't consider him a part of the family. I had so many questions but I couldn't think exactly what they were.

"I'm usually not mentioned by my parents after the stunt I pulled last year. We haven't been on speaking terms for months but I didn't think my brother would completely ignore me as well." He raised his eyebrows and disappointment written all over his face.

I felt sorry for him. I had so much questions to ask him but I realized I had him outside for too long. "Why don't you come inside and wait for me. Would you like coffee, water?" I offered him as I closed the door and we made our way to the kitchen. He seemed very familiar with the place so I presumed he really was a relative.

"Dark Roast, half and half and no sugar. Thank you." He replied back.

I nodded and made my way to set up the coffee maker. "Excuse me for being too noisy, but what exactly did you do?"

"Why should I tell you?" He looked at me suspiciously.

"Well, I'm a girl in your brothers house making coffee for you , I'm with him and he hasn't told me about you, so what better way to get your side of the story before he tells me his." I rose the corners of my mouth in a wide smile.

"Correction, if you knew my brother so well, he would've have told you already." He broke off my little victory speech. I went to grabbed the half and half milk out of the fridge.

"Well maybe it wasn't worth mentioning to someone who left for a year." I challenged. Pouring the milk into the coffee I mixed it around for a few seconds and turned to give it to him.

He scratched his chin and looked at me for a second and broke off into a grin. "You make a good point." He answered.

"I know." I replied. Feeling content once again.

I turned to make the second cup of coffee for me and adding a few spoons of sugar, swirling it around a while. I taste it to make sure the sugar was good enough.

"Were do I start... well I was enjoying life and grateful for a lot. My parents were going to give me the full responsibility of the company." I took a seat across from him, quietly sipping on the warm coffee. "Then my parents told me in order to gain the company I had to marry some girl. I never knew who she was or what she looked like. I had a girlfriend at the time and I couldn't make a decision. I loved my girlfriend but my parents knew it wouldn't last with us, I guess he was right because she left me when she found out I chose her instead. I couldn't face my parents after what I did, even though they would forgive me, I had too big of an ego so the only chance I had was going away for bit. Maybe when they cooled down I would come back and they'd give me the company without an arranged marriage."  He finished.

He picked up his cup. I was a stunned after hearing what he said. I felt sorry for him because I understood how it might've felt. Of course I couldn't believe that Adrianna and Mr. Storm would force a marriage to their eldest. Then it strikes me, I was actually meant to marry Caden. Shocked was evident on my face and my body froze a second. He placed his cup on the table and looked at me concerning.

"Are you alright? You look pale." His eyes searching my face with worry.

"Yea, it's just I wonder, did you remember her name?" I fumbled with my cup and trying to play it cool.

"I believe it was..Mia... no Maria, definitely Maria, why?" His brow lifting up.

"Well it's nothing...just.." I was scared to tell him because I would then have to tell him that his brother and I were married and it was arranged like he was suppose to have.

He made an 'O' shape with his mouth. "Wait a minute... are you her?" His eyes were wide and I could tell he was piecing together some loosen parts of the story.

"I'm so sorry I am just now finding about this too. I had no idea I would have been married to you or your brother." I was fumbling with my words and he was lost for words too.

Suddenly, he got up and stance was firm. "It's fine, Maria. I just remembered I have to go meet with someone. I'll come back later to see my brother." He smiled but it didn't meet his eyes. I nodded and closed the door on him once he got in his sports car and drove.

I sighed. It was awkward nonetheless, seeing Caden and the fact I hadn't known about him. Could Charles have not wanted to tell me because of his parents or was it something more?

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