Daniel's pov
"Ow!!!" I yelled. Grabbing my forehead and rubbing it vigorously. She gave me a flick on my head! On my freaking forehead!!!
I had anticipated everyway and anyway Sarah would react apart from this... whatever this is
The day after I had told my dad my answer, I expected her to confront me but nothing happen. After a week had passed and there was still no confrontation, I figured she had probably accepted her fate or had not been told yet.
But from her current reaction, I don't need a genius to tell me that she hadn't known but the situation had finally been revealed to her
When I walked out of my class few minutes after the bell for lunchbreak rang, I was so shocked when I felt someone pull me by the ear and start dragging me away.
At first I thought the bullying I had anticipated for when I resumed school had started. But when I looked up and saw it was Sarah, I was more surprised. I began protesting because her hold had started to hurt and my ears were burning!
But no matter how hard I tried to get my ear out her grip, her fingers wouldn't budge!! How strong is this girl?
When she had successfully dragged me into the library, she let go of my ear and started ranting. I decided the best option I could go for was get a sit and pretend to listen, which was my speciality.
But right now, I'm regretting that decision because my skull feels like it has a bullet hole in it
"Why would you do that?" I said immediately I was done massaging my head and the pain had subsided
"Because you weren't listening"she said in a duh tone
"How did you know I wasn't listening?" I asked, my eyebrows coming together in a frown because I genuinely was curious and also, no one had ever been able to tell when I wasn't listening
"What do you mean?" she asked in an irritated tone
"I mean how could you tell I wasn't listening. I was looking right at you" I asked still confused
"Wrong, you were looking through me, not at me. And I don't know, I can just tell. So... don't try it again" she said giving me a stern look
"Now back to what really matters. Explain this whole crap to me!" She said her pitch increasing
"I would have if you hadn't dragged me by the ear over here... which was rude and painful by the way... And began talking uncontrollably and then gave me a skull cracking flick on the head!" I said giving her a hard look.
"Well, you deserved it!" She exclaimed walking closer to me
"Oh did I really?"I asked with just as much heat in my voice
We were standing so close to each other that I noticed that I was a bit taller than her because she had to tilt her head up a bit to look at me. I also noticed for the first time that I was talking a whole lot more than I usually would to anyone. And I really had no idea why I was but she was just pushing my buttons I guess?
She took in a deep breath, looked to the ground and released it while looking up
"Ok let's take it slowly. Why do you want to get married at sixteen?"she asked in a calm voice after she was done
"Do I look like I want to get married?" I asked with raised eyebrows
"Don't answer my question with questions,It'll just get me mad. Give me answers, got it?"
She spoke to me like she was talking to a toddler and that got on my nerves but since I'm not insensitive and I knew she was aiming for a peaceful conversation, I decided to let it go and give a nod
"Ok, since the answer to the first question is obviously, 'you don't want to get married' let's take it to the next question and answer honestly... Did you really think I'd agree to all this?" She asked again
Taking in a breath I replied "No, but I guessed you would want to help your family's finance"
"What does that mean?" She asked frowning
After a quick deliberation, I decided to just say it plainly "It means that your family is broke... they are loosing money and not gaining any. They're also in so much depth and will be either forced to sell out or shut down which is basically the same thing in the business world but the merger my family is offering will be able to stop that, got it? This is probably the safest way to save the company your dad spend two decades building form going under and also save you dad and brother from a life time of paying debts. since Joseph also owns a huge percentage of shares in the company"
As I spoke this words to her, there where so many times that the confused, hurt and shocked look that passed her face made me almost stop talking and hold her in my arms and whispered to her that everything would be fine... Almost
She gave an extremely slow nod while mumbling "I knew it was bad but not this bad... no wonder my dad said this was their last resort"
"I'm sorry but it is that bad. I feel terrible for admitting this but your dad was right" I said feeling sorry for her
"But I can't get married at eighteen, I really can't. I have so much I want to accomplish in my life" she said shaking her head from left to right and looking really lost.
At this point, I literally felt like crying for her because I had known for a while that I was gonna get married at a young age. Although I didn't know it'd be while I was this young, but at least I had an idea. Unlike Sarah that was just being hit with the news
"So if I do agree, how is this going to even work? Is it even legal? Because I'm not going to jail" She asked after she had composed herself a bit
"From what I gathered from asking my mom and also reading a bit of my family marriage chronicles... I don't have much info on the details but it's more like a secret wedding with only our family and there'll be some document signing. Its as legal as it can be... I guess?" I finished with a shrug
"This is crazy!!!" She said taking a seat
"Tell me about it" I replied taking a seat myself
"Last question, why did you choose me? Because a merger is supposed to benefit your family but from what you are saying, you guys won't be getting much. So why did you choose to help my family's company?" She asked again giving me a confused look
"Because I like yo-" I started but immediately cut myself off. 'What the heck was I about to say? I like you?!!! Daniel are you insane?' I asked myself 'you'll just creep her out and she'll end up saying no!' I almost gave Myself a slap for that mistake
"I mean I'd like to help your family. And since I was going to get married either way, no matter what I decided, why not help someone else? Also why not choose someone I know is sensible and won't kill me in my sleep?" I rushed out honestly but also in a bid to cover for my near blunder
She stood up and walk up slowly to me. Standing in front of me, she bent a bit to get to my height because I was seated.
She moved her head closer and and whispered into my ear "Don't be too sure of that, pretty boy"
Did she just call me pretty? Pretty!!! I felt a bit insulted by that. Though I did feel a pang in my chest at being called pretty. I'm not really used to compliment or whatever that was
'Well two can play that game' I thought to myself. Standing up, I began walking forward which in turn made her walk backwards. I kept at it till she was backed into a wall, then I place both my hands by her sides, leaned into her ear and whispered
"You wouldn't want to be a widow at eighteen, would you beautiful?" I asked. Where on earth was all this courage coming from!!!
"Who said I was going to get married to you?" She said shoving me away. I knew what I did affected her but I have no idea why but... whatever
"You didn't say you weren't?" I said with a smirk which made her give me a glare so hard that I flinched
"Ok let's put it this way, you wanna help your family right?" I asked
"You know I want to! Is this really the only way?" She asked after a while
"Yes it is. We can work this out, we mustn't go into this hating each other. We can be civil about the whole arrangement. I picked you because I know we can become a team and make it work! I have faith in you"I finished my heartfelt speech, from the look on her face I knew I had won this round and I had managed to convince her. I really should be a sales rep!!!
"Well, let's do this. Let's get married" she said with a sigh of resignation
FINALLY!!! I thought
The bell rang signalling the end of lunch break. We both walked out of the library and went our separate ways after that. I gave her one last look and saw she looked sad and was also deep in thought
I spent that whole day thinking of what the future had in store for the both of us but still I came up with nothing because it all didn't make sense!!!