* * *
When Ruby grew up, it was generously far from a life full of turmoil and cumbersome experiences; disbarring an unbeseeming someone from the account. She had the most loving parents who defied the marital swearing of till death do us part, and led a comfortable stay in a small but quaint townhouse. Friends were never a difficultly for the bubbly young girl to find, and neither were her urges to enter some sort of trouble, which she miraculously always went unsullied from in some twist of fate. Fortuity even. Student loans, she never took. And bad grades, she never had either. As far as she was concerned, adverse circumstances were simply made-up folk tales by the paranoid and superstitious because what was there really to be scared of in life?
It was already so perfect. She would marry just as her parents, keep the precious company of loyal companions and never be lacking in money, health or anything that deterred from a complete life.
But now that her friend groups were being ripped apart from limb to limb, and David Marquis' slender yet grand hands took her terribly shakey ones in his—airing a public show of beseeched affection—it was on that remarkably bright yet fateful day the answer had dawned on her.
She was scared of this.
Entropy.
* * *
"Sir! When did you first meet her?!"
"Mr. Marquis, Is this a stunt to divert attention from the safety concerns pertaining to your network system?"
"Sir, can you answer a few, quick questions for us?"
"Mr. Marquis! Mr. Marquis, is this a tactic to spite Mrs. Mariah Marquis after joining families and wealth with a renowned competitor?"
"SIR! SIR!"
Camera flashes poured in and voices were canceled out question after question, and although they weren't one-sidedly directed at her, she was trembling beyond belief at the center of it all.
"Miles." "Yes, sir," the elfin man replied. "Take her to safety" I ordered.
"And where would that be exactly?? They'll be swarms of desperate cameramen chasing no matter which turn or swerve or highway—"
"Figure something out!" I gnashed at him. "Go! Now!"
"I'm demanding a pay raise after this," I heard him mutter guiding her from my arms and into the car.
I continued into the press conference venue to discuss matters with collaborating companies regarding safety issues and distribution setbacks, but during it all, several judging eyes and loud whispers failed to fade. Among it all, some from the scrutinizing lot openingly came up to rend me congratulations—even though my supposed bride hadn't really given me an answer, be it, yes or no—but nevertheless, I accepted them and thanked higher powers above for the early wrap-up.
From the depth of my pocket, I felt my phone vibrate and I moved impetuously to picked up the call:
"WHAT POSSESSED YOU?!"
"Where did you take her to?" I ignored the caller's attempt to pierce my eardrums beyond repair. "And is she safe?"
"Your residential house. Nobody followed too closely luckily and since you're hardly seen using it, no one should suspect a thing but don't try to ignore me! Ruby was off-limits and you knew it! Why did you keep this from me?"
"The real question is why your buddy, Louis, didn't say a word of it to you."
"You stole his fiance, David!"
"I know."
"YOU STOLE HIS FIANCE!"
"If I needed help from hearing aids, I would've gotten a pair a long time ago. I'm not fucking daft, you twit!"
"YOU'RE A FUCKING PHSYCO! I ALWAYS KNEW YOU LIKED RUBY BUT I WOULD'VE NEVER ENCOURAGED SUCH A PURSUIT IF I KNEW YOU WERE WITHHOLDING SUCH IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM ME!"
"Why? So you could take up the wishes of beloved-saint-Louis like everybody else in my damned life? Maybe I wished too hard thinking you were remotely different from the masses," I scorned, curtly ending the call.
All my life, I've chased after things that I knew could never be mine. So much so to the point, that feelings of rebuke from outsiders and close ones felt like nothing short of comforting hugs. Call it what you may—selfish, petty, unbecoming, unscrupulous—but I didn't plan on stopping at family or business stunts; Chase should've especially known that.
I wanted her. And I wanted to indulge in all of her, not part of her.
Every night, I would envision vivid, sensual dreams about her and wake up to disappointment. Every day, I would hope uselessly to get a slither of her attention... a possible chance of crossing paths... but she never once showed; being just a fragment of my impotent longing. Yet in a twist of faith, this time around, she chose to appear abruptly before my eyes when I had decided not so long ago to give her up for good. How could I entertain such a notion now?
For a lack of redeeming qualities, I did try to gain control of myself; praying she would seize to torment me so—as useless as it was—but no matter how hard I blinked, she was still standing there in a short white dress laced with spring flower patterns, complemented by high white stilettos decorated with pale rose flowers at its edges. If she looked this good in the simplest casual attire, the thought of her in a wedding gown couldn't help but arouse my imagination.
And the oddest thing was, she stood as if calling to me. Her doll-like emerald eyes, teasing me with every criminal second it held mine.
Was she calling me?
Because the pull of it was too strong and it was forcing me into a fight or flight instinct.
I couldn't bear the thought of letting her go all over again. It was now or never.
I chose to love miss Rose.
* * *
"If it wasn't obvious enough, I'm putting it out there: I'm not going through with this."
David had returned home that night to meet an irked Ruby alone in his home office, her face flushed beyond belief. She seemed to have let herself into his whisky stash and had emptied every last bottle—which was a generous lot. But it didn't affect her, being a heavy drinker and all, David noted. Plus, flirtatiously piping anything out of Miles earlier must have gone badly—it was not her most becoming trait—and considering even he himself hadn't thought he'd make such a brazen decision in the first place, and still didn't completely know why he did it either, Chase was in no position to provide her with answers.
"Here," he handed over a document with the intention she would at least look at it if not look it over. Even just touch it. But her icy glare simply rested on his indifferent red eyes. "It's a contract marriage intended to last a short 6-month period."
"I'm not marrying you."
"With this, you and I can approach my parents and get a fast formal and global blessing without unnecessary objections," he continued, ignoring her protest. "You are from a respectable background so this segment of the plan should unfold seamlessly. And of course, during the contract's duration, my part entails to solemnly treat you with the dignity of any wife. I'm assuming you will reciprocate the sentiments."
"I'M. NOT. MARRYING. YOU!" Ruby screeched ear-piercingly. But the attempt to unnerve him only made the unphased, sleek Marquis' composure magnify in strength, drawing his strides even closer in her direction. "I'M YOUR BROTHER'S FIANCE AND YOU KNOW THAT!" She hollered. "I WILL NOT BE A PAWN IN WHATEVER PETTY GRUDGE YOU HOLD AGAINST HIM! I WILL NOT MARRY YOU!"
"After several formalities, you and I will come out with a child. We will raise him indifferently—"
"I'M NOT MARRYING YOU!" She pounded ferociously at his chest. "NEVER! EVER!"
"And being so outspoken about our humanitarian act of adopting an unfortunate orphan, even my father will outhold his vehement displeasure. Unless he has a taste for being portrayed as a villain to the vast media."
"I AM NOT—" then he gripped her hands in his, putting them at an ineluctable standstill.
"All this will hold him off until he's gone on his death bed. Only then can we part ways."
That put her to ease.
"You can finally marry your Louis, and I will keep my company in shielded control."
She was lost for words. "Your father... he wants a grandchild."
"And he will get one."
"By double-crossing him?"
"Do you see any other way around it then?"
Unable to think of anything else, she made out, "We'll be tricking him! It's wrong!" But his response was schooled silence; not brimming with remorse or anything at her sharp-cut words, but numbness from the topic itself. Her slow-wittedness and moral accountability were an unwanted addition to any of this so he wasn't going to drag on such a conversation.
"...Why me?" she added. "There's a million other girls out there who would gladly settle for your proposition—why me?"
"We share different goals that can't happen without the other. Interchangeable even. So if anything, this plan reassures the notion that whatever each partner dares to attempt, they know better than betraying each other and the cause. It's as simple as that."
"...And after all of this, what makes you think everyone won't see me as nothing less than a gold digger, David." His name from her lips sent a lecherous jolt up his spine. " They'll say I purposefully jumped from one brother to the other. Did you ever think about that part too?"
"Yes," He calmly reassured her worried mind. "We'll say we fell out of love, competing for a victim card that easily backs up our open display of mutual disgruntledness. We'll say marriage life was different from our courting stages and that we couldn't make it work. Plus, I intend to find someone to marry right after so it can lessen the blows that will come your way."
"Out of love."
"Pardon?" he quirked an eye in puzzlement at her unexpected love advisions.
"You'll marry for love..." she stained red, redirecting her gaze to his arms, a silent plea to ease her away; which he did. " And I'll help you."
Seeing this, he was alarmingly caught off guard. Was she drunk? "Why would you do that?"
"... I think," she paused to take in his face. She could inexplicably tell this moment was going to mean the world to his living hell per the heat she felt through his powerful gaze. Although she knew very little of the stark Marquis, every indication seemed to hint he lived a life heaven-miles far from hers. "Your mind puzzles me," she smiled turning crimson red from embarrassment. The human she once swore to hate was becoming a ting bit lovable in his befuddled, vulnerable state. Or maybe, the alcohol had started kicking in and skewing her thinking process. "I want to see if it's capable of love, just like it is in making such intricate formulations."
Silence flooded the room and she decided to move from underneath his stare and into a dimly lit corner. "You're right about one thing, and it's that you're not the big bad wolf I made you out to be. Uh... well, almost." She corrected herself. "David," his body behaved savagely again, "How long did it take you to think that up?" she asked.
"A day at most. Why?"
"Could I get a day too?"
"You speak as if I know perfectly well what you're talking about."
"You do!"
"I do?" he mused.
"Yes," she taunted. "To think this over."
And with that, his face darkened intensively. But to her surprise, it let up a bit. The whole thing had been imposed unexpectedly so she needed an indefinite amount of time to take it all in, he thought. Constricting it to a day seemed an efficient course of action to settle any shaken emotional nerves, and unlike his business proposal where she could willingly dilly-dally as she pleased, this wasn't a negotiation she could squirm out of so easily. She was smarter than that. She couldn't leave now and she knew it.
"A day," he finalized, taking her in one last time before leaving the room as she withdrew from the dimly lit cover of shade.