Astrid sat alone in the garden until nightfall. Her parents would arrive anytime soon, and she had to be there to make sure nothing went wrong.
She walked to the dining hall, where she found Darius, Joaquin, Derek, and Ki-woo sleeping with their heads on the table.
Joaquin had a pencil stuck to his face, and Astrid couldn't help but laugh at the cuteness of all of them combined. Darius was a good-looking man. Nobody could deny that he sure had good-looking friends.
Darius's eyes shot open immediately and he sat up, looking around. Astrid noticed that his tousled hair made him look quite the opposite of his usual self. He was always so put together, one would think he slept and woke up in a perfect state.
Astrid giggled at the look of his hair. He looked at her in confusion before flexing his neck and stretching. "What's so funny?" He questioned, the thickness of voice doubling since he just woke up.
"You should see your hair." She replied.
"Well, what did you expect? I was pulling it hard since these three were frustrating me." He paused, then he looked up to ask her "what time is it?"
"Seven-ish?" Astrid guessed. Darius took his phone and his eyebrows rose.
"Christ! It's past eight. Your parents are close." He stood up roughly, waking up the other three.
"What time is it?" Joaquin grumbled, looking around, just like Darius had done.
"Past eight. You three need to leave before you ruin my life in front of—"
"Sir, miss Astrid's parents have arrived." One of his bodyguards announced as he entered the hall.
"You didn't tell us her parents were coming." Derek hissed, gathering the files as Ki-woo and Joaquin stood up hurriedly.
"I'm not good with parents, except mine. Ninety percent of parents around the world that I've met hate me. This is horrible." Joaquin started to panic.
"Make them sit and relax in the living room. We'll be right out." Darius told the bodyguard, who left as soon as he got the message.
"What do we do?" Joaquin asked, fear written all over his face.
"There are series of exits around here, Joaquin. Do I have to tell you everything?" Darius snapped.
"Oh, don't blame me! I'm just used to my house, which has two exits. I don't make secret passageways in my house for nothing, unlike you. Good night, Astrid. Lord knows what you were thinking when you said 'yes' to this man." Joaquin ran out through the door leading to the garden with the other two.
"Did you say something about my hair before?" Darius asked Astrid.
"It's really not that messy. Don't freak out. They'll love you, as long as you're not uptight." She assured him.
"That makes things worse." He shook his head as they walked to the living room.
Her parents sat there, whispering aggressively at each other. "I bet she's cried more times here than she has in her entire life. That man is horrible, I tell you." Her mother said.
"Will you stop it, woman? He's brought us here to protect us and our daughter. Do you still think he's horrible now?" Her father replied.
At a loss for words, Rose just sighed. "Mother!" Astrid called out with a smile like she had not just heard her.
Rose stood up on hearing her daughter's voice. "My baby!" Rose yelled out in as she crushed Astrid into a hug.
Caleb walked over to Darius and offered his hand. "I'm Caleb Peyton." He smiled at the young man before him.
"Nice to meet you." Darius replied, shaking his hand.
"So, what made you trick our daughter into thinking she had a job here, only to propose to her?" Rose glared at him, going straight to the point.
Darius tensed, looking at Astrid for help. She just shrugged. "Well, it was very important. I'm sorry for using such methods." He answered monotonously. Astrid almost slapped her forehead.
"There are no strings attached?" Caleb asked.
Darius and Astrid looked at each other before answering at the same time. "No strings attached."
"I see." Caleb nodded, staring hard at both of them.
"I'll get someone to show you to your room." Darius said, leaving shortly.
"Accepting his proposal, are you crazy?!" Rose finally got the chance to yell at her daughter face-to-face after all this time.
"You need to get some rest, mum. I've told you everything there is to know." Astrid tried to end the discussion before Darius would return.
"I've been telling her this since we got on the plane. It just seems like nobody can talk her out of disliking the man whose side of the story she hasn't even heard." Caleb shook his head.
"Are you supporting him?" Rose asked her husband.
"You know I am not, Rose. I'm just tired. Sitting in one plane for hours is exhausting. And it's night here. Back in Yorkshire, it's like six or something. I would have been smoking some pipe with the men in the neighbourhood." Caleb lamented.
"Don't complain, dad. You can always do it with Darius, although I haven't seen him smoke." Astrid mused.
"I bet he does. He's not to be trusted. Take more care of your lungs." Rose crossed her arms, staring at Caleb.
"Here we are. These are Teresa and Esther, they'll be helping you two throughout your stay here. Show them to their room." Darius ordered the women.
"Please, come with us." Teresa spoke as Esther grabbed their bags.
"Son, do you smoke?" Caleb asked. Darius was quite surprised that Caleb had used the term 'son' for him.
"No, I don't smoke. We could always drink together, though." Darius offered.
"He doesn't smoke, Rose!" Caleb yelled after his wife, who was heading up the stairs.
"Oh, hush!" Rose responded, slightly embarrassed.
"I'll be down here soon. We'll get drunk together. Nice house. You did a splendid job right here." Caleb commended, walking upstairs.
"You know, if I were to judge, I'd say your mother is like me, and your father is like you." Darius turned to Astrid with his hands in his pockets.
"One of them likes you, at least." Astrid shrugged.
"I better tell them to put drinks in ice buckets." Darius hurried out of the living room.
.
By ten that night, the two men were laughing their heads off in the garden. Rose sat beside Caleb, Astrid beside Darius.
"You know what? You two have had enough." Rose said, taking the glass of wine from her husband's grip.
"Look at that. Do you see this, Darius? She doesn't let me do what I want. It happens. When you eventually get married to Astrid, you'll have to get used to it." Caleb slurred drunkenly.
"Absolutely not. There will be no wedding, Caleb. Are you serious right now?" Rose shook her head at his statement.
"You have no problem with me, son. All you have to do is prove to her mother that you're a good man. And treat my daughter right, will you?" Caleb continued with his drunk banter.
"You do know that the whole engagement thing is fake, father." Astrid smiled at him.
"Yes! Why? What's going on?" Rose, ever curious, asked.
"I just need my mother home. She'll be back next month. After about two months, we'll call off the wedding." Darius managed to explain through his drunkenness.
"Why do you need a proposal to get your mother home?" Rose asked, lacing her fingers together.
"Long story, mum. She just got angry about something." Astrid answered, this time.
Rose just sighed and stood up. "Let's go to bed, Caleb." She helped her husband up. They both left immediately.
"Your parents are fun to be around. Your father makes it easy, and your mother keeps me engaged." Darius remarked.
"That's how it is." Astrid laughed.
"I'm tired." Darius groaned, placing his head on Astrid's shoulder. She placed her fingers in his hair, massaging his head lightly as he fell asleep.
"Darius?" She called out. "Asleep? How do I get him upstairs without waking him up?" She wondered aloud.
"I'll just have to wake him up." She decided, pulling Darius up from the bench.
He groaned loudly. "What is it?" He questioned.
"Let's go inside." She whispered as she placed one of his hands around her shoulder. She supported his waist and helped him get to his room, not without stumbling on the stairs and sometimes wanting to give up.
Astrid opened the door to his room and noticed that his room was extremely larger than hers. The walls in his room were pure white, while hers was a marbled black and white. There were also two black sofas in front of the bed, facing the television.
On one side of the room was a desk occupied by files and paperwork. A large shelf occupied the space beside the desk, where there were series of fictional and non-fictional books. The corner was like a mini office.
Mounted above the bed was a large portrait. In the portrait was Darius, sitting beside his mother. Joaquin, Derek, and Ki-woo stood behind them both with smiles on their faces. Those were clearly the people that mattered to Darius. The people he loved.
She helped Darius remove his jacket and his shirt. She unbuckled his belt and used his blanket to cover him. "Good night." She told him and started to walk away.
Darius quickly grabbed a hold of her hand. "Stay." He requested.
"I can't. My mother will think something's going on." Astrid shook her head.
"Stay! Please." He begged. She sighed and walked to the other side of the bed and got under the blanket.
She was thankful for the large size of the bed, making enough space between them to not even breathe each other's air through the night. "Good night, Astrid." He mumbled, and they went to sleep.