ISABELLE.
My heart thrashed painfully against my ribcage and I struggled to control my breathing even as the air was pushed out of my lungs with each step, the air frigid and the rain leaving stinging kisses as it seeped in through the fabric of my clothes. Ugh, what kind of weather is this?
My hair soon hung around my face in weighted strands and whipped in moist slashes all over my cheek as my feet hit the water in hard splashes. By the time I reached the entrance, I was unsure if it was sweat or rain that caused my clothes to stick to my clothes the way they did. My hands trembled and grew number and number with each passing second, air rushed out of my lungs and coincidentally refused to enter back in.
"Hey! Where are you going in this weather?"
I winced, rubbing my eyes to ease the sting of hair and water struggling to look out through my teary eyes I couldn't make out who called out to me through the blur, that is until I felt the warmth. A sweet and welcome sensation in this stinging, my skin singed in pleasure and a long sigh escaped my lips. The first proper breath I had been able to take since my world came crashing down.
"Xavier" the word more of a cry than intended.
I shut my eyes tightly as I came to rest in the warm and tight cover of his hot body. Trembling as the biting cold assaulted my senses once more, my whole body convulsed as hair forcefully left my lungs and his soft 'bless you' and gentle caresses were all I needed to calm the hell down.
"You got engaged?"
"I swear I didn't know, I didn't know." I frown as I pull away from the warmth, "this wasn't supposed to happen, we both decided we wouldn't be getting engaged last night I don't know what happened this morning" it was a struggle to look up at him but I still squinted through the discomfort.
"Why date me if you already had someone you were supposed to marry? Did you think I wouldn't find out?"
Shaking my head, "that's not it, I don't have any feelings whatsoever for him, you have to believe me, Xavier."
"I want to, but before we get any more serious I need to know. How long ago did you meet him? Don't dare lie to me" he says.
"I first met him about a week ago, a little more than a week. My aunt and uncle arranged the marriage without my consent, I am not getting married, Xavier, especially not to him."
The sound of the rain hitting the hard pavement, the whistling of the strong gusts of wind, sending sting blows to my damp skin, the little repetitive drops of water escaping hairy strands onto my shoulder had nothing on the short but impactful silence, waiting for him to reply. As a verdict, he was the judge, and I the defendant.
But before the final verdict, shall I plead my case once more, "I'll fix it, I promise."
"Fine, come to me"
"Huh?"
"When you are done, come to me."
ASHER.
I sit still, my hands entwined underneath my chin as I lean over my desk, staring at the screen on my computer. It shows something about a spreadsheet and on the other window the rising and falling of stocks but I can't even tell why these windows are opened.
"Someone is here to see you, sir, I tried to send her away but she wouldn't go even though she is aware you are very busy". Her?
My lips lift in a smile to express the sudden lift, filling the space that existed since last night. The circumstances were out of my hands but it didn't mean it was completely hopeless.
"Send her in" I lean backward as my smile widens and my entwined fingers rest on my stomach.
The intensity and urgency she radiates have become a common reaction from her, but today I feel more pleased as I look at her. Her bouncy and airy curls that always lay on her shoulders in fluid elegance now fell in sections and uneven colonies down her face, back, and collarbone. Her fair pale and radiant skin, splotchy and blue, her bright and innocent eyes dim and red.
"You could have at least cleaned up before you came here, you are ruining my carpet" I gesture to the ground beneath where she stands that becomes moister with each drip-drop of water.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" She breathes out, her chest rising and falling at a rapid rate and her blue skin fading, her face gradually becoming brighter and brighter until she glares at me with a face so flushed she looks like a Halloween pumpkin.
"You are going to have to be a bit more specific, I am doing a lot of things," I say.
"The press conference, you clearly said you wouldn't be marrying me yesterday why did you change your mind?"
"Can I not do that?"
Her lips parted slightly and she sighed heavily. "I mean… do you think marriage is a joke? Fine sure we can get divorced but that on its own is even worse because we are people with a lot to lose. You can't possibly mean to marry me, you hate me!" Her voice rose and so did I.
My fist slamming down on my desk I leaned forward "correct, I do hate you. I despise you even, so what?"
She stepped backward, eyeing me as though burnt. "So what? Look you might not care about your family business, you might not even want to inherit it, I get that there are people like you who would see this as a perfect avenue to get revenge on your family because you had some sob childhood story-"
"It would be best if you stop talking right now," I said, clenching my teeth.
"Oh? Is that it, bummer."
"Don't cross the line, Isabelle"
She pauses and tilts her head, smirking she crossed her arm "It doesn't seem like any exists between us don't you think? I'll speak freely just as you have always done, I do not have time nor energy for pointless jokes. We both cannot stand each other, neither of us wants this and you with your mouth uttered the words refusing this engagement."
"As I said earlier I changed my mind"
"Why?!"
"Because I have realized the benefit that will come from marrying you, Quing enterprises has a business in almost every sector but there is a goldmine we haven't harvested yet health and education. You have both why shouldn't I venture?"
"So you want to live with me because you want to use my family business to expand yours?"
"Why do you act surprised aren't you trying to do the same thing? You want to get into business with Quing enterprises for our international connections am I wrong?"
"I am not trying to do anything! I don't care about your stupid connections" She spits.
"Yet I am the one who does not care for my family business."
"I'd rather make a deal with the devil himself to aid my family business than make a deal with you or your family. I will not marry you Asher Quing."
"Are you laughing? Do you think this is funny?!" She yells
"I knew it, you might even hate the idea of getting married to me more than even I, why did you do that then? Make my entire family worship you?" I ask, watching the way her eye is unable to meet mine and how she pushes her wet locks behind her ears.
"That is because you wanted me to be the bad guy, while you maintain that evil deception of being a being too good for this world isn't that it?" Her wide eyes and parted lips confirm what I had suspected.
"Well, you did manage to succeed, getting my family, my grandfather to despise me. But I will reveal this to you so you understand how desperate I am." Walking around my desk, I take slow steps towards her holding her gaze, refusing her shelter from my sweltering heat. With each word I uttered, I took a step to match.
"Yes, I had a hard childhood, I was raised by strangers who spoke a language I could not understand initially with no sense of my home. While that might make others bitter I desperately missed my home, it made me value family and focus on the reason I was there, to get knowledge to help my family business. I thought, if they can make such a big sacrifice then the family business, must be even more important, so it became very important to me. I will do anything to protect this business Miss Byun, even if it means marrying a selfish and self-centered woman such as yourself. So instead of manipulating me against my family speak up for yourself and refuse this marriage."