They moved from her bedroom to the garden in another attempt to shut Susan up. But then, the garden also offered a lot of privacy since it covered a decent land area around their mansion and that is all what Susan needs—enough privacy to still talk about Matthew. It seems that she can't get over her crush on Matthew Grayson. The same man that she called a player.
Lilly bit the inside of her cheeks to stop herself from telling Sue the truth. She couldn't find the right timing to tell her that she should not think of attending a party of the big real estate companies with her older brother so that she could meet Matthew in person. She could just wait for her wedding and she would gladly introduce her to him.
She was still thinking of telling Susan the truth when she received a text message from Tiffany. The message read, 'How about a private yacht.' She stared at the message with knitted eyebrows. "What private yacht?" She mumbled under her breath.
"What private yacht?"
"Huh?" She glanced at Susan and realized that she spoke her thoughts. "Oh, Tiff sent me a cryptic message about a private yacht." She moved her phone towards Sue for her to read the message from Tiffany.
"Oh, she wanted us to have a private yacht in Mykonos. She said it would be so cool if your father would allow us to use your private yacht for our trip. I think that's what she was asking."
It was a good thing that Susan went right back on scrolling her phone because she didn't see how she lost all the colors in her face. How in the hell could she tell Tiff that she wasn't even sure if the yacht that was anchored in the yacht club dock was still theirs.
She heard her father talking with his secretary and there was a lot of talk of selling properties. One of their summer houses had been sold, helpers were let go and she had to ask for her freaking allowance from Matthew Grayson.
"Are you okay, Lil?"
"Huh?" She slowly faced Sue, scared that she would notice her anxiousness, she gave her a wan smile and lied. "I think I need to go back to bed."
"Yeah, I think you should. You look pale."
The worry in Susan's voice doubled the guilt she was feeling and she is now physically ill. It was no longer a pretend one. A headache was creeping on her temple and she badly needed her bed. She wanted to hide under her blanket and prayed to God that her father would be able to fix whatever needed to be fixed for her to function back to her normal self.
"Call me when you need to hang out, okay?"
Lilly nodded and swallowed the lump that painfully lodged at the back of her throat. She doesn't deserve Sue's kindness. She lowered her eyes to hide her shame.
"Let Pete drive you home," she hugged her tightly. Still avoiding Sue's puzzled look. "Send me a message," she turned around as soon as Sue got in the car.
She went straight to her bedroom and found her mother waiting for her.
"What are you doing here?" She has a headache and she doesn't want any drama from her mother. Since her father told her that she had to marry Matthew Grayson to save their business, it was the first time that she saw her mother.
"Baby, your father didn't tell me…"
Her voice cracked and she opened her hands for a hug but Lilly sat on a chair and ignored her mother wanting a hug.
"Sorry, baby. If I knew that your father would marry you off to save his business. I—"
"You can't do anything." She smiled sarcastically at her mother. She didn't believe a word that came out of her mouth. How could she not know when she heard them shouting at each other? What does her mother think?
Her mother looked at her with pain in her eyes. "Sorry…" She stood up from the edge of the bed. "Your father told me to prepare your wedding. Is there anything that you'd like?"
"What?! Where is daddy?"
"He's outside the country. He'll be back after two or three days."
She stood up from the chair in panic. "Mom, don't you think I'm too young to get married? I want to finish university…I want—" She fell back to the chair. To be honest, she doesn't know what she truly wants. She hasn't told her parents that she was accepted into Y university and that she is going to take up Business Management.
"Baby, I asked your father and he said that he had a clear agreement with Matthew that he'll allow you to finish school before the two of you start a family."
Lilly was in sheer panic that she didn't care about what her mother was saying. "When is the wedding?", was all she was able to utter.
"It will be after your graduation. Matthew doesn't want to marry you while you're still in high school."
A sarcastic laugh escaped her throat. Of course, Matthew would not marry her where people could say that he's marrying a high school student. Well, she had already finished high school since she was just waiting for the graduation ceremony. And the graduation ceremony was just a formality.
"Mother, do me a favor. Take care of my wedding. I don't want any part of it except to be the bride who will stand in the altar and say 'I do'."
Her mother opened her mouth but when she saw her mouth pulled into a thin line, she changed her mind.
"Should you talk to your friends? I mean, you're going to ask them to be your bridesmaid, right?"
A thought flashed into Lilly's mind after hearing what her mother said. She was thinking of marrying Matthew but she didn't bother to think of the actual wedding ceremony since a part of her was still hoping that her father could do something that would not involve her getting married at eighteen!