On hearing the knock on her door, Daphne turned her head towards it. "Come in," she called out and waited as the door opened and her mother walked inside. "Hey mum," she said quietly as she picked up a pair of earrings from her table and fixed them on.
"Honey, that's a lovely dress," her mother complimented. "You look beautiful."
Daphne smiled. "Thanks mum."
"You are welcome honey," her mother answered with a small smile. "Now, come on, the Kings are here."
Daphne knew that. In fact, she knew they had arrived about thirty minutes ago. She had just been waiting for the right time to show herself. In other words, she had been waiting for them to notice her absence, waiting for them to wait for her. Looked like that worked, especially since her mother was here to usher her downstairs. "I'm on my way, mum," she said to her mother. "Is Adrian also downstairs?" she asked, just to be sure.
"Yes. In fact, he apologized to your father and I for what he did."
"Oh, really?" Daphne said.
"Yes, but we told him you were the one he had to apologize too."
"Oh, thanks mum."
"Of course, darling. No one is allowed to get away with messing with our daughter's emotions," Her mum told her, coming to stand beside her. She peered at Daphne's reflection in the mirror in front of them. "You look really beautiful, sweetie. I can't stress that enough."
Daphne smiled. "Thank you, mum." Her mother had never been the kind to shy back from complimenting her daughter. In fact, as far as Daphne can remember she had been showered compliments from both her mother and her father, and even strangers. No one could stop commenting on what a beauty she was, and Daphne could never get enough of hearing it.
"Mum?" she called cautiously.
"Yes, love."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course, honey."
"Do you think me getting married to Adrian is a huge mistake?" she asked in a shaky voice.
A frown appeared on her mother's face. "What?" she said.
"Do you think...." Daphne started to repeat herself, but her mother cut her off.
"No, no, I heard you the first time. I am just surprised at the question." She paused. "Are you having second thoughts, sweetie?" she asked. "I thought you were okay with the arrangement."
"I am, I really am," Daphne hurriedly answered. Releasing a shaky breath, she said, "Lucy just seems to think I'm rushing into this. I just need a confirmation from you that I'm doing the right thing," she explained.
"Of course, honey, you are doing the right thing!" her mother exclaimed. "Remember you are to inherit your father's company and a marriage alliance with Adrian would make the company even stronger. You are securing your future," her mother said.
"Right, right. You are right." She glanced up and smiled brightly at her mother. "I just needed to hear it."
"And you should stop listening to Lucy, honey. Who knows, she's probably just jealous of you," her mother told her. "God knows how long that girl has been looking for a boyfriend."
"Mum!" Daphne exclaimed. "She's my friend!"
"Doesn't make what I said any less true," her mother, Karen murmured. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that this will be good for you. Besides, it's not like you are just going to get married to him just like that. You guys have the next six months to get to know each other."
"Six months?!"
"Yes, six months. It's part of what we are going to discuss today. Now hurry up," Karen quickly added, in a bid to veer the conversation away from her reply. "It's time for dinner." She turned around and quickly walked out of the room.
Daphne watched her mother leave, closing the door behind her. What did she mean by they had the next six months to get to know each other? Did that mean they were going to get married in six months? Didn't that seem incredibly fast? Most importantly, was Adrian even going to agree to it?
Daphne shook her head slowly as she rose to her feet and slipped them into the low-heeled shoe placed beside her on the floor. She stood up straight and stared at her reflection in the mirror. A smile curved up her lips. Her mother was right – she really did look beautiful.
With that thought in her mind, she turned and walked out of her room, closing the door behind her. She walked down the curved stairs leading to the living room. As she climbed down the stairs, she saw the Kings – Oliver, Anna and Adrian already sitting at the table with her parents. The further she climbed down the more their faces became visible.
Anna was the first person to see her. "Daphne! Glad you can finally join us," she said a small smile on her face as she rose to welcome her future daughter-in-law.
"Yeah, so glad," Adrian said through gritted teeth, causing his mother to give him a glare.
"Anna, Oliver, it's so good to see you again today," Daphne said with a small smile as Anna came over to hug her.
"It's good to see you too, darling," Anna said, tightening her arms around Daphne. When she finally released her, she said, "And don't you just look lovely in that dress."
"Thank you, Anna, and you look beautiful too," Daphne answered. She turned to Oliver. "Hi, Oliver," she greeted, leaning down to hug him. He patted her back slowly before she backed away. Then, she turned to Adrian. "Hi Adrian," she greeted with a small smile on her face.
Adrian glanced at his mother who gave him a dirty look before turning to Daphne. "Daphne," he said in a polite tone. "You look…. Beautiful," he added, almost reluctantly. It wasn't as though she didn't truly look beautiful. She did and he would be blind not to notice. He just wished he didn't have to say it out loud.
Looking around, he realized that everyone was still looking at him expectantly, waiting for something. He was confused at first, wondering what went wrong, until he looked at his mother and she gave him a pointed glare in Daphne's direction. Oh right, he was supposed to apologize. He turned back to Daphne and cleared his throat. "Um, Daphne...I apologize for leaving you at the party the other night," he said. "Something important came up and I needed to attend to it. I should have explained before leaving but you were having fun and I didn't want to spoil that."
That was obviously a lame excuse, but Daphne didn't mind. "It's okay," she answered. "Besides, I got the flowers and the dress you sent. Thank you for that."
"Flowers and dress?" Adrian's mind went blank for a moment. Then, it occurred to him. The gifts he asked Kim to get. Oh, right. "Yeah, that's okay. It's no big deal. I'm glad you liked it."
"I did, thanks," she said. Suddenly tired of standing, Daphne pulled out the chair beside Adrian and too her seat. As her mother went to the kitchen to order the staff to bring in dinner, she turned to Adrian and asked, "How was work today?"
"Great," he answered simply, saying nothing further.
Daphne stared at him, thinking of what else to say. What was she supposed to say that? She frowned as she combed through her memory for whatever little information of Adrian that she knew. But she kept coming up blank. "Um…. okay, anything new?" she asked.
"No," he replied abruptly.
Oh…. kay, kind of rude? She was trying to engage him in a conversation, and he wasn't even replying. What was she supposed to do or say to that? She glanced at her father for help, but he was too engrossed in a discussion with Oliver to bother about her. She turned to Anna, but she wasn't even there. She had probably gone to join her mother in the kitchen. Sighing, she turned back to Adrian. "How was your day?" she asked, unsure of what else to say.
"Good thanks."
Daphne waited a beat for him to say something, anything at all, but he said nothing. He just kept looking ahead of him, his hands tightened into a fist. "This is where you ask about my day too," she prompted him.
Adrian turned his head and narrowed his eyes at her. She shrunk back a little. Then, he looked away. In a quiet, blank tone, he murmured, "How was your day?"
"Oh, it was great, thanks for asking," Daphne brightened up, delighted at the chance to talk about herself. "At first, it was horrible because I was waiting to hear from you but then, I got the gifts you send and it just made everything so much better. I was supposed to go to the office today, but I was a little too sad to go, so, I just stayed at home," she blabbed on and on and on.
Adrian nodded his head from time to time, making sounds at the back of his throat to pretend that he was listening, when in actual fact he kept glancing at the kitchen door, praying for his mother and Karen to come out and interrupt Daphne.
"The chef will soon be done," Karen said, appearing at the kitchen doorway and walking back to the table with Anna beside her.
Immediately Adrian saw them, he nearly jumped in relief. Beside him, Daphne had turned to his mother and was being fussed over.
Adrian sighed. This was going to be a long night.