Reece's POV
Even with the soft music playing, along with the bothersome noise from people around us, it still felt like we were the only ones in the room.
"Well you certainly aren't what I pictured." Her statement entices me.
"What did you picture?" I questioned, a little eager to hear what she wants to say.
She runs her eyes over my body before landing on my face again.
Those pools of deep blue.
Her lips stretched into a smile, "A round short fat old man." I couldn't help but laugh and so did she.
"I think you mean my father but no one is holding you against your assumptions."
She gave a lopsided grin. "My assumptions were pretty strong against you and not just based on what you look like but what you agreed to do." Okay this woman is getting harder to understand.
One minute, she holds in her eyes genuine gaiety but the next, the mysterious peer replaces it. She even has an usual smile.
A mystifying and eccentric smile, like a Mona Lisa smile.
"What I agreed to do?" I already know what she's talking about. She nods accordingly.
"Yeah. Despite not having the looks of the man I pictured, you might still have the attributes of what I think." She was no longer smiling and her face became unreadable.
"Which is?"
She takes another step towards me, leaving just a foot away from touching each other.
"Potentially ruining my life with this marriage nonsense." She whispers, looking directly into my eyes.
It was my turn to drop my smile. What the hell does she mean ruin her life?
Last time I checked, her reputation and career are on the edge of a cliff. And if am doing anything, it's saving her with this marriage. Even though we are basically being forced to do it.
But it may not be the worst thing ever.
Before I could speak up, a hand lands on my shoulder. "I see you guys have finally met." I turn my head to Aaron, who had a bright smile on his face.
His long black hair was packed in a neat bun. He wore a simple black long sleeve shirt, which was folded that showed off all his arm tattoos.
He turns to me, "I've been looking for you everywhere but I see why you were so hard to find. You found your lady." We both face Autumn but she rolls her eyes at his statement.
Being expectant of what I feel when people gave off unnecessary bitchy attitude towards me, which is complete dislike. But that was not the case for Autumn.
Infact, it excited me. She only intrigued me and I surprisingly like the fact that she was hard to read and unpredictable.
"I'm Aaron. It's a pleasure to meet you Autumn Snow." She genuinely smiles at him with a little laugh. The smile she held some seconds ago.
"You're the organiser." She states and Aaron nods before bumping his shoulder with mine softly.
"And the birthday boy's best pal." He looked so proud of himself. I shook my head lightly unamused and he mouths 'what?' quietly, although Autumn was looking at us.
Aaron travels his eyes around the room before bringing them back to us."Why are you both still standing? People have already started taking their seat." We turn our heads and found everyone seated in their assigned chairs, around the tables.
"Those fuckers." A stunned smile finds it's way to my lips at her bluntness. She was looking at Gia and another lady in a maroon coloured dress, who were already seated around a table close to mine.
She flashes Aaron a smile but dismisses it when she looks at me, before walking to them. I wanted to dwell on the fact that she obviously doesn't like me but the view of her walking ahead of me was priceless.
A stupid sound of laughter erupts from beside me, "Holy fuck." I snap my head at Aaron, "You're drooling so hopelessly just by looking at her." He swipes his thumb at the corner of my mouth.
"Fuck off." He only laughs harder at my reaction.
We made our way to our table and I sat down. Micheal, Tru, Isadora and my parents were already seated at the table.
I looked at Autumn who was in some kind of silent banter between the two girls. Aaron walks towards her, bends to her level and whispers something in her ear.
My curiosity grew when she looks to the empty chair at my side, then flashed Aaron a glare but he only smiled in response.
I looked to my side and found her name on the table, besides my seat. The girls laughs at her quietly as she and Aaron made their way to our table.
This fucker arranged our seats to be together. Nice going Aaron.
More reason for her to hate me. But if it means being close to her and breathing in her intoxicating scent, I have zero problem with it.
My mom's sudden squeal makes people near us turn to us but she didn't give two fucks. She spreads her arms wide and engulfs Autumn for a hug, just as she gets to our table, taking her off guard.
"You're even prettier in person." My mom compliments Autumn nonstop, causing her to laugh. My dad stands up and hugs her too.
A knowing look crosses her expression as she bends to hug my dad. I think I know what that means.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Autumn." My dad states.
Autumn tilts her head, "I've heard that twice now. If I hear it again, I will know it's a lie." Everyone in our table laughs at her statement.
Isadora who was seated close to me on my left side, pulls herself closer to my ear. "She's pretty and funny. I like her already." She says with a smile before standing up to meet Autumn too.
Autumn sincerely looked like she wasn't expecting the warm welcome my family indulged her with. But that's just how we are, people with free and open hearts.
My mom made sure to teach us the importance of being nice to people. To never judge people or look down on anyone. Well, am nice to you until you give me a reason not to be.
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"Not this classical shit again." Micheal groans childishly, as they called on Simon Hunt to the stage. A famous classical musician.
"There are so many artist you could've invited Aaron. Dua lipa, Doja cat, Bad bunny, The weekend, Drake....they are literally so many. But instead, you choose an old man with soggy eyes and a sad face."
"What's wrong with classical music? And fuck you Micheal. Simon is a legend." Micheal and Aaron's quarrel was easy to fade from my ears.
The party went on smoothly. Aaron actually did a good job, although it was expected. I ignored the murmurs and stares from people around us.
The only thing or more preferable, the person that was not easy to ignore was the greek goddess herself, sitting beside me.
Her sweet rich scent was the only thing I could breathe in because it was addicting.
Our table was filled with laughs. Tru and Micheal were really entertaining to Autumn. They had met earlier before I arrived.
She laughs and smiles cheerfully until she looks my way. With the way we are, someone would think we were childhood enemies that have grown up with an unhealthy amount of hate for one another.
It was hundred percent one sided.
"You've made it pretty clear that you don't like me, no?" We were both looking straight ahead of us, watching the classical music performance.
"Is it that obvious?" The sarcasm in her tone was hard to miss. We still didn't look at each other. Everyone else was watching the old man too, except Isadora who had her attention on her phone.
"You told me I'll potentially ruin your life with the marriage. So yeah, it's that obvious." I finally swipe my head to her as she chuckles humorlessly.
"Well I was only being truthful." And straightforward and blunt and direct, I could go on.
She looks at me, dropping her expression fully before curiosity emerges her face. "You don't know me. I don't know you. We've never met. You probably hate me based on what you've heard about me and I already hate you..." I can clearly see it but why would I hate her?
"...but you suddenly wanna marry me out of my problems out of the blue. Why did you agree to this?" I didn't even get enough time to process her statement before I was completely thrown off by her questions.
How do I tell her my parents forced a grown man like myself in the 21st century to marry someone against my will and hers, just to save her family from going into the dust?!
How the fuck do I do that?!
She looks at me expectantly but I didn't know what to reply. Plus, the way she's staring at me, makes me feel like she can see through me with those oceanic eyes.
She watches as my lips part to speak but I still didn't know what to say. The universe stepped in and saved my ass, using Isadora.
"I really loved your last spring/summer collection Autumn. I think I almost bought all the outfits immediately they went on sale." Autumn looks away from me to Isadora, who speaks bubbly.
"That's nice. Thank you." She smiles at her.
"I'm looking forward to this year's own." If I wasn't looking closely, I won't see the little shock that crosses Autumn's eyes.
"Well it's gonna be a big one." She says through her smile. But it looked she was hiding something.
"You need to stop with your creepy stare Reece and don't think I've forgotten about my question." Shit!
She squints her eyes at me but instead of thinking of what to tell her, I found her expression way too adorable.
"What question?" Easy going Reece, just play dumb.
I laughed when she tilts her head with a scrutinizing look plastered on her face. "Really?" Her brows raised.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I look away from her, a stupid smile dancing on my lips. I could feel her eyes drilling a hole at the side of my face.
"Now who's looking at me with a creepy stare?" I looked back at her with a proud smirk. She huffs at me, rolling her eyes.
Wow.
Silence had dawned on us but it was....weird. It's like either of us was waiting for the other to speak. I noticed Autumn's aura had tuned down a bit and she was back to being unreadable.
She only confirms it when she breaks the silence first. "Do you really think this is funny? This is marriage we are talking about. This is my life. Do we really have to get married for you to help me?" The calmness and collectiveness of her voice sends chills running through my body.
Well that's new.
She turns her head to me before continuing. "There's something called fake dating and breaking up publicly. Why can't we just do that instead?" She points out with a matter of fact tone.
"If you want the public to be convinced that what we are about to do is real, marriage is just the thing bellezza."
"Whatever the fuck that is, stop calling me it." She whisper yells, glaring hard at me.
She's feisty.
I like it.
"Then what do you want me to call you bellezza?" I just enjoy getting on her nerves.
"What everyone else calls me." I chuckled. I don't think so.
"Well am not everybody. So that's not gonna work for me." I only smirked harder. The level of hate am signing myself up with Autumn is limping to the edge and crazy fact, we just met today.
She parts her lips to speak but she didn't speak. She deprives herself from giving me any kind of reaction. She leans fully into her chair, looking ahead of her.
I only just met her but I already know that her sullen side is not my favourite. I like her face expressions, even if they all represent the hate she has for me.
"Okay okay." I start seriously this time.
"I know this marriage is not ideal in any way but I only want to help you." She still gave me no reaction.
"Why don't we talk about this tommorow, over dinner." I didn't ask it as a question cause I don't want her to say no.
She finally looks at me but with a blank expression. "We can talk about this properly. Just the two of us." I want to spend time with her.
I need to spend time with her.
"Okay. But no more weird nicknames." Absolutely not. Am gonna call her another one that she understands and she is definitely gonna love it.
a/n:
thanks for reading!