Chapter 12
**The Wedding Nightmare**
‘I will marry Adonis'. She stated as she walked into her father's study, ‘I will marry the prince under the condition that I can keep my job as an archeologist....are you happy now? I'm finally doing my duty'.
Both Megan and Marcus were dumbfounded by their daughter's sudden change of heart towards her arranged marriage, a day ago she swore to never marry Adonis and now she was talking about duty. There was silence as there was tension in the room for a moment, Liliana expected more of an excited expression from her parents but they were rather bemused than happy.
Marcus glanced over at his wife to make sure he wasn't dreaming and it was actually a reality, that his daughter was actually serious about marrying the Prince. Megan shrugged lightly and he broke the awkward silence with a bountiful chunk of laughter, Liliana was relieved as he wrapped his huge arms around her in a warm embrace—for a moment she thought they weren't supportive which was confusing cause they wanted her to marry him, now it dawned on her that they were just shocked.
‘What made you change your mind?'. Megan asked as she still wasn't fully convinced of her daughter's sudden change in agreement.
Liliana shrugged, ‘My love for duty', she smiled, ‘....and I think Prince Adonis is a charming man. I'd love to marry him'. She broke free from her father's hug and walked away with her hands linked behind her back.
‘There's something wrong with our daughter'. Megan turned to her husband, she knew fully well Liliana didn't give a damn about duty especially hers towards the family, and she doesn't find Adonis in any way charming.....he was the exact opposite of charming in her book, so something was definitely wrong with her.
Marcus chuckled as he placed a hand on his wife's shoulder, ‘As long as we don't get to lose our company I'm okay sweetheart, so don't fret. We have a wedding to plan'.
*******
A triumphant grin was plastered on Adonis's face as he knew his plan would work, Liliana was an arrogant woman who just needed her ego to be bruised so he could manipulate her just how he wanted—and he did, soon they were to be married and he was going to make her life a living hell just like he planned to, then he would divorce her in the utmost shameful way...call it a marriage of revenge.
He poured himself a cup of coffee in his father's office, crossing his legs as he plopped down on the chair and waiting for his return. In a few minutes the king walked in with his men, frowned as he found his son waiting with a cunning smile on his face—He knew Adonis better than anyone, he just doesn't smile if there wasn't trouble looming in the shadows.
‘What do you—'
‘I want to get married as soon as possible', The prince interrupted his father, ‘I can't wait any longer'.
Gerard's brows puckered, ‘Adonis Jeremiah Tegan, what in the world are you up to? You and I both know you've never loved the idea of marriage and even though this was forced on you....why are you so excited all of a sudden??'.
‘I like her and I want to marry her', the incessant questions were starting to get on Adonis's nerves, ‘What else do you want?'.
‘Nothing', his father muttered and turned to his assistant, ‘Have the royal event planner handle the wedding preparations, it should be a small event that no one gets to know about understood?'.
The assistant nodded and Adonis also bowed in courtesy before leaving the room. The sooner he married Liliana, the sooner he got out of the damned country as he missed what he loved doing the most—appreciating art and letting the world see how much he did by planning beautiful art exhibits in his galleries all over the world, not ruling a boring country as some ceremonial head.
*******
Liliana frowned deeply as she was woken from her slumber by a loud knock on the door, she yawned loudly as she opened her eyes a little but the door opened before then and a group of people barged into her room. She jerked up to her feet immediately, yelling to know who they were and what was happening. Reels of clothes, boxes of makeup and shoes were all brought into the room, it was like a bustling market where she had no say.
‘What in the world is going on?!'. She screamed, demanding to know an answer when suddenly Mario came in with her usual cup of coffee, ’Oh my fucking God Mario where have you been and who are all these people??'. She asked yanking the cup from his hand....his coffee still tasted like asphalt but she was used to it.
Her beloved assistant sighed deeply as he gently pulled her over to a chair and sat her down gently, there was a vanity in front of her with lights all around the mirror—was she in a movie, the thoughts crossed her mind which she quickly shook off.
‘Your wedding is going to be a nightmare if I don't step in ma'am', Mario blurted right out as he gently took the coffee away from her, ’Your engagement ceremony is in two hours and we have to get you dressed now'.
She blinked in confusion, ‘En.... Engagement??'.
‘Yes'.
‘What engagement are you talking about?! I only agreed to get married yesterday!'. She yelled as she rose to her feet, surely he wasn't serious about some engagement ceremony she didn't know about right?.
His brows puckered, her coyness was something he always found very much annoying and at this point it was infuriating, ‘Please....please don't tell me you don't know you forgot about the engagement ceremony you and the prince agreed on, you both agreed to get engaged today and get married in two days!'. He was on the brink of snapping but managed to keep his voice under control.
Liliana guffawed and pinched her temple, she paced back and forth laughing hysterically even though she was on the verge of breaking down—it was all a dream, she tried to placate herself, Adonis didn't lie about their agreement on getting engaged today, it was all part of one big nightmare which she was going through.....it was all a nightmare, she started to mutter to herself while her assistant and his glam team watched in pure horror as their boss was on a meltdown.
‘Are you saying.....'
‘Yes Mario you fucking dimwit!!!', she yelled in agony, ‘I didn't agree to any engagement ceremony and this is all part of the prince's big plan to to mess with my head', she smiled in a way her assistant found really scary, ‘But it's okay....I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of getting me messed up, so give me my damn coffee and let's get this wedding nightmare over and done with!'.
Mario nodded as he signaled the glam team to get on with their work, Liliana heaved a deep sigh and grabbed her bitter cup of fee, took a sip and started laugh again which was bothersome to the people in the room with her—Adonis has landed his first blow, she smiled again as she stared into her reflection in the mirror, her comeback would be harder.