Ariani decided to turn off her phone and sleep the long hours away.
✧˖°.✧˖˚▹ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୧ .˚ₓ༺༄ؘ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 8 ༄ؘ༻ₓ˚ .୧ ˚○◦˚.˚◦○˚ ୭˚▹ₓ˚.✧˖°.✧
"Ariani!"
Ms. Rosé entered the living room with a big smile... and a young man.
"Ariani!"
The young man looked at Ms. Rosé with a confused look on his face which made her giggle nervously.
"Aha ha, everything's okay! Just wait on the couch for a bit, darling."
The young man sat down while Ms. Rosé ran to her daughter's room, hoping to see her there dressed in her favorite light blue gown, looking somewhat like Cinderella the Princess. However, imagine the shock on her face when she saw Ariani looking the opposite - Cinderella the Maid!
She almost gasped in surprise but stopped herself from doing so, as she didn't want to attract unwanted attention from the young man.
"Ariani," she whisper-shouted. "Get up right now!"
Ariani tossed and turned in her bed like she was a salad. "Mmm, what do you want?"
"Remember the man I told you about? Get up and dress in your finest gown! Wash your face!"
Ariani smacked her teeth. "Ugh, too many orders at once. I'm going back to sleep."
Her mother almost screamed in disbelief. 𝘖𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘵! She thought. 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴? 𝘚𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘉𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘺? 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘚𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘜𝘨𝘭𝘺!
Ms. Rosé grabbed her daughter's ankles and pulled them so that she would fall out of her bed and wake up.
𝘛𝘏𝘜𝘋!
The young man gasped at the sudden, loud noise. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?!
"Ow!" Ariani wailed.
Ms. Rosé crouched down and tried her best to console her daughter. "Sweetie, don't cry! I ain't mean for your head to hit the floor!"
Ariani shoved her mother's hand away from her. "Get away from me, you witch!"
𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?! Ms. Rosé thought to herself.
She grabbed her daughter's wrists tightly. "Ariani!" Ms. Rosé hissed. "Listen carefully. I need you to marry this man. He's in the living room waiting for you to arrive in your best dress!"
"But Mom, I don't wanna marry anybody!" Ariani started to cry.
Ms. Rosé stared at her daughter, wanting to smack her. "I do not care. Hurry up and wash your face. Wear your best dress. 𝘕𝘰𝘸."
Ariani wiped her tears, accepting her fate. Her mother stood up and offered a helping hand so she could get up from the floor, but Ariani smacked her hand away and stood up herself. With an eye roll, she walked to the bathroom inside her room and thought about the mystery man who was waiting for Ariani to arrive in the fanciest dress ever, like she was Barbie or something.
𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, Ariani thought. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺! 𝘖𝘩, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧! 𝘏𝘢𝘩! 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨.
Ariani washed her face and left the bathroom. 𝘏𝘮𝘮, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳? Ariani thought as she flipped through the hundreds of dresses in her closet. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦.
She stripped herself and wore the dress. Ariani walked to a full-body mirror in her room and stared at herself.
𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩?
She walked back to her closet and looked for another possible option.
𝘔𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦, Ariani thought. 𝘐𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘵. 𝘗𝘭𝘶𝘴, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥. 𝘐𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘓𝘦𝘮𝘮𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘸.
She decided to wear heels since that was the only footwear that would go with the dress, and walked to the living room.
𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬-𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘬-𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬.
"Oop! Jahleel, do you hear that? Sounds expensive, huh?"
"Um, yea, I guess so."
Ariani stepped into the living room and once she saw Jahleel, she stopped in her tracks.
Ms. Rosé wasn't smiling either. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, she thought.
Ariani shifted her weight to one leg and crossed her arms. "Um, Mom?"
"What?"
"Who is he?"
"Jahleel Johnson! He's the young man I told you that you should marry!"
Jahleel gave Ariani a nervous smile and tried to be confident in her presence. Her gorgeousness was just too great for him to handle. He adjusted his suit and looked at Ariani right in her beautiful blue eyes. "Hello, ma'am."
Ariani looked the young man up and down and stared at him as if he were an animal. Jahleel frowned and looked away from her icy glare.
"Ariani, say hello! You two are gonna get married one day!"
Ariani stared at both her mother and the young man for a long time before just losing it. "Mommy! Married? What is this, Beauty and the Beast?!"
"Ariani!"
"Don't call my name! How dare you wake me up and make me dress up like I was some type of Barbie doll, and then bring me to this, this thing that looks like it sneaked on Earth!"
Ouch. Tears started to sting Jahleel's eyes so he tried his hardest to blink them away. His self-confidence plummeted to the lowest low a self-confidence could ever plummet to.
"Excuse you! Jahleel did not sneak on Earth! He is one of the most famous basketball players in the world!"
Ariani shifted her weight to her other leg. "Then how come I ain't ever heard of him?"
"'Cause you don't watch sports, duh! Now listen here. You is gonna apologize to him and make it up with him somehow; maybe over a date, hehe!"
"I am not going on a date with him! Mommy, this is not Princess and the Frog!"
Jahleel almost gasped at the disrespect.
"ARIANI!" Ms. Rosé snapped. "Enough! Go out with him at Giovanni's, our favorite restaurant!"
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵, Ariani thought.
Ms. Rosé strutted to her room as if she were some kind of peacock.
"Er, madam, I totally understand if you don't want to go out with me, I'll just, um, leave," Jahleel muttered with tears in his eyes.
Ariani was about to let him go and insult him one last time but then, she remembered what the outcome of cooperating with her mother would be. "𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴!"
"Jayden! Wait!"
Jahleel turned around to face Ariani, expecting to get frostbite with her icy glare. However, he got a warm look and a smile!
"Um, yes?"
Ariani smiled bigger, showing all her white, perfect teeth. "I'm so sorry for the way I acted back there. I was just so stressed out because my mom always arranges marriages like this! I didn't let you leave because... there's something different about you. You don't yell and argue back but you apologize and remain polite instead, and I love that. I am so sorry, do you forgive me?"
Ariani decreased her smile to a smirk. 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴! 𝘏𝘢!
Jahleel smiled with all his teeth, feeling lucky that this beautiful woman was actually giving him a chance. "Oh, it's okay! I thought it was a joke, anyway!"
"Aw, that's great. Let's go now!"
Ariani placed her hand in his and they both walked out of the house.
"It's Jahleel, by the way, not Jayden."