MAYA'S POV
"Wait, don't go," I asked with tears running down my eyes.
"I have to, you have to let me go" she replied with a painful smile, pointing at me for emphasis.
"I can't, you know I can't"
"You can, yes you can. Don't destroy yourself because of me" she countered. Closing the gap between us, she pressed a kiss on my forehead and sadly smiled
"You can do it, mi amor"
"I can't. Mom please....." a harsh ringing cut off my plea and I could see her already fading away, a sad smile on her face.
My eyes opened, once again I could feel the tears threatening to fall, but I held them back. The ceiling in my room looked higher than usual and there was even a chandelier dangling from its middle. Confused, I sat up from my bed, no couch, my surroundings looked different and I couldn't see my bathroom door. It took a moment for the events of the previous day to seep through my mind, I let out a loud sigh as I stared out my ring finger where a golden wedding band resided. It all really happened, and I had fallen asleep on Amari's couch waiting for him to come home after the brief tour his housekeeper had given me.
The house was in pristine condition, although Amari didn't stay here a lot. There seemed to be a backstory on why he preferred his penthouse but the housekeeper didn't elaborate and I didn't want to appear overly interested. The housekeeper whose name is 'Mrs Marris' , a nice middle aged lady, offered to show me my room, but I opted to wait for Amari. I had some questions which now seemed irrelevant as he didn't come home throughout the night. However, I wondered how his staff knew of my arrival because they didn't seem shocked to meet me and constantly referred to me as 'Mrs Remington'.
My back ached from the way I had slept the previous night, and my head was buzzing like I was having a hangover. It was ringing constantly, wait, that is not my head. I patted around the couch where I found my phone which was buzzing incessantly, sighing softly I ran my fingers through my hair before checking the caller ID, 'Aunt Meg' it read, shit. I tried to infuse a dose of excitement which I didn't feel as I answered the call.
"Hey, Aunt Meggy," I answered with false cheerfulness.
"Where are you?" her shrill voice sounded, laced with panic.
This was unusual. She was my dad's younger sister who was closer to my age than his. Growing up, we used to hang out a lot until Mom got married to Alexander. Aunt Meggy and Alexander never got along, This made family dinners a war zone, so Aunt Meggy stopped coming around. We still saw each other, but not as often as I would have wished.
"I am at home" I lied. I wasn't ready to tell her what Alexander had done. She was going to act rashly and I couldn't allow anything to happen to my Mum.
"Don't lie to me young lady, where are you?" she asked again.
"Am over at a friend's place" I couldn't bring myself to open up.
"Maya Anderson, you need to give me a full explanation on why you are on the morning entertainment news"
Morning entertainment news, what was she saying? There was no way I could be on the morning entertainment news. It was….oh shit.
I opened my mouth to speak but she had already continued
"Married to Amari Remington, you do not know Amari Remington so there is no way you could be married to Amari Remington" she rambled on as if she was reading from somewhere.
"It is true, Aunt," I answered resignedly. There was no use lying, the internet surely worked fast. I am sure that there wasn't anyone who hadn't heard the news by now, I mean if my aunt who lived two states away could call me by barely eight am, then.
"Are you in trouble?" she asked.
"Am not, it's just complicated but I am fine" I didn't want her to worry.
"It's Alexander right, that sly bastard" she cussed.
"No it isn't, it's just complicated". Maybe it was something in my voice that convinced her because she later ended the call not before promising to come by. A visit I wasn't looking forward to.
I quickly opened my Instagram account, I could see that I had many follow requests but that was not what shocked me. A picture of Amari and I, standing in front of the marriage registrar's, my hand in his and the unmistakable glint of our wedding bands could be seen. The picture was not very clear as it was dark, but it was shot from a close angle so our faces could be seen, both of us unsmiling. This seemed to have caused an uproar online, as I scrolled through I could see that different people had different speculations, some people even claiming that we were acting in a movie. Most did not believe that though. Intrigued, I decided to go through the comments on a gossip blogger's post who had tagged me. The comments were sickening, with many people calling me a clown because of my smeared makeup, some even called me a gold digger and a whore, claiming that I was only after Amari's money. Tears pricked at my eyelids as I threw my phone across the room, I heard it shatter but I did not care. They did not know me, they did not know that I hadn't wanted any of this but yet they judged me because they believed that I had taken an opportunity they were entitled to. I don't know how long I sat there, but I could feel a deep anger growing in my belly. It was all Alexander and Amari's fault, my life wasn't all great before now, but at least it was my life and no one was judging me on how I lived it.
I looked up to see Amari, he was resting on the rail of the spiral staircase staring at me, eyes cold and unflinching even when I looked at him. He was still dressed in his clothes from the previous although they looked a bit rumpled like he had slept in them.
"Seems like you do not enjoy being talked about anymore than I do". The irony in his voice ticked me off. He turned his back to me and proceeded to climb up the stairs, but I wasn't going to let him leave having said the first and only word.
"It's all your fault" I replied. I could see his shoulders stiffen as he turned to face me. A frigid smile plastered on his face as he cocked one of his eyebrows at me.
"How"
"If you hadn't forced me to get married to you yesterday, all this would have been prevented" I yelled at him in anger.
" How" he asked again, his voice cold and I could see anger swirling in his eyes although his lips were curled up in a smile.
" Well for one, there wouldn't be a picture of me looking like a clown and you dressed in a pair of joggers circulating through the Internet." I answered walking across the room until I stood directly in front of him.
"That couldn't be prevented"
"It could have, why did you force me to marry you yesterday? We could have fake dates at first, now everyone would be questioning the validity of our marriage" I replied, poking my finger at his chest.
"Because I can '' he caught my arm and pulled me against his chest. My head rested against his chest, nose pressed into his shirt. He seemed to like this position a lot. A faint scent of female perfume wafted into my nostrils, confused I sniffed his shirt. He smelled of sandalwood with tints of strawberries. On further inspection, I could see faint red lipstick marks and strands of female hair on his shirt. He was out dallying and having fun with his lover, while I was stuck here dealing with the aftermath of his foolishness. He made me feel like a fool, a feeling I very much hated. It wasn't the fact that he was with a lover that pissed me off, he had forced me to marry him yesterday and he had already run off into his lover's arms before the night was over. Remembering the phone call he had received, I pushed him away from me. Creating a huge distance between us, my eyes blazed with fury as I stared at him.
"Wow, just wow you were with a lover last night" I stated, his expression did not change, instead he seemed amused.
"What if I was?" He asked, arms crossed over his chest.
Dumbfounded I stared at him, he didn't look a bit repentant on getting me into this mess. Instead he stared at me, as though I was a source of entertainment. I couldn't bear the look on his face, my whole life was to be on stand still for six months. The least he could do was showing some respect, a lot of respect because I was the one going to bear the brute force of his recklessness if words got out.
Straightening my spine, I squared my shoulders and stared up at him, my face devoid of any emotions, two of us could play this game. I had no intention of letting him win, if he wanted to have fun outside, he could, that was not any of my business as long as it didn't bite me in my arse.
"I am going to lay down some ground rules" I said, my frigid voice echoing in the room.
He stalked towards me, grabbing me by my waist. He pulled me against his chest, my body was aligned with his full length. My hands flailed at my side as I tried to push him away but he did not move an inch. In my struggle I could feel his junior member pressing against me, it elicited a hot warm feeling in my stomach which made me stand still in his arms.
Using his fingers, he pushed the tendrils of hair which covered my ears and leaned down so that I could feel his warm breath against my ears.
"So would I " his soft velvety words flowed through my ears, I could hear him chuckle as he straightened up. He seemed amused, an expression that was almost becoming synonymous in our conversation. I wanted to swipe the smirk off his face, so I stepped back, creating as much space as his hand around my waist could allow.
Then I stared up him, the sweet sickly smile that Alexander hated etched on my face,
"Number one rule, No Touching " my voice sounded light and airy as I cocked an eyebrow at him for emphasis.