"What is your relationship with Mr Hollins?"
"Well, he … he is …erm …"
I sighed and rubbed my temple.
"He's your sister's boyfriend, right?"
His eyes went wide and his mouth opened. Slowly, I stood and lifted the wig off of him revealing his short dark hair. Then I grabbed some napkins and a glass of water. Without a word, I passed them to him and he started to clean the make-up off. I also handed him a bag of clothes for him to change into.
Once he was clean and dressed, he sat back down. I watched him as he lowered his head and fiddled with his hands.
"Look at me," I ordered.
I was pleased that he did as he was told. His dark brown eyes looked scared and I had to hide my smirk.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"S …Seth!" he stammered.
"Well, Seth, can you tell me how you think you were going to get away with this? Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
"I … I …"
I sighed heavily and leaned my head back.
"W … when did you find out?" he whispered.
"The day before the wedding," I told him.
His eyes widened.
"Why did you go through with the wedding if you knew?"
"Because I wanted to see how far you were willing to go. I saw you at the rehearsal dinner. I had already stepped out for a phone call so I found it strange the way you looked around before going into a spare room at the hotel."
Realisation had flittered across his face.
"I found you suspicious so I went to the door and opened it slightly. You had the wig off and were rubbing your hair. I guess the wig was uncomfortable. Naturally, I was angry and I was going to cancel the wedding straight away but …"
"But the contract was still valid as it only states you have to marry the child of my parents, not the daughter."
I nodded with a smirk.
"Yes, so despite how I felt I had no choice but to go through with the wedding."
Silence filled us again.
"Now what?" he asked quietly. "Will you go back on the agreement?"
"You mean will I not help your family's business?"
Seth nodded and took a deep breath.
"I know I'm not who you choose to marry, but you can think of this as a better option," he insisted.
"A better option? I was tricked into marrying a man, a stranger, how is that a better option?"
"Well, Lisa is a spoiled princess. She gets what she wants from our parents no matter what it costs. If you married her she would be shopping every day, not caring how much she spends, also she is horrible to the staff at home."
"Really?" I amused.
"Yeah, they always doted on her because …" he paused.
I waited for him to continue but he remained silent as if lost in the memory. His eyes glazed over as he stared out the window with a sigh.
"Sir?"
I turned to see one of the pilots coming from the cockpit.
"We'll be landing in half an hour," he told me and I nodded.
"Why did they dote on her and not you?" I urged.
"Because I disappointed them," he sounded broken
"How?" I asked.
He stayed silent so I sighed and changed my question.
"Why did she agree to the marriage, accept the gifts and still refuse to marry me?"
"When Father told her of the arrangement she refused, claiming she wanted to marry her current boyfriend. I thought my parents managed to convince her. She loved the car, the wedding dress and I really thought she was going to go through with it."
"In her letter, she said that she didn't want to be married to some old man," he looked embarrassed. "Who would probably need medical aid in order to sleep with her and the thought of an old man touching her was repulsive. She said that she was running away with her boyfriend and she was going to marry him."
"She thought I was an old man?"
"Yeah, she thought she was marrying your father. She wouldn't even listen to the details of the contract, all she heard was she was being forced to marry. Lisa was never good at listening, or seeing the bigger picture."
"Was she the reason you'd disappointed your parents? Since you are older, did you take the blame for her?"
He turned his head and refused to speak. I was just about to repeat the question when the pilot came out again, telling us we were landing.
Seth wiped at his cheek and it filled my curiosity. Had he just wiped away a tear? Why was he crying? What had he done to make his parents ignore him?
"Let's go," I told him.
Silently, he followed me out of the plane and into the car. As we drove through the streets he didn't seem to notice anything. His eyes stared out the window but he wasn't looking at anything. He was stuck in a past I knew nothing about.
We pulled up to the hotel and again he silently followed. It wasn't until we got to our room that he seemed to pull himself out of his memories.
He moved over to the sliding windows and gasped. Instantly, he headed outside and smiled. Seth then came inside and ran up to me.
"New York? We're in New York?" he asked with a cry. "I've always wanted to come here."
"You've never been?"