OLIVER
On a rare peaceful Saturday, Oliver finally managed to sit back and relax. His job as the Assistant to the young master of the Sinclair family has always been hectic. But last month was just something else.
Between the move back to their home country and the temporary (but forced) handover of duties, the amount of hair loss he's had would frighten any twenty-eight-year-old male.
But today, he's had a sudden moment of freedom. As he was preparing to turn on his gaming PC, which had started to collect dust, his phone started ringing.
Praying to God that it wasn't anything important, he squinted at his phone screen, only to panic upon seeing the contact name.
"Sir? Do you have any orders for me?" Oliver asked in a measured tone as if his heart wasn't bleeding at the moment.
"I'll need you to schedule an appointment with the Civil Affairs Bureau for the earliest possible slot."
"Are we to register a new business or estate, Sir?" Oliver hurriedly notes down Lucian's instructions.
"No. I'm getting married."
"Do you need me to coordinate with the staff for the registration docu-." Suddenly dumbfounded, Oliver pulled down the phone to check if he was talking to the right boss.
"Sir, apologies, but did I just hear that right? You're getting married?"
Scared out of his wits, he had to ask his boss for confirmation.
"Yes. I'm getting married to Eliana Thornhill. Prepare the necessary documents."
Thornhill?
We've only been back for three days?! How come he's getting married? As Oliver was pondering the insanity of his boss, he heard Lucian's explicit warning.
"Ensure the confidentiality of this information. And establish close monitoring of the movements of the branch families on both sides. Include the movements of the Orwells."
"Sir, should we inform the Chairman and the Young Miss?" Oliver asked. Situations like this made him want to increase his insurance policy coverage.
He should've known that uneventful days were nothing but a dream.
When the call ended, Oliver realized that things were just getting started. Maybe he ought to start using ginseng early.
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ELIANA
"Earliest possible time?" I asked him. If there was a slot on Monday, was he planning on getting the certificate then?
"Did you need more time?"
"Time isn't really going to change anything. What I need you to do is to iron out our arrangements."
The certificate was the easy part. What we do and where we go after is more pressing.
"Are we living together after getting the certificate?"
He's looked at me like I've grown a second head. But I had to ask because He's not exactly Mr. Congeniality.
"The dog is packaged with me, so you decide."
"Sold."
Fuck. How dare you use Chester, my baby!
Ugh. I was too impulsive. Maybe this is why I got bamboozled into this marriage.
"We have a property close to your campus. We can stay there until we get a house that you like or until you're done with your post-grad."
"The wedding can also be done then, once you're free." He added in passing.
"We're going to have a wedding?" I asked in genuine curiosity.
"Stop discounting yourself."
Taken aback at his countenance, I instinctively move back.
"No proper engagement, practically a shotgun marriage to a guy you could barely stand, and twice at that?"
"What are you, a bargain?"
He looked me over, obviously judging me. And despite being confident in myself, the way he's looking can be really intimidating.
"Can I hit you? Just once." snarling at him. I really felt like hitting him, especially because he's right.
"If you can."
"Since you've been graciously preaching about my self-worth, then watch me suck your assets dry for this." I smiled sarcastically, annoyed at his provocations.
"Try me."
Oh, I will, good Sir.
I knew it. He was so cordial earlier that he's practically exploding now. I was wondering why he seemed like a different person earlier.
"All that talk about respecting me, that's bullshit, right?" I squinted at him in anger.
"I respect you. In fact, I'm respecting you for two people right now since it seems like you're freely disrespecting yourself."
"Since when did you have to pretend to have that holier-than-thou attitude? Those pieces of shit are still walking the earth after doing that to you?"
Puffing my cheeks out while trying to think of what to throw back at him and coming out with nothing was even more stressful.
"If that happened to Rina, let me see you stay this passive."
And I deflated at that because he's right yet again, and that's just sad.
I'm pretty sure I've gone through the motions of emotions relating to anger, but I think I skipped the part where I should've dealt with sadness.
"Could you stop calling me out because you're just making me sad?"
"Go and be sad. I'll even get you those little desserts that you like. But from tomorrow onwards, you stop this pity party and start taking back everything that's yours. You're no charity."
"Fuck you.' I tell him off weakly.
"Yeah, yeah. Soon. We'll get to that too."
"Make that two boxes of desserts, you little shit!" I screamed at his departing back, only to get a flick of his hand in return.
I screamed internally at how this conversation was turning out. A hex is probably in order.
Lord. Save me! We haven't even gotten past today.
Really, to be called out by Lucian sucks. I'm sprawled on the floor, comforted by Chester.
"At least you're here. How can you stand that father of yours?" I've begun asking the innocent dog, a probable sign that I've lost it.
I've always attributed it to not wanting to complicate matters or being too busy to retaliate because it's certainly not because I'm nice. With a booked VIP seat in hell, how bad could it still get?
Nah, in reality, it's because I thought that my negligence contributed to the bad things that happened to me.
Am I a micro-manager? Was it my role to police my partner? Did I tell Jasper to play stick the dick on the donkey with Alexa? No.
I repeatedly knocked on the floor while admitting to myself that I was ashamed of being that badly wronged, so I pretended like it was nothing. But I'm actually hurt.
Because I wasted my time and effort. Because those supposed family members treated me like shit, and because, for a moment, I actually thought that I would be okay being married to that prick.
That night, I went nuts, ate dessert, and read books. I specifically went for those books that made me cry because I'm into my wallowing era.
Lucian made good with getting me two boxes of these hard-to-find desserts, so I should at least make good with myself tomorrow.