Giving into you (Bruce Wayne/Batman - Robert Pattinson)

Chapter Three

As soon as I stepped out of my apartment, I was faced with the press. Luckily, I had aviators covering my tired eyes and I was able to make it to the car without saying a word. They were shouting all sorts about Bruce and me. Had I talked to him? Were we on good terms? What does Bruce think about your relationship with Carmen? 

I was sick of hearing Carmen's name. Everywhere you looked there were posters up about his campaign. Every time you watched the television, they were discussing it. It's as if I couldn't escape it. As we drove to Carmen's place, I stared out of the window and occasionally my eyes would drift over to Wayne Towers. I wondered whether Bruce was there and thought about what he might be thinking. It was hard to forget what had happened, but I knew that I had to move on somehow. He hadn't changed, or it didn't look like it anyway. On one hand though, I did understand why he might be hurting. After ten years of being together, and all the years knowing each other prior to that, and after being engaged, it probably did hurt him to see me with someone else just a year later. But if he had paid closer attention, he would have seen that I wasn't the one that went to Carmen, I didn't touch him, I didn't reciprocate any of it, and surely he would see that whenever I was around him, I was uncomfortable. Still, however, I'd probably be hurt as well if I saw him with another woman. We weren't together anymore so I guess it shouldn't have really mattered, but all of the feelings we had weren't going to just disappear. 

When we arrived at Carmen's place, Carmen and my parents were standing outside his grand doorway. The three of them were dressed as if they were going to a wedding. Clearly, I didn't get the memo in my jumper, sneakers and skinny jeans. I climbed out of the car to be greeted excitedly by the three of them. 

"Isabella, you made it," Carmen said as he gave me a hug. I barely hugged him back. 

"Why are you all dressed like that?" I asked. 

"I have something to show you, but I need you to wear this first," Carmen took a blindfold out from his jacket pocket and held it out to me. I glanced at it before looking up at him. "Come on, please?" Behind him, I could see my parents giving me a warning look. To save the argument, I did as I was asked and allowed Carmen to tie the blindfold across my eyes. 

"You better not be taking me to my death," I muttered as he tried to take my hand, however, I pulled away and opted for his jacket sleeve instead. It wasn't long before we arrived wherever we had to go and when the blindfold was removed, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were rose petals across the floor that was used to spell out the words 'will you marry me?' I looked in disbelief at Carmen who was holding a red velvet box. Inside was a silver diamond ring. It was a big diamond. One that wasn't to my taste. 

"What is this?" I asked quietly, even though I knew full well what it was. I wanted to pinch myself to make sure that this was real. 

"It's a proposal of course," my mother exclaimed clapping her hands together quietly. 

"So, what do you say?" Carmen asked, and I couldn't help but smile, but the smile wasn't because I was happy. It was because all of this must have been some sort of stupid joke.

"No," I say causing all of their smiles to vanish.

"No?" I heard my mother whisper as she puts her hand onto her chest as if it was hurting. 

"I can't marry you, Carmen. This is all too much."

"I understand you're probably not ready for this and I know you might have been put off from the past, but I want to marry you. It will be really good for us. Think about how good this will look for us both." Well, this wasn't the sort of proposal speech I was expecting. 

"Look good for us both?" 

"This will really help my campaign, and in the meantime, we can build our relationship. So, what's your answer?"