Grudgingly Yours (An Arranged Marriage fic)

Part 4

You bit down on your bottom lip, looking at the project plan for the next few weeks. Ideally you would have loved to open a hospital but that was beyond your current means. As a compromise, you made the decision to go with an urgent care clinic in your childhood neighbourhood. There was a lot of administrative red tape to get through before you could even begin working on your plans and that's why you'd engaged two of your closest friends for help. Jacintha was a marketing executive for a healthcare company, and Ritu was a financial analyst, and they were the perfect people to guide you towards your goals. The three of you had accomplished what needed to be done today, and were taking a break now.

"Any more pizza left?" Ritu asked.

You peeked through the boxes. "Nah, we finished it all. I can order more?"

"No, I had too much already," Ritu said, drinking her glass of wine.

Jacintha was scrolling through her phone, her feet up on the couch. "There's no one here that's even remotely interesting," she grumbled. "Everyone's either ugly or a fuckboy."

You laughed. While Ritu was happily married, Jacintha was single and on the lookout for fun dates. Except her friend had very high expectations and there weren't that many men that met her standards. "Maybe you should venture outside Manhattan," you offered.

"I'd rather shoot myself than date a guy from Jersey."

"My thoughts exactly."

Hearing Billy's voice, you turned around to find him standing at the entrance to the room. Dressed casually in a maroon jumper, black jeans and signature leather jacket, he appeared amused as his eyes languidly took in your friends. When you'd seen him earlier today he was heading out with another woman – so why the fuck was he back and interrupting your night?

Irritation surged through you. You'd made up an excuse about Billy being busy when Jacintha had inquired about his whereabouts, but now he was here and that meant you had to put on a show for your friends. "Thought you were gonna be gone all night, honey."

Both Ritu and Jacintha watched him curiously, with Jacintha taking the lead in approaching him. "Glad you made it home, Billy. Didn't think we were going to meet you today but I'm glad you're here." She reached out to hug him, and you noted how Billy returned the hug with enthusiasm. "I'm Jacintha, Y/N's would-be maid of honour –"

Ritu scoffed.

"- if you hadn't gone off and eloped with her," Jacintha continued, sticking out her tongue at Ritu.

You rolled your eyes, watching as Ritu made her way towards Billy.

"Only way Jas would've been maid of honour is if I turned it down." Ritu extended her hand out to Billy. "Hi, I'm Ritu. And we need the complete story behind this whirlwind romance. Y/N's being way too tight-lipped about the details."

His response was a gorgeous smile. "I don't know what lies she told you, but eloping was her idea not mine."