Betrothed

The engagement

Hey y'all! Hope you enjoy this chapter!!
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Maya could hardly contain her tears as she ran outside of the apartment building and stumbled between two brick buildings in a quiet alley. She leaned her back against the wall as she started to sob. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Her parents sold her out for money. She slid down the brick wall and pulled her knees up against her chest. She rested her elbows on her knees and ran her hands through her hair as she cried.

She couldn't believe that this was happening to her. Shawn had told her last week that she didn't have to take over the family business if she didn't want to. She had applied to colleges that were out of state, she had made plans to travel with Riley before college started up in the fall. Now all of those plans were ruined, and the worst part of all was she had to cancel all of her plans for someone she hardly could stand to be around.

"You really shouldn't be out here by yourself." Maya poked her head up to see Josh standing there awkwardly with his hands shoved into his pockets. Maya scoffed as she wiped her eyes and quickly stood up.

"Since when do you care about my well being." She snapped at him. Josh swallowed hard and looked down at the ground. A silence grew between the two as Josh pondered on what to say.

"Look... About what my mom said in there. She was way out of line and she had no right to say it." Josh apologized. Now it was Maya's turn to look at the ground.

"She's right though." Josh narrowed his eyebrows at her as Maya wrapped her arms around herself. "If I don't do this, if I don't agree to marry you then my parents won't have anything." She whimpered. Josh let out a breath.

"Maya, we don't have to do this just because my parents say we have to. I can pay for your family to live somewhere else-"

"With what money? Your parents?" Maya interrupted him. "Josh the money you spend everyday is the money that your parents give you because of their business. They wouldn't allow you to do that." Josh stepped closer to her.

"They're not that cold hearted, Maya." Josh told her. Maya took a step back from him and scoffed.

"Were you in the same meeting that I was just in? Josh, they are forcing us to marry each other, they want us to merge our businesses and have kids together all so they can make a larger buck! And now they've drug my family into this." Josh's eyes wouldn't meets Maya's. He knew that in one sense she was right. "I never would have thought that the Matthews would do something like this to me. Hope really is for suckers." Josh bit his lip before sighing and turning to face her once again.

"Look, I'm sure there is someway we can get out of this. I have some friends in some pretty high up places that I can talk to. In the mean time, let's humor them." Josh said as a smirk started to form on his face. Maya looked up at her with an emotionless expression.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Maya asked. Josh came in closer causing her to back up more.

"We go along with their little plan, we pretend to get along and fall in love, they'll think that they're getting their way. It's the only way with my parents. Then when we do find the perfect way to where we can get out of this without anything bad happening to your family then that's when we'll pull the plug on everything." Maya stared at him for a moment before shaking her head.

"This is stupid." She mumbled. Josh rolled his eyes.

"Would you rather us be bounded together for the rest of our lives?" Maya sighed. She definitely didn't want that, although her middle school self was probably jumping up and down with joy right now.

"Fine. We'll do it your way." She stated. Josh smiled.

"Then let's go act, shall we?" He asked. Maya stared at him for a moment before shaking her head and walking off past him and back into the apartment building. Josh sighed as he followed her in and back up to the apartment.

Topanga buzzed them back up and once they got into the apartment Josh looked at Maya and nodded his head. Maya let out a breath before looking directly at Josh's parents.

"Okay, we'll do it your way." She told them. Allen and Amy's faces went into smiles as Amy clapped her hands.

"I knew you two would come to your senses." Allen smiled. Cory and Topanga looked at each other in worry.

"Josh, you two don't have to do this. I can get you out of this." Topanga whispered to him. Josh shook his head.

"Trust me, Topanga. Maya and I know what we're doing." Topanga sighed before sitting back on the chair with Cory.

"So now that you two are going to be engaged there are a few rules that both of you will need to follow." Amy said. Josh's eyes narrowed.

"You never said anything about rules. We're getting married because you want us to but that doesn't mean you completely control us." Josh snapped at his mother. Maya snickered, it actually kind of does.

"It's just some simple ones that you would expect with any agreement like this." Amy told her son.

"First no dating other people. You two are to fully commit to one another. So Josh that means you have to give up your black book." Allen said as he reached out his hand. Josh rolled his eyes before reaching into his back pocket and handing it to Allen. Maya didn't know what was funnier, the fact of how thick the book was or that he actually carried it with him.

Maya watched as Allen took the book and started to rip out the pages. Maya's eyes went huge when she noticed that Josh wasn't saying anything.

"Did you just let him do that?" She asked shocked. Josh shrugged his shoulders.

"I have a backup." He whispered back. Maya rolled her eyes, of course he had a backup.

"Maya." Amy excitedly came over to both her and Josh. "I have something for you." She stated as she pulled into her pocket and pulled out a ring. "Now Topanga has Allen's mothers ring (I think that's what it was but I'm not quite sure) but this is my mothers engagement ring. I want you to have it." Amy grabbed Maya's left hand and placed it on her ring finger. Under any other circumstance Maya would have been touched.

"Well it's official!" Allen said. Maya as Josh looked at each other and then back at their family. Their lives had officially changed.
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That was kind of a sucky chapter but I wanted to do something to kind of introduce the whole engagement.