The Opposed Arrangement

Chapter Three - Pressure

*Callum’s POV*

I don’t get it. I thought she knew. I thought her parents would have told her by now. I need to call my dad.

“This is John speaking, who is this,” my dad said over the phone.

“Hey dad, it’s me,” I replied.

“Oh, hey son. How are things going?”

“Well that’s why I’m calling you.”

“What happened?”

“I thought you said that Suttons knew about the arrangement.”

“They do, why?”

“Well I’ve been trying to talk to Olivia and she is acting like she doesn’t know me.”

“Hmm, well son maybe they haven’t told her yet.”

“How can you not mention something this big?”

“Callum, it’s not as easy as you think.”

“Sure it is, you do it just like you and mom did. Walk up to them and tell them hey you are to be arranged to marry a girl. Done.”

“You don’t do it like that, and we for sure didn’t do it like that for you. Imagine having to tell your child that their days of dating and their dreams of finding the “right” person are over. That they are to be arranged to marry someone for the rest of their life, someone they never knew about till now.”

“Yeah, okay, but still they’ve known for weeks. Also, you would think they would have told her before she left for college. Now if she starts dating things are going to get even more messier than they already are.”

“Callum I’ll talk to her parents, but I still can’t force them to tell her.”

“Okay, I guess that’s good enough for now. I just wished they would tell her sooner than later.”

“I agree son, it would make it so much easier for you. Alright I have to go I have another meeting, but I’ll call you after I talk to the Mr. and Mrs. Sutton.”

“Okay dad, I’ll talk to you later.”

*~*

As I saw Olivia walking out of her class I screamed out her name. As soon as she heard it she turned and gave me an angry face while starting to walk away faster. I know she doesn’t want me here right now, but I need to see her.

Luckily I had longer legs and it didn’t take me long to catch up to her.

“Olivia, I know I have been acting a little stalkerish lately but I really want to sit down and talk to you. If you just listen I can explain why I’ve been acting the way I have been.”

“Callum, I don’t even know you. Why would I just go to lunch with you and before you comeback with a smart remark about me being in college and that’s what you do when you’re in college, just know that’s not what I want to do.”

“If it makes you feel safer, we can meet in the dining hall in a neutral area that is surrounded by a ton of people. That way you know I’m not going to do anything. I just want to talk, I promise.”

“If you want to talk so bad why can’t you just tell me what you want to say when you see me like now?”

“Because I think we need to have a longer time to talk than the couple seconds that you give me.”

“I don’t trust you, Callum. To be honest you kind of scare me. Every time I turn around your there. I feel like I can’t even breathe without wondering if you are staring at me.”

“Olivia, I’ll leave you alone once I talk to you. At least I’ll leave you alone if you ask me to.”

“Fine.”

“Thank goodness, when do you want to meet?”

“Quite frankly, I want to be free of you for the weekend. So if I agree to meet with you on Monday will you leave me alone till then?”

“Yes, Ill be waiting outside your class on Monday,” I said while walking away.

*~*

“Hey dad, how did everything go,” I asked my dad when he called me back.

“I spoke to the Suttons and they apologized for not telling her and they promise they will tell her soon.”

“Did you ask them how soon?”

“No, but the drift I got from them was it wasn’t going to be within the week or two weeks. I’m thinking it will probably be a month.”

“Dad, I can’t keep going on like this. If I’m going to marry some stranger I want to know her before I get married. I don’t want to be thrown into a wedding with someone I haven’t really had a conversation with.”

“I know son, give it time though. We can’t force them.”

“Dad, can you text me their number. I’m going to try and talk to them myself to see if I can’t persuade them to talk to her sooner.”

“Sure son, I’ll do that right now. Good luck.” With that my dad hung up.

Not even a minute later I had the Sutton’s number sitting in my text messages.

After a couple of rings Mr. Sutton finally answered.

“Hello,” Mr. Sutton said.

“Hi Mr. Sutton, this is Callum Richards,” I stated.

“Ah, yes. I just spoke to your father earlier today and told him I would tell her soon.”

“Well Mr. Sutton I hate to be like this but I need Olivia to know about this arrangement.”

“I understand, but I can’t just walk up to her and tell her.”

“Well I don’t care how you tell her, but I just wanted you to know that if you don’t tell her by Monday afternoon then I will. I just wanted to give you the opportunity to do it first since it would be better that she hears it from her parents.”

With some hesitancy he finally replied, “Okay, we’ll tell her this weekend.”

“Thank you,” I replied before hanging up.

~~~~~

I know it's short and boring, but please don't be mad at me. I needed to make this a shirt filler to give you guys some background for what's gonna happen and next and why.

I am also sorry for not uploading this last Sunday, but my weekend that I planned on using to write went to waste. To be honest, also, the next chapter won't be uploaded on Sunday either because I'll be moving back to college that day but I'll try and get it uploaded as soon as possible.

Amanda