Hennessey

3 - The Wrong LN

3 - The Wrong LN

The worst of the night seemed to be over for Angel, but the last bit of hope to finish the night on an upbeat was draining as he approached the rundown apartment building. It wasn’t unheard of for rich parents to send their kids to live in the ‘slums’ for a long period of time so they could learn how to appreciate the value of money.

“Stay with the car,” Angel commanded to his bodyguards. “I’ll speak with Miss LN alone for now.” The two men nodded and Angel approached the cement brick building with the swinging metal door.

Entering the building, Angel’s senses were overcome with the powerful scent of burning pizza. A nearby apartment door swung open and a coughing college student stumbled out, ash smeared on his face as the fire alarm began going off.

“MARK GET THE RED CAN THING!” The shirtless boy in the hall shrieked.

“YOU MEAN THE EXTINGUISHER!?” yelled another boy from inside.

“WHATEVER. GET IT AND THROW IT!” Deciding to ignore the impending disaster, Angel continued up the stairs to the second floor. There, a white girl with cornrows banged an empty bottle against an apartment door.

“Tiiiinaaaa,” she whined and moaned. “Let me iiiiiinnnn.” The Tina on the other side of the door didn’t respond in anyway shape or form. Angel continued his ascent up the stairs.

The apartment number for the person he was looking for was 303; third floor, third apartment. As the blonde approached the door, he sighed deeply. Waiting behind this apartment door was the woman he was legally obligated to marry. He raised his fist, just wanting to get this over with. He knocked twice on the door, and stepped away. He did want to impress her, after all. He stood in his ‘sexy’ pose and waited for her to answer the door.

You and Kat jumped at the sound of knocking on the door. Kat lept from the bed and raced into the closet. You rolled your eyes and prayed it wasn’t another bookie here to break Kat’s kneecaps. You approach the front (and only) door and reach for the baseball bat hiding behind the couch.

As you reached for the door handle, Angel huffed. Why the hell was she taking so long? The door swung open, and he was met face to face with a certain rude waitress brandishing a baseball bat, ready to hit him over the head.

You both froze as the baseball bat hit the floor.

“Rich bastard!”

“Bitchy waitress!”

The two of you exclaimed the mean names you had used in your mind simultaneously. Since neither of you knew the others name, you didn’t really care to be nice to each other.

“What the hell are you doing here?” you spat at Angel, scrambling to pick up the baseball bat lying on the floor.

“What are you doing here? I’m looking for Ms. LN!”

“I live here! And you’re looking at her!” There was a moment of silence as a sick feeling washed over Angel. He suddenly clutched his stomach and nearly fell over, as if he was going to vomit. “Are you okay?” you asked, worry filling your tone. You hated him, but you didn’t want him to die at your door.

“I have to marry… this bitch plebe?” he muttered. Your worry faded and you fought the urge to kill him right then and there.

“Who the hell are you calling bitch plebe?!” You froze as the rest of his sentence washed over you. “AND WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN MARRY!?” Angel stood up and coughed, straightening his tie and trying to be good.

But being good never meant being charming.

“Ms. LN, I, Cornelius Angelio Cosimo, am your betrothed. And I, reluctantly, must marry you before I turn 19 in order to inherit my father’s company after he dies. And so, as much as we’ve gotten off to a bad start, I think it would be pertinent to both parties if we could… tolerate each other enough until I have my company and you have… whatever.” You glared at the man standing in front of you.

“You ungrateful, muggle fuc-”

“SHE’LL DO IT!” shrieked Kat, emerging from your bedroom at full speed. “SHE’LL MARRY YOU!”

“And who the hell are you?” asked Angel, looking your brother up and down.

“I’m Katsuro LN, YN’s brother.” Angel sighed. He hadn’t heard of the LN family having a male heir. Perhaps that’s why they were okay with marrying off their only daughter?

“Excuse me,” you said, grabbing Kat by the ear. He yelped from the pain as you dragged him inside and threw him on the couch after slamming the door. “Kat, what the hell are you thinking!?”

“YN, we need the money,” he pleaded.

“No, no, no, no, no. You need the money. I’m sixteen and I have a job and a roof over my head. I’m set, Kat. It’s your debts that are sending us spiralling for years!”

“C’mon, YN! He’s rich! Just marry him, wait maybe a year, divorce him, get all that money! It’s foolproof!”

“Kat, you’re forgetting something,” you said. “Apparently he’s engaged to someone. But that someone isn’t me! I can’t fake that!” He sighed.

“My dear little sister, please. I beg of you. Just fake it until you make it. It’s easy!” You rolled your eyes.

“You dumbass! If it’s so easy to pretend to be his fiance, why don’t you do it!?”

“Excuse me YN,” he threw his hands in the air defensively. “But I can’t pull off a sexy cleavage look like you can.”

“And yet your boobs are bigger than mine,” you spat at him.

“I’m not fat, YN!”

“Coulda fooled me!” Angel knocked on the closed door, reminding you that he was waiting outside and hearing your shouting match. You sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose. “Fine. Whatever. But the moment he pulls some dumbass shit, I’m killing both of you.” Kat fist bumped the air.

You opened the door, glaring at Angel. He had a smirk on his face, making you want to punch him.

“So, Ms. LN, will you come with me?” You sighed and hung your head.

“Yeah. Yeah, I will.” Angel forced a smile. He had really hoped you’d say no. He didn’t want to deal with you and all of your… emotions.

“Okay. I’ll call my father and tell him that I’ve found you.” You nodded and began closing the door. Angel shoved his foot between the door and the frame to stop it closing. “I’ll be back tomorrow to pick you up. The wedding is in a month, so we must take care of a few things. Getting to know each other, for starters.”

“I can’t tomorrow,” you said. He raised an eyebrow.

“Why’s that?”

“I have school.” There was a beat of silence.

“You’re still in school?” You nodded.